Our little Beanie is growing up. With the abrupt downsizing of our day home, we have had to scramble to find alternative arrangements to keep our Beans busy while we are at work. We decided to try out some schools, First Steps and Montessouri these next couple of months before signing Everett up for full pre-school at the private school First Steps.
Everett is a very good Bean and has been very engaged in different things lately. He’s finally grown out of the “crying at drop off” situation. At day home now, he has been content with around four kiss-and-a-hugs before wandering in to play with the other kids. Sierra watches, does a kiss-and-a-hug too, mainly because Everett puts on such a show of it, and without a second glance toddles into play.
The activities are starting! We’ve been very proactive in getting Everett swimming, and have been to the pool many times. He’s gained a lot of confidence since swimming in Hawaii and it shows at swimming lessons now back in Red Deer. He has passed Salamander, and now is in Sunfish in private lessons with Maebyn. It looks like it won’t be long before he moves on to the Crocodile (Everett has all the animals memorized in order, and he’s looking to catch up to Harrison who is in Whale). Sierra is starting the parent accompanied lessons this summer. Wow! Just two years ago, Everett was just starting out! I think Sierra will do really well since she’s had Everett to imitate all this time.
We have him in tennis. He’s the littlest Bean in the class, being for ages 4-8. Even through the group lessons involve a lot of standing around, and often it looks like Everett doesn’t know what’s going on, when I ask him if he enjoys it, he says yes. His favorite game is “mouse,” where the instructor tosses the ball in the air, and you run and try to catch it… So, not really tennis skills, but I guess it helps with hand-eye coordination.
Skiing is now finished, of course. We managed to get Everett up on a run at Nakiska with Edwin. We had him on the harness. Everett did quite well, scratching the snow, but he wasn’t totally convinced that he like skiing on a real run.
It’s been a couple of months now that Everett has been in piano lessons. He pronounces piano “plee-ano” and we have yet to correct him on this. Miss Bev says Everett is very good, and manages to keep attention quite well over the half hour. There’s even a piano recital coming up! We’ll see if Everett performs! Sierra wants to play too, and has actually shown more interest than Everett really.
And here’s a photo of Everett at First Steps, his first day at school. His other friends from the block also attend the school – Harrison and Eli, and Arlo will be next year. I make fun of the parents because we all live on the same street, but in the morning, we drive our SUVs individually to First Steps and drop off the kids, and same for pick up. But Everett didn’t mind school. He goes right in, sits himself down at the desk with the other kids and is ready to learn! He especially likes lunch. It’s like a surprise! Ham sandwich, some fruits and snack. He ate it all up! It was circus theme when he was in class, and he made a clown of himself.
