Archive for February, 2010

Preschool Paranoia…

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Over the last few months I have been doing some research on different preschools in our area.  It is completely different here from where we lived before.  I know that is usually the case especially in a different part of the country.  Jack has never been in school, so I wanted to get him enrolled as soon as possible in order for him to learn new skills and to especially be around other kids.  The problem I am finding is there is nothing available, and the waiting lists are extremely long.  Is this the case in your neck of the woods?

The town we live in is pretty small, so there are only a select few programs that are actually preschools and not daycares.  I have no problem with a daycare, but I wanted Jack to be involved in a curriculum based instructional program.  With that being said, it limits me to about three schools here.  All three of the schools are located at a church.  They all have roughly the same hours and rates. We are on every waiting list and will be registering in a few weeks for the fall class.  I was told that students already attending have first dibs and then church members have second dibs.  From there it will open to the public.  I was told I must get in line at 3am at one of the schools to register in order to have any chance for a spot.

We are going to take a tour of each of these schools this week to get a better idea of what goes on.  I have only heard through friends which schools are available and their opinions.  I would like to see for myself.  Those of you with this experience is there anything I need to be looking for or asking while I’m there that will make me feel better as well as Jack?  Please leave comments I’m interested in what you have to say.

Choo Choo – Here Comes “Another” Train

Monday, February 1st, 2010

To say Brady enjoys trains is putting it mildly. I think that is a common theme with all three kids involved in this blog! I have read other blog entries about trains. Brady is obsesses about them! We have the Geotrax plastic set, Imaginarium/Thomas wooden train table, and now even some plastic “take-a-long” Thomas. We had a train themed party, train cake, train piñata, engineer hats and train whistles for favors…. Are you sensing a theme here?

Sometimes I think Brady moves like a train and even thinks he IS a train. We were out doing some final holiday shopping in December and a lady asked Brady if Santa was going to put coal in his stocking. Brady looked perplexed. He looked at me, back at the lady, back at me, and then said proudly “why would I get coal in my stocking? I am not a train.” We all had to chuckle at this analogy. Brady seems to think that coal’s only purpose is to make Thomas and his friends chug along throughout Sodor.

This year I did break down and finally bought a train table. It was so worth the money. Brady was THRILLED. We play with it daily. It ranked right up there with bowling on the Wii (and that means something special in our world).

So everyday (be it raining, snowing, or sunshine) the trains are traveling around our house. We build the double or triple decker sets downstairs. Upstairs, Lady “The Golden Engine” pulls the freight cars to the loading dock and Brady and I each have our own crane (another popular toy). As a teacher, I must admit I take advantage of the teachable moments about magnets and more.

Although I get tired of going “choo choo” and walking from one side of the table to the other (and, of course, changing batteries), I am just going to suck it up and enjoy driving these trains. Soon enough he will be driving a real car, and I won’t be “cool” anymore. So for now I am chugging away!