Watching the cat

Theres a cat in the garden. Its an outside cat that only comes around when it needs food, but it caught Espens attention right away, he kept staring at it and the cat kept staring at me

First day in new daycare

Espen had his first day at the new day care home today. He spent an hour there - with me - to get used to his new surroundings. The new place is well set up with a dedicated play room and sleep rooms, in addition theres a big yard with fruit trees and lots of grass and I think they will spend a lot of time out there.

Farwell Dirty Feet and Preschool

First day

I think she had a good first (half) day. When I arrived to pick her up she saw sitting outside with the rest of her group having lunch.

She said she had had a good day and wanted to bring her lunch box tomorrow also. I think it would have been better for her to stay there all day considering her confusion coming home alone with me. Looking for her mom and how hard it was for her to try have a nap.
Here are some pictures I took this morning from where she will be playing inside, however they keep the kids outside as much as possible.

More Pictures of the New Preschool

These are from Facebook, so you won't see Lucia in any of these pics. Still, behold that backyard.

New daycare visit

Lucia and I paid a visit to the new day care this afternoon to check things out and meet her new teachers and new friends. Lucia was very excited about this and asked all the way over if this was the way to her new day care.

She seemed a little shy, especially with the older kids, around 4 years old, but she enjoyed it quite a bit when they started making a "bridge" out of some planks and wooden blocks and pretended this was going somewhere, or when they rearranged it to become an airplane going to San Francisco.

A little boy, probably 2.5 years old came running to me as soon as I got there and grabbed my legs, the teacher told me he did this to all men.. Endearing and bitter sweet.

We also got to go inside in the main room where they had put a name tag on her cubby on so she can hang her clothes, keep her lunch box and sleeping bag.

She will start next Monday but only go for half a day first and then have her first full day Wednesday.

One more

One more vaccination before starting at the new preschool Monday. Here she is waiting and playing with the germy toys.

Preschool

I was, well I guess I could speak for Pete here and say that we were, not the type of parents to get super amped up about preschool. I've heard horror stories of the application process and having to have your kid be evaluated to make sure they have the right temperament,and having to go through multiple screenings and to me anyway, it just reeked of some sorority pledging process (and I say that as a former sorority girl) with snotty teachers and even snottier parents.

Meaning: we were just not interested. Lucia was blissfully happy at her daycare, which is run by a former preschool teacher. 

But as her little mind has developed in the past few months, we've watched her be able to -- and really enjoy -- recollecting the details of her day, the previous day/night, going over the sequence of her day, and bringing more and more art projects home. It's been awesome. We also found out that the oldest kid at her daycare (who is only older by 3 weeks) was going to preschool 2 mornings a week, which meant Lucia only had little babies and a 2-year-old to hang with. Which isn't devastating, I know, but maybe not ideal for her little mind. I also have to fully disclose that I was painfully jealous of the feedback that Mary and David got about Danny, and most importantly, the feedback about things they could do at home to encourage his development. Man. I wish we had that with our daycare. It just seemed like she needed more of a push, and was maybe outgrowing her existing daycare.

So we started thinking about it. My obsessive research skills came in super handy, as I was able to narrow our search down to preschools that were 1. highly rated by other parents, 2. close by and 3. offered all-day care. With Pete's schedule being insane and me tied to my desk, a half-day/morning shuffle 2-3 days a week wouldn't work for us. The shortlist was made, and emails were sent. To our surprise, a Reggio-Emilia/Waldorf/Montessori-inspired (which makes me want to roll my eyes just writing it, I know) school was offering a tour yesterday. We brought Lucia along, and hilariously, on the drive over she declared that she loved the school (before she had seen it). Classic Lucia. 

We arrived, and were basically blown away. The place is so freaking cute; we sat on teeny chairs and watched the "acorns" which is Lucia's age group, do a sing along and learn how to sit in a circle. Apparently, impulse control is a huge deal for a three-year-old (we both nearly slapped our foreheads: so that's why we have to tell her to please be patient so often), so sitting in a circle and waiting your turn is uh, a skill they have to learn (Look, we never said we were early childhood education specialists!). We watched that for a while, then went to continue the tour but Lucia didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and watch the kids. So cute. We looked at the nap area and learned about the snack time (which is served family style with the teachers sitting at the table) and toured the "pinecones" room, which is where the 4-year-olds are. 

Then we went outside, and nearly fainted from the awesomeness. First? They have two goats and chickens that the kids get to "care" for. They have an outdoor play kitchen made of stone and wood (!), huge garden, and composting and gardening is one of the activities they do. There's a slide and an old wooden boat for the kids to play in, and other types of activities for them to get into. Lucia immediately asked, can I go play? Of course, kid. Apparently the place was designed by the owner/founder to maximize learning through movement and activity. Um. Yes. Each month they learn about a different artist or classical musician, dance, yoga, creative problem solving and making dream boxes. 

We walked back to the car grinning ear to ear. We found a preschool for her! She'll start in March and will go three days a week, and remain the other two days at her current daycare.We're thrilled, and I guess we're now those parents who care about preschool. Funny how things look different from the other side. 

Happy President's Day

Lucia and her new friend at daycare Benjamin show off their new hats made for President's Day.

New Day Care!

Today is Lucia's first (full) day at her new daycare. She spent a few hours there already yesterday and the day before, and things went very well. Above is picture of the house where she will be going.

Day care loaction

This picture is pretty long and wide, you may have to click on it to see the details. It shows where we live on the left and where Lucia's day care is located on the right. Not very far at all!