Boo!

I'm still not caught up from Fall Break, so we'll fall back a couple of weeks. Good day for it as we fall back this evening and gain an hour.  I love that in the morning, but dislike it immensely in the evening. Oh well.
While still on break I had to opportunity to visit Giddy-Up's preschool.  Good minds think alike.  In my dream of my own school, I wouldn't separate kids by ages and on the first day of the school week, everyone would be welcome to the morning learning.  Mamas and their babies at whatever stage, right up to whichever ones were oldest.  In this little school, that's what happens.  It is definitely more of an age appropriate playdate, than what resembles traditional schooling.  The purpose of the school is to encourage and guide the mamas (though I am sure papas are welcome, there were not any that day) in ways to facilitate their own children's learning.
He goes two days a week and Rae and Mr. Smiley come as well.  There are classrooms off of a gymnasium.
They do sit on a circle, have a song and a story, then are free to discover and play in centers based on the theme of the day, have a snack, sweep, wipe and vacuum, then free gym time, followed by one more story before the morning school ends. As the morning goes along, the teacher narrates what she is doing, why and how it applies to their development.
My little Giddy-Up is such a great listener.  He sits close, listens and responds to the teacher.  That boy loves a good story.

 It was my delight to chase Mr. Smiley and let Rae help Giddy-up make his playdough in fall colors with yummy smells of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Of course this little smarty pants wanted his turn to play in the flour.

 Mr. Smiley is such a thinker, he just amazes me.  There was a lamp that he couldn't turn on, so he immediately looks under the table for the cord, tracks it down to the plug, finds a plug and tries to plug it in. He is ever trying to figure out how everything works.
He went over this little truck with a fine toothed comb until he found the wee black buttons that produced lights and sound.  Look at that cutest Face of Discovery.

He is developing a huge vocabulary and making sentences. When you change him, he takes the diaper to the trash. When he wants a drink, he gets it out of the diaper bag and when he's done, he puts it back.

 It takes a lot of snacks to fuel those growing brains.

 A fall walk produced lots of interesting objects to examine with a magnifying glass.

Both boys find this skeleton man intriguing.

Though he loves to play and discover, he's not fond of being too far from Mama.  A big squeeze in the middle of play is just the ticket.

What toddler can resist and entire gym to run and run?

 Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.  I love all the beautiful skin tones found in this little preschool.  So glad I was able to be a part of their morning.

We've been up to lots of fallish activities that will come later.

After my last blog post, I received an e-mail from Aunt SuZQ asking when I had taken that picture of Baby Boy and Glenda.  Huh?  I didn't remember taking a picture of Baby Boy and Glenda.  I went back to the blog and enlarged the picture and saw the image that about caused her to have a heart attack.
I think Linee and Baby Boy were thrilled to get to sit at the bar by themselves.  Ol' Mother Hubbard and I slid into a booth and my back was to the wee folk, but I grabbed the camera, turned and had them smile and snapped. I had not seen Ol' Mother Hubbard in a bit and since the kidlets were content, we were busy catching up.  By the time we left, whomever was seated by them had left.
I posted hurriedly that evening and never even really looked close at the pictures.

Well, let me say, I've looked close many times since and it looks for the world like my sister is sitting right beside her Baby Boy- same size, same hair on head, same profile,  and same position of her right arm in front of her mouth that I have seen one thousand times. It looks exactly like she's sitting there, in her favored place to eat, on her 64th birthday, just having some brunch.  People, what are the chances of such an occurrence?  Wow!

So, I leave you with that and hope you enjoy whatever frivolity you  might be up to this evening.  Be safe and enjoy. I always love seeing my week folk in their get-ups.