So glad we chose preschool....

Well, as you probably remember if you've been following our blog, Brent and I deliberated A LOT about whether to put Caleb in 4K or preschool in the fall. I had registerd for the 4K because it was registration time, with the knowledge that we can withdraw the registration at any time. Fortunately, I have a good friend at work that loves the daycare/preschool that her daughter attends. We checked it out, and really liked it. Bonus: the fees are VERY reasonable!

Anyhow, today at the grocery store, I ran into the owner of the daycare/preschool. She was talking with someone about the 4K program, and it made me even more confident that we made the right decision. They are providing bus transportation to the 4K sites. The school district decided to use the big buses. Well, due to the age of the kids in teh 4K program, they now have to install seatbelts in all the buses, and the 4K kids must be restrained. The kicker is....the parents have to all get onto the bus with their child to buckle them in. This also means (I'm assuming) that the teachers have to buckle all the kids in at the facilities in order for the bus to leave. I'm not crazy about the thought of 4-year-olds on a bus in the first place, but the thought of them unbuckling themselves and no one rebuckling them worries me!

The other reasons I'm very glad for preschool is, we can do 3 days a week instead of 5. Also, according to the school district, Brent and I don't have a say in whether Caleb would move onto kindergarten or stay for another year of 4K. His birthday is 6 days before the cut-off.....we dont' want him to be the youngest kid in his class. The different host sites all have different ideas of how they're going to do things. It's supposed to all have the same curriculum, but other stuff can be different. One thing that concerned me greatly was when I asked about potty-training, on the off chance that Caleb isn't potty trained at the start of school. One facility actually said that if the child won't/can't change themselves, they'll call the parent out of work to come change their child. Considering that 4K is run by the school district, no child can be turned away, even if they're not potty-trained. The very idea that a facility would call a parent out of work to simply change a child is beyond me!

The other great thing about our preschool is that they're purchasing the curriculum that the school district is using so the kids will have the same curriculum no matter what. Next year, our preschool will possibly be a site for the 4K program, so it would be an easy transition if we decide to do 4K a year from now.

Well, those are my thoughts for the day. I'll post Easter pics soon....I haven't had much time to go through them yet!

Kidspeak...

So we went out to dinner tonight as a family. We're trying to do that more often so the kids learn how to behave in different circumstances. Caleb is still struggling with potty training...especially in public places. While we're at the restaurant, he asks if there is a potty there. I said, "of course! Do you want to go see it?" Now, he's had this fear of public restroom since an automatic toilet flushed while he was sitting on it. Anyway...we walked to the restroom. He went all the way in, but didn't want to try to go. I'm completely fine with that since just going in was a big step for him. Anyway....on the way out, a woman opens the door to the bathroom and holds it for us....Caleb just had to annouces (very loudly) that "we got to go see the potty!!" I could tell she was a mom by the way she giggled.

Caleb has also been asking to go fly kites. We didn't have one, so I told him earlier that if he was good all the way through supper, we could go buy one at the store. As we're leaving the restaurant, Caleb announces to everyone that made eye contact with him that "we're going to go get my kite now!" Kids!

Bouncin' with Tigger...

Grandparents visit...

Well, I'm about a week behind on posting the pics....but it's been a busy week! Brent's parents came up to visit last weekend. The kids were very excited. We went out to eat on Saturday and played outside in the gorgeous weather. Ironic that we're supposed to get snow this weekend! Ugh! Anyway, here are the pictures :)

Talking Fiend....

I realized that I haven't really blogged about Abby's talking much. She's talking up a storm! She tries to repeat just about everything you say....and now she's doing quite well with phrases too. These are some of her favorites:

Go Away! (thank you Caleb!)
Maya, Keen Up! (Maya, clean up)
Shoe off
Baby Seep (baby sleep)
One, Two, Tee, Go!
Ah Goo (Thank you)
What doing?
Peek-eee-Do (Peek-a-boo)
Are you? (where are you)
I you! (I love you!)

I've stopped keeping track of the single words that she's saying...she's continually amazing us! She's also walking up and down stairs, holding hands now. Hehe...she's even starting to tell us before she needs her diaper changed (could it actually be possible to attack potty training soon?)

Well, anyway...that's the news from here :)

Dad's battle with Parkinsons....

So, most of you know my dad has Parkinsons. He got deep brain stimulators placed in September of last year. UW did a documentary/promotional video throughout the entire presurgical/surgical/postsurgical process. Here is the link if you're interested:

http://www.uwhealth.org/deepbrainstimulation/video/1272

Nothing exciting...

Just pics :)