Playing Dress Up! - Sept 27

Last week on Thursday I got to work for the first time in Chloe's classroom and it was pretty cool. I wasn't scheduled to "work" for the first time until this week on Tuesday but I knew going into it I was going to try to sign up for something where I would be able to participate in Chloe's class. Last week I signed up for a "station" where I was helping the pre-k class so that was also interesting to see because technically Chloe could be in that class. Her birthday is just on the cusp of the cutoff and they actually said she could go in either class. MOVING ON!

Chloe's class meets in the room and they do a few songs and some engaging activities including an intense round of "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick" and you can imagine what happened next. =) They split the class in half and Chloe's half(apparently the older half of the class) got to do an activity in the kitchen. The school has a few big apple trees so they actually were learning how to properly use a (plastic) knife to cut up some apples then roll out some dough to make little apple pies. We baked them for about 10 minutes and the kids got to enjoy the fruits of their labor(pun intended). =P
After that, the kids got to move about and do whatever they wanted and I had to report back to my "station". Chloe, played outside, as I knew she would. LOL.

Every day since she has started school she comes home and tells us that she "dressed up like a frog!" and sure enough, as time was winding down I found Chloe walking into my room and nicely started playing dress up with 2 other girls. It was really cute and even though Chloe spent most of her time away from me, I have complete faith in the school program and I know she is safe and having a great time. They also encourage people to bring a camera when they are working which for me..hey you don't gotta twist my arm I'll do it. It's also quite enjoyable for me to quietly document the things the kids are doing and the school has a shutterfly site where families can upload their photos for the other parents to see. Pretty cool.
So here are just a few photos of Chloe doing her thing in school. Have a great weekend!
-B

Daddy's First Day Of School - Sept 20

This week was super busy for everyone here. Chloe going into her 2nd week of pre school seems to have adjusted very well to the process of it all. Walk in the door, put your bag in the cubby, wash your hands and meet the class in the block room. As I mentioned last week, she was immediately ok with us just dropping her off and leaving her to "play" with her friends. This week we had to focus a little bit more on making sure she understood the order of events when she arrived at school and when it was time to go she had to go. LOL.
Late Wednesday night I got an email from the schedule lady asking for a last minute person to take a work day from another parent that was scheduled and couldn't do it. I put myself on a list of people who would be available for just such a thing so on Thursday I got to work my first day in the classroom. When I told Chloe she actually tole me: "Daddy, I like you but you aren't staying in my school. You are going to leave, okay?" LOL I swear.

We arrived a little early and I chose my work assignment, the library. I chose that intentionally because I knew that Chloe would probably be outside on the playground for the time they were allowed to do "free choice" play. As much as I wanted to see what Chloe was up to, I felt like it would be better this early not to hover her and more than likely I would be compelled to call her out for every thing she might be doing wrong and I'm pretty sure she's heard enough of that from me. LOL. I think it would do her good to be monitored by other adults that she doesn't know. Anyway, she does fine and I got to experience an entirely different thing then I even thought I would. I'll explain.

The library where I was to work is also where the pre-k class meets for the first hour of the day. Chloe's class meets in the "block room" and I didn't realise that I wouldn't even be with her class. Not a problem because there will be plenty of opportunities to work in all of the stations around the school. I got to be a part of a class with kids that are about Chloe's age and a little older(Chloe's birthday puts her as one of if not the oldest in her class). It was interesting because aside from our friends with kids, it was really the first time I have been around a group of kids Chloe's age and it was really interesting to see them all interacting with each other. As the day went on, the class split up and they did a few different activities. Eventually, all of the kids were able to take part in their "free choice" time and as I suspected, Chloe was nowhere to be found. She did appear after while to have a snack in the kitchen and she stuck her head out the door long enough to say hi to me but then quickly disappeared again to play. The day was over before I knew it and after some cleaning up, we were done. Just like that.

It was a busy and interesting week to say the least and while I did bring my camera to take some pictures while at the school, I didn't get any photos of Chloe because as I said she was off having her own fun. The school has a shutterfly site where families and teachers at the school can upload photos so I tried to contribute to that instead. Here are just a few snaps of Chloe. Have a great weekend, folks.
-B

The First Day Of School - Sept 13

Well, it's been a long time coming but it is finally here. Chloe started preschool. Neither of us can believe it because basically it seems like just last week she was a little squishy toddler and now she is 3.5 years old and bossing us around. LOL.

The preschool we chose is actually a co-op school which, if you aren't familiar, is basically a school that is supported and maintained by the families of the kids that go there. It is less expensive than a typical preschool however you do have to put in time by working once or twice a month in the classroom and by working within committees in the school to do things like fundraising and maintenance all throughout the year. It works out well for us I think. For the first day(and really any day if we wanted) that we could stay for a few minutes or we could stay for the whole day. Obviously they understand sometimes it's difficult for the kid to separate and be left at school but I think often it's just as difficult for the parents. We stayed for the first hour or basically just long enough to make sure Chloe understood the deal with snack time and actually ate something because she can get quite..cranky..if she is hungry but probably would never ask for food.

We got her up in the morning and she was ready and super excited. I decided to sort of document her morning in as photo journalistic way as I know how. I already knew when we got to the school that we were going to be of no use to her. Some kids would cry when being dropped off, some kids clung to their parents leg and wouldn't let go. We opened the gate to the school and Chloe was nowhere to be seen. LOL. Just like in her gymnastics class, once the teacher asked the kids to sit down in a circle Chloe made sure she was DIRECTLY next to the teacher. Her teacher's name is "Miss Leslie", by the way, and she is super nice. Chloe is one of the older kids in the class(because of her birthday) and she is certainly the tallest kid in the class. The day started off great and Chloe was totally into every activity they did and again, did not even notice we were still there. I found myself once or twice when she started to wander off or start to do something she shouldn't saying "Chloeeeeee..." and then I remembered that we would not be there and it would be their responsibility to keep her in line so I held my tongue.

She played nicely with the other kids and after a while we said our goodbyes and left Chloe to fend for herself. When I picked Chloe up I had to search for her in the school because she was still playing. She had more difficulty leaving then being left, if that makes any sense. She's ready. It will be...interesting...to see how things go from here on out. I'll keep you posted. =)

Have a great weekend~

B+H+C