A Day of Firsts

September 10th was a big day for Gia. Not only was it her first day of preschool, she also got her hair cut for the first time!   We've been meaning to cut her hair for a while now. Curly hair can be difficult to deal with and when you're a 3 year old who can barely sit still long enough for your mom to comb it, it can get messy. And full of knots.    My mom is a hairdresser, so you'd think we would have done a million hair cuts by now. We tried at the beginning of the summer, but every time my mom had time, Jon wasn't around. (I really wanted him to see her first hair cut.) Then my mom had foot surgery and couldn't work for 6 weeks.
Now that she's back to work, we were finally able to find a day that worked for everyone.   So after Gia's first morning at school and our quick cookie-baking session, we headed to Adora Bella Salon in Franklin Lakes to see Yadi. Gia was so excited!    The salon has a really cool chair just for kids. It looks like a regular hair cutting chair--it goes up and down and swivels--but it's tinier and has a "seat belt" to keep kids in. Gia climbed right up.

She didn't love the cape so much, so my mom put it on her backwards. That way it still protected her clothes from the falling hair, but her arms were free.

Rather than washing her hair in the huge (not to mention uncomfortable) sinks, my mom just used a spray bottle to wet her hair. And then the cutting started!

 The whole thing took about 20 minutes and Gia loved it. She loved that she was being treated like a big girl and she loved looking at herself in the huge mirrors. She started to get antsy near the very end, but my mom was just about done and so she sat still until the end.

  And then there were kisses from Yadi and a lollipop for Gia. 

The best part? Her hair looks awesome!  

First Day of Preschool!

We've had an exciting few days over here. Gia had preschool orientation and Tuesday was her first day in the 3 year old class!  

    As I mentioned before, Gia does really well in new situations as long as she knows what to expect. I wasn't worried about her going to school at all for a variety of reasons.  First of all, she's going to the same school and we had such a great experience there last year.  And, 4 of her classmates from last year are in her class again this year, so it's not like she's going into a whole new group of kids. And most importantly, one of her teachers this year was her teacher last year! Talk about a really nice safety net for her school experience this year!   Monday we went to orientation. I reminded Gia that we'd be going to a new room at the same school and that Jean, her teacher from last year, would be there with a new teacher, Jeannie. I was going to stay with her the first day and the second day I was going to drop her off and then come back later to get her. She was a very excited, but also a little unsure. As we pulled up to orientation she asked "Are you going to stay with me?"    I was a little surprised at her apprehension but I reassured her I wasn't leaving. (In retrospect, I think this year was a tinge harder for her because she's older and she fully understands that I'm leaving her. When she first started school I don't think she fully grasped the concept of me leaving her until I'd already left and she'd had a great time, thus making it no big deal.)  We had a great time checking out her new classroom and meeting her teachers. They did a modified version of the school day and Gia happily sat on the rug for circle time, sang songs, listened to her teachers and ate her snack.    Monday night Gia picked out her own outfit & went to bed early in preparation for the real FIRST DAY!  

  Tuesday morning was busy. We aren't used to getting up and out so fast in the morning. Although Gia is a total morning person, she likes to lounge around and eat some fruit, and then have breakfast and play and watch some tv before she gets dressed. Well, that couldn't happen Tuesday and Gia wasn't so sure of things. She said she didn't want breakfast and she wasn't going to go to school. She wasn't being difficult about it--this wasn't a 3 year old exerting her independence and shouting "I'm not going!" It was more of a quiet, sad, oh how unfortunate that I just can't go to school today Mommy kind of thing.  

     After a quick pep talk (about all the fun she'd have and how much her friends would miss her), she ate her waffle and was excited about school again.

   

  She was all smiles and even let me take approximately 7 million pictures of her. And when it came time to drop her off and leave, she kissed us goodbye and ran off to play. 

When we went back to pick her up, she was happy as a clam. She was so excited to see us and tell us about her day. She made a color wheel, painted, had a snack and got a sticker. A sticker is like gold to her.    And, to end a perfect morning, after school we baked chocolate chip cookies together, because it's a First Day of School Tradition. 

Labor Day

Although the forecast wasn't great, we decided to head down the shore anyway on Labor Day to see my mom and stepdad, who were spending the weekend down there.   I'm so glad we did. The weather was great & Gia absolutely loves the beach.    Side note about Gia's pony tail: While we were in Wildwood, I insisted on putting Gia's hair in some kind of pony tail for the beach. (She really prefers cute little bows but I vetoed that idea because they do nothing to keep her hair out of her face and then she spends the day pushing her curls out of her way and getting sand all over face in the process.) Most days, the best I could convince her to do was a half pony tail. By the end of the week I convinced her to do 2 half pony tails--mini pigtails. She would not let me do a "big pony," which is what she calls a full pony tail. But, for my mom? She'll do anything. I didn't do a thing to her hair before we got to the beach. So when we arrived I handed my mom a pony tail holder and told Gia that Yadi needed to do her hair. No discussion, no issues...BAM! Adorable adorable "big pony".    I'm in love with these pictures of Gia rocking the "big pony," even though it makes her look so grown up!

   She loves to collect shells and rocks and throw them back into the water. 

 

If she wasn't running around by the water, she was on the beach chair, snuggling with Yadi.  

  My mom always has a cute beach hat with her, and this time, Gia found it and fell in love with it. She wore that sparkly fedora for hours! Most of the time it was pulled way lower than in this picture.

I'm not going to say this is the last beach day for a while. I'm still hoping for one more beach day before it's *officially* fall...