Serious Catch Up- Part 2 Preschool and Gios Birthday!

I realized I needed to split these posts up.  They were just going to be too massive in one.  I suppose the smart thing would have required writing individual posts, but c'est la vie.

After returning home from Disney, we hit the ground running and started straight in for Bella's preschool.  She goes two days a week for two and a half hours.  Fairly small amount of time but it has proven to be exactly perfect for her.  The school she goes to is strictly a school.  There is no day care or extended hours.  In fact, it is in a local recreation center, so they actually set up and take down each of the rooms every day.  There are usually 5-7 stations set up each day.  Always an art project that each child gets to rotate through with the teacher.  Usually some sort of fantasy play (train tracks, or a farm or a doll house, etc).  Often play dough, puzzles and other focused play items.  They go outside to the attached park, have a snack, and a story circle each day.  It took awhile for Bella to begin to connect with the kids but she is slowly gaining familiarity with them.  It is still a relatively slow drop of (typically 5-10 minutes now) but I know she is not upset when I leave.  She is always happy to go which I take as a very good sign.  I originally thought she should go 3 days a week, going up to 4 next year in preparation for 5 days a week preschool the following year.  Right now, 2 days is more than enough, though we also have gymnastics on a third day.  We will see how the next year and a half go. I know insane amounts of growth happen between now and five, but it is hard to imagine in such a short amount of time that she will be ready to begin real school.  Time will tell I suppose!  Here is my sweet girl on her first day.

The final update- Gio's First Birthday!  I can hardly believe my little man is one already!  As I consider the likelihood that this is my last baby, every milestone is bittersweet.  He shows more and more personality every day.  He is a little ham and quite the Casanova.  He looks you straight in the eye and melts your heart.  At the last moment (one week to be exact) we decided to have the big bash for Gio's first.  It was Halloween themed, particularly focusing on the pumpkin.  You can read all about it here.  It was a sweet day.  Dinner and cake and loved ones.  Nothing crazy.  A couple of photos of the big one year old.