Year: 2009

My collection of gemstones and stuff. I need to take a better photo…

Leilani loves to play with the little Nativity scene my dad made years ago

I got a new fogger:

Leilani’s highly decorated door. Most of the art was co-created.

Does Leilani have too much stuff?

We got an awesome deal on our new lead crystal hallway lamp

Here is my workplace. It used to be the dining room, now we call it the office

Well, one of us tries to pose…

Leilani was really sick. This was taken on the first day she was on antibiotics. Her sinuses were so bad, she had discharge from her eyes when she blew her nose.

Some old photos that don’t fit in here (and not anywhere else either… )

They love being pulled around in the waggon – round and round in the yard.

We went to a sports field and shot air rockets

I wish I could heve heard what Shay was proposing to Andy….

Megan, Ethan’s little sister is very cute:

I’ll win, I’ll win

Leilani sometimes does not know an English term, pantyhose is one of them. She always calls them “Strumpfhosen”, [shtroomp-f-hosen] (strumpf=stocking and hosen=pants) which is the correct German term. She asked one of her teachers for one (it’s often cold), and was not able to describe what she meant. The teacher walked over to a little boy who speaks German as well, and repeated what she understood Leilani had said – it came out as “Strom-Haus” [shtrom-hows] (strom=(electrical )current haus=house). The little boy explained it was an electrical house, on a cord (which is a good guess for a 5 yo, an adult would probably have guessed a transformer substation or power plant). The teacher was even more confused.

When I came to pick up Leilani I was able to explain the difference, and had to pronounce each word a few times until she really heard the difference (Leilani did not hear the conversation).

Later I told the whole story to Andy and Leilani listened – Andy did not know what a “Strom-Haus” was, so Leilani helped him: “It is a gasoline house!”

Leilani had her new friend Seyon over, and she was doing a puzzle and he and I played a number game – recognize the number on a little tray and count the correct number of marbles onto it. He did really well up to 7, recognized 8 and then decided that was too much work. Leilani looked up from her puzzle briefly, and said: “Just find the black ball in there. It has the number 8 on it, put it on that tray, then you don’t have to count.” I was speechless, for one thing that she was completely listening and doing the puzzle – multitasking is not something preschoolers do well – and even more so because of the train of thought.

6/8/2009

6/9/2009

me

6/12/2009

I saw that 2 of you recommended Montessori schools – I had my daughter in 2 different Montessori schools the past 2 years, and I could not recommend it any less. She will be attending Millbrae nursery school next year, which is more play based, so probably not right for you either.

6/13/2009

6/13/2009

“Montessori is not a registered term – anyone can call anything Montessori, no matter how little it had to do with the original idea of Dr Maria Montessori. The ones sticking strictly to “real Montessori approach” ignore the past 100 or so years of research.”

6/13/2009

My oldest son had some delays and we had a horrible experience with Montessori. We are having a fabulous experience with Calvary. My middle son just finished his kindergarten year and was very well prepared for elementary school with 2 years at Calvary under his belt, not only academically, but socially, as well. It is play-based and may not look as structured as some other programs, but all of the teachers are fantastic and well trained in providing a developmentally appropriate program. They are also very experienced in working with children with special needs/IEPs. Good luck!

There were a few situations when Leilani was talking about her school just as I was talking about my place of work (while working for cooperate america or pulling viruses of a client’s PC) or a high school student in the middle of a stressful test preparation – and most school days when Leilani asked her morning question: “Where are we going to go today?” (Monday Wednesday and Friday she went to school) she was  then trying to convince me to stay home (“I’ll play nicely in my room and let you work”) or go someplace else with her. Somedays she loved her school, and certainly she loves her friends and teachers, but I think the negatives weigh much heavier.