Sara writes her name

 

 

 

Sara has really blossomed this year. She is very comfortable with her preschool and loves it tremendously.  I even asked her recently if she missed me when she she goes to school and she frankly said, No.  (insert a little broken mama heart here).  She’s recently has been having leaps in her understanding and school.  Plus, now she’s not napping even at school now.  Our girl is growing up. 

 

We’ve been doing a lot of this at home lately…

 

F-F-F-F Fox

 

B-B-B-B Baby

 

G-G-G-G Gorilla

 

S-S-S-S Snake

 

She is now writing some letters, recognizing quite a few and learned to write her name.   Every chance I get – I ask if she can put her name on a piece of paper.  When she holds that big pencil in her tiny hands and knows exactly what she is writing, it just warms my heart.  The R in her name is my favorite.  It’s kinda like a circle with two legs.  It’s the best R around!

 

First/last day of school

 

First day of kindergarten for Alex and first day of school session for Sara in the Toddler room.  Sept 2012.

 

Notice the very nice smiles. 

 

 

 

 

 

Last day of school. June 2013.

 

They are growing up so fast.  Hopefully next year they’ll let me take a picture – they weren’t so thrilled with the idea of just taking a picture because it was the last day of school.  As you can tell.

 

 

Alex (close to the last day of school) on his favorite – the monkey bars.  Mom – look – I can skip two!

 

Sara on her last day of school holding her pet balloon animal – a green (her favorite) snake!  She has grown SO much this year!

 

Sara all ready for preschool

 

 

 

We got Sara ready for preschool one morning and she just looked so pretty and was in such a happy mood, I asked her if I could take her picture on the front steps.  On warmer days, we put on our shoes outside on these steps and so it’s part of the normal routine.  So, this is why her shoes are undone in the pictures below.  It’s a good way for her to sit somewhat still, since the shoes aren’t completely on yet…

 

She loves the camera lens cap and just had to have a game of peek!   What a beautiful little girl!

 

She actually let me do her hair on this day and it was very particular…  Pink pony tail holder and when I suggested a sparkly purple barrette, she said that she needed a black one too!  So there you have it!  Her hair is getting so long, that I’ve been trying to put it up with something, either a pony tail, pig tails or barrettes just to keep it out of her eyes.  Most days I’m successful for about 10 minutes, but this days work stayed around a while!

 

After we did her hair, I asked if she wanted to come see in the mirror and she either nods yes or actually says “yes”, or both.  We looked in the mirror and we say how pretty she looks and she gets the biggest smile on her face!  It is really fun to hear her say the word pretty also, she knows what that means and has started saying it in the context of other things now.  Her talking is exploding right now!

 

 

 

 

She loves the dogs' leashes.  She knows which one is which and loves taking them for a walk.  Well, Bella at least!  Rock has about 50-60 lbs on her!

First day of preschool - 2011

 

 

I’m going to try to get first and last day of school pictures of these two for the foreseeable future (or until they won’t let me anymore!). 

 

This is where I got my inspiration for first and last. 

 

And here’s my two kidlets. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S.  For y’all that think I’m perfect,  I’m not.  I captured this picture on the 2nd day of preschool because the kidlets just were in a foul mood and didn’t want to a. sit still or b. sit near each other for the first day back.  Boo!  But, 2nd day works just as well! 

Carrying her own lunch bag

 

 

 

What’s next, college?

 

Have mercy, I’m not ready for such a big girl!

 

 

 

Hello preschool

 

 

 

Today Sara starts preschool. 

 

We knew this day would come far too soon, but we know that it’s the right time for her and the right time for us.  We will have both kids at the same place, at least for a year.  We love where Alex is at and now both kids will be there!  We look forward to her growing and learning, making friends, playing, all the preschool kinds of things.  We love that Alex will be there for her, he is such a great big brother (on a side note – when Alex and Sara were with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Steve when Lance and I went to the reunion – Connie was putty Sara to sleep.  But, Alex came in and laid down next to her and told Connie that he would do it and it was time for her to leave.  He did it!  And she fell asleep!)… Truly – what a great big brother. 

 

Here is Sara with Renee, our Nanny’s 2 year old daughter.  I asked Sara to give Renee a hug, one of Sara’s favorite things to do.  Over the last 9 months Sara and Renee have become like sisters.  Sara’s face would light up when Melanie and Renee would show up.  She would do her “happy dance” running back and forth and looking out the window.  They would play at the house, outside or a the park.  They would eat together.  Just two peas in a pod. 

 

She would call her “Nay-Nay” and, during our week off during 4th of July, would often talk about her.

 

Nay-nay and Melanie will surely be missed. 

 

 

Alex’s new preschool

 

 

 

 

Alex started another preschool 2 weeks ago.  It was a tough transition, considering he was really looking forward to “big kid” school.  Some of his other friends had left his preschool and Alex talked and asked to go to “big boy” school.  He wanted to go so badly!  We looked around in December, but choose to keep him there at his current preschool.  He would be the oldest kid there, but it would be an opportunity for him to step up.  Unfortunately, they decided to close down end of January (it was an in-home daycare/preschool). 

 

So, the decision was made for us! 

 

We choose Evergreen Montessori in Kirkland and so far it has been great!  I love that Alex is in Montessori type school since he is SO smart and this will allow him to really fly off in whatever direction, and level, he is at and wants to go. 

 

The transition has been rough.  I had been doing pick-ups (the easiest to do) for a long while, but with this new schedule of having to get to school by 9AM since that is when school started, I would do drop-offs and Lance would do pickups.  His office is literally 100 ft away from Evergreen Montessori. 

 

The first week (except for the first day) was horrible.  Alex was screaming the whole way to preschool, sobbing with big tears coming down his face saying he wanted to go back to “little kid” preschool.  Once we got to the school, he would hold on to my legs so tight and not let go.  We would drop off his bag, sign him in and wash his hands.  I would try to get him interested in something and then leave.  I would physically have to unwrap his arms off my legs (he’s stronger than you think!) and close the door behind me to get out.  It was so hard! 

 

But, I’m not unfamiliar with the stages:

1) honeymoon – everything is new and fun

2) transition/adjustment – the rough part

3) acceptance of the new routine and the rest of the time at the school

 

Little did I know that the honeymoon would be one day!  I finally got it out of him that he wanted to go back to “little kid” preschool since he knew everyone’s name and new all the rules.  He talked about the new rule of having to put something away before taking something else out.  No matter how much reason/logic a child has – they don’t have enough at this stage to realize (even though you say it) that they will make friends and know everyone’s name. 

 

So, after almost two weeks of this – on Friday – we talked about what was going to happen, and since it had happened that whole week, it wasn’t a surprise. 

 

We go to preschool

Drop off his bag

Sign him in

Wash his hands

Say bye bye, hug and kiss

Mommy has to go “working”

 

Finally – on Friday after 9 days – we had a very nice drop off. 

 

Mind you – teachers would tell me that ~1 minute after I left he was fine. 

 

So, now we are on to week 3.  Here’s to Monday morning drop off!

 

 

 

 

Alex was even featured in their weekly newsletter!

image: Evergreen Montessori

New Preschool

Alex started his first Preschool (Avondale Preschool) today and it was a wonderful first day. We arrived at 8:00 AM and I stayed for about 30 minutes to make sure he was comfortable. He was looking around and stacking blocks before you could even say the word "block". It's the kind of place where I just knew it was right for Alex and our family. There are many things to explore & learn, friends to make, routines to learn, and stability from one teacher (Mia), the same children everyday (she will have one other child starting next week part time and also (of course!) takes care of her two children - ages 4 girl and 2 boy) and one place everyday. Mia emailed me about 2 PM to tell me that Alex was having a wonderful day and slept well, ate well and didn't cry at all when I left. She commented on how much he talks! And boy does he talk! He spent the morning saying Choo-Choo Train over and over again. The home daycare has a dog - just like Bella - a Jack Russell Terrier named Jill and Alex loves petting her.

They also have a snake which after stacking the blocks for a bit - Alex seemed really interested in the snake. His new teacher, Mia, pulled the snake out for Alex to look at it and pet it, if he wanted. He wasn't scared at all - all the while in my head is

"It's OK, you're not touching the snake, no bad dreams about snakes OK?, Slithery icky Yucky snake, icky, I can't believe Alex isn't scared of the snake!!!! But, I have to be COOL! Alex doesn't need to see my fear of snakes.... OK - I'm acting COOL, aren't I?"

and I was trying to show on my face ---

"Oh look! A little snake - Alex loves petting a nice wonderful snake, it's so cute! Mama loves snakes."

Soon enough they put the snake away and I could relax a little.

The Back story: I HATE snakes. I think it goes back to my childhood when I would run around with bare feet and step on harmless snakes in the grass in Eastern Washington. And go horseback riding in the hills and come upon a rattler. It wasn't going to hurt me - I know this. But it's the thought of the slithering snake that gets me. Worms are kinda the same - long skinny animals that slither along the ground. Now, worms aren't that bad for me since they don't have a mouth and no teeth. But, they still cause a little bit of the same reaction in me.

Enough about snakes - it's giving me the willies.

When I picked Alex up - he was happy to see me and said "Home". Mia and I talked about his day and he showed me his art drawing from that day - you guessed it a "Choo Choo Train". We also talked about where we were at on the toilet learning - where Alex was at and what we do at home. She has her kids participate in toilet learning at the appropriate stages, including learning to pull down pants, take off diapers, sit on the potty bare-bottomed, etc. Alex will be learning some of this at preschool and we will continue it here - for consistency. I'm excited from learning about toilet training from Mia. It seems like she knows a lot.

They whole way home Alex kept saying "No No - this way!" "No No - That way!" and getting frustrated that I was turning the "wrong" direction. Finally I told him, that if I turned "this" way - then we would go back to preschool.

He was silent.

I asked - do you want to go back to preschool? It was the quickest "yeah" ever! I guess that's a good sign! I told him we'll go back to preschool tomorrow, but now it's time to go home and see Daddy. He seemed to accept this.

Overall - it was a wonderful day where I knew that Alex was learning, exploring and having fun. Thank goodness we found her!