Preschool Search '10, part 3

We've hit a standstill on the search.

One school was awful. Super academic. Developmentally inappropriate. Viewed play with the whole "idle hands are the devil's workshop" adage. Sure, they were multiplying at age 3 but they weren't playing. They were being drilled. No decorations on the classroom walls because they're viewed as distractions from learning. I know quite a bit about early childhood brain development and this school was ignoring crucial things. You know, like real experiences in favor of rote memorization. Not for us.

Second school was good. Clean. Cute. Lots of outside time. Foreign languages. And then there were some alarming things on someone elses visit. Like dirty bathrooms. And elitist attitudes. Things I don't want Animalia learning, even if it's just filtered down through layers of administration and teachers.

Third school took my name and number because the program isn't quite put together yet. They're starting a Reggio Emilia based program, bilingual. Sounds awesome but I'm wondering when we'll know the details.

Fourth school never called me back.

So here we are.

Teeny tiny train vacation

Leave Tucson at approximately 10:30 pm by Amtrak. Animalia is overly interested in the train, asking if it's her train and if she's on the train. Also, she needed to go potty. Many times. Midnight lecture was necessary. I think I told her that she needed to go to sleep around midnight in my most exhausted threatening voice. Then she asked me if she could talk. I said no.

Arrive in Los Angeles at approximately 7:30 am. No sleep, or very little, since Animalia was hogging. Drop off luggage, eat breakfast at Olvera St, deal with unanticipated issues, take bus to museums where Animalia sees dinosaurs, animals, airplanes, roses, and other happy things. She keeps asking if we're in California.

Check into hotel, conveniently located near many delicious foods in Little Tokyo. Animalia loves the hotel. Eat an early dinner. Buy some pastries. Head back to the room. Animalia falls asleep early, before dessert.

Next morning, wake up, get dressed, get coffee and pastries, head to Santa Monica. The beach! The rides! This is Animalia's happiest part of the whole trip. Hotel, naps, wandering around, late dinner.

Next morning, wake up, eat breakfast, go to large Japanese supermarket, check out of hotel, head to train station. Train departs at 2:30pm. It's slightly delayed, then we're delayed en route. Animalia has good times. Spends time in the observation car which she correctly names unless she's calling it the raisin car. Home at 12:30pm (about an hour late). Asleep by 1am.

Spend the entire next day tired, though Animalia was missing the hotel, train, and Japanese food. Have I mentioned that she loves Japanese food? Miso soup, sushi, cucumbers only slightly pickled in vinegar, soba noodles. All of it.

Miss Dramatic

Getting Animalia To Sleep. Capitalized, as if it were the title of a nightly drama, played out by yours truly, Daht, and starring Animalia. I now think it's payback for having such a blissful infant and whenever friends would tell me that theirs wasn't sleeping, I'd smugly say "Animalia only wakes up once or twice per night." Well... now her brain is working like crazy maybe, or maybe she just likes driving me insane from sleep deprivation because she's been waking up several times per night giggling, calling to me, or talking about princesses. So I'm tired. But I hear her and I give her a stern "Es tiempo para mimis" and what does she say? "I understand Mom... I understand" in her most dramatic, saddest, most manipulative voice. Drama.



In the meantime, Nana and Tata have started to have the same problems with naptime. When Nana firmly tells her that she has to take a nap, Animalia wails, "Nana... why are you so mad at me?"



Drama.

Mandingo

"¿Como te llamas?" Nana asks.
"Aya Castillo Mandingo," Animalia replies, laughing hysterically.

And it's all Nana's fault.

Preschool Search '10, part 2

So I thought I loved the second school and then decided, after someone else visited the next day and reported that the bathrooms were filthy and some other major stuff, that I don't love it anymore. I'm not a clean freak by any means but filthy bathrooms are a deal breaker. Also, a certain elitest private school attitude that won't serve us well as we're hoping to put Animalia in public school for 1st grade. At least that's the current plan. Have I mentioned that this is really hard?

Left message at two other schools. One will get back to me when they have their Reggio Emilia-based program completely in place, the other, a well-known and -respected place, hasn't bothered to return my call.

The Great Preschool Search of '10

Realizing that my daughter was going to turn three this fall has sent me into a fevered frenzy of preschool searching. Actually, my fevered frenzy is more like "umm... I heard this one is ok, maybe I should call them." And then I tell myself that for a few days until I actually do it. So anyhow, this is hard and also time consuming, and, once a school is chosen, will be expensive. I guess I didn't realize that preschool is almost $500/month full time and although I'd like her to just go 2-3 days/week for the first year, I think full time might be good for her second year. Then, it's kind of weird, but it seems that either the schools are super structured, sitting at desks, doing worksheets and not being fun at all, or free and easy, hippy dippy, barefoot. It might be nice to find something somewhere in the middle. Then there's all these methods and philosophies and rules and registration fees and waitlist fees and... it's enough to make me just want to start school in kinder and skip all of this. But I know she'll love it and I know she needs just a little extra structure and variation in her life at this point. So I'll get through it.

So far I've had one visit and one upcoming appointment. I think I'm going to call two more places and make appointments with them. Results to be announced but I already know it isn't going to be the first school. That one was pretty terrible.

Princesa

"This is my princesa. It's a princess. But daddy doesn't say that word, princesa. Daddy doesn't say it en español."

--Animalia, playing with her very treasured Cinderella doll