"Children's Garden" has begun

Check out the sweet hair above. For his first day of school, Charlie insisted on a tight part and some gel...a nerd in the making. My little smarty pants just finished up his first week of kindergarten at Anser Charter School. There are 18 kids in his class, 1 teacher named Anne, 1 student teacher named Jaime, and at least 1-2 parent volunteers every day. Pretty good ratio, eh? This year the kids are on a bird expedition where they learn everything there is to know about local birds. Charlie will be a bird expert (another area to add to his already vast volumes of knowledge). John and I are soooo excited for the school year. The teacher has great things in store for the kids. We love the curriculum, the teachers, the unusually high parent involvement, and much more. Charlie reported on his first day that his favorite was "recess because we got to have it two times." On Thursday, "manipulatips" (manipulatives/math) was his favorite. He also stays after school 3 days a week at a childcare on the same campus. After school he eats lunch, does homework, Jui Jitsu, goes to the park and takes swimming lessons. Ah, the life! We can't wait to see how young Charles flourishes.

Cole also finished up his first week at Puentes Spanish Immersion Preschool without his brother. He's been going to Puentes since March, but the leash has been cut. Cole taught us a "new" word after his first day: manzana (apple). Surprisingly, his favorite part of the day was recess too. The director Trudy told me on Thursday that at role call, Maestra Magdalena called out "Cole". Two kids piped up and said, "his name is Colebug, not Cole". The Taylor family nickname apparently lives at school too.