1. Dorothy costume from the Wizard of Oz
2. Magician costume
3. Big, sturdy sandbox
4. Wizard of Oz book
5. Dora books--Super Babies and the Dance ones

What she needs. . .clothes. She is outgrowing things daily. She is 37 inches tall and about 36lbs. Wearing size 4T at least.

Melina has had a habit recently of trying to negotiate when she doesn't like what she is hearing.

Like:

Dad "What would you like for breakfast sweetheart"?
Melina "Ice Keems"
Dad "We don't eat ice keems for breakfast, only as a treat. How about cereal"?
Melina "Ice Keems, how about a yes?"
Dad "No"
Melina "How about a yes?"
Dad "no"

etc...

So when Melina was about four months old Bill and I attended our first “preschool night” here in our area. We had heard that we were already behind and should have been on preschool waiting lists when I was pregnant. What? These people must be crazy I thought. Doesn’t preschool begin at age 4? Well, as it turns out they weren’t crazy about the waiting lists and the preschool start age seems to have changed since I was a kid. Ok, so that was my bad, it has been quite a few years since I was in preschool. So with the new age 3 (some schools 2.5) start age for official preschool, Bill and I did a crash course in educating ourselves on the different preschool philosophies (Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio-Emilia, co-op, play-based, etc). I had a spreadsheet with all the info outlined and spent about a year visiting over 15 schools in our area. It was hard since Melina was so young, how was I supposed to know what the right fit would be when she was 2.5-3. Anyway, we narrowed it down to three places (one Montessori, one Reggio-Emilia, and one academic), paid the fees to get on the waiting lists and waited.

I received a call from two schools in January saying that they had a space for Melina in the Fall (2008) and one of the schools could even take her earlier and she could begin two mornings a week in February (as long as she was pretty much potty-trained). We opted to try out the Montessori school and see how she liked it. Personally, I liked it because I like the philosophy behind Montessori teachings and the environment of the schools (“a place of simplicity, beauty and order. There is nothing within it that could be an obstacle to the children’s development. This means the environment is uncluttered and conducive to activity and concentration.”). There is this focus on everything having a place and out of mutual respect everything is returned to its place. I try to teach that at home and it is not going so well, so my hope is this will double the efforts!

Now the big dilemma is both schools that have space for her need to know by 3/1 if she will be attending in Fall and if so, they need first and last month’s tuition to hold her spot. Yikes! Problem is, I really want her to go to school #3. We are 70 on the waiting list, down from 108 two years ago. Not looking good. . .but do I hold out? I think I should go with what we have in front of us now. . . .seems silly all this stress for a school that is two days a week, 2.5 hours and outrageously priced. Maybe I should home-school! HAH!!!

As for the Montessori school she is currently in, she loves it. She goes a total of 6 hours a week and is thriving. She is the youngest one in the class and is learning a lot from the older kids (goes up to age 5). As for the potty thing, no accidents at all so far. I love it as well since it is about 2 blocks away and we can walk both ways, rain or shine.

So that is the 411 on preschool for us. Yikes, preschool!! I am so glad she is going to public school in kindergarten. . .please tell me there are no waiting lists for that!