End of year one {pre-k3}

We made it. One full year of school is officially under our belts.

Not just for Gabrielle, but for us as parents, too. It was all totally new and eye opening.

I am a mix of emotions over it.

Happy: my girl is growing up! Oh thank god we don't have to commute five days a week now! She's grown so much - I'm so unbelievably proud of her!

Sad: my girl is growing up.

Nervous: my girl is growing up.

Freaking out: omg you mean I have to entertain her MYSELF all summer?!?

Confession time. It hasn't even been a week and I'm in a summer vacation slump. I totally did not change either kid (or myself, duh) out of pajamas today. Jimmy went to work, eventually we had dinner, showered, and put fresh PJs on.

Thankfully, I have a full week lined up for the rest of the week because I think both Gabby and I are about to go crazy. Genna doesn't seem to mind staying home still, but she hasn't been exposed to school yet, so she doesn't know what she's missing. Ha.

ANYWAY!

I still can't believe it's been a full school year. It really flew by. Between school breaks (omg, I don't think I ever realized how many days off kids get! Fall break, thanksgiving break, Christmas/winter break, mardi gras break, Easter/spring break - each a full week or two long!), that whole month where I broke my damn foot and my parents lived with us, and just life in general... Where did it go?

And my god... She grew. She's not a baby anymore. Seriously. She had barely turned three on her first day (literally the day before!), and here we are only two months away from having a four year old. I can't express anything other than awe. And grief, too, because c'mon. My first baby...

Look at her (August 22, 2012 vs. June 4, 2013):

I covered this in one of my recent posts, but her understanding and speaking of French still blows me away. It is part of everyday life for us now, though. Genna even speaks and (I think...?) understands little snippets of the little bits I speak.

She's more social now. There are days when I second guess our decision to enroll her in school so young, but then I see how she's grown and I realize that I alone wouldn't have been able to give that to her. Jimmy and I are not naturally social creatures and we have a very small circle of friends. Making friends or getting involved in social groups is hard for us, so without school, our children just don't have access to a lot of other children on a regular basis (playgrounds/play centers/zoos and the like aren't what I mean - we frequent those places - but play dates, social gatherings - we don't).

Gabby and her teacher, Madame Nathalie.

And to hear from her teachers about her progress, that's reassuring as well. She's always been shy (I don't like using that word because I was labelled as "shy" for all of my childhood and most of my adult life, but it's the best way to describe her demeanor, I suppose), And I don't foresee that changing about her, but knowing that she can and does open up - it makes me happy.

So, with summer upon us in full force, I have activities planned for us, including visits with school mates and one of Gabby's French teachers, and I hope to detail those more here as we go about them.


My darling girls... What will the next year bring?

Preschool Begins

On Wednesday, August 22nd, one day after she turned three years old (!!!), my first baby started preschool.  Grade pre-K3.  At a French immersion school.

she was saying "I'm three years old, now!"

I don't think that "grade" even existed when I was a child.  Not to mention. she's at a language immersion school.  God help us, we don't really even speak a lick of French.

The night before, we got everything prepared, we went to bed late (oops), but sat down together with Daddy and her little sister and read bedtime stories.  I cried while reading Goodnight Moon (really?  oh yeah, really.).  The next morning, it all seemed easy.  We got there on time, we dropped her off, there were no tears.  That afternoon, we asked her how her day was.  I'll never forget her answer: "I didn't sing French, I didn't talk French, I didn't learn French.  I didn't do anything Frenchy."

Well, okay.

first day of school

Genna gets in on the action.  Although she was probably saying, "I'm one!"

The school had a staggered schedule for the three-year-olds, so Gabby didn't attend the next day, but she did go that Friday.  Another fairly easy day.

Then Hurricane Isaac came our way and threw us all for a loop.  Gabby was out of school for a full week, plus the Labor Day holiday.  And with weekends that meant she was back home full time (in all the power-outtage and living with family weirdness that was the aftermath of Isaac) for 10 days.  This week has been her first (almost) full week.  It's Thursday and we're only down three days, but lemme tell ya - I am exhausted!

I seriously didn't realize that putting my kid in school would be so exhausting for ME.  Hopefully, I can get used to my new schedule.  I now wake up at 5:30am.  What?!  I was very used to waking at 8:30 or 9:00a, taking a leisurely approach to our mornings with a drawn out breakfast, late lunch, late nap (if any), random errands or trips to the gym, starting to think about dinner at 6:00pm and bed for the girls between 9:30-10:00pm.  Oh, we're in a whole different ball game now.  Waking up at 5:30am and spending a total of three hours a day in the car commuting between Gabby's school has left me just drained.  I'm not used to this.

Poor spoiled stay-at-home-mommy.

I had these grand dreams of going to the gym, preparing great dinners, having time to do craft projects, organize and clean the house better.  Overall, more freedom with only one toddler (who naps for 2-3 hours!), but obviously I haven't figured out how to do any of that yet.  Genna isn't used to the new routine yet either.  She falls asleep on the way to school, on the way home, and then again when we go out to pick up Gabby.  I'm hoping today's insanely long nap (at home) will show that she is getting into a better schedule.

French books

Gabby's stuff.  We're prepared.  haha

Gabby seems to like school.  Although every day this week she has cried at drop-off.  :(  By the afternoon, she's happy to see me and talks about her day.  She has repeatedly told us that she wont learn French.  Hmm.  Although between school and the lessons she watched at home on the computer, something is sinking in.  She calls random objects by their names in French (une pomme, une banane, une fourche) and after eating a clementine the other day she looked at us unprompted and said, "Mmm! C'est bon!"  She also now says, "Bonjour!" and "Au revoir!" to her two teachers upon entering and leaving class.  Genna can even be heard trying to say "au revoir," although it comes out more like "wah-wah!"

It's kind of amazing.

Stay tuned for more updates as we get through our first school year (for Gabrielle, and for us as parents!).

Six weeks

Six weeks.

Gabrielle starts school... In six weeks.

Excuse me while I hyperventilate for a second here.

There's a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks. I haven't bought her uniforms yet. Or any new school shoes. She has no lunchbox or backpack or nap mat. No school supplies of any sort.

We're still working on potty training. :-/

Only six weeks left that my first girl will be home with me. That she will be all mine. She's only ever spent a few hours away from me at a time. She's only ever been away a full night once (while I was in the hospital, after delivering Genevieve).

Now my buddy is leaving me, for 7.5 hours, Monday through Friday. Someone else will be instilling knowledge in her. She will learn from other adults, other children. She will grow.

And all I want to do is sit here and cry about it. She will undoubtedly be one of the youngest in her class - she turns three the day before her first day. I'm scared for her.

Don't get me wrong, I realize this is a choice, an option. She doesn't HAVE to go to pre-k 3. But the opportunity was upon us and we took it. Her admission to the French immersion school guarantees admission for Genevieve as well. And we couldn't guarantee Gabby would get in (via the lottery system) next year, so we jumped at this opportunity. But it's leaving me very sad right now.

I know it will be good for her, and for Genna, and for me. And I know there are plenty of holidays so she'll still have lots of days with me and her little sister. But I still worry that we're pushing her too fast.

She's still a baby.

And as conflicted as I am at times about wanting her to start just to give me a break (any stay-at-home-parent knows what I mean), I know we'll still send her. And I've got to enjoy these last few weeks as much as I can.

They grow too fast and I cannot even think about how she will be three in less than six weeks. Where did these years go?

Now excuse me again while I go look at her baby pictures and cry into my coffee.

Painting with Water

The other day, I took the girls to Toys R Us. We were on the hunt for gifts for my nephews. Plus it was a hot day, and spending an hour and a half letting the girls run free playing with toys was a good way to spend the afternoon. Thank you TRU for the free entertainment.

I found these little paint with water books in the Melissa & Doug aisle. I had seen something online about letting toddlers paint using q-tips and figured these would work well. And they totally do.

Gabby picked up how to use it right away. I personally love how little mess there was.

Dip the q-tip in a lil water, swirl on the little paint pad, and bam: perfect amount of watercolor paint.

The books did come with a paintbrush, but the q-tips held the paint better and provided much less mess. Yay!

If you're looking for a paint with water book, I highly recommend these. We've used the old school paint with water books before and they really weren't worth it. Once we make our way through these, I'll be getting another set.