Kate and I have had absolutely the best day so far! After rising at 6:00 to prepare breakfast for Bill, I snuggled a little more with my daughter while reading the news on my iPod Touch. We were up and out the door for an early morning, cozy-in-the-thick-fog two mile walk by 7:15 AM. We stopped a few times to look at the dew on fir trees and on spider-webs, but for the most part we got some good exercise. On the way home, we stopped by the corner Starbucks for a special mommy-daughter breakfast al fresco (Kate loves the classic egg and sausage sandwiches). Starbucks was quite the place to be this morning before school, and we saw many younger children and their parents with backpacks and school supplies.
When we returned home, we dressed and packed our own backpack for Kate's first Toddler Time class. I am so proud of my daughter and how well she did absorbing the experience of the new class. There are approximately 25 toddlers in the class, and after just a little sensible reservation, Kate acclimated quickly. I like the philosophy of the teacher, and we had so much fun singing and playing the freeze-dance game and marching to the alphabet. One highlight was making a little lamb by gluing pulled cotton balls on paper shaped like a lamb. We were left to our own devices as mothers and fathers to involve our children in the craft, and so I had Kate help me pull the cotton balls. I also had her help me squeeze the white glue onto the lamb, and of course we put the pulled cotton on the glue---she was especially good at that. We each wrote her name on the back and attached a large popsicle stick. It is her first official project made in a class...
I am so excited for Kate as she embraces an autumn full of enrichment beyond our home. She adapted really well, and we were one of the first pairs to play with the legos during a "free play" period at the start of the class. I am looking forward to being inspired in my lesson plans, also. I don't have too much of a background in early childhood education, so perhaps some of the craft projects will inspire some new ideas in me that I can adapt for home use.
Our Toddler Time class extends through November, and we have our music class starting in two weeks, as well. We also have a third day of the week ear-marked for library storytimes if we feel like we want to, or on Thursdays when we aren't visiting with family and friends.
We are officially on our back-to-school schedule...a busy time of year, as mealtimes and playtimes and learning times are much more structured. I am still adjusting to the earlier mornings. I perhaps ought to have napped when Katie did today, but I decided to study some of my real estate principles course instead. Indeed, back-to-school for all of us!
