Magical Pumpkin Seeds

Earlier in the week Nico's class "dissected" a pumpkin by cutting open the pumpkin, digging out the seeds and examining the insides by using their senses of smell and touch. Thursday morning the kiddos went out to the Primrose garden that the students take care of in order to plant some "magical" pumpkin seeds. After some time spent outside gardening, the boys and girls were read a story about magical pumpkin seeds and then continued on with their regular daily routine. Nap time came and went. Before heading back outside, Nico was pleasantly surprised to turn around and see his Gigi standing in his classroom! Little Man ran immediately to his Gigi and gave her a great big hug...then immediately asked (in his own way) where dog was! Gigi accompanied Nico and his class back out to the garden, where the children were amazed to find small softball sized pumpkins everywhere! Each boy and girl was able to choose a pumpkin to keep, take inside and decorate for Halloween!

I am sure you are asking, 'where was Nico's mommy?' I was there, just hiding and spying until the pumpkins were picked and the class was ready to head back inside. I did this because I knew that if Nico saw me, he would think it was time to go home and would not be able to enjoy the fun.

Pumpkins and Scarecrows

Now that we have our wonderful and precious Nico in our lives, we have decided to not be party or holiday poopers. Typically Ed and I do not decorate the house or the yard for holidays and prefer to spend the money on money we would on decor on other things; however things are different now. Last Christmas we started small and actually put effort into putting up a tree and decorating it. Now, granted we certainly did not decorate as some others do for Halloween such as building haunted houses, or sticking spider webs on trees, but we did buy Nico a couple of scarecrow friends and carved a pumpkin this weekend. Nico finds his new scarecrow friends, who are exactly his size, fascinating. He gives them hugs, says and waves goodbye to them every time we go inside or pass by, and today Nico even shared a flower he picked with the scarecrows by putting it right up to each one's nose as if they were to smell the flower.




Now, pumpkin carving for a kiddo who absolutely does not care to be dirty or get his hands deep in slimy textures, is not a preferred activity. However, we of course wanted to give it a try and Nico was intrigued with the process and enjoyed the end result of a jack-o'lantern. Just to help you understand just how much Nico does not like getting his hands dirty, here is a video clip of Daddy chasing Nico down with pumpkin insides and sliming him.


Don't worry the whole pumpkin carving time did not consist of Nico being upset, screaming or running away. He actually did show interest, watched the carving, and peeked inside the top of the pumpkin. Here is the proof.

Pumpkin Pickin'

After a long, hot and sweaty summer, fall is finally here! People living in Texas can now venture outside of their houses without the concern of getting 3rd degree burn! I can not say that the leaves are changing here, mostly because I think they were already scorched from the summer heat, but the air is cool, the birds are everywhere and the pumpkin farms are ready for visitors. This past weekend that is exactly what we did. We took Nico to Hall's Pumpkin Farm and let him not only enjoy the fabulous weather, but pick out his own pumpkin or two, see some farm animals, ride on tractors and play around in the hay! The little man had a wonderful time investigating the pumpkins, but his favorite thing to do was feed the goats pieces of hay. At the end of the day we brought home three different sized pumpkins and very soon the three of us will be getting our hands messy with some family fun pumpkin carving.

A New School and a New Start

This past Friday was Nico's first day at his new school. And when I use the term "school," I actually mean "school." Primrose School is far from being a day care. When Ed and I toured the school, we were in awe and very impressed with what we saw and learned. Over my years in the education field, I had heard of Primrose, but had never been through its doors or observed the classrooms in action. The structure, the routines, and the uniformity amongst the teachers were all great to see. But it was a breath of fresh air to learn about the academic and character building centered Balanced Learning Curriculum, and see the children, even at the young age of 2 years, transitioning between the many centers, being exposed to both small and whole group instruction, and basically functioning like a Pre-kinder classroom.

Enrolling Nico into Primrose, was a big decision for us, because the tuition is quite a bit more than what we had been paying; however, Primrose is an accredited private school not a daycare and we made the choice that Nico deserves this because it is the best. His education is something that both Ed and I hold dear to our hearts, which is why it did not take us long to decide Primrose was the way to go.

Nico's first day went well, and he looked so adorable wearing his Primrose backpack, which he has to bring to school everyday. His teachers reported that he did better than they thought he was going to do. It typically takes kids up to two weeks to adjust to the structured schedule and routine of the classroom, so we will see how our little man progresses over the next couple of weeks.