Ali's first school xmas party

Ali has her first christmas party at school last week.  Parents were invited to join them and everybody brought in some food to share.

When we arrived, Ali and her class was singing rhymes and having fun.

Time to eat.  All the kids were SO GOOD and WELL-BEHAVED.  It is amazing to see how good they are when it comes to meal times.  Ali's teachers were telling us the kids just LOVE the school chef.  Every time she walks in the room, they would stop whatever they were doing (even if they were fighting over a toy or throwing a tantrum) and would get really excited and start to lick their lips.  Seriously, they are food monsters!!

Look at the table, it's filled with so much food!!!!

Ali's friend, Chloe and her mom,

I have to admit that hubby and I were kind of uptight about cleanliness.  We can tolerate some mess, but not a whole lot, if you know what I mean.  I think that is not a good thing to do since kids need to learn to explore and will make a mess during the process.  I know it is not good, but it is just hard to let go.  Here is Ali's eating area.

Here is her classmates Colby's area.  I have to say Colby is a lot more advanced in terms of development compared to Ali.  Gosh, I gotta learn to let go sometimes.

Ali's teachers bought apple juice for the kids. And Ali does not know how to use a straw.  Well, so we think. We brought her some cups with straws a month ago and was trying hard to teach her to use it.  It failed big time and we thought there is no way that she will be able to drink her juice without a proper sipping cup.  Anyways, we gave it a go and she was able to pick that up in 2 minutes.  Maybe it is because of peer pressure??  It never ceases to amaze me how well she can do and behave at school.  Really, is that my child?

 Isla and her dad:

I really do enjoy the days that we get to visit our little one.  Another thing that we learned from her teachers is that Ali eats really well at school.  And she means REALLY WELL.  Ali is always the last one to finish her meal.  She will not leave the table or get distracted during meal times.  She just kept on eating and eating and eating.  From what we have seen that day, I would have to agree with her.  All the other kids were done and Ali just kept on going.  They were out to play and she was still eating.  If people didn't know us, they just might think we never feed her at home.  Oh, my little hungry caterpillar!