Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Let's Talk: School, Kinder Kicks, Music Class, Ballet Dancing

Lola has started off the new year with all kinds of brilliant developments.

Lola is such a conversationalist.  She will often say to Michael, "Daddy, let's talk.  How was your day?"  And they run through all kinds of topics, including what Lola did that day, with whom, and where, what she liked and didn't like, whether she was happy or sad or angry.

The latest development has been Japan - Lola has become obsessed with going to Japan with Michael, just the two of them, on an adventure.  They have planned their way through the whole trip such that she can fill in all the blanks - she will pack a suitcase, and they will go to the airport, and take a plane, and then a car ride, and they will ride cable cars.  They will eat hotpot, and ice cream, and drink apple juice.  They will go sledding, and daddy will take Lola on a special car ride, and they will play.

With me, Lola chats less about her day and her adventures and instead wants to play with her dolls and Legos and act through scenarios both realistic and imaginary.  She usually assigns me a doll (whether it's "mama" or "brother" or one of her teachers) and I usually have to suggest things for the other dolls to do, or "make conversation".  Lola will command me, "Mama speak!"  Depending on the scenario, our dolls usually play hide and seek, go to Ocean Park/Causeway Bay/Tsim Sha Tsui/Taiwan/Japan/Macau/New York, wait for the train, go to work or school, make tea and chat, go to the playground, or... you get the idea.

School

Lola is now attending Fairchild Academy three times a week, from 8:30 to 11:30 on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, and she goes "by myself" as she proudly says.  Her transition to independently attending classes has gone really well and she is in the classroom on her own all of this time now.  We get updates on her progress from her teachers from time to time and we have learned that she is quite a style maven (loves the sunglasses and purses and hairbands, slinging multiple ones on herself without fail).  This school is bilingual with approximately ten kids in the class, attended by two teachers (one English speaking, one Mandarin speaking) and sometimes supplemented by a third (English speaking) teacher.  I have to say, I love it.  The environment is small but bright and welcoming.  They only have three classrooms but they all sit on the top floor of a building with floor to ceiling windows overlooking Victoria Park and the harbor.  Her classroom is full of natural wood furniture built to child height, and the common area is also bright and welcoming with a treehouse, full chalkboard, a piano, and all kinds of child-friendly access.

Lola also started attending Highgate, a school on the Peak, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I have more mixed feelings about this one - it's also a loving environment full of big windows and open spaces, including an expansive open roof terrace for free play, but I don't think it's as well run as Fairchild.  I chose this primarily because they offer a Mandarin-only program on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The classroom is more crowded, with up to 17 kids, and three teachers.  All three teachers speak Mandarin and the lead teacher is lovely.  But I feel less confident about leaving her to play independently here - I think there are too many children which make accidents unavoidable.  I know it's part of fostering Lola's independence and growth to let her learn independently as she transitions from a baby to a toddler to a kid, but for now I am unapologetically a helicopter parent! As such, our nanny still accompanies Lola in the classroom, albeit sitting off to the side.

Kinder Kicks

Lola goes to soccer class, Kinder Kicks, on Monday afternoons at the local YWCA.  I had signed her up for basketball camp over Christmas and she seemed to take to it okay.  I wasn't sure how soccer would go because Lola generally seems to prefer to handle the ball with her hands - however, so far she seems to like it, the extra exercise does her good, and from the few kicks we have seen her demonstrate at home, Lola's foot eye coordination and her kicking ability has improved! 
 

 

Music Class

She continues to go to music class at Baumhaus, now on Wednesday afternoons.  While the classes here are, in addition to singing and dancing, also about rhythm, math (counting, tempo), and tone and pitch, Lola shows the strongest affinity for singing.  But she likes to sing by herself and will often tell anyone else who tries to sing along with her to stop.  When she's in a good mood, she will belt out whole songs, with surprisingly accurate pitch, nonstop.   "Jingle Bells" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" are in frequent rotation recently and (always and forever), the ABC song, "Happy Birthday" and "Wheels on the Bus."  Here are some pictures of her in their free play area, where she still really enjoys herself.
 



Ballet

But I think the most fun extracurricular activity, the big hit, has been ballet.  As with all things Lola, I had no idea what to expect - whether she would love it, loathe it, or be indifferent.  Tuns out, Lola goes on Sunday mornings and she looks forward to "ballet dance" as she calls it, nearly all week.  Her teacher, Miss Belle, has now frequently entered her rotation of playacting and dolls.

Lola chose her own ballet costume (the purple leotard with a purple tutu to match) and was so enamored with it that she cried when she had to take it off when she got home.  She also loves her ballet shoes so much that she wore it in her Fairchild class and told her teachers all about ballet.

Trying out ballet dance for the first time:

 Loving her ballet costume and shoes:



 Dancing to the Frozen theme:
 

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