So THAT'S shaving cream painting!

(Can you tell Bobby's out of town and I have more time to ponder/blog?)

Alice does quite a bit at preschool that she doesn't tell me about. I usually hear about what was for snack and who broke which rules when. Sometimes she lets something slip like "shaving cream painting" and "Cinderelly" games. Now that her amazing teacher has started sending out weekly photos, I see so much more of her experience! Love it.

This, dear friends, is shaving cream painting:

 

Surprisingly less messy than I had envisioned.

The adult in the picture is Alice's new aide this year, Miss Sarah. She's bubbly and excited, enthusiastically responsive to everything the kids share with her...see her gasping in the second photo? Yeah, she's the "fun aunt" in the classroom. She's a perfect counterpoint to Mrs. Strom's steady and firm methods. I've always admired Mrs. Strom for her even-tempered, well-disciplined leadership in the class room. Now I find myself admiring Miss Sarah for her engaging, full-volume exuberance. I want to parent my kids the way both of these ladies teach. I am very, very happy for different kinds of folks who inspire me in that way...and love my kids so honestly :)

Alice has latched on to Miss Sarah this year as thoroughly as she latched on to Mrs. Strom last year. One day, Alice and a new friend "E" were pretending that they were little mice and Miss Sarah was Cinderella. The little mice would write notes and draw pictures on scraps of paper which they then delivered to a busy "Cinderelly" somewhere else in the classroom. Details are sketchy, at best, but I get the sense that the best part of the game is yelling "Cinderelly!" and getting a shocked/surprised gasp from the delightful Miss Sarah who then gushes over the notes/drawings and tucks them away in a special place. The mice then run away and do it all over again. This game is so fun that Alice has literally burst into tears every preschool day for the last week because her friend E has been out of town and unavailable to play "Cinderelly" again. Alice refuses to teach anyone else the game. 

This is a good year for us :)