Friday, October 06, 2006

BYE-BYE DAYCARE, HELLO PRESCHOOL

Big, big week for the kiddos. They said good-bye (finally!) to their old, not-so-stimulating, in desperate need of some good teachers, wanna-be-a-real-school-when-it-grows-up daycare that they've attended for the last year, and started on a brand new adventure at a real live preschool with real teachers, real academics, and a real developmental focus (oh, my). They were a little sad saying their goodbyes and got lots of attention from the teachers...on their way out the door. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. Their first week at the new school has been a pure joy. No tears at all. Not even once. The commute's a pain in my backside -- a minimum of 45 minutes (one way!), but it's totally worth getting up at 5:30 just to hear them so excited, so exhausted, and so eager to go back the next day.The new school has only 4 teachers and less than 30 students, only half of which are full-time like the kids. They get so much more one-on-one attention, and the whole atmosphere is just calmer, more organized, competent, and productive. It's in a renovated old two-story home, so it's got that familiar feel, which I think has made the transition that much easier. The playground is, well...heaven if your a 3 1/2-year old. Swings, jungle gym, pirate ship, b-ball court, and the biggest sandbox you've ever seen. This last picture is their first day. The school asks that they bring their nap things in a pillow case, so that they can learn how to fold and put away their sheets, blankets, and pillows after nap. They've also got gymnastics one day a week, which they seem to just love (Saia, for the activities, and Chago, for the break in the day), and with our new schedule necessitating that we eat dinner on the drive home, we're also actually gaining a little time in the evening and no longer having to rush to get changed, teeth brushed, stories read, songs sung, and off to sleep, off to sleep, I said OFF TO SLEEP! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN HERE AGAIN!!! [ahem] Anyway...all in all, it seems like this was a really great move. It does mean that we live in one place, Mommy works in a whole other town, Mama works in an entirely different city 30 minutes away, and the kids go to school in yet another place. Ugh. How times have changed. But what ARE we gonna do when they start kindergarten???

2 comments:

Sonya said...

Sounds like an awesome transition!

Jo Anna Guerra said...

I think I'm still in shock, Sonya. I was really expecting 1-2 weeks of hell, but this has been truly amazing!!!