Eliot's Transition to Montessori

This week was one of transition for us as we said goodbye (Au Revoir) to Miss Estelle of Happy Feet and hello to the teachers of Eliot's Montessori school. It was very sad because we are all fond of Estelle and she is very fond of Eliot. She got to know him so well in such a short time that she amazed me with the insights she had about him. Of course, I like her opinion that Eliot is smart and can concentrate remarkably well for his age..... Eliot will return to Happy Feet during the (several) weeks Montessori is closed for various holidays, so it is not goodbye forever. Eliot can say "Happy Feet" (and does so anytime we drive near Happy Feet) and we are calling the Montessori school "School" for him so it has an identity. It's actual name is Savoorke which is Dutch and we don't really know how to pronounce it (although we should really learn). Eliot went to Montessori for one hour three days this week. Once I stayed with him and twice we left him there on his own.

Yesterday, he had a field day playing in their fantastic garden. Today, he partook of "Toddler Yoga" and, according to Miss Helen (english-speaking, Irish teacher) loved stretching his arms up to the sky. The children were all seated on little Ikea cushions around another teacher (French-speaking) singing when I arrived to pick up Eliot. Miss Helen helped Eliot get his jacket on himself and he was ready to go home with me. It will be really interesting to see all that he learns from being at school. I will learn a lot about what he can learn because it never dawned on me to ask him to get his jacket on himself - I am here to help him!

Eliot and I then took a mini-walk in the rain to observe all the snails that come out when it is wet here. One particularly large one was crawling up the wall at the school. I was amazed at how it used its antennae and some other protrusion from its face. I had been considering getting a pet snail for Eliot, but then read a website that said although snails were low maintenance, you would have to give them a bath twice a month and clean the eggs they lay out of their aquarium every other day. Low maintenance? The snails make our cats seem like no trouble at all. (Hopefully Andrea agrees.) So, alas, no pet snails for Eliot.

I am looking forward to getting into the new routine as we head into the fall.