Tag Archives: nursery
Dr Seuss is my neighbor’s gardener
There is no question these plants are from the Dr Seuss Nursery. I’m actually not sure if my neighbor just planted these or if I’ve been oblivious to their creative gardening since we moved here. Which ever it is, I love these plants. So cool and unique. Also, these plants have to be at least 6 feet tall. Love them! Does anyone know what they are called?
Pre Decisions on Pre K
AJ went with me for the first time today to tour a Pre-School/Nursery School. In California, apparently you have to go on tours of nursery schools in order to ingratiate yourself enough to the nursery school for them to accept your baby into their school. Yep. In nursery school. And you have to get into the right nursery school or else your baby doesn’t get into the right elementary school. And if they don’t get into the right elementary school, well, it’s probably a lifetime of serving at Pizza Hut/Taco Bell combination restaurants for her.
It’s a big decision which is why it really does help to have your significant other with you, when making these types of potentially life altering choices. Especially if your significant other only wants your child to go to Ivy League Universities. That’s right, we are paving the path for Maggie to go to college and she is only 15 months old. Personally, I’ll be excited if she chooses UCLA, or USC because they’re close to me. Or NYU or maybe even UT because I’d be happy to move to either of those places. Alas, we don’t have to worry about those decisions yet, do we? Apparently, we do.
This is why I’m getting nervous about choosing the right school. What if we chose the wrong Pre-School and we end up setting her up for failure? So in all honesty, what do you look for in a Pre-School? Brand new playground? A learning garden? I learned today, all AJ looks for is pet chickens. After touring several schools, I think I’m beginning to form an opinion on what makes a great Pre-School.
First, I really love a secure building and campus. If my 3 year old is going to be without me, then I need to have peace of mind that the security is better than at the Whitehouse.
Secondly, I want to see a fun and friendly atmosphere. I don’t want to see an old broken book shelf sitting off to the side of the playground. Get rid of it. Safety hazard!
Thirdly, I would like someone to talk with me about their program. Why? Well, it’s been a long time since I was there and I need to understand that my child will be learning at some point.
Lastly, if I’m touring your campus and the kids look bored and unhappy, I’m sure they are. If the teachers look mean, I’m positive they are. I remember hating my PreSchool teacher. She was horribly mean . Seriously, like Catholic school nun meets Hitler mean. Still to this day I don’t understand how someone teaching 3 year olds could be that miserable, especially considering how adorable I was. Not kidding, I was cast as Mary in the Christmas pageant twice and as an angel several times. My sister was never cast. Clearly I was the angelic one.
What would you look for in a Pre-School? If you live in LA…which schools do you like? Also, if anyone in my family decides they want to say my sister was more angelic than I. Please ignore them, they don’t know what they are talking about. It is all lies. My sister was mean, actually I think they wrote that movie Mean Girls about her. :) Yes, that is my tortuously mean sister smiling at the camera.
The quiet lunch
Today I was having a quiet lunch with Maggie. As we both sat their enjoying our food, suddenly I began to panic. Am I not talking enough to her? Should I be talking to her about our food? Is it okay to take a break and relax during a meal? All I want is a few moments to enjoy my food and just be, but they (books, babywebsites, etc) say I should be talking to her constantly, so she can absorb everything. So here it goes…
Conversation:
ME: Maggie you are eating carrots. They are orange. They grow in the ground. Carrots are a vegetable. Fun things about carrots is you can eat them many ways. Such as you can cook them, steam them or just eat them cold. Bunnies eat carrots. You were a bunny for halloween and there was a carrot on your costume.
Maggie: yesss
ME: That’s all I got on carrots. Oh, they taste great with hummus and they are usually the only vegetable on a party platter that doesn’t go bad, so they are safe to eat at parties.
Maggie: yeah
Sadly that was all I had on carrots. I thought that I had informed her of a few things outside of the box. Which got me thinking, is this how a Reggio Emilia school program goes? How do the teachers possibly teach like this? I guess if this was my class we would be learning about growing vegetables in the ground, party platter etiquette and how to cook.
I wonder if Maggie would have preferred a quiet lunch as well. She probably knows she is too young to worry about which vegetable is best on party platters.
Nursery school tours & my sweaty self
What can I say about the nursery school process? It is a weird bizarre world and I”m in it. Um…hello? Am I going crazy? Do I really have to start applying now? According to some, yes I do. Maggie is 10 months old and I’ve been stressing about which nursery school (aka pre-school) we will be sending her to. Actually, let me rephrase. I’m stressing out about which nursery schools we will be applying to, waiting to hear about our acceptance, and then paying thousands of dollars to.
This dilemna has kept me up at nights. I’ve read articles, reviews, and books. I’m now going to “walking tours” of the schools. Today I went to a very reputable school, the whole thing was a disaster. First of all, I didn’t know you shouldn’t bring your child. Right when I walked in I noticed I was the only parent with a child. I was horrified. I actually made up the excuse that my sitter was sick. I’m already lying to a school that I haven’t even applied to. After we get a lovely long winded recommendation from a parent who is sitting in the small room with us, the school director begins to give us a tour. In some ways, I understood why we need to see the school, but really? I don’t need to see every classroom and every teacher. I’m a little confused why the school director was pushing so hard to show us how great their school is. Guess what? I’ve read about your school, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already know it was great and the possibility that Maggie will get in is pretty slim. Other than being an amazing baby, Maggie doesn’t have anything going for her. She is an upper middle class, white, half jewish girl in LA. She is not a dime a dozen. This is why I’m already applying, we need to be the first white, half jewish family on the list. Let’s get moving on this tour.
So here I am carrying Maggie on the school tour for an hour and 15 minutes. I’m clearly not prepared for this, I’m sweating, and I have no questions to ask. Not to mention everyone else’s kids are between 18-22 months and at home with their nannies. I feel like the mom who showed up naked. I’m sweating, unprepared and Maggie is bored and getting fussy. Everyone is complimenting me on how well behaved she is, clearly meaning “Why would you ever bring a baby to a tour?” I finally excuse myself and compliment the school director on an informative and amazing tour. Maggie and I drag ourselves to the car, I give her a bottle and take my hair extensions out. Yep, I decided to look like the hip mom with long fun hair, instead I was the haggard dumb ass mom with a baby.
For those of you that haven’t done the math. Maggie is 10 months old and I’m touring schools that she will be attending when she is 3. That’s right. I’m touring schools that she will be attending in 2 years. Honestly, I’ve already spent more time on Maggie’s nursery school applications than I did on my college. I’m not kidding, I was oblivious to the college admissions process during highschool. I only realized I needed to apply after I graduated. So clearly, my view of Maggie’s intended education is different than the education I allowed myself to have. Apparently, I should have paid more attention to my education. I should have gone on more college tours. I would have known to not bring a baby or wear hair extensions to a school tour.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda…
Maggie’s 1st FAO visit
While in NYC I wanted to do a bunch of fun things with Maggie. Sometimes just going to a famous toy store is the best thing to do. AJ and I took Maggie to FAO Schwarz and had a fun time. Yes, she is a little young to really enjoy everything the store has to offer, but I know we will make plenty of memories with her there in the future. For now, she enjoyed larger than life stuffed animals, a muppet factory, an adorable newborn nursery, ugly doll town, and even enjoyed a special marriage.
These memories are priceless.
Would you move?
Would you move in order to send your kids to a better school? AJ and I sat down the other night and discussed our school plan for Maggie. Whew! What a long and exhausting conversation with so many hypothetical possibilities. Our daughter is 9 months old and we had to discuss her options for school in LA for the next 18 years. Talk about a reality check. Although the conversation was exhausting, it was eye opening.
Until I had a child, I always thought it was just New Yorkers that had to deal with crazy school issues. Watch Nursery University, it is about the competitive Nursery school application process in NY….CRAZY! Then watch Waiting for Superman and you will be angry, but seriously watch it. Then watch Lean on Me, just because Morgan Freeman is stellar and we all need to have a little hope. Actually, watch Shawshank Redemption, that movie really holds up. Although it has nothing to do about education, unless you need to be educated on how to break out of prison.
