School Week Nine

***Yes her last day of school was 29th May...but at least it's up now!***

Alex's last week of preschool in America. So sad - she has really enjoyed it. I never thought that her going to school 9am-3pm Monday to Friday would make her so happy. I guess I can enjoy that until her teenage years...

Let's see, her final week was a short week as it was Memorial Day weekend so no school on Monday - and school finished on Thursday. Brett's been working hard on his PhD, leaving really early in the mornings (thanks Sebastien for the wakeup call) so I've been taking Alex in to school as well as picking her up. Each day this week, something else had been packed away in preparation for the summer. I make sure she gets to school at the earliest time allowed (8.55am) and also that I don't pick her up until the last possible minute (3.00pm) even on the last day, parents picnic day, when some parents took their children home from the picnic at lunch time, Alex went back to school to finish out the day.

So last week, the class "pet" - Naymee the Chameleon - came home to our house.










Alex did some things with Naymee and in Naymee's diary drew some pictures of that whilst I wrote what she said happened (we went to a BBQ where it rained, Alex kissed Naymee gently before putting her to bed - in the diary case). We took Naymee and the diary back this week and Alex loved showing Mrs Brady what she'd done, and in particular, how she'd held Naymee on her forefinger at the weekly BBQ we'd attended.

So the main attraction this week was the parents-are-invited picnic at Prairie Fields Park in Savoy. Here Alex has finished her pizza and american-style lemonade and is posing in front of two of her teachers and the play structure. She had a great time - especially as she had convinced Daddy to play on the structure with her. It was a hot day!









One of the disappointing things with Alex going to preschool at Marilyn Queller in Urbana was that she was unable to ride the school bus to school each day - something that she has wanted to do since she was 18 months old. Well, she has had 2 field trips plus this picnic, all of which included transportation on a school bus. She was pretty excited!










Here is Alex with her three teachers: Mrs Brady, Mrs Byers and Mrs Shelmadine. It really helped that she loooved her teachers!















Going to school exposed Alex to lots of new things - not all of which I want her to "pick up" including sucking thumbs/fingers and a few choice words. Well, Alex has developed a habit of chewing her hair, oftentimes talking whilst it is in her mouth. So we will be scheduling another hair appointment to cut it off - short - next week. Maybe in six months she will have forgotten this habit??










So that's it - the end of preschool here. Sad- yet we're glad she was able to have such a positive experience with preschool as that will help her in the China transition when she (hopefully) goes to preschool there.