Isabel is moving on

Her last day at her current preschool is tomorrow.  It's bittersweet for me, and I know Biz is sad to go.  She has made some good school friends and loves loves her teacher.  Ryan and I really like her teacher, too.  She had her graduation party last night which was fun - especially for the kids since junk food was the only thing on the menu.  There was food and play, and at the very end her teacher released some ladybugs into the bushes right outside their classroom.  What was fun about this party was the kids had input.  The ladybugs were brought in by one of Isabel's friends, Isabel insisted on jewels, glitter & sparkles for decorations, and another kids brought marshmallows.  It was all about the kids which was nice (if not bad for the tummy). 

Afterwards we took her to meet her new preschool teacher.  I think I wrote about this already, but I need to recap.  We decided to go with an in-home preschool this time which is funny because we chose to not consider an in-home last time around.  But, Folsom is full of in-homes, and we already had a taste of the corporate centers and obviously chose not to keep her in one.  We both interviewed this new teacher independently and both came to the same basic conclusions:  she's very very nice but not syrupy, she's qualified, and she runs a safe operation (none of her friends/family gets to drop by during school hours, etc.).

Isabel's first impression of her new teacher was a good one and she seemed comfortable right away.  She was jazzed at how close it is to home (about one block away) and was excited at the prospect of walking to and from school.  The other bonus is her new school is about halfway between home and one of the neighborhood parks we go to.  Plus, this teacher does a lot of baking with the kids (bonus!), makes a new batch of playdoh about once a month, and does a field trip once a month.  Did I mention the Isabel's class will have only 5 other students?  I think the small class size will be a nice change for Isabel right now.

As for me, I'm excited at the prospect of meeting some new neighborhood friends for Biz.  She's bike riding pals with a little boy down the street, but he's just turning 3.  They have the best, carefree time together.  Ryan and I are hoping they get more time to play during the summer.  She needs to have better examples of friends (and parents) than the ones that she has had.