I’m happy both my daughters continue the tradition of books and reading with their children. They all have lots of books. This particular grandchild loves books when I watched him before he went to preschool we would read books all day long. Often the same ones over and over. I’m trying to be mindful of the fact that they are a family of 4 living in 1000 square feet. I love the idea of a kitchen. My husband is thinking that a bike or scooter and a helmet that would stay at our house. We have a great area at the top of our driveway for riding. The kids live in a neighborhood that doesn’t have sidewalks. My daughter also suggested we renew their zoo membership.
For free books if one is Jewish a great source is PJ library. I think they get a book a month.
“Brio” train stuff. My kids played with it decades ago, we kept it and now the grands love it, too. We have a big coffee table in the family room where they can lay out the tracks. I think the generic Brio stuff looks just as good as the original.
The 3 yo.’s party is tomorrow. He loves the vacuum cleaner (or did) so is getting this
First birthday party is next Sunday . Hopefully no rain since it’s at the park with family and friends from mommy and me class. This week they are in Northern California so those family members who can’t travel will have first opportunity to attend her Harry Potter teamed event. Mom is a big fan. So GD will have 9 3/4 Harry Potter House Sorting Ceremony😀. Something like this Reddit - Dive into anything
Enjoy the birthday parties.
I have GD for the weekend while the parents attend a wedding. She said to me twice, “I love you PoPo.”
GD5 loved hers, and has recently graduated to two wheeler bike. Her little brother, almost 3, is happily scootering around on it now. It’s doubly gratifying to see him on it because he had moderate physical issues since birth, didn’t walk till about 18 months, and still goes to PT because of core muscle issues. But he’s a whiz on the scooter.
I ordered it today. My daughter said he will be so excited. Also ordered a helmet so he has one at my house. We also picked up a kids wheelbarrow at Costco.
Big sigh of relief here.
Family is moving to NoVA in just over a month. Parents applied to 3 private schools for the kids in December, Both parents work full time and childcare is essential. First admission decision arrived today. All 3 kids have been accepted to a competitive toddler- grade 12 school in McLean. Twin girls will be in the pre-school class because they have winter birthdays after the K4 cutoff date. The school made a special exception for GS who won’t be 2 until 3 days after the toddler class cut-off date and allowed him to enroll in the toddler class. (LOL. They coached D and SIL how to “accidentally” mis-report GS’s birthdate on the application so it would be processed, then said they would administratively change it to the correct date after he enrolls.)
This is a competitive admission school that has waiting list that people put their kids one even before they’re born. It wasn’t obvious that all 3 kids would be accepted.
(The school only got really interested in their application when they learned what D and SIL do for a living. The HS is STEM-focused school mentioned in the same breath as Thomas Jefferson High School. D is a Yale trained physician. SIL is the new director of a center for tech research in Alexandria and has as part of his mission to do out-reach w/ the local community. As part of that out-reach, he can offer internships w/ his organization to local HS schools. I suspect that the school is trying to sway those internship in their direction by accepting all of his kids.)
Still waiting to hear from two other private schools. Decision are due soonish–like in the next 2 weeks.
Congrats! Does it mean you are going to move, too?
Congrats with the enrollment situation. The kids’ education is such a big factor.
DD1/SIL has an excellent Anglican Ordinate Catholic school GD1/K and GS1/K4 are in (and they are very happy with the day care for their younger two kids) - the grade school goes through HS and their HS has the highest SAT scores in their large city - so they draw interested/involved parents who value education. The British influence on higher ed but it is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. DD1/SIL lap up ‘high church’.
I have told them that with DD1’s excellent job, and plenty of work in SIL’s field, that they need to plan to stay for the academic excellence for their children. That does not come easily. It is affordable for them with both parents working, and they can afford a home there as soon as they know for sure SIL’s career is secure there.
SIL will be out of town for 4 weeks training, so I will be 2nd adult for that time. Will assess again (last trip was over Christmas) with DD feedback on their plans.
Twin GDs have the exact same scooter. (Twins are 3.) They are complete daredevils on it. Twin A even rides it on the skate parks ramps.
Girls are required to wear helmets whenever they ride.
They also have a balance bike, but they prefer the scooter
Yes. I’ll be moving too. But not at the same time.
I finally got my building permit to renovate the ADU in CA. That’s underway so I will stay until both the ADU and main house renovation/update are finished–probably sometime in June. Then I’ll move to NoVA.
D’s new job starts May 1 so they have to move soon. SIL is doing his job remotely until the new building housing his office and lab space get finished. Currently expected around June 1. (LOL It was supposed to be finished by January 1, 2024. Didn’t happen.)
OK, more enrollment decisions.
The school closest to the house, waitlisted all 3 grandkids.
The other school accepted the twins. That school doesn’t have a toddler class so GS would need to go to daycare for a year. He would however, get preference for admission next years because he has older sibs enrolled there.
@WayOutWestMom : It sounds like a pretty clear decision to me.
Yes, but about an $8000+ /year difference in cost for each kid at the one that accepted all 3. Plus no bus service.
$24K/year is a LOT of money.
That’s per child, correct? Times 3? No sibling discount?
The NOVA area is very expensive, in all ways?
Funny!
DS said they had also gotten the balance bike and right now he seems to be enjoying that, so they aren’t going to confuse him with the scooter yet.