A full day at preschool really takes alot out of you!
Eli has made a great transition to his new school. I was needlessly nervous about it. The drop off procedure has parents pull up to the curb and the teachers come and take the kids out of the car and take them into school. (aside: how awesome is this, I'm thinking especially of winter!) Eli giggles and squeals when his teacher comes out to get him in the morning. There was an open house Friday night and I got to talk with his teachers and they said all kinds of nice things about how well Eli is doing, which mothers always love to hear. They enthused about how he knows all the letters and the letter sounds and can recognize the initial sounds of words. He spelled "sun" for one of them and she was surprised. One teacher showed me a 1 to 100 grid and said Eli put in the first 20 numbers without looking at the guide, which she found impressive. All that's cool, and it is nice to get a window into what he likes at school. The best part for me is that they reported he is talking some at school (he's not chatty by any means, but they have heard him speak - so that's progress). They told me that there are two older girls who have befriended him and who he will interact with and follow around. I think it's something like one of the girls will invite him to come over and sit with them in the circle, and Eli does. That's a big deal for him. As unstructured as Montessori seems on the surface, there are actually alot of procedures to follow and expectations for the children and things that they are supposed to be responsible for on their own. Changing their own shoes, serving themselves snack, using their particular washcloth (they are hung on the wall with a passport-sized picture next to each one to identify who's it is) and then hanging it back up when they are done. This is good practice for Eli, doing things other people's way is not his strong suit. His teachers said he is doing well and adapting to the program, which is great news to us. We're proud of our boy.
