Firsts and Lasts

Firsts:
Julia wore training pants in public for the first time today. She stayed dry the rest of the day!

She also learned to jump with both feet at the same time. She'd been practicing for a long time so it was great to see her finally be able to do it.

There aren't any pictures, but it's still just as exciting - she can now climb up the last level of the play structure at our local McDonald's. No more climbing in there to help her. Wahoo!!!!



Lasts:

I think today is going to have to be the last day of ice cream cones as a reward for Julia p**ping in the p*tty. She's gone every day for almost a week and twice today. We're going to gain 10 pounds if we keep this up!

She painted her last picture at ECFE today.
This year went way too fast!

Oh how I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Minnesota Early Childhood Ed Program!!!


































What is it about using a self timer that make people look straight into the camera?!?! Would you believe this is the only picture I took!?!!?

This Morning

* I only had 2 minutes to hustle downstairs and outside to unlock the gate before 7am.

* Julia had a huge blow out

* I did my hair and makeup for the 4th time this month

* I was on time for both schools

* We had a FANTASTIC discussion during parent education about our expectations as parents. After 4 years of Early Childhood Education, I have a large arsenal of tools and techniques for parenting, but what I didn't get until today is that I don't have to fix everything RIGHT AWAY in the heat of the moment. Lately we've been struggling with whining and the kids wanting more of everything and I was getting very frustrated.

Julia's emotions are off the charts and I feel like Sam is old enough to understand that he should be grateful for the two pieces of candy instead of whining about wanting more. Our lesson today at school was to show empathy when our kids are upset and leave it at that. It can still be a learning opportunity even if things aren't tied up with a neat bow at the end. Teaching the kids to get a handle on their emotions and taking the time to empathize can (over time) do wonders. I'm looking forward to trying this out this week.

What else did we do this morning?

* I ran into my SIL and had an impromptu lunch date at Target

* Julia refused to eat anything

* Instead she asked to go home and see Sammy. I had shopping to do so she asked to get in a cart instead of walking.

* She laid down in the big part of the cart while Sharon and I ate lunch.

* She napped for 45 minutes - in the grocery cart.

* We stopped at the garden center to scope out the organic fertilizers and seeds for our straw bale garden.

* We played baseball in the yard (It's 65 and sunny out FINALLY)

* PapaBear ran and got the hardware to hang a second hammock in our yard.

* We hauled 3 heaping laundry baskets of outgrown clothes downstairs. (My friend is going to sell them at a garage sale for me next week in exchange for a photoshoot. Now I won't have to list 75 pieces of clothing and 18 pairs of shoes on Craigslist! Wahoo!!!)


And that was just our morning. Can't wait to see what the afternoon brings!

Shine on me

Once we got past the "car vs. snow plow" scene on Tuesday it was smooth sailing to SisterBear's new school. "My YOU-to-to" she calls it. I have no idea why. Most everything else she says is understandable, but "new school" always comes out with a few extra syllables.


It's a huge class - 14 kids. We're used to 6. 10 max.
There were familiar faces (BrotherBear's old teacher and an aide SisterBear knows from last year) and toys she loves, so the separation was a cinch.


The mom's had an hour with a parent educator and while I'm normally an active participant, I for the most part, settled back in my seat and soaked up the experience of being surrounded by other moms. I'm very isolated out here in the country and really missed my ECFE moms. I don't even know this new group yet, but already they are bringing sunshine to my life and when schools are closing left and right the night before, we could all use a little sunshine like the kids are using in this photo to melt the snowmen.

New Kids on the Block

Today was Julia's first day of school. She was a bit nervous. Can almost two year olds even get nervous? Perhaps anxious is better word for her clingy-ness and need for her paci.



This particular ECFE in our new town accepts kids from age 2 all the way to age 5. Perfect. No need for a babysitter for Sam. He took on the big brother role and led Julia to the van.


At school we got acquainted with the new building and new teachers.

Can you guess what the theme was for today? My favorite food. :)

Julia painted seven, yes seven pictures.


This is frozen paint - very fun and not as messy.
Note to self: There aren't any smocks. Don't dress kids in their nicer clothes.


Before we knew it, it was time to clean up and head into the other room for circle time.



Half of us moms have two kids in the class, but the teacher asked Sam if he wanted to sit by her for Criss-cross Applesauce. If you know my kids at all, you won't need to scroll down to the next picture to see how well that went over.




An old favorite! The Bang Bang Song!


The disappointing part of the morning was snack time. The kids were given sugar wafers. Where I come from that is a treat, not a snack. Then the teacher pulled out a DoraTheExplorer book out. Oh brother. I don't care what other families do, but our family does its best to steer clear of character books that our society feels the need to splash all over everything from fruit snacks to diapers.

Then I glanced down to see this:

My sweet little girl hasn't touched her snack. Instead she sat with her hands folded; waiting to say Grace.

While the kids ate the moms went into a classroom to do the obligatory get to know you stuff. I thought the parent educator did a great job. She had us go around and explain the reason we named our kids what we did. Pretty cool huh? (And since I was secretly trying to figure out why anyone would name their son, Guy, I was anxious to hear everyone's stories.)

All in all it was a great first day. I love having the opportunity to meet moms from our new town and interact with my kids in an educational setting.


Waving goodbye to her new friends...


No need for a paci now!