James's Nursery School Graduation 2015

James had his first move-up ceremony! On the one hand, I feel that wistful my-little-boy-is-growing-up feeling. On the other hand, it's only nursery school. He goes to preschool next year, and Kevin and I both started school in preschool. I'm really glad he got a little school this year though because he was home a lot with me before that and he needed some socialization with other kids. He's come a long way with sharing and cooperating. Plus we really enjoyed that he went to a nature and science nursery school with a lot of outdoors time and worm-handling and gardening.

Same sign as first day.

One of his friends, Celia.

The move-up ceremony was really quick. Like don't-blink-quick. The kids walked out, sang a butterfly song (which James did not seem familiar with, perhaps because he didn't actually attend school this week), and then they called their names for certificates. They also got a little gift bag with a book, their art projects and their final report card. James got his first perfect report card with improvements in sharing and caring and whatnot. 

Ready to perform a song about a butterfly before "graduating"

Close up! James, ?, Peyton, Riley, and Micah

Future Class Clown? What he did when he saw I was taking A LOT of pictures.

With his teachers Ms. Sue and Miss Andrea standing right there no less!

Getting his certificate (15 seconds)

Posing with his certificate. Ready for summer then PreSchool!

My own report on his progress is that he definitely communicates like a toddler now and tells little stories about what happened. He been able to read and write all the letters since before he started nursery school, but now he can sight-read some words. I'm not sure if he knows about sounding stuff out or not, but I think I might clue him into that this summer. He can also do a little simple addition. I'd also really like him to focus on Spanish this summer. Honestly, the hard part is making myself focus on it when it's so much easier to just stick to English.

Then they all got to play a while because they're 4 years old.

With his best school friends Elena and Sabina

He trusts Dada will catch him.

We told him we were proud of him for working so hard and being good in class. Then we took him for ice cream.

Good job, buddy!

Post-graduation ice cream treat! (J picked cotton candy and M shared lemon with Dada)

• James's First Day of Nursery School- September 2014
• James's Nursery School Video- Fall 2014
• James's Nursery School Holiday Party 2014
• Reading at James's School- March and April 2015

Reading at James's Nursery School 2015

At the beginning of March, Kevin was a mystery reader at James's nursery school. He read two of James's current favorites PRETEND by Jennifer Plecas and BOY AND BOT by Ame Dyckman.

 

Kids made him this thank you card!

He said it was fun and James was pretty excited, so I went in on Friday and read. The weather was nicer so I got to read outside. it's a nature school so there's lots of animals around. The kids were pretty good but I was heckled by a rooster. Seriously. I read The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, a fictional account of the Highline Park and my favorite story in Frog and Toad (the one about a letter) by Arnold Lobel.

Huge scary dinosaur about to eat me.

Reading The Curious Garden

James Holiday Party 2014

James's first school performance! So cute and fun! If you know our youtube channel go watch it there. If not, ask me for the link.

Pre-performance

Miranda is not impressed.

But Mom is!

James's Nursery School- Fall 2014

Post by CSTL.

Here's my favorite picture from the video of James holding a bunch of worms. Note his unrestrained joy:

It's a nature school, that's why.

Halloween 2014

This Halloween was awesome because two kids and two costumes means double the cuteness. James still doesn't care too much what he wears, so I picked his doctor costume based on how easy it was to buy and price, and Miranda's bunny costume too. But Miranda's costume had a little bit of extra significance since she was born on Easter, she's my little Easter bunny.

The doctor laughing at the bunny- I mean, can you handle it?

Sharing is her carrot! I can't handle it.

Pre-Trick-or-Treating picture! We quickly took off the ill-fitting cap.

Kevin looks pretty amused at the bunny. Off we go!

Trick-or-treating at Margaret and John's house!

For now, he's not too cool to trick-or-treat with Mama. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

She encouraged him to take some extra candy (because he's cute)

Figured out Mama was just slowing him down.

Miranda wonders: What's happening here? This is the weirdest day of my life so far.

Posing with the awesome street decorations.

Coming back from another successful collection.

Crockpot Vegetarian West African Peanut Soup for dinner - Delicious, easy, 

ready and waiting for us when we got back, and appropriately orange-colored

Checking out his haul

But there's more! James's school was hosting a Halloween event called Spooky Fest, and even though it ran into the kids bedtimes we decided it was pretty necessary. Plus, James had randomly fallen asleep for a 2-HOUR nap in the afternoon before trick-or-treating so instead of being crabby as he might sometimes be, he was in a great mood and totally cooperative.

James making a "scary" face outside of Spooky Fest. (Cannot handle it!)

Glow-in-the-dark dinosaur head. Does it get better than that for a kid?

Wandering around the (not-so) scary trail.

Duck or the "spider webs" will get you!

Peekaboo pumpkins!

The ghost on the right moves fast!

Haha, Miranda looks awesome.

Toddler craft area!

Make your own sticker-covered owl ornament. But why?

So excited to meet Mickey and a random wizard at Spooky Fest!

The bunny cashed out.

Luckily, all this late-night action dovetailed nicely into the end of Daylight's Savings Time so we're mostly adjusted to the new schedule already.

• Last Year's Halloween 2013- Pirate
• James's Second Halloween 2012 - Tiger
• James's First Halloween 2011- Monkey

James's First Day of Nursery School 2014

I was more excited about James's first day of school than James, or anyone. James hasn't been to school or daycare before. Up until now he's been home with me every day, and really he was overdue for something more challenging. He'd been going to Tiny Tots activity thing at a nature preserve with Kevin and we learned that they also have Nursery School. He's just there a few days a week for a few hours but it's a big deal!

Look at the little man!

First in a yearly series with his sister

He's attending the Center for Science and Learning's Nature's Kids Nursery Program at the Tanglewood reserve.* It's a nature and science nursery school on a nature preserve. They have a lot of rescued animals there including parrots, owls, and a huge blue-tongued lizard of some kind. Among other things, they slosh around in mud and go looking for bugs. I'm equal parts excited and terrified for him. He thinks it's all awesome.

We're here!

Checking out his classroom and meeting one of the teachers, Ms. Sue.
His other teacher is Miss Andrea.

Parrot in the classroom

Showing Miranda the preserve dinosaur

Oh hi.

He liked it so much that he asked NOT to go home when Kevin went to pick him up. Then he had a huge fit when Kevin made him leave. He did this the second day too.

 

Pick up photo: Does not want to go!

One of my favorite things is that the teachers put up a board each day showing what they learned. As you know, asking a toddler questions can provide you with mixed results.

Learning Log

So it begins! Our little baby is growing up. He's awesome and I'm so excited for him.