10 Months

Historic Carousel at the Woodland Park Zoo
Seattle, Washington on April 26, 2009

Sydnei is in high gear when it comes to her development and what she can do. This child has achieved many milestones just in the last month..here are some to name a few--okay, several:

-Can take two steps unassisted;
-Walks around the house with her push toys;
-Drinks everything from a sippy cup now (it took her one night to master this--she hasn't used a bottle in 3 days!);
-Says the word 'agua;'
-Can make the funniest faces at any stranger that tries to talk to her; and finally,
-Clearly sympathizes with her sister when she gets in trouble--Sydnei is Sofia's #1 fan.

Historic Carousel at the Woodland Park Zoo
Seattle, Washington on April 26, 2009

Here's to working ourselves out of a job!

WOW

Today was a big day for us. It was kindergarten roundup—Wow!— which meant a two-hour visit to Sofia's new school: The Barnes School. Our little girl is old enough for Kindergarten. When did that happen?!?!? I'm excited for her to go and sad all at the same time. I'm going to miss her dearly. We have a lot of fun together and we cherish the many special moments and memories we've shared at home. We are so excited for her to start school because we know how much she will enjoy it and that she will thrive.


Education is very important to us. So important that we researched many public and private school options in the Portland Metro area, went on tours, and alas found the one we have the utmost confidence in, which includes a two-way immersion program model that has the research to back its' potential and planned success. Our little Sofia was born just about five years ago. Seriously it blew our minds when we realized we had reached the point in our lives where we packed up and moved, all so that our daughter could attend a school of our choice with the best educational opportunities.


Sofia was enthralled by her surroundings the minute she stepped foot into her new school. She headed straight for the library and oo-ed and aw-ed over the countless books. She loved the playground and was very encouraged when she learned that she would get 3-15 minute recesses. So nice to know that our 5-year old has her priorities straight—a normal child—what more could we ask for?!?!? We toured the kindergarten classrooms where she got to make a bear cut out into a hat. She loved coloring it and insisted it was a girl bear. A ride on the school bus was the hit of the night. She'll only be riding the school bus for field trips because we live out of the elementary boundaries, which means I'll be driving her every day. She wasn't worried...just excited that she could roam the library or play outside IF she gets to school early enough (that's what the person told her during the bus ride). I have my doubts. :)


Sofia will be in a two-way immersion program where all of her subjects including reading, writing, math, and science will be taught 90% of her day in Spanish, and 10% of her day will be taught in English. As she progresses through elementary the immersion program changes as follows:

Kindergarten: 90% Spanish, 10% English;
1st grade: 80% Spanish, 20% English;
2nd grade: 70% Spanish, 30% English;
3rd grade: 60% Spanish, 40% English;
and 4th-5th grades: 50% Spanish, 50% English.