Monday's Blog 9/10/12

                Happy Monday, folks! What beautiful weather we’ve been having! Hooray for summertime cold fronts! J

                Today in the pre-tot room we (Arielle and Cheorkee) and four kiddos (Olive, Wynn, Hunter, and Ancel “Dancel.”) Olive, Hunter, and Ancel arrived on the playground. Hunter and Olive and I spent some time exploring the sand box. Olive scooped and Hunter couldn’t help but taste the sand, then felt it between her fingers. Ancel greeted everybody and walked around checking out the scene.

When we went inside to eat snack we ran into Wynn arriving at school. He sat with us for some delicious fruit. After snack everybody gravitated to the art area and each child did one piece of self-directed artwork before heading back outside to experience more beautiful weather on the playground. It’s great to see them get the hang of how to walk up to the atelier (art area) and sit down, grab a paper and crayon/marker/pencil/pastel/piece of chalk and start working. I was very excited to see all four children gather around the table together as two did some art and the other two watched, then took a turn when the others were done. They are doing a much better job at removing lids from markers (especially Ancel; does he receive help at home from big sister Colette?) and keeping the art materials at the table instead of walking off with them.

We went back to the playground instead of the deck because of the weather (it just felt right to go there) and because our awesome toddler friends were still out there. They used to be in the pre-tot class not too long ago so they get very excited to see their younger friends. Many of the toddlers treat the pre-tots as if they were older siblings and give them hugs, kisses, and gentle touches. They are very sweet and caring towards them.

Out on the playground we introduced dried fig leaves to the pre-tots. They came from our fig tree which mysteriously dried up last week (I was told that happened last year around the same time and it eventually came back to life.) Cherokee offered them to each child while sitting on the edge of the sand box. Ancel absolutely loved crunching the dried leaves up and Wynn was also entertained by it. They spent some time working side-by-side. Hunter wasn’t too impressed (more interested in the sandbox and making her way up to the top of the playscape and back down on her own – very awesome) and Olive gave us the impression that she didn’t like this “messy” activity (she likes to stay pretty clean.) It was a great sensory experience for the boys, at least. J

Later on out on the playground Hunter continued to go all the way up to the top of the large playscape, smile and look down at everybody below, then go back down. It’s amazing how she can do all this on her own without walking. Olive joined her at the top of the playscape and experienced sliding down the big black slide. It was a fast ride, but she handled it well and stood up and brushed the mulch off herself, then went back to do it again. She tried doing down hands first at one point and realized that it wasn’t as pleasant as going down feet first. Again she brushed herself off, asked for a hug, and continued to play.

Wynn was very interested in the set up “restaurant” on the playground (a little stand that the kids sit behind and cook and serve pretend food to their friends, who are on the other side placing orders.) He loved running his hands on the sand that was on the surface of it. He also enjoyed watching the sand fall from his hand back onto the stand. His older friends who were playing nearby continued their restaurant service while he explored the stand right next to them. He saw that they would sometimes sit in a chair as they played, and he eventually got himself up onto the chair, but seemed to have some difficulty getting back down off of it. This did phase him, though, as he continued to try to get off the chair without using his arms to support him (just kicking his legs to slowly scoot him closer and closer to the edge of the chair.) It was adorable.

Ancel wandered all over the playground as usual, climbing up the playscape and then wandering around and walking up to friends to see what they were up to. I remember not too long ago he seemed to have trouble navigating around the big playground, but these days it’s a piece of cake to him!

At one point Jackie and Dom (the toddler teachers) started singing the Jump Up and Down song. Wynn and Ancel made their way over to the action and did a hopping type of dance with them. It was awesome!

We went in for lunch and as they ate we went over the calendar. Everybody did a good job eating their un-heated-up lunch (sorry for the inconvenience of not being able to microwave their food anymore.) They all seemed pretty tired by this point, probably from the weekend and all the outdoor play time this morning. Nap went smoothly. Olive and Hunter were the first to wake up and did an excellent job laying on their nap mats as I worked on typing out this blog. Every once in a while Hunter would pop her head up and smile at me. Olive babbled as she relaxed, sometime talking about “mama.” They are such an amazing group of kiddos!

After nap Cherokee entertained them with puppets (they were fascinated!) During snack she made them smile by doing some dancing. After snack they did some painting with tempera paint on a large piece of paper, a big collaboration. We went outside a little early because it was so beautiful out. It’s been a fantastic day!

*Arielle will be taking the English as a Second Language certification examination, so she will not be here tomorrow. She doesn’t like to leave the pre-tots, though, and will love returning to them on Wednesday!

*Please check your email if you did not over the weekend, as a reminder of labeling ALL items, bringing in boxes and bottles (if you have any to spare) and the new practices due to licensing that are taking place. Thank you!