Back to School - PreK and K

How do we have a kindergarten age kid??  Hannah started kindergarten this week and is loving school.  We received a great note from Hannah's teacher letting us know she taught a classmate how to draw and paint a butterfly when she saw he was getting frustrated.  She was very proud to be able to help.  She has really clicked with her new head teacher, Debbie, and we are so excited to see her grow this year.  She already has started asking us to help her learn math during bedtime books so that she can be ready for math group.  I love that she wants to learn!

Ella is also off to a great start in PreK!  The first day she ran into school and had no issues when we left.  She has made a few new friends - mostly the other younger kids in the class - and is excited to go back each day.  We are so lucky to have two more years with Amber and Karen (or Carolyn as Ella calls her).  Ella had three accidents her first day at school, which is terrible even for her, but thankfully she has been accident free ever since.  Apparently watching all of the big kids in the class has paid off - gotta love peer pressure.  She is also napping with no binky. Amber and Karen do a fantastic job of catering to the younger kids in the class this year.  Instead of traditional sign in, they create a different sign in each day where the kids move a sticky with their name to their birthday month, gender, number of letters in their name, etc.  Here is a snapshot of Ella's first week of school from her teacher's daily newsletters and blog posts:

"It was wonderful to see Ella and Seraphina put symbols on paper to write their name on their time capsules, even when they thought they couldn't."

"Mason and Ella were the first to enjoy painting at our classroom easel and created beautiful paintings (that may take days to dry)."

"How are you feeling about the first day of school, Ella? Sleepy."

"Favorite moments from the day: Mason and Ella playing with (dumping out) the new crayons and laughing the whole time :-)"

Ella is a big fan of the drinking fountain and is always drenched.

Our new after school nanny, Nicole, seems to be a wonderful fit and both girls love being with her.  They start all of their after school activities (dance and swimming) this week. It's so nice to be back into a routine!