Em's First Day of Preschool

We decided to put Em in a 2-morning-a-week preschool program for social reasons. She goes to Jacob's Ladder from 9:15-1:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Acworth First Baptist. I really like the schedule. She has music on Tuesdays and Spanish on Thursdays. They have a letter of the week. They practice writing it (tracing), the sound it makes, and they even bring in something that starts with that letter for "show and tell." They also eat lunch together. She is loving it, although they weren't loving her at first! =) They have a stoplight version of discipline, where the goal is to stay on green and not get to yellow (time out) or red (no pick from the treasure box at the end of the week). Well, the first day in carpool line, I was informed that "she had a very hard time listening." How 'bout that for some encouragement. And even after talking it up, she still got on red the next day. So, I tried to motivate her by offering her a surprise if she stayed on green the following week, and it worked! She's been on green ever since (knock on wood). Hopefully, it was just a matter of adjusting to a structured routine since I don't really have that here at home. I can't believe how much and how fast she's learning--amazing! I love that I can actually talk to her about what happened at school, and, for the most part, she can tell me! I'm finding that my 8 hours "off" per week are even busier than if she were with me--I'm packing in endless appointments and errands that are faster/easier to get done alone than with a toddler tagging along, but I'm not to the point of using that time to rest at all yet...maybe that will come, but I doubt it! So, I'd say her life is pretty good with school on Tues. and Thurs., gymnastics on Mondays, and story time at the library on Wednesdays. Here are some pics of her first day. She walked into the classroom as if she owned it and shouted, "Hey everybody! Hey Miss Diane!" Not even a look back at the grieving parents. Unbelievable how social this kid is...we were never planning on putting her in a program until she was 4, but with no sibling yet, she's going a bit stir crazy!

More Beach Pics

For some reason, this blog will only let me upload 5 pics per post. If anyone out there knows how to fix this, please let me know! I will attempt to upload a video clip next...hopefully that'll work!

Hilton Head Island, SC--Family Beach Trip Aug. 2008

OK, OK, so I'm really behind! We went to Hilton Head for our first time (ever) in Aug. for a few days and just loved it. We stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort, and it was perfect! Highly recommended! Loved the room, loved the beach, and loved the weather! The sand isn't white sand; it's darker and heavier, but the best thing about this beach is that when you're in the ocean, the floor is completely clean--no seaweed, no rocks--just bare, packed sand under your feet! Great for children! (The downside, though, was the lack of seashells.)

This was the first year that Em went running for the water. When she was 1, she didn't like the sand or the water. When she was 2, she preferred the sand. Now at 3, she definitely prefers the water--specifically jumping the breaking waves! We loved watching the numerous Nigels dive into the water (that would be a pelicans reference from Finding Nemo). We also really liked the layout of the island--there's one central horizontal thoroughfare with endless perpendicular turnoffs for each resort/hotel to the beach. On that highway, restaurants and other stores were plentiful, well within driving distance from our hotel.

Emily basically accosted any and every kid she laid eyes on. She would attach herself to the children and sometimes their families. It got so out of hand that we actually had to tell her to stop, that families wanted to spend time with each other and not pesky strangers (how sad is that?). The best one was a German-speaking male duo. They were something like 7 and 5, and were so excited to be in the ocean. The mom was back on the beach, and there went Emily greeting them and introducing herself. When they didn't respond, she tried her Spanish "hola." I tried to tell her they didn't speak English or Spanish, that they spoke another language and that they didn't understand her...but she persisted, and started repeating German phrases they used with each other. Eventually, all 3 of them were jumping the waves hand-in-hand, with Em in the middle! Too bad I don't have a pic of this. But we're pretty happy with the pics we do have--check them out!