Two For

Been absent this week so I need to make it up to you with a "two fer":

Part 1: The First Step on the Path to Education
The girls started preschool last week.  I know. ... take a moment.  Where did the time go?!  We were  a little nervous, for kids that have a stay at home mom that can be a tough transition to a school type setting where Mom's not around for several hours.  But our worry was for nothing.  Not only did they not cry (pretty much a "see ya mom" response) but Rosaline was the only one who DID cry, because she wanted to stay with sissies and not leave with Mama.
They're school is something else, too.  We wanted to find a place that offered a unique setting, something that could start them off on the idea that school was fun, adventurous, a place they wanted to go every morning.  What we found was Little Valley Adventure Learning, a home preschool that combines both the educational (retired LEUSD preschool teacher with early child and human development degrees) and the adventure part (an outdoor "organic" learning environment with goats and pigs and chickens and ducks and peacocks and and aviary and vegetable gardens and. ... well. ..a whole lot of other "ands").  This is turning out to be the perfect recipe of fun, socialization, exploration and, above all, learning.  Every day the girls come home they have something "fascinating" to share with us; some new song, some new number, some new fact.  It's brilliant.  I couldn't be happier with this set up and the girls feel the same.  They'll never experience anything like this in the school system again, and rightly so - basic counting is easy when you're collecting eggs from the chicken coop, but complex algebra may require more then a few hens - so I'm glad they have the opportunity to experience now.

Part 2: I Think We're Alone Now
Our kids have never experienced one on one time. It just doesn't happen.  From the word "go" there were two, and shortly after there were three.  Yesterday Genevieve got a rare opportunity to go shoe shopping with Gina  all by herself.  The sisters were left with Yiayia and the two of them went off on their own.  Genevieve couldn't help but relish in the moment.  She kept telling Gina how "amazing" the experience was and how much she loved shoe shopping with her.  Even by the time I got home she had to fill me in on the girl time her and Mama shared. "It was just the two of us Daddy; no Arianna, no Rosaline.  It was lovely."