Emily's New School - Update Oct. 2004

Emily has (finally – we got the last start date) started at the Child Education Center (the JPL daycare)! She is there Monday, Wednesday and Fridays all day and then I work at home with her on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She seems pretty happy there – in fact, I think if she could talk, when I said “Mommy has to go to work now” Emily would have said “Mommy who?” Her teacher said Emily is adapting to her new surroundings very well and called her a “Star Student”. I really like the fact that she is now only about five minutes away, so I can spend my lunch hour with her (and come back to work covered in prunes, or whatever she happens to be having for lunch - ahh, motherhood…)

The CEC has a very comfortable feeling – each age group has their own room and outside play area, and when they are old enough to decide, the kids can be inside or outside as they prefer. The outside areas are very grassy and shady and there’s even a sandbox! The rooms have high ceilings, lots of windows, and plenty of room for the little ones to play. Large quilts are spread on the floor to cushion crawling knees and falls from attempts at sitting and standing. The teachers focus on using a lot of “everyday items” (such as metal mixing bowls, balls, scarves, and bathtub-traction-suction thingies) as toys to let the babies use their imagination and discover and learn. They start all the babies within a month, so they are all around the same age and development stage. That way, as they grow, the teachers can change what is in the room to keep up with the babies’ growing curiosity and abilities.

The CEC also encourages a lot of parent involvement and support. Sean and I have to fulfill service hour requirements and there are a few fundraisers to support the school. In fact, for the rest of this week (one of the advantages of starting late, I guess) Emily is selling wrapping paper, chocolates, and other assorted goodies. So, if you want to get an early start on your Christmas shopping, or if you’ve already finished your shopping and are in need of paper and tags, or if you want to learn to paint your face like a cat, or whatever, take a peek at www.innisbrook.com. On the left side of the page, enter 117336 for the school number then start shopping! The CEC will get 50% of any purchases.

Other than Emily news, we got great neighbor news last week. The people who used to live behind us (with the dogs that would literally sit at our back fence and bark at us) have moved out! Now we have a couple who seem really nice and are interested in redoing the back fence (as are we) and we’re quite happy with them in general!

I guess that’s it for now. I should finish my work so we can go get our little princess… Hope you’re doing well and are having a nice fall.