A busy week (or two) of milestones

After we came home from PA and NY, we had just two weeks before the start of school here and many things to do.
 

First on my list was a haircut for our big Jakey boy.  He made it nearly 2 years without one, but it was time.  He started to cry as soon as the stylist started cutting, but she popped a lollipop in his mouth and the rest of the haircut went very smoothly.

 

 

Here is Jake with his new big brother haircut.  This was also Charlotte's first day of first grade as we headed out to wait for the bus. 

 

Charlotte is so low maintenance and I LOVE it.  (I am sure this will change at some point, so I will enjoy it while it lasts.)  She insisted her lunchbox and backpack from last year were still good, and although we did buy some new clothes and shoes, she chose to wear an older favorite outfit for the first day.

 

Now that we are already a few weeks into school, I have 2 favorite things about Charlotte's teacher.  The first is that she not only indicates negative behavior (moving from green to yellow, to red) but also positive behavior (as kids can move up each day to blue, purple, and then pink.)  This system REALLY works well for Charlotte, and she is thrilled when she works her way up to pink.  My second favorite thing is that she sends home a homework packet each Wednesday that is due the following Tuesday.  This gives us the flexibility to work on homework when we are in the mood and to not have to work on evenings that are already busy with other activities.  So nice.

 

 

Toby also had a big milestone this month as he began Pre-K.

I really struggled with the decision to send Toby to Pre-K and even more so with finding the right program- for both of us- but he wanted so badly to start school this year, that I had to figure it out. 

 

I visited FIVE preschools in the week before school started.  I ruled out the first four because of: location, cost, class size, uniform requirement, curriculum I didn't care for, too long of a school day... but mainly because of the feeling I had while there.  (Toby's only request was that the school have a good playground.)

 

Our last visit was to the Mother's Day Out/ Prechool at a local Methodist church.  I loved the small classes (Toby's has 8 kids with 2 teachers,) the 3 day/week option, the warmth of everyone I spoke with, the bright rooms and well maintained (but simple) toys, the weekly music class, and even the leaning of the curriculum to include messages from the Bible. (Toby's favorite lesson so far was for the letter A and was about putting on the Armor of God - Ephesians 6.)

 

I am so glad that Charlotte and Toby are both happy in their respective schools.  It also gives Jake and I a bit of time to spend together running errands and doing things that Jake likes to do... at least until baby sister comes along!