Lily & Leo

Lily (42 weeks old) just had her 1st week at LePort school!  First off, what is LePort?  Here’s their intro on their website “Welcome to our LePort Schools, where we are more than just a daycare and traditional private school. We equip your child with Knowledge for Life – the essential skills and knowledge he needs to thrive as a joyous child today, and as a successful adult tomorrow.”  They run by the traditional Montessori educational system, which “is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development” and so LePort’s “environments emphasize materials and activities scaled to the children’s size and abilities, opportunities to develop movement, and activities to develop independence.” (quote taken from the wiki page =P).

Lily getting to know Ms. Sharon!

Lily being curious about her friends’ foods!

So this is how Lily’s first school experience went.  The head teacher, Ms. Kirsten, came by our house for a few hours to get to know Lily’s living environment, her schedule, habits, and mainly, to get to know Lily.  This was a great way for Lily to get to know her main teacher so that when she starts, there will be a familiar face at school!  Next, we had her first day visit for 1 hour at school with her last Friday.  It was so cute to see her crawl around and try to explore, but because we were there, she just stayed around us and didn’t wander too far away from us. She had her first day by herself this past Monday, where she was there for a whole hour and 20 mins by herself!  She got to meet all the other teachers there, it’s a maximum of 3 students per teacher, so there were a total of 12 students in her class, so that’s 4 teachers.  Her primary care teacher is Mrs. Heather.  However, she will be going on maternity leave soon so she will be replaced by Ms. Bianca!  They are all super nice!!  When I dropped her off and was heading out, they all sang their goodbye song, and she just stared at me as I left.  I signed in her sign in sheet outside the door, then looked back in through the window, and saw her already crawling towards the toy rack.  She didn’t even cry!!!  I was at first happy that she was fine, but then sad that she didn’t miss me, but overall, I’m proud of her!  When I can to pick her up, the head teacher was filling out her first accident report!  Lily loves to pull herself up these days, so she was pulling herself up on the table and then she slipped and hit her lip on the table.  They said she cried for a little bit but then was fine!  What a trooper Lily!!  The teachers said she LOVES to explore and was all over the place and that she was very curious of her friends’ food!  haha

The second day of school was yesterday, (Thursday), and she was there for 3 hours.   She did great as well, no tears, and no accident report!  Another thing about the layout of the classroom is that it has a room with a bunch of small cots that are about 4 inches off the ground, and that’s where all the babies sleep.  I was really concerned about the cots because normally Lily likes to roll around in her crib for a few minutes before she goes to sleep.  So I was really worried that she might try to crawl off the cot and just crawl around and bug all the sleeping babies.  Another thing is the cots aren’t the softest things to lay on, so they suggested we bring a blanket or quilt for her to sleep on.  So right away I knew just the thing to put on her cot, her personalized made quilt that our aunt (Di A’nh Michelle) got her!!  It’s so pretty and it conveniently has her name on it so we don’t have to label it!  Anyways, when I arrived to pick her up that day, guess who I found sleeping cozily in her cot!!!  Ms. Kirsten told me that when it was time for her nap, she started to whine and roll around in her cot for a little bit, but after some soothing and 10 minutes later, she was fast asleep!  It’s like magic!!  The next day, she did the same thing and put herself to sleep within minutes!!  She is learning so much at school already, and I notice she’s falling asleep at home for her naps a little quicker too.  So amazing!!

Starting school is such a huge step to take and some people prefer to wait until later while others say the earlier the better.  With our situation, now is the best time for us and Lily, and I feel confident that this is a great decision.  Our cousin, Chi Hai’s, kids go to LePort as well, but different campus, but I just see how much smart and well behaved and independent they are, and that’s what I want Lily to learn as well.  So far Lily is doing really great, exploring and playing and learning.  She had her first buggy ride today too!  It’s where they have a stroller that has 6 carseats on it, and they all go  for a stroll around the campus so they can enjoy the outdoors!  I’m excited for Lily to make new friends and socialize!  Another amazing thing is that she gets a lot of stimulation at school that by the time she gets in the car on the way home, she just knocks out and takes a nice long nap!  Woohoo!!!  I can’t wait to see what fun things she’ll learn next!!  Great job at your first week of school my Lily pad!  Mommy and daddy are super proud of you!!!  We love you so much!!!!!!!

Lily with her hippo backpack ready for her 1st day of school!

LePort T-shirt (onesie) Friday!