Our little man has made quite the impression on his teachers at the KCKCC Childcare Center. Just like his big brother before him, he is a hit with the ladies. They tell me his is an excellent little man, never cries, smiles, plays with toys, eats good, is up for anything, laughs all the time and is just generally really good natured.
He had never attended a Center before, so I have been a little nervous for him these last two weeks. He did already get pink eye, and has had a cold with a nasty cough all week, but I suppose that is to be expected since he has never been around so many kids before. Prior to this he was home with me his first 9 months, and we shared a nanny with a friend of mine the next 6 months, and then we hired a nanny to watch our three this summer for 2 months, so he has only been around a few kids and mostly just in my home from then up until now.
So other than a few minor illness bumps in the road, Walter is adjusting nicely. He is already learning so much. He sleeps in a cot (tear!) and drinks out of a big boy cup at school (double tear!). I have noticed him trying to talk more and more these past few weeks too. Although it makes me sad that they have to go to daycare, he and Hazel are only at preschool about 25-28 hours per week and the rest of the time are home with me.
These are pictures Walter's teacher, Ms Simone sent me a few nights ago. She is great with him (probably spoils him a little too much- I have yet to pick him up and not have her or another teacher holding him). She said she has more pictures of him splashing with water and eating chips and dip and will send those soon. Wally goes on his first field trip next Friday to a place called Lil Monkey Bizness so hopefully she'll get pics of him playing there as well and be able to pass them along.
Not sure what's going on here, but he seems to be following directions okay!
Gus is still doing great at kindergarten. Loves it! He had school pictures this week so I'll have those soon to distribute. He took his first test yesterday and got a perfect score. He is so interested in learning to read, and is almost there. He knows his letters, most upper and lower, and has started sounding them out. He loves having me write words and phrases and then he copies them. He has always been great at math and counting (other than the numbers he can't pronounce) but I am hoping his reading skills catch up with the mathematics skills real soon. And he is quite the artist. His little drawings are so detailed and cute. I sure love him. Hard to believe he is 5.
My little 3 year old Hazel is doing well also. She loves her friends and teachers- talks about them non stop. Actually my girl talks nonstop about anything really :) She is interested in choosing her clothes and deciding how I should style her hair in them mornings. She loves learning too. She can almost write out her first name (I've been fighting her on whether her name is Hazel or Hazy- she prefers the later), can identify most of the letters of the alphabet and can identify numbers up to ten, although she can count to 20 almost perfect most of the time. She loves the songs she learns... if I hear "August is our month, August is our month, Hi Ho the Dairy Oh, August is our month" one more time, I might scream. But she is enjoying learning.
Hazel starts soccer on Sept 9th. I am still working on finding karate for Gus- it is just so expensive. I can't find anything for less than 100 bucks a month, but I am still looking. The older two start church school on the 15th of Sept during Mass and I am REALLY looking forward to only having one child in Mass with with Josh and I (can't start Wally until he is 3). I can't imagine what that will be like, only Wally, but am really excited to be able to pay attention in church again.
Well that's a quick little update. Enjoy your holiday weekend. Hopefully I'll have more picturess to share after our travels back to Iowa for Labor Day.
