Preschool Open House

Last night we had an open house at Zach's preschool.  It was great to go there and check out his classroom, let him show us all around, and get to know his teachers a little more.  Zach was very excited as we got there, and he wanted to show us right away where he hangs up his coat every day.  Then he took us into his room, and his teachers had a map of things for Zach to show us.  We got to see some cool projects Zach has done at school, the job chart, Zach's cubby, and more.  Zach of course found a book about firefighters while we were there and wanted me to read it.  It was a little longer than I realized at first, so I had to skip over some parts.  I don't know what I'll do when Zach starts reading and catches on to those little tricks.  Not that I do that often, but sometimes he picks books that are just so long and boring.  Anyway, here's a picture of Zach with his leaf creature that he created.

And here is Zach in the telephone booth.  I love all the dramatic play stuff that they have at his preschool.  It's neat to hear that he got to "work" at McDonald's, be a vet, etc.  

I've been happy with Zach being at this preschool since he first started because it's been very obvious how happy he is there.  Going to the open house only confirmed all of those feelings.  Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Gray, Zach's teachers, are wonderful, and they had nice things to say about Zach.  We were a little worried that he might be Mr. Talkative at school, since he seems to talk nonstop at home, but Mrs. Gray said that when it's time to be quiet, Zach is.  She said that they look forward to Zach getting there every day because he always has a story to tell (imagine that), and that his stories usually involve helping somebody and they end with, "It's really hard."  We've heard that a lot.  Usually he randomly throws in a, "Well, it's really hard, ya know."  I'm sure some of you can hear him saying this in your heads.  Anyway, it was good to hear that he's doing ok and that he has friends there.  It's so hard to get information from him, and when he does tell us stuff, sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what he's made up.

On a different note, we decided to switch to cloth napkins in an effort to be more green.  Since making the switch a few days ago, I have served my 3 year-old pasta with marinara sauce, tomato soup (twice- we had leftovers), and chicken with a raspberry-pomegranate glaze, among other things.  Could I have picked food any more likely to stain new, white napkins?  I don't think so.

Finally, we're looking at car seats because we're getting ready to switch Drew over from his infant seat to a convertible car seat.  I'm looking at a few different Britax models, which is not what we have for Zach.  If anybody has any advice or has a seat they love, I'd love to hear your opinions!  We've been happy with Zach's seat, but I think the Britax may be more comfortable, and they get great ratings/reviews.  We'll probably move Zach's current seat to Mike's car and get both boys new seats for the minivan since we don't currently have anything other than a base for the infant seat in Mike's car.  It's nice to be able to put at least one of the boys in Mike's car in case we're not all doing the same thing sometimes.  So again, if anyone reading this has any advice or opinions on car seats, I'm happy to hear them.  Thanks.

Finally, one last Zach quote that I don't think I've posted here before.  This happened a couple of weeks ago.  We were at the grocery store, and Zach, who always tries to talk to the people bagging our groceries, said to the guy, "That Maggie gives me a headache!"  The guy was a good sport and asked Zach about Maggie, saying something like, "Maggie's not your sister, is she?"  And Zach told him that she is our dog.  It was just one of those funny, slightly embarrassing moments where you feel like you should explain to a total stranger how your kid just likes to talk for the sake of talking.