I Have Confidence

When I was a kid, my cousin Olivia and I used to watch The Sound of Music over and over and act out all of the parts.  I was Liesl and she was Gretl, and we had a ball playing along with that movie.  I haven't watched it in probably a decade because I know it so well from the probably close to 100 times I have seen it.  One of the songs from that movie popped into my head today when I was thinking about reporting Evie's progress this week: "I Have Confidence".  In the movie, the context is that Maria is psyching herself up to have the confidence and courage to meet Captain Von Trapp and his children, and really she doesn't have a lot of confidence.  However, Evie's attitude this week has gone from seeming fairly attached and dependent to being completely confident about herself and her surroundings.

The Friday before last, when I dropped her off at daycare, she did what she has been doing every day for the whole two months she's been there: cried.  She had slowly adjusted her cry time, from crying in the parking lot to crying only when she was actually handed off to her teacher.  But crying, nonetheless, was always a part of the morning.  Sunday, even, when I was standing at the back of the church before the choir processional - my first Sunday to become a regular choir member and leave Evie in the congregation with Granna - she cried at being separated from me.  Suddenly on Monday morning, it was like she just grew out of it.  We parked at daycare, we walked into the building, and Evie hung her Minnie Mouse lunch bag on her hook and rounded the corner to her classroom doorway.  This is where the protesting usually starts, the part where I have to pick her up because she will linger against the wall and not be persuaded to come into the classroom, and then I have to hand her to the teacher, which is the when she starts sobbing.  But Monday...  Monday she rounded the corner to her classroom and while I was signing her in, she strolled right into her class.  I was so surprised, I stood there with my mouth open for a minute.  Then I followed into the classroom because I had to handoff her bedsheets and the snacks for the week (it was our turn in the rotation), and as I turned to leave, Evie said, "Bye bye, Mama!" as happy as a clam.

I mean...... WHAT?!  Where did that all come from?!  It's like overnight she just suddenly adjusted to everything.  She did the same thing for Seth on Tuesday, me on Wednesday, and the whole rest of the week.  And this morning at church, she even led Granna to the nursery so she could play during church, before the service even began.  It has been so amazing to see her become this independent creature just in a week!

I know it sounds crazy, but she seems more mature to me in a lot of ways this week.  Not only does she now transition to daycare and nursery more easily, she seems to really understand when we explain the order of things to her.  Seth and I were unloading groceries and we were going to immediately leave to go to Granna and Grannadaddy's yesterday, so we told Evie that Mama was going to go into the house and Daddy was going to stay with her, and then Mama would be back out and we would go see Granna and Grannadaddy.  And she said, "Okay!" and sat happily in her car seat waiting for me to be ready to go.  She does fine being told that something will be done in a few minutes and she will then have to go to bed or get her diaper changed or whatever it is.  She just seems so....  grown up!  I am so very, very proud of her.