Back to School!

I guess we can say "back to school" since Lyla has been in school before. Just not this school. We have entertained the idea of enrolling Lyla in a Montessori school for a year, now, and after seeing a new one open up roughly ten minutes from our house, I had to go check it out. Lyla has been ready to go back to school since, well, her last day at Compass Preschool back in May.

I was impressed with all the new, shiny materials, of course, friendly faces, happy kids, great curriculum, methodology, etc. Everything seemed a good fit. Even the price was very reasonable. A few days later, I started out to get the girl registered and got a call from our realtor saying we may have an offer on the house. So, I promptly turned around and informed the school of our "on the fence" situation. After another week of not-knowingness, it surfaced that the potential buyers couldn't get pre-approved for a loan. So, I got in my car and headed back to Pinnacle Montessori to make it official.

My Lyla started the very next day! And she, of course, did great! I couldn't even shed a tear because she was just so happy to be going and easy to drop off. She is currently enrolled half-day, 5 days a week. We are considering some of the other schedule options, like full day 3x a week or even full-time-full-time. I miss having her at home with me! With half-day, the only thing she's really missing is naptime, but at the same time, noon is an awkward time to have to get back to the school to pick her up, particularly with Flint's schedule. Luckily the school is very flexible and we'll be able to experiment until we figure out what works best for our family.

In the meantime, Lyla is getting to know Ms. Minnie (or maybe it's Meenie?) and Ms. Aisha, as well as a classroom full of new kids of all different backgrounds, ages ranging from 3-6 years, and not to mention a whole new set of boundaries and routines.

On her first day, I was encouraged to stay a little while and take some photos while Lyla got settled. During that time, a handful of new friends introduced themselves to her, complete with handshakes, then demonstrated how the morning stations are done. I watched one adorable little girl show her how to read a short primer book, then offer it to her and ask her if she wanted to try it all by herself. She was quiet as a clam at that moment, shy especially for her, but I knew she'd warm up quick. Ms. Minnie said later that Lyla perked up fast and exclaimed with excitement when it was time to line up for recess, "Ooo, I wanna go outside!" And after school, while she was thrilled to see me, among the first things she told me was, "But I didn't sleep yet!" because she had been hoping to nap at school after lunch.

Dressed and ready to go!

In front of school!In her new class, with her helper-buddy...

After we picked her up. She had a good day!Day 2 - dressed and ready!

It's been about two weeks, now (if you can't tell by the date on this post!), and Lyla has gotten the swing of the routine, but she's still adjusting at school. In Montessori terms, they are working on achieving "normalization." In my opinion, it's a poor choice of words, but it basically refers to "the natural or normal state for a human as characterized by four attributes: 1. A love of work or activity , 2. Concentration on an activity, 3. Self-discipline, 4. Sociability or joyful work."

"The understanding of normalization doesn’t require a leap of faith when you consider those moments you feel most alive and more 'you' than any other time. When we do what we love and love doing it because we have the skill and self-discipline to do the activity well, those are the blissful moments of being human... In a Montessori school we are trying to help the child attain a natural or normal developmental process, which is referred to as normalization.."

To read more about Montessori methodology and philosophy, go here!

Last week (after promising I wasn't "that parent"), I met with the director, Mrs. Cathy, to ask some questions and express some concerns about feeling disconnected. There hadn't been much communication and barely even an introduction to the class or teacher. She was very reassuring and explained the rough start being due to some administration changes right at the opening of the school. Things are now beginning to settle, and it seems like everyone is finding their groove. I am hoping to get a little more communication from the teachers to get a better idea of what's going on while my baby girl is at school. Cause, while she can tell me with her excellent verbal skills, she won't share much with me beyond, "I played on the playground. We sang 'I am hungry' and Brandon hit me and got in trouble."

In a few days, there will be an orientation for parents, and a PTA meeting. I'm kind of excited to be on "the other side" right now and hope to get very involved at her school through PTA, volunteering, and maybe substituting.

We're looking forward to a very exciting year for our girl! She loves learning and what better way to help her soak up all she can in that spongy head of hers than to immerse her in an environment that fosters just that!?

More August and September pics at Picasa! (coming soon)

Leaps & Bounds

The boy is growing. There's no stopping him.

Here are some milestones recently reached...

While at the beach, Flint decided to start taking some serious steps. Prior to our trip, he could manage two or three steps before collapsing, and at just 8 months! He hit the 9-month mark on July 20th, and decided to take off!

Here's a clip from the beach, just a couple of weeks ago:

Here's a clip from last week:

Since then, he's pretty much got it down, with just a few falls here and there!

He also cut his top two teeth, followed by a third soon after. We've yet to see the fourth up top, so for now, he is contentedly asymmetrical, and totalling 5 teeth in all. I can't remember Lyla's top teeth when she was tiny, but Flint's definitely seem kind of... far apart. I'm thinking either they will scoot together as they grow out some more, or we'll just insert another tooth in the middle and no one will notice.

The boy is also mimicking much more. He can spout out "ma-ma-ma's" and "da-da-da's" on command and has called out for Lyla a few times with something that sounds kind of like a very breathy "high-la." He raises his hands for "How big are you?" to show he is "so big," waves hi and bye like a pro, signs "all done" and recently started to shake his head "no." This one is particularly amusing, as he doesn't quite understand the meaning of "no-no" just yet, but he is certain that shaking his head must precede specific activities, such as splashing in the dog's water bowl, grabbing Mommy's cup, or using the fake Ficus to pull up on prior to distributing peat moss all over the carpet. So, occasionally, before partaking in such activities, Flint will first engage our attention and then shake his head. He hasn't quite figured out how to shake his head from side to side, either, so mostly he just shimmies his entire body until his head shakes like a bobble-head. It's very cute. He will also shake his head on demand, like here:

As seen in the video, Flint also recently started giving kisses. They look more like my childhood impression of movie stars making out (wide-mouthed and slobbery), but he leans in intentionally and sort of mouths, well, our mouths. It's kind of amazing to see the different levels of awareness light up his face as he learns more and more. It's like a little person is awakening inside his small baby self. The other day I asked him to give me a toy he was holding, and was very much surprised by the fact that he actually seemed to understand. He placed the toy in my hand, and while he was reluctant to actually release it, I was still very impressed. Another "first." Luke has (sorta) taught Flint how to "give five." I mean he does "give it," -- it's just in a very polite, gentle manner. And the most recent "first" development is clapping. I think Flint was as proud of himself as I was. Adorable.

While we're on the subject of "firsts," (it seems to be a common trend in all these baby updates), Flint got his first official haircut a few weeks ago, before leaving for the beach. He was unfazed by the process, and mostly amused himself with trying to find his hands beneath the giant pool of black draped over his little self. When we got home, Mama got to work on some stylin'. I hadn't been able to play with his hair in a while because the top was so long.
At his 9-month well check-up with Dr. Dickey, Flint weighed in at 22.4lbs (91st percentile) and measured 28 3/4 inches (dropping from 91st to 59th percentile). He has slowed down quite a bit, and slimmed down, as well. He does still have some baby chub, but he looks more and more like a little toddler boy every day! The doc said she couldn't give any predictions as to his eventual height since he's been on a few different growth curves.

Summary: Our walking bobble-head boy is defiant, indecisive, hilarious and amazing.

Will keep you posted as he continues to grow and impress us!

Watch Flint Grow!