Sweet P goes to Preschool ;o)

Today was Presley's first day of Pre-school ;o) and she did really well....no tears, no crying, and no accidents! Wahoo! I am so proud of this little girl. ;o) For about the past week she has really come out of her shell. Her separation anxiety has stopped about as quick as it started.....and how thankful I am because it's been a long time coming.
Don't get me wrong, she still likes her space. She doesn't like to be hugged on or held unless she is in the mood to be...she is this way even with me and Joey. She likes to feel in control of things and invading her space is somewhat intimidating to her.

She got embarrassed after I started laughing at her because of the way she was smiling

After her day at school today she got in the car and started telling me ALL about it. Although, I had no idea what she was talking about. ;o) It is very hard to be on the "other side" of this school thing. I much prefer being on the "teacher" side of things. I can't imagine not ever going back to teaching and I don't like being "out of the loop" on what's going on in the world of education. I have been trying to keep up with all of the current curriculum and I've been reading up on all of the new stuff that is going on.
As a teacher you are required by the state of Texas to accumulate 100 hours of staff development every 5 years in order to renew your teaching certificate....not a big deal when you are actually teaching. HOWEVER, it is very hard to do when you are taking time off from teaching! Staff development (GOOD staff development, that is) is extremely expensive and so it's hard to get those required 100 hours in if you are not currently teaching. I have tried to get involved on-line as much as possible because a portion of your hours can come from book studies and independent studies. I have picked up a few books that I have been eager to read, The Daily Five, The Book Whisperer, and Debbie Diller's Math Workstations....hopefully this will help me stay somewhat current.
It is so funny being on the other side of things now that I am a mom. I totally "get it" now and would probably sympathize a little more with "those parents" who used to drive me crazy...but who I always loved and adored. ;o) lol. Knowledge is wealth, and so I am very thankful that I have been on the inside of things in regards to the Texas public school system. One of the reasons I quit teaching a year early was because of all the politics behind the scene......but that's another blog. ;o)The one thing I do know is that it's usually all about the teacher and I feel like Presley got the best teacher in the world. ;o) She is very sweet and calming.....just what Presley needs. Here's a funny thing....Presley is surrounded by boys all of the time. All of her cousins are boys and most of my Dallas friends ALL have boys. The only little girls she ever plays with are in San Antonio where all of my friends have little girls! Thankfully, our Hometeam has quite a few girl/boy households. ;o) lol. Presley has 8 kids in her pre-school class and all of them are girls except for 2 little boys. Love it! It is crazy how things like that happen. My last year of teaching I had 22 students.....15 boys and 7 girls. I am still convinced that that was the real reason I quit. ha! Just Kidding, it was actually the best and most well behaved class I had ever had. ;o)
Along with the 2 days a week of pre-school, Presley will also be attending Moppets every other Wednesday, Kindermusik with me on Fridays, Excite gymnastics with me on Mondays, and swimming lessons with dad on Tuesday evenings. It kind of sounds like a lot when I write it down on paper, but she enjoys her music and gymnastic time with me so much. I have also begun to work with Presley at home. I love being able to pull activities out of my teaching boxes and pinterest boards (google it if you don't know what it is....you must join) to do with Presley during the week. She absolutely loves to learn. I am actually very surprised that she loves learning so much. I never thought she really would. She's very independent and likes to do things on her own time. Joey gets upset with me sometimes because I tend to make assumptions and observe Presley with a teaching mind rather than a parent mind.....all of you parents who were once teachers know exactly what I'm talking about. lol. Anyhow, I was quite surprised when I pulled out my apple bucket because she just went nuts! We observed apples and went over the different colors, we cut an apple open and counted the seeds, we did apple paintings, colored an apple page, and created an animal craft out of the letter A. She sat there for a good hour completely enthralled....I was quite impressed. We'll see if this love for learning continues on into her school years. BUT I am keeping my fingers crossed it will ;o)