It Should Be a Day

It's Halloween Day here at middle school...wish me luck! So far I have seen 3 dresses that are too short, about a dozen bees, and one pop tart. It's only 8:10 and the bell has yet to ring.

Montessori

When I was first researching where Haley should go to preschool I knew I liked what I had heard and read about Montessori. To put it very basically, it is a hands on, student lead approach to learning. Structure within choice. Once i toured her current school I knew I wanted her there. Last night confirmed that this is the right place for her. The school offered a parent night to really show the Montessori approach and how it applies to the school. I learned so much. Josh was home with the kids and the upholstery cleaners. :) One thing that stood out is that everything they do is from left to right, top to bottom. Everything. They explained that this helps prepare them for reading and writing, since those are the directions we do them in. I could write a huge page about all the "ah ha" moments I had, but this was the biggest and I am still thinking about it. They talked about how from birth to 6 are the development years. By 6 a personality is formed and that development phase is over. I can't help but wonder if we are doing enough during this phase? We LOVE our kids to no end, but to think that Haley is 4 plus years into the 6 and Ryan is a bit over 1 year in makes me hope that we are doing everything we can to foster who they are. I never want to wonder if we could have done more or what if we...? We want to be the best parents for our children. It is sometimes overwhelming to know the immense impact we have on their lives. I hope we are doing it right. We love our kids and wouldn't change anything about them. I just hope we are maximizing this developmental time. Sheesh...and we've only been parents for 4 and 1/2 years!!

Wise Words

"Mommy, when I am an adult I will know everything like you do."
The girl is wise beyond her years.

Ryan Translated

oowah= uh oh

doe!= go!

sis= Haley

AH BOT!= Batman (on his cup)

za= pizza

hop= help

hem (with a smile)=yes

ooh (with a head shake)= no

ooh ooh (in a tone)= thank you. And he says this approproiately. I will give him something and he will say "ooh, ooh."

hat=head

hat=hat

doo= two

Yes, he has other words, but these are the ones you need to translate.

Siblings

The Kids

From youngest to oldest...

Ryan- He is growing in every sense of the word. I look at him and see a little boy and can't believe I no longer have a baby at home. His personality is definitely shining through. He knows what he wants and he will LET YOU KNOW. He can be so playful and fun and then turn and be serious and intense and frustrated. We call him Jekyll and Hyde. He is verbal without use of many words. He is "talking" all of the time and gets frustrated if you don't understand him. He loves to climb and pound and shake. He likes riding in the wagon and on the little scooter. He likes to color (and eat the crayons). At Diane's he is very protective over his little cousin Drew. He will bring her her pacifier and go to her if she's upset. He loves to rough house and play chase. He loves books and will pick one out and walk over to the couch for you to sit and read with him. He makes animal sounds that are hilarious! On Saturday we went to get our flu shots and he was sitting on Josh's lap. When the nurse went to give Josh the spray, Ryan reached up and batted her hand away, basically saying, "Don't mess with my dad!" Ryan can't wait to see his sister every morning and after I pick him up. I will walk into the room and he will say, "sis! sis!"

Haley- In an earlier post I wrote of a drop off at preschool that was tough and involved tears. Apparently that was a one time thing. There have even been a few occasions when Haley has said, "Mommy, why did you pick me up so early? I wasn't ready to go!" Her teachers say she is doing great and that she wants to do well. She talks about the different kids and the things she's learning. Her favorite part of the day is "practical life" when she works at different stations with hands on activities. Her school has such a great feel. Soccer is going well too. She is the opposite of aggressive. It is so fun to watch her skip around the field and take notice of everything but the ball. She has been very into drawing and coloring pictures of family and flowers. We have been enjoying some chapter books too. She is a great help in the kitchen and often finds herself looking through colorful cookbooks and picking out recipes for us to try. It's been fun! Haley fully entertains her brother. They have become very much like siblings lately as Ryan wants anything that Haley has. They had their first tugging fight the other day over a toy. Yes, it was funny.

The kids are good. Growing every day (is it possible that Haley will be turning 5?). Will post a few pictures soon.

6th Grade Social

I realize it has been awhile since I have posted. Always lots going on. Last Friday I helped supervise the 6th grade social at our school. This is one of my favorite duties because these are my students in a whole new light. It was very appropriate. It was right after school until 5:00 with 2 jumpy houses, a game room, a snack bar, and a DJ. I almost felt like a fly on a wall watching my students in a different, more carefree element. I couldn't help but laugh at so many things. They were so excited all day on Friday in anticipation of the big event. Everyone kind of rushed the bounce houses and snack bar at once. They enjoyed nachos and snow cones. Soon, there were a few groups of kids dancing. The DJ played a few Michael Jackson songs and these kids screamed and hurried to the dance floor where they busted out some sweet MJ moves. There were boys just running around break dancing and sweaty. There were girls who just jumped up and down and did silly disco moves. Their "kid-ness" just oozed out. I often hear that kids are much "older" these days, but this event just reminded me that they really are just kids. Most of them just wanted to have some innocent fun. I think I smiled for two hours straight.