School Program

Last week at Aubrey's school, the students put on a Cultural Program to celebrate the teachers' and students' cultural backgrounds. They sang songs with the older class and gave a few presentations. They were allowed to dress in cultural clothing or to dress up. Here is Aubrey's class walking in:



Here is a song about the continents in Spanish:


And here is Jingle Bells (definitely the favorite of the group):

Ride 'Em Cowgirl!

It was pony picture day at Aubrey's school a few weeks ago. That night after taking pictures, I got to hear all about the ponies (there was a white one and a brown one), who in her class sat on which horse, and which kids cried and didn't want to sit on the horse.

She's very observant right now and doesn't miss anything that is said around her. I normally hear lots of details of the things that happen in her classroom, who cried and why, who used the potty and who had accidents that day, and other things about her day. I'm sure her teachers get an earful of what goes on at home, as well. When Matt picked her up from school one day last week, the teacher asked if we had gotten new windows in our house. Matt told her we had, and she said Aubrey had been telling her all about her new windows.

Easter Weekend

We had such a fun and busy Easter weekend. It started on Thursday with Aubrey's Easter egg hunt at school, included a visit from Nana and Pops and the Easter Bunny, and ended with a trip to the park to see the bluebonnets. Here's some of our fun!

Riding trikes with Olivia before the hunt


Waiting patiently for the bags to be handed out


Hunting for eggs

Dying Easter eggs was fun


But playing with play-dough was even more fun!

Dressed for church in her Easter best

Texas Bluebonnets

Playing in the park

Aubrey's Birthday at School

I'm still a little behind, but this should be my last post from things that happened in 2009. Aubrey celebrated her 2nd birthday at school the Friday before we left for Disney World. Thanks to my new much closer to home job, I was able to go for the celebration and spend some time in her class. We brought juice and muffins for the kids and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Aubrey.

After she finished her snack, she raced around the room to show me all of her different "work". Aubrey goes to a Montessori School, where they emphasize individual work. Each child gets a mat or goes to a station and does their own activity (which they call their work) at their own pace. In Aubrey's class the work consist of lots of matching and sorting work (shapes, colors, the same object in different sizes) and also various activities that helps develop their motor skills (using tongs and spoons to move small objects or threading pipe cleaners through holes). It was so fun to see Aubrey in her school environement. Her teacher referred to her as her "Student Teacher". She always seemed to be listening to what was going on around her as she was doing her own work and assisted Ms. Dixie with correcting the other children in the room. (I wonder where she gets that from...)

Picture Day

I probably butchered a few spellings, but here are Aubrey and her friends from school:

Front row: Ailyian, Maddie, Baby Aubrey, Aubrey, Kate
2nd Row: Annika, Brayden, Gabriel, Alex, Olivia
Back Row: Ms. Priscilla, Ms. Dixie, Ms. Nasser



And here is one of Aubrey being very serious. (We have 2-year pictures planned for this weekend, so hopefully we'll get a smile!):

My Big Girl

Matt called me this morning after dropping Aubrey off at school to tell me today was her first day in her new class. Basically anytime between 18 months and 2 years the children can move to the Toddler 2 class, once they are ready and when there is space available. Her teacher had mentioned at the beginning of the summer that they were going to start transitioning Aubrey and a few of her classmates to the Toddler 2 class and she would probably be there full time by July. She had only been to the other class a few times over the past month and just last week we were told it probably wouldn't be until August when they moved her to the next class full time. So we were a little surprised to hear she would be moved so suddenly.

She had a great day. As soon as I got home, I asked her how her day was and if she had gone to her new class. She responded with "Dixie". Her new teacher is Ms. Dixie. Also, her friends from her Toddler 1 class (Kate, Alex, and Olivia) have also moved to the next class, so she's not alone.

Everyday we get a report from school that tells us what Aubrey did, when and what she ate, what time and how long she slept, and how many diapers she had. Today her report had a little extra written on it from Ms. Dixie telling us about her first day. It said, "Aubrey did great in Toddler 2 this morning. She was even correcting Alex when he was trying to do insert work. She has a great memory and remembered how to do the work that I had shown her last month! I really enjoy working with her. She responds so well. She is going to be a lot of fun!"

We are looking forward to meeting with Ms. Dixie soon to find out what's in store for Aubrey in this class.

New Class

January is already half over and I haven't had much time to sit down and post thus far in the new year. So what have we been up to in the Maudlin household in 2009? It's one of my busy times of the year at work, since I'm a CPA. No, I don't do taxes, but we are closing the books on the 5 properties that I am responsible for and with strict reporting deadlines, it's our last chance to get everything right before the auditors come. I had a couple of late nights last week, and Matt was practically a single dad. I'm glad it's only like this a few times a year. Thankfully, it's Matt's free time with his sports with no football and track not starting until next month His 1st semester isn't even over until next week, so his school year's not even halfway over yet.

Miss Aubrey is doing great. Someone at work asked me the other day how my baby was doing, and my response was she's not a baby anymore. It's really exciting to see her growing and learning right now. She moved up to the Toddler Class last week, and Matt and I got to meet with her teacher, Ms. Janshi (pronounced jan-SEE), this week. I think she's going to learn a lot from Ms. Janshi. There are only 4 children in the class. It's a much bigger room than the baby room with different activity centers, small tables and chairs where they eat together, sinks at their levels, and access to their own playground. They are on more of a schedule now and only take 1 nap.

She walked us through a typical day. They start off with play time where they play with different toys and at the different stations. Then at around 9 am they have a morning snack. Then, if it's not too cold, they go outside. Ms. Janshi said they all love outside time and don't usually want to come back in. They wash their hands once they get in and have circle time where they read stories or sing songs. Then lunch usually starts about 11. They all eat together and drink out of small cups with no lids (yikes!), not sippy cups. We haven't been brave enough to test this at home yet. Then after lunch it's nap time, which normally lasts an hour and a half. I asked if Aubrey normally goes down on her own because I still rock her to sleep at home, and she said as soon as they pull out the beds and turn off the lights, she goes to her bed and lays down. After nap time is over, they go outside again and then come in for an afternoon snack and then more playtime until it's time to go home.

Ms. Janshi explained to us that now is the age to start laying the foundation for the skills she will use later in life. Aubrey is a sponge and she is soaking everything up right now. She is teaching her lots of one syllable words such as mine, yours, share, bring, etc. as well as a little bit of sign language to help in their communication skills. Aubrey can do the signs for "more" and "all gone", and she is also learning the signs for "please" and "thank you".

Ms. Janshi told us that she asked one of the other kids in the class to bring her something, and Aubrey heard her request, went over to the other kid, took the item out of his hands, and brought it to Ms. Janshi. Ms. Janshi said she knew what I was asking, so what could I say except "Thank You".

We're very excited for 2009 and look forward to what this year has in store for us! I promise to post some pictures soon.