Hi ho, hi ho...

This week we have been very busy. I am going back to work and Lily starts school Monday, so I guess this week was our last hurrah. On Monday, we did our weekly trip to the library, Tuesday was a 2-hour Gymboree class called "school skills" and a visit with Grammy & Papa, Wednesday was a Music Together class, Thursday was our errand day, and then today we went to the St. Louis Gym with WUMCHA. The gym was really something to see. It was a "real" gym that trains kids who are serious about gymnastics. They did a great job with plenty of age-appropriate activities. We started out in the big gym with some warm-up exercises, playing in an enormous foam pit, jumping on a huge trampoline, walking on low balance beams, and playing with balls & hula hoops. We then headed to the little tots gym area for some free-for-all fun.

Tomorrow we have dance class again which Lily is really enjoying. (Thanks Grandpa Deetz for the great birthday gift!) She tells everyone that she is in dance class and clearly looks forward to it all week. This week, the parents are invited into the class for a little demonstration so we should get some cute pics of her in class. Tomorrow I'm also getting together with some friends for our own version of "Let's Dish" or "Supper Thyme". Each person is bringing 3 frozen meals and then we are exchanging (great idea, Sara!). I used to go to "Let's Dish" with my friend, Jen, in Baltimore, and it was really nice to have ready-made meals during the week. This is perfect timing with me going back to work as well.

I have decided to take a job teaching at a nearby preschool. I was really impressed with the school when I visited there a while back and decided this is where I would like Lily to go. As you know by now, I don't take Early Childhood Education lightly and am pretty picky about the schools Lily attends. Frankly, many, many schools just don't make the cut in my book. So what do I like about this school? Basically, it is all the enrichment programs built into the children's day. They have a full gymnasium with a gym program run by a gym teacher. They also have a cooking room with a cooking teacher, a computer lab with a computer teacher, a music program run by a music teacher, and I think a foreign language program as well. What it boils down to is that the children change rooms frequently which I think is nice, and they value these enrichment programs enough to have a specialized teachers on staff. As with anything, there are some compromises. The nutrition program is not anywhere close to where her former school was, and this school is theme-based vs. the Reggio approach of her last school. All-in-all, I think that it will be a good school, and I always feel better being there and knowing what goes on "behind the scenes". The very best part is that I will be working 4 days per week and will still have Fridays off. I have really wanted to work part-time for a while now, so I am extremely happy with the four-day work week. Lily will also have Fridays off so that we can still have our mommy & me time. You never know how things are going to go, but I'm optimistic about this and hope it is the right decision for Lily, me, and our family.