School (Virtual) Tour

Daniel is attending Little Lambs Montessori School (http://llmontessorischool.com/) and I have been extremely impressed so far. I  still wish I didn't have to leave him but this seems to be a fine place. I had done a lot of research about the Montessori method and I really do think that the idea of child-directed learning with gentle structure is an excellent way to go.

The school itself is in a converted house. From the entryway, you can turn right into the moovers (children who aren't infants but also not old enough for the toddler class), or head upstairs to the preschool (determined by readiness but generally 3, 4 and 5 year olds), or head left into the toddler room. The infant room is thru a doorway off the back of the toddler class. There are no shut doors (only gates) and I love that at any given time you can hear someone calling for story time with friends or singing songs or whatever else is going on.

The infant room has cribs in the back (one crib per kid - Daniel doesn't ever have to share and always has the same bed) and general class area in the front. Can't believe I forgot to take a pic of the crib area but here's Daniel asleep at pickup the other day.

In the mornings, we arrive around 7:20 and sit down on the "learning foam" so that he can eat one more time before I leave. These foam forms are lined up along the wall in the mornings but tend to be all over the place by the time I pick him up. I loved that they are brightly colored and a safe place for the littles to learn to crawl and play (excuse my crap in the picture).

In the middle of the carpet area is the big foam circle that I've found Daniel enjoying at pickup. He and Warner (the youngest baby - only 6 weeks!!) apparently enjoy morning foam circle time. They'll be foot to foot and just look at each other.

Behind the carpet area is a tile area where floor chairs sit (upper left of the pic) for meals and story time. There's also the diaper changing station and shelves with bins for each kid. The bottom shelves contaiin a few toys that the littles are allowed to help themselves to (if they get that far!) Everyone has clothes, diaper changing stuff, and food/bottle items. Everything is kept carefully labeled and organized. The school is amazing about using whatever diapers, wipes, diaper cream, etc that you want (except for cloth diapers).

Another amazing thing about Little Lambs is that they will feed whatever you send. They were one of the few schools I found that actually prefers that your child have breast milk - citing the health benefits.There's a fridge in the classroom and a bottle warming station and all of the teachers have been trained to properly handle/defrost/feed breast milk. The kids are held in one of these chairs to eat and Daniel has apparently been buzzing at the Owl. Again the shelves have toys that are always up for grabs.

The final awesome thing is that every day when I drop Daniel off, I fill out a little slip that has his name and info. Then you record last meal and how much he ate (or how long he nursed), last diaper change and what he did, and how he slept. Then during the day, the teachers log eating times and amount, diaper changes and naps. There's also a place on the sheet where I can leave a note or they can write me one - we've had "great day" and "sleepy today" and "lots of hiccups" and "bring more diapers" ... LOL. It's very reassuring to know what he's been up to. This is a dark pic but you get the idea.

14 weeks!

The incredible Daniel is 14 weeks today . . .

The last week has been full - and stressful - but we have lived to tell the tale and things can only get better. Right?

Daniel had his first 4 days at school. I really like the people and the environment and I think it's a good place for him to be. Two of his teachers speak Spanish and I like that he's getting exposure to another language. He's still waking up at least twice a night but - on daycare days, at least - goes right back to sleep.

Daniel's major new skill is blowing raspberries. Tons and tons - happy? Raspberry. Sad? Raspberry. Hungry? Raspberry. Smile? Raspberry

This weekend was interesting as Daniel had a cold that he generously shared with mommy. While he never ran a fever and seemed in good spirits (despite coughing), I had a temp yesterday and have been coughing and spluttering today.

Going to school means that Daniel has to have 16 oz a day of milk. I really loved breastfeeding when I was home and - amazingly - felt no stress over it at all. I've been very grateful because I have head so many tales of woe about the difficulty involved in breastfeeding. Now that I'm back at work, pumping is a real pain in the neck but I feel like it's too important for him to get breast milk and I will keep on going.

Pics from this last week!

This first pic is Daniel in the foam pit at school.

Smiling while blowing raspberries!

 Sucking on his fingers (while attempting to blow raspberries!)

 Reading a book at Grandma's house!

 It was a scary story!

 Tummy time on the boppy

 Refusing to smile . . . while blowing raspberries!

Thanks for reading! 

3 months old!

Our amazing Daniel is 3 months old yesterday (I wrote the post yesterday, I swear) and what a whirlwind last month it has been . . . Christmas was insane but (mostly) fun. Getting out in the snow (once) and doing things with a baby in tow is extremely stressful and I confess to being happiest when we can hide at home. I'm hoping that the daily exposure to the car (he still hates the dreaded car seat), daycare, and other people will make being out and about easier for all involved.


Speaking of daycare, yesterday was his first day (I went back to work last week and we were so lucky to have Grandma Janet  - aka "Granet" - look after him) and it seemed to go well. I was very brave and didn't cry when dropping him off but did at pick up. He was contentedly hanging out in a little foam pit (I'll take a pic, that's a terrible description) babbling to the world around him and then he beamed at me when I picked him up. I was so relieved that I burst into tears.


Daniel at three months . . .

• loves to eat
• likes to babble and coo
• enjoys "reading" his black and white books and his baby faces book
• hates the car
• has just figured out how to grab for toys
• likes to kick his legs
• thinks that naps are for babies
• will smile at his mommy
• tries to sneak looks at the tv
• wakes up at least twice a night
• wears a mixture of 0-3 and 3 month clothes
• furrows his brow if you aren't entertaining enough
• chews on his fists and sucks his fingers
• sleeps swaddled

Recent pics for your time - we'll take the official 3 month pic tonight (I hope)!

Back to Work

Daniel was initially shocked that I'd have to go back to work . . . 

but he'd read about babies who had to get in cars and go places with their mommies

and he knew he could take his toys along.

So, even tho he'd rather stay home with mom

Daniel grabbed his keys

And headed "off to Grandma's"

sleepless nights

I'm awake and, for once, its not Daniel's fault. Believe me, the irony of not being able to sleep with a newborn in the house is not lost on me so I figured I'd do something worthwhile like update the blog ... especially given that stabbing my snoring husband is not an an option.

Daniel is 10 weeks and 3 days. He's so amazingly awesome. I seriously cannot believe that he's so cool. Lately he's very chatty and likes to coo and gurgle at just about anything - me, His daddy, the light, his books, his hands, his play gym, everything. My favorite partbofbthe day is when he finishes nursing and pulls back and looks at me ...

Daniel: "Ooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaghfff"
Me: "Oh really?"
Daniel: "Ooooooooummmmm"
Me: "And then what happened?"
Daniel: "Bah! Gaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooo"

;-)