Ruby's New Nursery School

This week was Ruby's first week at her new nursery school. I decided to make a switch when the old nursery school made some major changes without any communication to the parents. So, I called around and the place I had originally wanted for Ruby had an opening in her age group! She is now at the Emory Valley Early Learning Center -- which is more of a school (and run by the Department of Education) -- whereas her old "school" was more of a daycare setting (and run by the Department of Human Services).

Now, my biggest complaint about the old school was the lack of communication. Well, in her first week at the ELC I have received three notes from the teacher. I get a note at the end of each day and one at the end of each week. These basically just summarize what Ruby's day was like and the weekly one tells how she did on projects and what they're learning. This week was all about penguins, which was a perfect week to start because penguins are Ruby's favorite animal!

The school is a fully inclusive environment and about 40 percent of the students have some form of handicap or disability. This means that students who need services can receive them while at school and all of the kids learn about differences. One of the benefits of a school that provides services is that all of the students get to use the therapy room. There is a Gross Motor Room where the kids have free play/recess when it's not nice enough to go outside. In this room is a ball pit, trampoline, "roller coaster," etc. It is a neat room and Ruby absolutely loves going to the "Gross Room."

Ruby acclimated to the new school very quickly. The school typically does a student evaluation after about 45 days of attendance, but since Ruby has done so well, they are going to evaluate her in the next few weeks. All this means is determining how she is doing educationally, socially and emotionally and finding out if there are any familial concerns or things that they should work more on at school or we should focus on at home.

I think this is going to be a great change for Ruby. And, one of the perks for us is that the school provides breakfast, lunch and all snacks -- this means I no longer have to pack a lunch or bring a classroom snack twice a month!

In other news we are gearing up for the twins' birthday party. Grandpa Arnold and Grandma Kimmy fly in tomorrow afternoon. Ruby is trying to decide if she wants to call Arnold "Papa" or "Grandpa-doodle." The first name came from one of her books, and I'm not sure where she got the second, but we'll see what she comes up with. She calls my father "Grumpa" (from the book Grandpa Grumpy's Family).

We are having the birthday party Sunday at Razzleberry Ice Cream Lab and have about a dozen families joining us. It should be a blast and I promise lots of pictures from that event. Sorry there are no new pictures today!

Belated Happy 2011!

We've made it to the new year and are looking forward to Jason's birthday and the twins' birthday this month. The kids are recovering from some sort of stomach bug, but other than that, everyone is doing well here. We all had a great Christmas -- Ruby was thrilled that Santa came to visit her. And she was excited that he ate her cookies and the reindeer ate her carrots. Today we are relaxing because we have a snow day! I think we have about three inches of snow and schools are canceled and even Jason's work is closed. It's days like these that I love living in Tennessee -- Iowa definitely would not close school for this!