That was a busy couple of weeks! But we are officially settled and down to only one residence. Not to say that the odd box is not still here or there, but the bulk of things have been put away and we are more or less fully functional in the "new house". And after a couple more working evenings, all remaining things should have a home. Problem is, its been busy (moving, overtime, swim lessons, a mini trip, vacation, county-wide black-out, Elliott starting school, etc., etc.), so we haven't had too many working evenings in the last week or so. I hope to address some of the 'fun things' in a few different posts, but again that depends on my evenings (last night putting together cardboard storage boxes from IKEA were about all I could handle) ;)
We are also gradually getting used to our new surroundings. Despite the fact that we lived in this area before, its been nearly 15 years and a lot of things have changed. Also our priorities have changed, so what we are looking for now, is different than before. But, I love our little wooded oasis amongst the skyscrapers and condos.
I have a ton of photos to share and plan to start doling them out so you can see all that we have been up to. But in the meantime, I wanted to let everyone know we are alive and survived the move and I am extraordinarily thankful for how well everything has gone. See you soon!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Moving update
We have been busy, busy, busy! Fortunately we have had an extra set of hands. Brad's mom flew in to help out on Tuesday and honestly, she's done the lion share of packing up so far.
Elliott's already figured out what's going on and when we drive up to our new place he says 'new house!' :) He's even packed a couple of his own boxes! He keeps saying that he's "workin" and "boxes to the new house!" Indeed, indeed!
We will officially be at the new place as of tomorrow, so wish us luck with the big furniture move! We decided it was high time to hire people to move our big stuff and I think we got a good company to help us. And that means we don't have to hit up any of you for help! ;)
And while we are gaining a bedroom, we are losing a significant amount of our living room/dining room space. We are going to need to be creative, but it should all work out. I'm just looking forward to being settled again. It's been hard to be in limbo for the last week+.
Elliott's already figured out what's going on and when we drive up to our new place he says 'new house!' :) He's even packed a couple of his own boxes! He keeps saying that he's "workin" and "boxes to the new house!" Indeed, indeed!
We will officially be at the new place as of tomorrow, so wish us luck with the big furniture move! We decided it was high time to hire people to move our big stuff and I think we got a good company to help us. And that means we don't have to hit up any of you for help! ;)
And while we are gaining a bedroom, we are losing a significant amount of our living room/dining room space. We are going to need to be creative, but it should all work out. I'm just looking forward to being settled again. It's been hard to be in limbo for the last week+.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Preschool
One of the things that we knew this fall would bring is preschool. Prior to Brad being accepted at UCSD, we weren't sure what form preschool would take, but we knew it was time. We are very thankful that Brad's schooling has taken the form it has, when it has. Brad's schedule has been more flexible while at Mesa, so between him and my mom, we have been able to keep Elliott at home so far. This has been great for so many reasons, but it had also become more and more obvious in the last few months that it was time for Elliott to be around other kids on a regular basis as well as form bonds with adults other than his immediate family.
We also knew that UCSD meant an entirely different school commitment from Brad. So once we knew he was going, we started looking at preschools. We knew we had to choose a place that offered full-time days, but we were also hoping that we could find a place that was flexible in their schedule, so that Elliott could still be at home a couple days a week with my mom - both for her :) and for our wallet!
Let's just say, thinking about preschools was not something I enjoyed. There are so many different kinds out there. So many different philosophies. So many different methods. So many different formats. It was all very overwhelming. This is also an avenue where I don't really trust the internet. The last thing I wanted to do was take Elliott someplace I had found because I googled "san diego preschools'. I just don't trust what might pop up. We wanted referrals. Problem is, we don't really know anyone who can give us any for our area and situation.
So we started with some of the bigger corporate schools for the obvious reasons (well regulated, good security, flexibility, etc.) and went from there. Then we also got a great list from UCSD that included referrals to lots of the smaller preschools as well. There really is something for everyone out there. It was nice to see a few different kinds of schools because we quickly learned what we really wanted in a school...and what we didn't.
I had a picture of what I thought preschool for Elliott should be like in my head. And frankly after visiting the larger, corporate places, I knew it wasn't that. After our first school tour, I was really upset. I figured it was just because "I" was having a hard time with the idea of Elliott being left in someone else's care. That it was something "I" was going to have to get used to and get over. The school was nice (if not a bit sterile...and not in a bacterial way), the kids well-behaved and the staff was really nice. But the class seemed too large to me (twelve kids per teacher - the state maximum, by the way). That's a lot of 2 year olds for one teacher, especially when I feel they are still at an age where they need a lot of guidance.
I kept thinking about an incident that happened at Gymboree...a class where not only do we have a teacher, but every child also has their own person with them: The teacher was giving out high-fives to each child for helping to clean up the maracas. There were about 7 kids in the class that day. One little girl went to get her high-five, but was standing in the teacher's blind spot. So the teacher never saw her when she turned to put the maraca bin away. The little girl started to cry (high-fives are a really big deal if you didn't know! ;). But, her mom was there and explained to her what happened and that it was going to be okay. I kept thinking about her as we looked at schools. How can one teacher give 12, 2 year olds what they need? What would have happened if that same incident had happened in preschool...only no one was there to comfort the little girl because no one saw what happened? And how would the teacher treat someone crying, when they didn't know why and the child might not be able to explain why? It made me almost want to cry.
And that is how we knew when we found the right place. We visited a little private preschool affiliated with a local church. It was a small school and didn't have the lock-down procedures we saw at the corporate schools. But we also quickly realized why they weren't necessary...because the teachers knew you. There were 12 kids per class (one class each for 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds)...but each class had two teachers! Each class had its own area, but they were all apart of the one large classroom, roughly divided by low standing cubbies and bookshelves. And the outside area was by far THE BEST one we saw. So many fun things to do! Things weren't perfectly band new, but it didn't matter.
When we went into the 2 year old class, they were in the middle of free-choice time. There were 4-5 kids at an art table with one teacher doing something with green glitter :) There were another couple kids at a different table putting puzzles together. And one laying on the floor looking at books. And this was the biggest difference to me, the kids looks SO happy. They didn't look 'managed'. They looked engaged. I instantly could see Elliott there, happy. When we had a chance to talk, both Brad and I turned to each other and said this is the place!
Now, I also want to take a moment to talk about money. This is mostly for me for my records, but for some of you who don't know how much childcare costs these days, you might find it interesting as well. We went into this knowing that while price will always be a consideration, we weren't going to make this choice purely on cost alone. We knew how much we could afford (and I use this term loosely...because frankly we can't afford it) based on what Brad was going to get for 'school expenses' and we didn't look at any of the places we knew would be out of our price range (...which worked out because those places tend to have much more complicated enrollment procedures and most deadlines had long since passed). Anyway, rough ballpark, it was going to cost us about $1000 per month for Elliott to go to school 3 days a week, full-time at the larger, corporate preschools. But our little school is going to cost about $640 :)
I think my favorite part about this whole process was Brad's comment after we had toured the inside of Elliott's preschool...We were outside looking around and I said - I LOVE it here. He was like, well don't get your hopes up yet, we don't know how much its going to cost. I said - I do! (I had printed out their price sheet ahead of time. I love the transparency about this place, too!) He said, how much more is it from the other place? To which I responded - its not! its cheaper! He was shocked :)
Elliott is set to start the second week of September. This will give Elliott a chance to get settled in school before Brad starts as well as give Brad the time to go to his orientation and get his other school-starting errands done (there's a lot to do when you start at a new university - sheesh!). I know there will be an adjustment period for Elliott and I am preparing myself for that. But I also know he is going to love school. He is so interested in other kids right now and he is starting to learn how to interact with them and wants to, too! I also love that he has already learned about teachers via Gymboree and knows to look to them for guidance, reassurance and feedback.
I am so excited for Elliott to start this chapter of his life. Both Brad and I know he is going to thrive in school :)
We also knew that UCSD meant an entirely different school commitment from Brad. So once we knew he was going, we started looking at preschools. We knew we had to choose a place that offered full-time days, but we were also hoping that we could find a place that was flexible in their schedule, so that Elliott could still be at home a couple days a week with my mom - both for her :) and for our wallet!
Let's just say, thinking about preschools was not something I enjoyed. There are so many different kinds out there. So many different philosophies. So many different methods. So many different formats. It was all very overwhelming. This is also an avenue where I don't really trust the internet. The last thing I wanted to do was take Elliott someplace I had found because I googled "san diego preschools'. I just don't trust what might pop up. We wanted referrals. Problem is, we don't really know anyone who can give us any for our area and situation.
So we started with some of the bigger corporate schools for the obvious reasons (well regulated, good security, flexibility, etc.) and went from there. Then we also got a great list from UCSD that included referrals to lots of the smaller preschools as well. There really is something for everyone out there. It was nice to see a few different kinds of schools because we quickly learned what we really wanted in a school...and what we didn't.
I had a picture of what I thought preschool for Elliott should be like in my head. And frankly after visiting the larger, corporate places, I knew it wasn't that. After our first school tour, I was really upset. I figured it was just because "I" was having a hard time with the idea of Elliott being left in someone else's care. That it was something "I" was going to have to get used to and get over. The school was nice (if not a bit sterile...and not in a bacterial way), the kids well-behaved and the staff was really nice. But the class seemed too large to me (twelve kids per teacher - the state maximum, by the way). That's a lot of 2 year olds for one teacher, especially when I feel they are still at an age where they need a lot of guidance.
I kept thinking about an incident that happened at Gymboree...a class where not only do we have a teacher, but every child also has their own person with them: The teacher was giving out high-fives to each child for helping to clean up the maracas. There were about 7 kids in the class that day. One little girl went to get her high-five, but was standing in the teacher's blind spot. So the teacher never saw her when she turned to put the maraca bin away. The little girl started to cry (high-fives are a really big deal if you didn't know! ;). But, her mom was there and explained to her what happened and that it was going to be okay. I kept thinking about her as we looked at schools. How can one teacher give 12, 2 year olds what they need? What would have happened if that same incident had happened in preschool...only no one was there to comfort the little girl because no one saw what happened? And how would the teacher treat someone crying, when they didn't know why and the child might not be able to explain why? It made me almost want to cry.
And that is how we knew when we found the right place. We visited a little private preschool affiliated with a local church. It was a small school and didn't have the lock-down procedures we saw at the corporate schools. But we also quickly realized why they weren't necessary...because the teachers knew you. There were 12 kids per class (one class each for 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds)...but each class had two teachers! Each class had its own area, but they were all apart of the one large classroom, roughly divided by low standing cubbies and bookshelves. And the outside area was by far THE BEST one we saw. So many fun things to do! Things weren't perfectly band new, but it didn't matter.
When we went into the 2 year old class, they were in the middle of free-choice time. There were 4-5 kids at an art table with one teacher doing something with green glitter :) There were another couple kids at a different table putting puzzles together. And one laying on the floor looking at books. And this was the biggest difference to me, the kids looks SO happy. They didn't look 'managed'. They looked engaged. I instantly could see Elliott there, happy. When we had a chance to talk, both Brad and I turned to each other and said this is the place!
Now, I also want to take a moment to talk about money. This is mostly for me for my records, but for some of you who don't know how much childcare costs these days, you might find it interesting as well. We went into this knowing that while price will always be a consideration, we weren't going to make this choice purely on cost alone. We knew how much we could afford (and I use this term loosely...because frankly we can't afford it) based on what Brad was going to get for 'school expenses' and we didn't look at any of the places we knew would be out of our price range (...which worked out because those places tend to have much more complicated enrollment procedures and most deadlines had long since passed). Anyway, rough ballpark, it was going to cost us about $1000 per month for Elliott to go to school 3 days a week, full-time at the larger, corporate preschools. But our little school is going to cost about $640 :)
I think my favorite part about this whole process was Brad's comment after we had toured the inside of Elliott's preschool...We were outside looking around and I said - I LOVE it here. He was like, well don't get your hopes up yet, we don't know how much its going to cost. I said - I do! (I had printed out their price sheet ahead of time. I love the transparency about this place, too!) He said, how much more is it from the other place? To which I responded - its not! its cheaper! He was shocked :)
Elliott is set to start the second week of September. This will give Elliott a chance to get settled in school before Brad starts as well as give Brad the time to go to his orientation and get his other school-starting errands done (there's a lot to do when you start at a new university - sheesh!). I know there will be an adjustment period for Elliott and I am preparing myself for that. But I also know he is going to love school. He is so interested in other kids right now and he is starting to learn how to interact with them and wants to, too! I also love that he has already learned about teachers via Gymboree and knows to look to them for guidance, reassurance and feedback.
I am so excited for Elliott to start this chapter of his life. Both Brad and I know he is going to thrive in school :)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
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