To Preschool or Not to Preschool, that is the question

The last few months I had been touring many preschools in the area, to find none that I was happy with. Yet, a friend of mine had her son going to Joyce's Toluca Lake preschool, and she was happy with it, so I enrolled Danica. Danica's first day went great, she was so excited to go to school. The next day was the same, she was happy to go and told me she loved preschool. The next week, was a different story. When I dropped Danica off she was not happy with me leaving, she wanted me to stay. She was telling me how much she missed me. The next day was the same, she was not happy with preschool and did not want me to leave. Now comes this week. I stop my car and she notices where we are and says she wants to go home. I said, no Danica you have to go to Preschool today. I take her inside, have her use the toliet, since it seems no one takes the time to do this 'during' preschool, thus Danica just pees in her pull-up. And Danica is so scared as soon as she sees a teacher. She does not want me to leave. When I turn around to leave, she starts screaming and crying. It breaks my heart, I think to myself, but I must leave . I ask the preschool director if Danica is disruptive during nap time, because she is always telling me that the teacher are telling her to be quiet. The director was not sure, if Danica slept or not. Who knows, maybe it's her lunch break during nap time.
I told her that I was giving my two week notice because Danica did not seem to be adjusting well to preschool. Well, today takes the cake. Danica told me she was a bad girl in preschool, that she hit a little kid in the face who was wearing a 'car shirt.' She then told me that the teacher hit her in the butt and face and that teacher was scary. I was wondering if this was the case, so I kept asking Danica questions about what went on. She said that she was then put in 'time out' or told to sit down on the ground. I could not get the reason why Danica hit the other child, I think Danica was stressed out today and may have been acting out. But I was really mad when she told me the teacher hit her. I don't really know what teacher it is, but I have some idea. I think it may be a teacher who Danica is really scared of. These 'teachers' are not really what I would consider teachers, due to the fact they all look like they are fresh out of high school. I highly doubt many of them have any educational training in Early Childhood Ed. Plus I think that the school is too small for the amount of children in the one room. They have the 2,3 and 4 year olds in one room, just in different areas of the room. And the rooms is not very large to accommodate that many children. I am upset with the fact that LA does not have many 'good' preschools. The one I really liked had a long waiting list and they could not give me an estimate as to how long I would be on that list. And I did not feel like paying $100 non refundable just to wait on the list for the next two years. So back to the drawing board...

My little Model

Ok, so I was playing with my camera and taking some shots of Danica. Here are some.

Disney Land 2009

Here are the Pictures from our time at Disney Land!

Fresh

Ok, so my Mom told me my blog was getting a bit STALE, so I thought it was due time to update it. Danica has been a busy little lady! She turned the big TWO on Feb 1st, and got to go to Disney Land!! She was bit under the weather, but she still had fun. Yesterday we went to California Adventure, which is right next to Disney. I think she had more fun, plus she got to give Mickey a BIG HUGE! Nolan has the picture on his camera, so I will have to get the copies. Last friday we went to the Zoo with the Mom's group I am part of. I am posting some cute pics from that adventure. Danica had a great time!!

Christmas Pictures

Well, it is that time of year, where I am going to get ready to send out Christmas Pictures to Friends and Family. Yesterday I set up Danica's photo shoot. It was kinda crazy, but I got some great pics out of it. Nolan was my assistant, which was very helpful. I am going to give you a taste of some of the pictures I took. Be on the look out for one coming to you soon!! Happy Holidays!

Barn Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

dancing

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Blogging for today... am I doing this right??

Ok, this blogging thing is a bit confusing. I see all these blogs that are so artistic and colorful, yet I don't even know how to 'follow' someone else's blog. grrrrrrr.... I will learn I guess. I have Mommy brain.. I think this will be my excuse for the next few years. Ha-ha. Danica is down for her nap, so I have a minute or so to write. Today we went to a Mommy Meetup. I use meetup.com to get me connected to some local kid playgroups. It usually is a fun time, Danica is able to play with different toys and interact with other kids. It is funny when you go to these things, how the social dynamics plays out. You have the kids who just kinda sit back and chill, the ones who are the 'bully', the friendly social kids who just want to have fun, and the crabby leave me alone types. Danica is definitely the kid who just wants to have fun. She lets nothing hold her back; she is not shy and will play with anyone. But there is this little girl who is 3 months older who is the, 'known' bully. This little girl goes up to any baby or toddler and will push them down, kick them or take their toy away. She is an only child, who may have been very spoiled and this is just the way she is. She has everything a kid could want, and says everything is hers. Her personality may work for her in the future, she may be a go-getter in life. But for right know she looks like a bully. She was pretty mean to Danica today. I felt my heart break when I saw her hit and kick Danica.. When another kid hits Danica, she just looks at them with this very perplexed face. She does not understand why someone she wants to play with is hitting her. I hate it when kids hit her, because I am worried she will learn that negative behavior. The little girl's Moms seem to be very soft spoken about her daughter’s behavior. She asks me if Danica is tough, and I say, I guess so. But I think Danica may just be tolerating, because she is not hitting back. If you look at the situation from above it might be kinda of comical. In a cartoon type of way. I mean this little girl turns her head back and forth looking for her next victim. If someone is having fun, she goes and puts a stop to it, if someone is acting up, she puts on a sweet face to make herself look good, she is like a Toddler version of Nelly Olsen from Little House on the Prairie. ha-ha. It also seems like every Mom there is trying to get this child to stop misbehaving, or stops bullying their child. I am not the type of Mom to get after other peoples kids. I have seen Parents get pretty mad when someone else tells their child No. So, I usually take Danica out of the bad situation rather then having to deal with the mean kid. But if it gets out of hand I will inform the parent, but luckily that has not happened...yet. But Danica did seem to yield to this child's dominate behavior. She seemed to understand that this girl was the BOSS and don't try to mess with her. Danica does sometimes try to take other kids toys away from them, but I make sure she knows that it's not nice to do this. But the Bully Toddler (as she will now be known as) pushed Danica into a window, when Danica was trying to play peekaboo with the curtains. Then when Danica got into the ball pit the Bully Toddler started kicking and hitting Danica for no reason. The Mother did end up pulling her child out, thankfully. But I was just ticked off because instead of saying that hitting is not nice, she just tried to feed the child treats. Now, I am no child expert, but if I got sweet treats for hitting people, I would do it all the time too! ha ha. Hey,,, I am just saying... Children learn quick, and you have to be careful what you are teaching them.... OK, off to get some things done before Danica wakes up.

I have a Mocking Bird and her name is Danica

So, Danica has always been a chatter box. Talk, talk, talk. Even before she could say Momma or Daddy. But now, everything she hears, she is repeating. Like a few months ago, I was in Target and this crazy woman was yelling very loud for her daughter. I forgot the girls name but lets say it is Laura. "Laura, Laura, you have a phone call, it's your boyfriend!!!" Laura, Laura. I mean this woman was just screaming this in the middle of Target. Next think I know, Danica is yelling Lauuururuaaaaa. (or something that sounds like the girls name) But she keeps yelling it over and over, just as the Woman had. I started to laugh, but tried to get her to be quiet, because the woman was near us and Danica was being very loud. My favorite thing she says now is, I LOVE YOU. I could hear her say that over and over and never tire of it.
Well, I could go on, but it is bedtime for the little one and I need to wind her down.

Later

Some recent pics of Danica

These pictures were taken Nov 2008. She is a bit of a Ham and definitely likes to work the camera.