Intermission

Sorry for the delay between posts. Jetlag hit us in a big way around here, which surprised us given that it was only a 4-hour difference. We've all been rather sluggish and tired. Luckily, we were able to enjoy some extra family time at home before the girls went back to school and Markus went back to work on Wednesday.

Ellie is now in Middle Primary, the next age group at school. Montessori schools have mixed-age classrooms, so she has moved up to the (roughly) 6-9 year olds. She is THRILLED! She asked every day of our vacation if we were going home tomorrow. When we asked why, she invariably said that when we went home, she'd go back to school and when she went back to school, she'd be in middle primary, and she couldn't wait to be in middle primary!

Stephanie is now set to attend every day in the Junior Primary classroom she used to share with Ellie. Ellie is so good at soothing her (so sweet!) that it was a wonderful gift for Stephanie to be able to start last term with Ellie in the same class. I have my reservations about her attending every day now (she still starts objecting in a big way not long after waking up in the morning), but we're going to give it a good go and reevaluate in another month or so.

The school day for 3 year olds at our school is from 8:30 to 1:30 five days a week, but I think that's a big ask for a new 3. We started Stephanie out for two hours, three days a week. We decided to up that to four days a week by the end of last term. Now, I upped it again to three hours, and her teacher wants all five days. As much as Stephanie objects at home (and I'm talking about tears and fuss from 6am), she does beautifully when she gets into the classroom. She loves to work, she makes herself right at home, and she seems to be friends with every child in the class. On her first day back, her teacher told me she wished for the first time that she had a video camera in the class just to show me how well Stephanie does. Two of my mom friends from the same class have done observations for their own children last term, and they too have reported back that Stephanie is happy as a clam in there. Whew. She's always happy when I pick her up and she has yet to be waiting by the door for my return, so I think we're good to go.

Both girls were exhausted from their first day of routine yesterday. Ellie, thrilled though she was about middle primary, started crying as soon as we got to the car about any little thing. I had brought the wrong snack. The wind blew her hair. The sun was too bright! WAH! Poor girl! She was soooo tired. Stephanie didn't do any crying when I picked her up earlier. She was happy and chatty. We came home, played, ate lunch, danced, puzzled, dressed up, and got back into the car to fetch Ellie. I gave her some crackers to snack on and I heard enthusiastic CRUNCH CRUNCH CRrrr... She was out like a light before we'd even left the driveway (cracker dangling from her lower lip). Tee-hee.