This year was the first year of my kid's lives that I have had to seek outside of the family care for them while I worked. My mom has always watched them, but when I moved 45 minutes away and her work/school schedule changed, she wasn't available anymore.Eric and I did a lot of research and interviewing and decided on the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation located only about five blocks from our house. The school is amazing. The teacher/student ratio is 1/4 which is amazing and Katie and Carter have grown leaps and bounds both academically and socially since starting. I'm so glad that they are in a preschool and not just a daycare where they just "play." Already since starting school, KJ has been COMPLETELY potty trained (thank you lord...). I tried for over a year with her but she showed absolutely no interest at all. It took a week seeing her peers use the "big girl potty" and we haven't looked back since. She can write her own name, name all the letters of the alphabet, count to 20 and name all of her colors. She is actually a very detailed artist and tries very hard to "copy" pictures that she sees. She gets to do yoga once a week (seriously...she shows me the moves...it's too cute for words) and jump-a-bunch once a week which is a huge exercise/play-gym for the kids. She also has Music, Science, Phonics and Reading every week. Katie absolutely loves her teacher Miss Angela who praises on her weekly and tells me what a good, smart, well-behaved little girl she is (hmm....I wonder why I don't get that at home....). I couldn't be more proud of my little girl.
Carter has also changed so much since starting preschool. Probably his biggest growth is his vocabulary! He has always used 20-50 words consistently but at times would still revert back to the "uh" and point stage like he did when he was just a baby. Also, I think being the youngest but still so close to Katie in age, she has just done all of the talking for both of them. Now he is speaking in complete sentences, answering questions in complete sentences. If you give him a choice in a sentence, he will make his choice and repeat it back to you. I'm so amazed every day by the more he understands and takes in. He gets to do jump-a-bunch every week and Science and Music. He is definitely my little music man...he is always trying to sing along to songs in the car, even though you can't understand a word he is saying. Even though it makes me sad, he is also learning how to be a "little boy." His autonomy his hard for me to absorb...my baby, my last baby, is growing up. He wants to do everything by himself now, and I find I'm getting much less "I want my mommy" snuggle time with him. I know that everything is movement...and I am blessed by this growth.
Although we are not Jewish, we have embraced that this is a religious preschool because they don't push Judaism on the kids or the families. The kids learn how to celebrate Jewish holidays in different ways. For example, Yon Kippur is the Jewish holiday "The Day of Atonement." That week Katie and Carter were taught about what it means to be sorry for the bad things you might have done. So...instead of having a traditional Christmas program at the preschool we celebrated a "Hanukkah Show Down" with the kids. Each class sang a different song as they lit the candles of the menorah. I have no idea why they decided to have the program directly after nap time...but both my kids were very laid-back. Carter just stood there during his song, and somewhere near the end KJ decided to join in on the motions to her songs. I wish my pictures and videos were better, but here are my sweethearts in their first appearance in the Hanaukkah Show Down!
This is Carter's class singing during the lighting of the third candle of the menorah. It's hard to tell but if you can see he is the second one over from his teacher. He's looking at her, clearly confused by what is going on.
I know it's blurry, and not a very good picture but this was the only close up I could get of my little guy where he was actually looking out into the audience.
Carter loved his "hoe-down" outfit and refused to take it off...even at home :)
Katie's class sang a song called "Oats, Peas and Beans" which I'm not really sure what has to do with Hanukkah, but she was pretty cute during it! (She's the second one from the left with the pigtails)
Here's my little girl in her hoe-down outfit with her frying pan....I love the hair!
