Preschool

Aerya is almost into her second month of preschool and we have very mixed results. Or at least I have some mixed emotions about it! LOL.

When we talk about school at home or even on the car ride to school, Aerya seems to really enjoy it. She talks about the games they play, the crafts she does and all the new words she's learning. She says that she really likes preschool.

However, when we get into the coatroom and it's time for me to leave, Aerya has a fit - each and everytime! She begs me not to leave, she wants me to stay and look at "just one thing, just one more thing." She doesn't usually cry, but she definately is very upset. The last two times, I've had to have the teacher pull Aerya off of me and then I've left with her crying and screaming.

It just breaks my heart each time I drop her off. The last day another mom came running out to the parking lot towards me and I definately feared the worst. However, she was just coming to let me know that Aerya had stopped crying the second I closed door and she had happily joined in the crafts going on. The mom just wanted to let me know that Aerya was just fine, once I'd left.

Both the teachers have reassured me that Aerya is a very talkative, happy and energetic little girl at school. They explain that once I leave Aerya is great. She never cries, participates in everything and really enjoys herself.

When I come to pick her up she is all smiles and excitement. She tells me all about her day, shows me her crafts, smiles and skips to the car. When we're at home, she shows us all the french she knows and uses the vocabulary at many different opportunities. This weekend she was washing her hands and told me that in french it's "laver les mains." She uses the french words for all her colors when we read books or pick out barrettes for her hair. She also knows the words for hello, thank you, no I don't want to do that, yes I'd like to do that, sunflower, apple and others.

So consciously I know she is doing great and enjoying herself. But on an emotional level, when I see the devastation in her face when I drop her off, I just don't know what to do. We're definatley going to stick with preschool, but it sure would be easier if she was as joyful when I dropped her off as when I picked her up.

Night Time

At bedtime we have a routine we follow each night. Aerya goes into the bath at around 6:45pm and she and Daddy play for about 45 minutes. It's a very noisy, wet and imaginative time. They have these cute make believe stories that they tell with her bath toys. Right now, the story is about Woody and Buzz Lightyear rescuing the princesses and taking them back to their respective castles. The story is told EXACTLY the same each night - and Aerya does not tolerate any changes! There's a lot of splashing and silly voices and it's so cute to hear.

If Aerya has a bath, she then gets 5 books read to her. She goes into her room to pick them out and I can usually predict which ones they'll be. Despite having about 100 books in her room, there's a core of 6 that she loves to read. While I'm reading her books, Derek is making her snack. It's an adorable vegetable man!

After the books and snack, it's getting closse to 8, and Aerya and I snuggle down and I rub her back and belly for a little while as she falls asleep. She either goes right to sleep in 2 minutes or so, or she just sits up and says she is not sleeping. It's wierd, but when she says that she's not tired enough, she absolutely never falls asleep, no matter what we do. We've tried everything and have learned that she is serious - she cannot fall asleep. This usually only happens if she's had a nap during the day, so it's only every couple of weeks.

If she's not sleeping, I'll take her downstairs and she watches Gummy Bears on TV while I watch my shows. Usually by 11 she's asleep in my lap on the couch - or we're both asleep! Derek found us on the couch the other morning and took this shot. I don't know how we both didn't end up on the floor!

Garden Produce

I planted a square-foot garden this year and have been really happy with the results. Each day Aerya goes out to check if there's any tomatoes for her, or strawberries.

We've grown strawberries, broccoli, 4 kinds of lettuce, cherry and lemon-boy tomatoes, green, red and orange peppers, celery, carrots, peas, beans, cucumber, radishes and corn. I'm really looking forward to the corn harvest...let's just hope the frost holds off long enough!

Next summer we'll be on the acerage so I'll have a ginormous garden to grow everthing in along with an orchard. Everyone is invited for a huge fall harvest!

Jaune Day at Preschool

Each week the school designates a color and on a particular day the kids dress in that color and bring a snack of that color. They also do crafts and playdoh in that color. This week was jaune (yellow).

It's hard to see, but Aerya's sweater has a yellow stripe (the only yellow clothes I could find). To make up for it, I went all out on the accessories! She had jaune earings (stickon), jaune ponytails and barrette, 3 jaune fingernails on each hand (the others were pink) and jaune underwear (which I hope she didn't show off...)

We packed pineapple and yellow marshmellows for a snack. I know, wierd snack, but there's not that many jaune snacks that I could send. They have a very strict food policy that doesn't allow any wheat, candy or nuts.

Aerya colored this tournesol (sunflower) and told us the name when she got home, and that the other picture was a very bright soleil (sun).




She's been absorbing the french language amazingly well. The other night she was playing school with her toys and told them that if they did not want to play with their friend they had to say "Non, merci.", but that if they did want to play they should say "Oui, s'il vous plait." We were blown away. She knows the colors yellow, blue, green, pink, purple, and red in french, please, thank you, hello and goodbye, along with some other vocab. I LOVE this school!

Help!

"Help! Mom's having a bad day. Call 1-800-GRANDMA" A too cute shirt Chad & Christine bought for Aerya in Banff.

My Goofy Family

First Day of School

Aerya went to her first day of preschool this week! She did really well. There were no tears (at least on Aerya's part) though I was the last parent to leave the class. She kept saying "I know Mommy. Sigh." when I would try and tell her about what to expect, but when I'd try to leave she'd be all "Um, before you go Mommy..."

Home time was the cutest thing I'd ever seen! The parents entered the coatroom and waited for the kids. They were all sitting in a circle on little steps with their backpacks on, and hands folded neatly in their laps. There was absolute silence in the room. How the teachers managed to do that with 18 3-year-olds, I'll never know! The teacher called the first 5 kids to go home. They would say goodbye to the teachers, put away their steps and come into the coatroom, and so on.


Aerya said she had a great time at school and is really looking forward to next week!