Whatta Tuesday!

                This morning before our first tot arrived at school, a special friend showed up; a nice lady from licensing! She checked out the school and was very impressed with the improvements we have recently made. We got a perfect score of 100 and wouldn’t have been able to do so without the help of YOU, the amazing parents of the sprouts! Doing things such as labeling ALL of their items (especially water/milk cups/bottles and hand towels) and signing in and out every time you drop off/pick up your tot helps us out so very much, and keeps up functioning in a legal manner. Thanks!

Sophie arrived to school first (of the super tots) and started to explore the stairs on the playscape. Ancel arrived next with big sister Colette, and then Olive and Wynn. Our little friends are getting very used to their daily routine of going inside for snack around 9:00 (sometimes a little later.) We walk around the playground and show them the sign for “eat” and tell them “let’s go eat food. Let’s go eat snack. Please head to the gate to go inside!” Most of them understand and start walking to the gate to go up the ramp. So many can go straight up the steep incline very quickly these days!

Once inside we had a yummy snack and greeted Clara as she arrived at school. We reviewed the calendar and sang the Days of the Week song. We also talked about the weather and changed our weather display from “sunny” to “partly cloudy.”

When we were finishing snack and doing diaper changes before circle time, Toni came in and greeted us! She sat down and snuggled with our tots and gave us lots of love (she’s so good at that!) Afterwards we sat on our rugs (Ancel in Arielle’s lap and Wynn in Cherokee’s) and did circle time. We sang the Hello song and then Little White Box. Next we talked about the color green and pointed out the green clothes many of our friends were wearing, as well as toys and books that are green. We used our green pupped, Mr. Frog and Daniel the Dinosaur, to give everybody kisses and sing a little song about being green. Then they asked Cherokee where to head (deck or playground) and she said “let’s go to the deck!” So we pointed to the door that leads to the deck and asked our kiddos to line up and march out there.

As we passed through the primary room our friends greeted their older buddies who were doing circle time, and their older buddies giggled at how cute our little tots are. Once on the deck Olive went straight for the bike and started pushing it around backwards again, just like yesterday. Ancel used gentle touches to stroke Wynn’s silky hair (they are become pretty good buddies.) Clara checked out the bikes and chose the dragon-looking one to pull around. Sophie pushed the bikes around, too, and Wynn decided to ride the fire truck bike.

The fun continued as Ancel drew with some chalk, Wynn rocked back and forth on the eggplant, and then Ancel did the same right after he dismounted (Ancel really likes doing what Wynn does. Wynn seems to be a role model!) Olive used the first truck to roll around, Sophie played in the playhouse, and Clara greeted the teachers with a big hug.

A little while later Ancel stood at the top of the playhouse and said (as usual,) “hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!” Olive looked into the primary room through the window (they were doing an activity involving coloring and cutting out pictures, then pasting them to a paper and talking about the pictures.) Wynn and his good friend Ancel started communicating back and forth to each other (Ancel was at the top of the playhouse and Wynn was below, and they were happily screaming back and forth.) Meanwhile, Sophie repeatedly opened and closed the door to the playhouse (something this age loves doing) and Clara threw around a small, soft basketball.

Olive walked up to the teachers and grabbed a tissue from the tissue box and wiped her face (even though it wasn’t wet or dirty.) We complimented how she was taking good care of herself, and showed her how to throw it away in the trash can when she was done. Then she and Ancel rearranged the water bottles in the carrier and Ancel decided to give each kid (and teacher) their own water. We were very impressed with his ability to follow our directions when we would tell him which child to give the water to. What a smart boy!

Towards the end of our deck experience Wynn enjoyed rolling an alligator-on-a-leash toy around. Sophie sat next to Cherokee and checked everybody out, then made her way to the toy mirror platform and sat on top of it. Olive banged on the gathering drum and Clara drew with chalk.

We headed inside for lunch and laughed at how Ancel ran over to his sister, Colette, and sat with her in the primary class’ book area. He blended in perfectly with the older kids! Lizzie, one of the primary teachers, greeted each tot as they passed by her on the way to their room.

Lunch was a mess but very fun. More importantly, we had Gage, a friend from the infant room, join us! He will be moving into our class in November and stopped by today for a lunchtime play date. He did very well hanging out with us. Wynn was very excited to see him and waved hello to him many times.

Most of our friends fell asleep quickly today but a few stayed awake a little longer than usual. When our early risers woke up they did a fantastic job of relaxing quietly on their nap mat until nap was over (that takes lots of patience!) After nap we continued to celebrate the beautiful color green by exploring green shaving cream (smeared all over the table) and doing some artwork with green pencils, chalk, crayons, and markers. It’s been a terrific Tuesday!