School and Learnin'

Since she was three months, I've been taking Evie to an Early Childhood & Family Education class through our local school system. It has been the single greatest discovery for me since becoming a parent. For the first year, we had class together with open playtime followed by circle time with songs and discussion for the parents. This past year, Evie 'graduated' to a separating class where we were together for 45 minutes and then separated for 45 minutes - kids in one room, parents across the hall for discussion.

We were really lucky to have a great group of moms in our class the first year and they have all become good friends. When the kids were babies, we would get coffee together after class which eventually turned into weekly playgroups and monthly mom's night out. It's been great to have a fun group to share things with as well as bounce issues off of. A few of us are in a shortened summer session together and this time, I enrolled Riley in sibling care. The room is great and the women are very sweet but it was still scary for me to leave Riley with people I didn't know - strangers! Of course, when I went to check on him at the halfway point the first day, I thought I heard him crying as I came down the hallway only to discover him happily sitting on one of the ladies' laps chewing on his toy and smiling. Okay, so it's my fear, not his. ;)

Speaking of learning, Riley is in the process of figuring out how to sit up and keep his balance. For bigger babies, they say it takes longer so we're not pushing it. It's pretty cute to watch him sit there though.



Evie is very curious and loves to be outside.  She's an explorer though not quite an adventurer - she is still cautious about things.  We get a kick out of watching her get 'down and dirty'.