Preschool

I don't know if I've mentioned on here yet that I actually decided not to start Natalie in kindergarten this year. It was a hard decision to make but Joe and I felt good about what we decided. A lot of things went into the decision. We felt, and still feel, that she probably would have done fine but we wanted to give her a little more time before she officially starts the 16+ years of school ahead of her. She would have been really young for her grade. One thing that affected our decision was that it's an all-day kindergarten here. I just didn't know if she (or I!) would be ready for that quite yet.

I did feel like she needed to have something this year, though. We had fun with our co-op preschool last year. I got her on the waiting list for a preschool right at the elementary school that looked really nice and actually doesn't cost a fortune like many others around here. The days passed and it looked like she wouldn't get in. Finally, the weekend before they were starting we got a call saying she got in! It was such a relief. She started on Wednesday.

The only picture I got inside her classroom:
(It's hard managing a toddler who wants to play on everything but isn't supposed to with one arm and taking pictures with the other...)

She had a great first day. She loves her teacher and she is so excited to get to know the kids in her class. I'm excited to get my chance to help out in the class and see her in there.

Preschool

I feel bad that I've never dedicated a post to Natalie's preschool. A few friends and I started a co-op preschool a few months ago. There are six kids and it's two hours long, twice a week. It has been wonderful for Natalie. She would be dying if she didn't have her very own school to go to. She only wishes hers were every day like Lizzie's.

I have actually really enjoyed teaching. Well...I enjoy my weeks off more, but it is very fun to plan the activities and to see the kids enjoying them. It makes me realize how many things I could have been doing with my kids before that are really simple yet educational and fun.

For one day that I taught, we were learning about eyes and the sense of sight. For our snack we made veggie faces. I thought Natalie's was really clever. She said she made a clown:

Some of the kids:
(small numbers since we were missing the three triplet girls who were sick)

I need to be better about recording some of the fun activities we do. The irony of this post is that the only reason I'm writing this right now is that we are having a sick (coughs/colds) day around here and the girls are both missing school. They are resting watching a movie. I have to admit--it feels nice not to be running around.