Choosing (and Sticking With) A Preschool That's Right For Your Child

Syd's last day of preschool was last week. It was my turn to work in the classroom so I got to be a part of all the festivities that took place that day. It was exhausting and emotional, and I'm glad I was there to be a part of it. I realize as we near the end of the school year, the last thing some of you may want to talk about is more school, but I wanted to share a bit about our experience now that I've had some time to reflect on the entire year, and hopefully some of our experiences will help you in your preschool search along the way.

We found our preschool through a friend that recommended it for Taylor.  We started Taylor at a very traditional type of preschool when she was 3 1/2, and aside for some tears in the beginning, the year was pretty much uneventful.  There weren't any real opportunities to volunteer in the classroom so I could see what went on in there, and the artwork Taylor brought home was pretty much scripted pieces of pre-cut squares and triangles that she was prompted to glue together to represent a penguin, Abe Lincoln, a snowman.   In other words, nothing terribly creative, or messy, for that matter.  But her teachers and the rest of the staff were loving and caring, so I figured I'd let sleeping dogs lie.     

As she started her second year though, minor tears turned into full fledged screaming, terrified meltdowns.  She was clearly unhappy and scared and just miserable everyday that we went to school.  After a month, we trusted our gut and what our daughter was telling us, and we pulled her out.  The last thing we wanted was for her experience before she started Kindergarten to be miserable.  We started her at The Children's Garden Preschool, and Syd continued there when it was time for him to start preschool.

With a year under our belt, I knew there were a few things I wanted for their preschool experience:

• A developmental preschool where learning through play was the philosophy.
• Loving teacher(s)
• Opportunities for parents to volunteer
• A creative environment where children were not only allowed to get dirty, but it was encouraged
• A place where he would learn the fundamentals to prepare him for kindergarten, like sitting quietly, waiting his turn, working and playing with others

The first year for him was overall a great experience.  I was working full time so never really got much of a chance to connect with the other moms in class, or set up play dates for him with the other kids.  I felt guilty about it, but when you're working, what can you really do?  I saw relationships form between some of the other moms and kids in the class and it stung a bit, but as the school year ended and I quit my job, I looked forward to the new school year where I was now going to have time to focus on fostering some relationships for my little guy.  After all, in our group of friends, he is the only boy out of a sea of girls and he was ready to start playing with boys.  

The second year started and it was a bit crazy, if you will.  Lots of boys in a large classroom with lots of energy, boy energy that is.  Since I volunteered in the class twice a month, I got to see what transpired in there throughout the day.  There was aggressiveness, some pushing, lots of well, just frustrating behavior.  My son was starting to pick up on these behaviors.  The teachers assured me they had it under control but I had my doubts.  I was hoping for some punishments, some time outs, some stern talk.  But that wasn't our teacher's styles.  I appreciated that when I wanted them to be loving and understanding when our children were having a tough day.  But being naughty?  I wanted them to be tough.  I wanted to have it both ways.

On top of that, I was trying to assimilate into the circle of moms but just wasn't getting very far.  Aside from a couple of ladies that I really enjoyed talking with and now consider friends, I just wasn't connecting with anyone else.  Our views were different, our lifestyles, our parenting philosophies, whatever.  And because I wasn't connecting with many people, neither was my son. Play dates were being made between lots of other kids in the class, but not with Syd.  I started to feel hurt on top of frustrated, and I started to take things personally.  For someone that overall makes friends fairly easily, it felt so weird and odd to be in this situation.  I started to look for a new school.

We looked into and applied to the preschool where some of my best friends sent their children.  It would be a natural fit after all.  Syd would have built in friends, and so would I.  I took Syd there one day to show him around and he clearly showed that he was not happy with this turn of events.  He said over and over again, "I don't want to leave my school, I love my school.  I love my teachers."  We talked about our possible move for a few days and tried to convince him this was the right move for him, but he wouldn't budge.     

Had we seriously felt Syd was in danger, or that he wasn't thriving at his school, despite any of his objections we would have moved him.  But the more he protested, the more I realized that this move wasn't about him, but about me and my feelings about the situation.  He didn't care that he wasn't being invited on play dates, he didn't mind that some of the kids were rowdy and rough.  Overall he was having a great time at school, and felt loved and safe and comfortable.  I realized that I had to make this decision about him, not me. 

We decided to stay.  The teachers did get things under control, through a combination of their loving way, with a bit more sternness added in.  They didn't bully the kids into behaving but taught them through example.  Within a couple of months the energy of the classroom was completely different than the beginning of the year.  I still never made any real connections with many of the women there (just one or two), but at the end of the day, it didn't matter.  His experience was the same regardless of how many play dates he was invited to or how many birthday parties he went to.

The last day of school was a carnival of fun, literally.  There were regatta races with boats the kids made, obstacle courses, art projects, and sliding down slides in boxes, an activity I'm sure would be banned at most schools out of fear of a lawsuit.  The kids made popcorn and ice cream from scratch, and they got filthy dirty.  To collect their diploma, each child slid down the twirly slide and shook hands with Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Bailey.  It was an amazing day.

Art and I texted each other later in the day and both said the same thing; we were so glad we stuck it out and kept him at that school.  Syd is now going into Kindergarten with a great set of social skills, and with the experience that learning can in fact be fun.  I couldn't have asked for anything more. 

What factors did you look for in choosing your child's preschool, and was their preschool experience what you had hoped it would be?

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

Various Updates & Ramblings

This week has been a bundle of emotions for me.  Between realizing that I could no longer "wing it" with this baby, I decided to register for a few items on Amazon (you can see my registry here - how did I do?  Any suggestions?), to just feeling like I want to hurry up and get this dang school year over with, I'm tired.  Not in a complainy, whiny way.  Just in a suburbanite sort of way...wanting everything to go as smoothly and be as perfect as it can be, but then feeling silly for wishing things to be any different.  Does that make any sense?  I hope it does.  Basically, when I start to feel sorry for myself, I realize I should just shut the heck up and move on.  So moving on I shall do.

I miss you guys a bit.  I feel like the last couple of weeks have been a torrent of giveaways and sponsored posts.  Well I guess "feel" is the wrong word, since it's not just a feeling but more like reality.  My apologies if you got a bit tired with the content in the last couple of weeks.  I've always prided myself on publishing content on this site that I feel good about, and while I maintain that even the sponsored content I have put forth here is completely my voice and my opinions (I promise to never represent a brand or product that I don't use or don't like), I know some of you may not all agree with or appreciate sponsored content.  I get it and I respect that.  I hope you all understand that in order for me to keep going and be able to justify the ridiculous amount of time and energy (and even money at times) I spend on my sites, I had to start taking advantage of some paid opportunities.  It just so happened that many of those opportunities came to fruition all at the same time.  Posts like this shall slow down though in the coming weeks and I'm hoping I can focus on some fun kid and family related projects that I've been working on to share with you.

One thing I have been meaning to bring up here is my post on PPD.  After I posted my story, I received a lot of emails and comments about how brave I was to talk about this subject so openly.  The thing is it never even occurred to me that I shouldn't talk about it, or be ashamed to talk about it, and neither should any of you that have also dealt with PPD.  If I have learned anything, it's that PPD is something we can't control, only try to manage.  To think it's something we have a choice about is ludicrous, and to feel anything remotely close to shame or embarrassment is harmful and dangerous.  Please, if you ever suffer from PPD symptoms, don't be afraid to talk about it with someone, anyone that you think will help or listen or just support you.  You and your baby deserve it.

I don't want to end this post on a bit of a down note, so allow me please, to share some pictures of our recent adventures and happenings around here.  First off, this past weekend we watched Star Wars New Hope together as a family.  It was the first time the kids were allowed to watch it and naturally they loved it.  I fell asleep.  We're thinking of holding off a bit before showing them the other two because they are a bit more scary.  Any thoughts out there or feedback on when you showed the trilogy to your kids?  Much appreciated.

Last night Art brought home a Roomba.  He wanted it for Father's Day because he says he's tired of hearing me complain about having to sweep up the dog hair everyday.  Strangest thing I've ever heard.  If you ask me, being the tech junky he is, he just wanted the opportunity to own a robot at some point in his life.  Needless to say, the kids are fascinated with it and think it's their new play toy.  They've named him Tommy, or Tom Tom, but his technical name is T7S5A36A38 (all our initials and ages).  

Hoping you all are having a good week so far.  Anything fun or interesting going on?

5 Tips For a Fun & Successful Pool Party

Since we built our pool almost a year ago, we've hosted several get-togethers with family and friends and I've started to learn a thing or two about throwing a successful pool party.  If you're not careful, kids can get ridiculously tired and hungry, which leads to crankiness.  And crankiness in the pool is never a good thing.  And if you're really careless, kids can get bored!  In a pool you ask?  Yes, even in a pool I've seen some kids get bored and restless.  After a year of hosting pool shindigs, here are a few tips I've learned to help have a successful (and safe) pool party.

 Hire a lifeguard - First and foremost this is the most important thing I've learned, and that's maintaining the safety and peace of mind of my guests.  Now I don't hire a lifeguard every time we have kids swimming in the pool, but for big birthday parties like Taylor's and Syd's, hiring a lifeguard from the local swim school has given me, and my guests immeasurable peace of mind.  At the last party he jumped in and saved 3 kids.  Granted there were plenty of adults around, and the likelihood of something tragic happening was probably slim, it did save some adult from having to jump in with their clothes on ;)  In Southern California a lifeguard runs about $50-$60 for a 3 hour party and it's well worth it.  This is the best piece of advice I can give.

 Have a few other activities lined up - Not every child knows how to swim or even enjoys swimming, so have an activity or two that those not wishing to swim can enjoy.  At Taylor's party we had hula hoops and a craft set up.  At Syd's party we had a small bounce house a neighbor lent us and the homemade light sabers.  Having these extra activities really helped to make all the kids feel involved and have fun, whether they were swimming or not.

 Set up a break time for the kids to all get out and get some rest - 3 hours of non stop swimming can lead to really tired, hungry and eventually, careless kids.  Set up eating times so they all get out and get replenished, and plan a separate activity that all kids participate in, like a pinata, to give them all a much needed break.

Keep pool toys to a minimum - For safety and sanity, limit the number of pool toys allowed in the pool when large groups of kids are swimming. This will lessen conflict over kids fighting over toys, and also give you better visual coverage so each child can be accounted for at all times.

Establish rules up front and stick to them - one friend has a no diving rule, another has a no jumping off the raised wall rule.  Our rule is no hanging onto each other when swimming.  Set your rules and don't be afraid, or negligent in enforcing them.  Set up warning systems so that if a child disobeys the rules, they get a 1st warning, 2nd warning means they take a break, 3rd warning means they are out of the pool.  Pools are supposed to be fun, but they can also be dangerous and above all else we need to set the tone that safety is the #1 most important priority, then comes the fun.  

I hope these tips have been helpful, and please share any others you may have learned along the way as well!  We've got a long summer of swimming ahead of us ;)   

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

Syd's Star Wars/Boba Fett Party

I love the saying better late than never, because I am notoriously late, to everything. It's the thing I despise most about myself, yet find it impossible to fix. Syd's Star Wars party recap post is no exception here...almost 2 weeks later I'm sharing the pictures with you. But as they say, better late than never, right? The party really was overall a fantastic one. Syd had a great time, and I think most of our friends and family did too. The only complaint was by 2 picky eaters and a hot dog mix up (one got a cheese filled bratwurst and the other didn't get a hot bratwurst). Just two complaints about hot dogs out of almost 50 people, and I'd say that's a pretty wildly outrageous party in my book. I'll take it.

Syd from the outset wanted a Boba Fett party.  Not a Star Wars party, but a Boba Fett party, he was very clear on that.  He is the most obscure Star Wars character of all and it's impossible to find any party related supplies with just Boba Fett featured.  To make matters worse, Syd requested that there be no "bad Star Wars guys", which means no Darth Vader, the usual Star Wars back up character.  If the kid had been turning 4, I probably wouldn't have been so attentive to his wishes, but since he was turning 5, a milestone in my book, I did my best to follow his rules ;)
Let me take this time before we move on, to tell you that neither of my children have yet to actually see any of the Star Wars movies.  He has a few books people have given him, but for the most part the kid's knowledge and obsession of Boba Fett is completely of his father's doing.  The Boba Fett action figures on the table?  Those are Art's.  Yup. This is what I'm dealing with here.  Full on Star Wars geekery.  That's okay, I know many of you ladies out there can relate.      

I racked my brain for weeks trying to figure out how I could compile some sort of overall decor scheme out of just Boba Fett, especially when I really didn't have an overall color scheme.  I had a creative mental block up until about 2 pm the day before the party.  Inspiration finally at that point hit me and I decided to tie it all back to neon, because I'm sure Star Wars pretty much invented neon, right?  Had I had more time I really could have got wild and ordered neon straws, neon balloons, neon sanding sugar, the works. But I decided to chill just a bit and work with what I had.

Overall the party was all pulled together with the following elements:

• NEON cardstock bought at Target for $4.49 - all food labels were printed on this, in a basic black Star Wars font and were customized to the food we were serving.  We thought up the names the night before and printed them out on our printer.  The cardstock was also used for the Happy Birthday banner, which I simply held together with neon artist tape I had from Neon Week.
• We printed up a few cool looking Boba Fett pictures and taped them to picture frames (we were really scrambling at the last minute to get everything pulled together so we didn't even have time to put them in the frames.  We just taped them on with some neon tape and it worked fine). 
• Boba Fett figurines were set out on the table.
• I used an entire roll of silver glitter wrapping paper from the Paper Source as the table runner, tying in with a spacey star theme.
• Black balloons were outlined with some neon artist tape.  Not sure why I did this, I guess to sort of make them look like planets?  It was a last minute add on and it ended up looking cool.
• The kid's take home item instead of a goodie bag (because remember I really don't like goodie bags), were homemade light sabers out of pool noodles.  These took forever to make, at least 4-5 hours, but they were worth it and were very easy to do.  The kids used them all throughout the party and especially in the pool.  Best addition to the party by far.
• I debated for about 10 seconds about having a Boba Fett pinata custom made for the party, but then decided to just get one of those generic star shaped pinatas that they put the themed paper plate on in the center; the cheap way to incorporate the pinata into the theme.  The one we chose most resembled an actual star and had a whale on it, so we just printed up some Boba Fett pictures and taped them over the whale.  Worked out perfectly!
• The Jedi Juice was just lemonade tinted with yellow and green food coloring.  I saw lots of recipes for fizzy Jedi Juice using Sprite and green sherbet, but I didn't want a bunch of 5 year olds running around crazy after drinking soda.  They were already crazy enough ;) The light sabers were just chocolate covered pretzel rods rolled in sanding sugar, teh closest to neon colors I had on hand, and the Galactic gummies are just Star Wars gummy snacks sold at our local Ralphs, already in pre-printed Star Wars packages. The cake just had a picture of Boba Fett and a spacey color scheme.

 

I'm taking next year off from the birthday party hosting circuit, but if anything, despite all the work, I'm glad I was able to give each kid a great big birthday party before this 3rd baby was born. I hope they both remember these great big parties next year when we're sitting at home just the 5 of us singing happy birthday over a store bought cake ;) If you'd like to download your own Star Wars printables, I've included a link to the Photoshop file so that you can customize your own food labels and Happy Birthday banner to any thing you want. I've also included the link to the free fonts we used in case you need to download those as well. You must have a copy of Photoshop to customize the labels. I hope some of you put them to good use one day! Besides the homemade light sabers, the food labels were also a big topic of conversation. My 8 year old nephew saw them and said "Those are quite hilarious Auntie." Props from an 8 year old boy and smiles from my favorite 5 year old boy? I'd say that is pretty cool and definitely makes it all worthwhile! ;)  
Get your customizable Star Wars Food Cards here

Make sure to download the free Star Wars Fonts here

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

 

Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway!

Raise your hand if you were terribly sad to see the weekend go away. Hand raised high right here. This was the first weekend where we were not working in one form or another; either working on that blasted garage or working on throwing a party. We've waved our white flag and have decided to have someone come and paint the garage for us so Art was able to take the weekend off and it was much needed and deserved. For the first time in a while we spent time together just moseying around, not having to rush from place to place.  It was glorious, which is why I was so sad to see the weekend go away.  BUT!  There's always a bright spot right?  I'm excited to be hosting a Lisa Leonard giveaway today for a $50 shop credit to her beautiful store.  

I personally can't get enough of my teenie tiny initials necklace and have been wearing it pretty much everyday.  On the days I'm not wearing the initial necklace I'm wearing the tiny twig necklace below.  I admire Lisa and her collection so much.  Great business woman, beautiful and simple designs and fantastic quality.  You really can't go wrong with anything in her shop.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

left to right top to bottom: tiny twig necklace, we love dad key chain, through my lens necklace, thin sterling cuff, leaf earrings, high in the sky necklace

To enter this giveaway, please visit the Lisa Leonard Designs site and leave a comment letting us know which item you'd order with your $50 shop credit.  For additional entries sign up for her newsletter and Like the Four Flights of Fancy Facebook page.  That's a total of 3 entries.  Giveaway will close on Saturday June 2nd at 11:59 pm PST.  Good luck!

Also, I'll announce the Rags to Stitches giveaway winner tomorrow!

Granny Smith Cheeseburgers

Most of my favorite recipes I make over and over again, including the ones that I've featured here, harken back to my childhood in one way or another.  Whether it be trying to recreate something my grandma made or just using an ingredient that my mom always used to make, my cooking usually goes back to my childhood roots.  I'm guessing if food was a big part of your childhood, it does for you too.  When I was given the opportunity to create a recipe post using Kraft Singles I jumped at the chance because I've been eating and cooking with Kraft Singles for as long as I can remember.  Not one single grilled cheese sandwich or cheeseburger in this house is made with something other than good ol' American.  I think I may even have responded to the opportunity with the statement "Are you kidding me?  I have the Costco size box of Kraft Singles!"  I may have even offered up pictures as proof.  You know, just in case they thought I was lying ;)

This cheeseburger recipe I'm sharing today is ridiculously easy and is one we've made several times when we wanted something just a tad different than the usual.  It's Americana mixed with a tinge of fanciful novelty.  You'll both impress and delight your guests if you grill these babies up at your next BBQ, I promise you that.  My father in law is a tough critic and he admitted to me last night that these were in fact "dang good burgers."   

Granny Smith Cheeseburgers (makes 4 large size burgers):
1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 granny smith apple finely chopped + 1 thinly sliced for topping
Salt & Pepper
4 Kraft Singles & Buns

Mix up the ground beef and chopped granny smith apples, add salt and pepper to taste.  Shape into 4 1/4 lb patties and grill as desired, topping with a slice of Kraft Singles in the last minute of grilling.  Add your condiments on your bun (I prefer just mustard with this kind of cheeseburger), and add a slice or two of granny smith apple.   

The cheese melts perfectly on the patty and the sharpness of the cheese mixed with the tartness of the apple and savory meat is quite possibly the perfect combination.  I especially love that I don't have to worry about messing with slicing up tomatoes, lettuce, onions and all that.  This burger really does taste best nice and simple with just the sliced apple serving as your only topping.

As always, please let me know if you give these a try.  It would be the perfect new cheeseburger to try for Memorial Day tomorrow. 

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a coupon for free Kraft Singles and a stipend.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Announcement!

(Family - because talking about them never gets old)

I've started this post 10 different times and 10 different ways, trying to find the right way to say it, without saying "I have a big announcement", but sometimes you just have to state the obvious so here goes: Guys, I have a big announcement!  And since I'm already pregnant we know that that big announcement has already been covered, so what could it be?  Well I've recently signed on to be a regular contributor at Disney Baby, and I honestly couldn't be more excited, honored and ahem, nervous.  It's an actual job guys ;) 

What is Disney Baby you ask?  Well it's going to be a space where myself, and some other really amazing bloggers will talk about everyday parenting and family moments.  I'll be writing about pretty much the things that us moms all experience and do with our kids and families.  I'll be sharing practical tips as a mother of 2, soon to be 3 (yikes!).  Talking about life with the new baby, sharing craft and activities I do with the kids.  When they told me the list of topics I could cover it seemed like a natural extension of what I'm already doing here.  So of course I said "Dude, sign me up!" (dude added to emphasize my California roots).  

I grew up and live 15 minutes down the road from Disneyland.  Some of my best memories are truly from our once a year trip there as a kid, even if we did always bring our own sack lunch.  I honestly never had an inkling of a dream that someday I'd be writing content for them.  It goes without saying that after a few days of this news sinking in, I'm really excited and honored to be a a part of this. The contributors portion of the site launches June 22nd so expect to hear me mention it and ask you to come over and say hi :)  

As a side note, remember when I wrote this post just a few weeks ago?  Wow, sometimes it's just all about timing right?  Feeling very thankful right now.  Thanks for the continued support and encouragement. 

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

P.S. Here's a list of the other bloggers I'll be contributing with over at Disney Baby.  Again, I feel honored to be in such good company.

Nadia Carriere of Child Mode
Melanie Edwards of Modern Mami
Amy Heinz of Using Our Words
Selena Burgess of La Petit Reve
Michelle Horton of Early Mama
Melanie Blodgett of You Are My Fave
Lauren Hartmann of The Little Things We Do
Janssen Bradshaw of Everyday Reading
Jacinda Boneau and Jamie Morrison Curtis of Prudent Baby
Rachel Faucett of Handmade Charlotte
Arianne Segerman of To Think Is to Create
Casey Mullins of Moosh in Indy
Natalie Holbrook of Nat the Fat Rat
Amber Doty of The Daily Doty
Meagan Francis of The Happiest Mom
Becka Robinson of Life as an Artistpreneur
John Cave Osborne of JohnCaveOsborne.com