Happenings!

On Thursday, Ginger had her two week check-up. She is now officially over her birth weight, and weighed in at a very respectable 9 pounds 4 oz. Yea! This means I no longer have to wake Ginger up every two hours to feed her. For the past two weeks, I have been waking my sleeping babe up every two hours - yes, even all through the night- and now I can let her sleep when she wants to sleep. This is a bit of a relief.

Paprika started preschool this week. She has been great, and has had so much fun. The teachers were very impressed with her (maybe they say that to all the parents?)...they said that from day 1, she's acted like she's gone to school there her whole life. The first thing she said when she walked into the school on the first day was, "Hey, this is a very nice place! I like your toys!" They were pretty blown away by her verbal skills...sometimes I forget how conversational and mature Paprika is. At age 2, she talks like an adult...well, minus the swear words!

She has lots of friends at school now. They sing songs, do circle time, do crafts, and play outside. It's for three hours/day, which is a good amount of time, I think, for Paprika right now. She is very excited to go to school, and asks to go back to school all the time- even at 9 o'clock at night!

I had all these big dreams of homeschooling Paprika, but after seeing how much she loves being around lots of other kids, I just don't see that happening. She is about the most social child I have ever seen, and her personality just blossoms when she is in the company of other people, especially other kids her age.

So, now my task is to find a school for her that will nurture her abilities and challenge her academically. I still have two years until she starts Kindergarten, but in Los Angeles, that's hardly any time at all. Finding a good school here isn't so easy, and if I were going to send her to private school, I'd already be way behind the curve in terms of getting her in the pipeline for applications, etc. Did you know that out here, there are Pre-K/Kindergarten Admissions Counselors...people who help you get your kid into the right Kindergarten or Preschool for a living?

Because if you don't go to the right preschool, then you won't get into the right kindergarten, which means you won't go to the right elementary school, which means not the right high school, which means your child won't go to the best college. It's a bit crazy to think that your path in life could be so determined at age 2 or 3. ;-) Personally, I'm not buying into all that garbage, but I can see how easy it would be to think that way...how could you not want the very best for your children? I know I do.

Our plan is to move into a better public school district, or possibly look into private school- because I think as I've mentioned before, the schools in our area are so awful...so awful...so, that's not an option!

It's hot here now, so we're finding ways to beat the heat. We all went out to lunch after Ginger's doctor's appointment, and then went to the mall together to play in the fountains- but Ginger was getting overheated, so I took her home and left Mr. Mustard and Paprika at the mall to see Ice Age. Fun!