The Business of Baby

We have had some good fun over the Fall. Below are some of the activities we have done.

1. Attended our local Arts and Crafts festival. Beanie and I had a really nice time. We happened to meet one of Beanie's friends which made it even more fun. Beanie bought a purse and some jewelry.

Beanie and her friend M

2. Attended two puppet shows in the city. The first show we attended with the same friend I mentioned above. The other one - a XMas show - we attended with my Mom. Beanie loves going to see these shows! I love seeing her looking at the stage with rapt attention :-)

Create -a - puppet workshop

Dressed as Belle for Halloween

Beanie made this in class - melted my heart!

6. Thanksgiving was at my sister's. It was nice however, I was battling a cold and the next day Beanie got sick with a really bad cough, so the rest of the weekend was spent staying home, Dr visits and prednisone for poor Beanie. She is fine now, and we have her back on Flo.vent for the winter months to avoid any futher issues. It had really helped her last winter. I still have thick mucous stuck behind my nose - ugh! Last year we were sick most of Nov and Dec...hopefully not this year!

Unrelated to post above - last night I was reading past posts on my blog until quite late at night. It was so enjoyable reliving moments from previous years. It made me realize I need to post more often!

Beanie started her new school on Monday. She is in the private Pre-K (they also have a lottery state-paid Pre K).

It was a difficult decision to take her out of the school she had been the past 3 years. I worried about taking her out of her comfort zone, but the new 3pm closure did not work for me. Also, the new teacher (in her old school) was not doing any work with the older kids.  My Mom used to teach Math and English but was asked to stop since the new teacher wanted to do it all. But she was really not focused on the older kids, In Montessori, there is a mix of all age group, and for some reason this year there were more 2-3 years old kids, so the focus was on them. As such, between the work not being challenging for Beanie and the timings changed, it seemed the right decision to move her. 

Well, Beanie loves her new school :-)

She had a great week!  Everything is new and exciting. They have a set schedule that they follow and they do some writing work and math every day.  The school has a really nice playground, which basically sold Beanie on the school - lol. They also have music and Chinese, both of which used to be at her old school but were stopped when the new teacher joined. Beanie missed it!

The teachers in her new school are very nice. They have cameras in the class which I LOVE. I have been able to watch Beanie and see how she is doing.

This is a bigger school and more professionally run. They encourage parents to interact with the teachers; another thing her old school did not do.  In fact the new teacher joined in June, and it was Nov when we left and I had still had not met her formally or had a PT conference to understand what her plans were for the year!  In the new school, the PT meeting dates are scheduled months in advance. One can talk to the teacher during pick-up/drop off and (gasp!) call the classroom too if needed.

The kids are nice. There is one girl who was with Beanie as a baby in the infant room at this same establishment. Isn't that cool?! The moment I saw this little girl, I knew it was that same baby all grown up (I also recognized her name). That girl has been at this school since 2013. There is also one girl from Beanie's old school so that is a familiar face.

Like most bigger schools they have fun activities, such as a parent lunch for TG, and a Santa visit and a XMas recital. Beanie is really enjoying it all.

I am so happy and relieved.

Today when I logged into watch her around 10:30am, she was busy doing an activity with  some other kids and I could see based on her body language that she was having a great time. I think she enjoys being in a room full of kids around her age. The kids are all either 4 yrs old already, or will be 4 years old by Dec 1.

Another big plus is that the new school is  a 5 min drive from our house. I save a ton of time each day in commuting. The old school was 15 min away so that added up to an hour a day of drive time.

The one disappointment for me is that my Mom is not teaching Beanie. That was the single biggest reason I had Beanie attending the Montessori school and I was looking forward to her learning from my Mom this year. My Mom is a fabulous teacher and all the kids she taught have done very well in K and onward.  Beanie was learning vowels, writing sentences and doing addition before the new teacher joined in June. The new school does basic Pre-K work, not as advanced as my Mom would do.  At home my Mom tries to do work with Beanie but its a hit/miss since Beanie only wants to play with Grammy at home - sigh!  Anyway, my Mom has decided to leave the school as well. She was only staying on for Beanie.

Overall we are pleased with the decision, and I am so proud of Beanie and how well she is adjusting. Both her teachers really like Beanie since she is a model student - intelligent, creative, polite, follows instructions and is not disruptive.