Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Apple Cider

These photos show my two girls as they enjoy the "fruits" of the season. We've already finished 3 gallons of apple cider this year.. and the fall started just last week!

Here are a couple of photos of the girls as we try a little taste testing exercise. Each was asked to decide which was better; hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick or cold apple cider with a piece of ice. They love their little 'tea' cups (colorful and perfect for tea, hot cocoa, or cider). The cinnamon sticks were also a huge hit. I think both caused the hot apple cider to win out in the end.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Reintroduction Part 1: School

Long time no see!

So here is a recent (actually from this month) photo of the whole family! We had to pose for photos for the girls new rooms.S is now in Rainbow Room; a preschool room. Her school has 3-5 preschool rooms (depending on the number and age of the kids) and divide the kids up mostly by age. She was in Blue Room last year. Blue Room was filled with those kids whose birthdays were borderline as to when they would start Kindergarten. In other words, half of her previous classmates started K 3 weeks ago while the other half moved to Rainbow Room with her.

The downside is that 3 of her 4 closest friends were in the older group. Now S is focusing on developing new relationships with new friends and in a new room. It was a challenging first 2 weeks, but S is very predictable. This was week 3 and suddenly everything went smoothly. Drop-offs are pretty quick, pick-ups are filled with lots of excitement, and she is talking about what she did with classmates again.

A also changed rooms, but her change was much less dramatic. Their school practices "continuity of care" (which basically means the teachers progress along with their pupils from the infant room all the way through toddlers until the kids graduate into the preschool program). A simply moved from Toddler-1 to Yellow Room. Her friends came with her; her teachers came with her; and since Yellow is her favorite color (and the room is bigger with more windows) she likes the room better. She was an easy drop-off since day 1.