Pixie Dust will now manufacture at... La Petite!

As is obvious from my older write up, I have been canvassing the vicinity for a good play school for Ami. I must have seen at least ten and spoken to another half a dozen on phone and finally today we chose La Petite.

I'm going to try and walk you thru my decision. Or an account on 'here's why I did it'... Well originally I had a thing about BIG names! La Petite was GD Goenka and I wasn't looking for a 'brand' for the play school I send my daughter to. But then they won me over in ways I feel is hard to explain but I'm sure going to try...

Active Management: I liked the involvement of the management. The fact that I visited them when the school was off & the Principal was available to talk to me the first time around (when most of her teachers were on a break), appealed to me. She painstakingly spent more than half an hour with me answering all kinds of basic questions I had, about the set up and convinced me that my child would be in good hands.

Clean & Hygienic: Some of the playschools in the vicinity have sooo much promise- there activities for toddlers are really something(some maybe La Petite should look into & ape), but they loose out on this factor which to me is a very important criteria for where I send my daughter. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect hospital like antiseptic-dettoled up everything, but if my child is to spend 3 hrs of her day everyday in any place, I expect it to be clean enough for her to keep going back day-after-day without falling sick. Play schools are known to have the hazard of infections, through contact with other kids but can we minimize it please? So La Petite won that one for me hands down  It was THE most clean play school I visited in the last 3 weeks.

Montessori: It is a Montessori play school and I like the fact that they have a lot of these materials in all their classrooms. I think this subtle way of teaching is far more effective in someways. (A footnote follows)

Daycare: They had a decent daycare facility for kids. Not something I need immediately but I liked the fact that if sometime in the future I do decide to go back to working, my daughter will have a nice daycare facility readily available in a place she would be used to. 

Happy place: Somehow this was the crux of the whole thing for me. From friendly staff to brightly lit classrooms and corridors, sandpits to splash pools, activity room in the basement to pottery wheels outside; everything about the place just committed happiness to me. It just screamed that Ami will be happy here. 

And at the end of the day isn't that, what all parents want? That when our child returns home, we can go down on our knees and ask him/her, not "What did you learn today?" but "Was school fun? Are you happy?"  I know I'll be happy if my child just nods, smiles & wants to go back the next day. :)

Footnote: 

Maria Montessori's story: A little girl once saw a wet sticky caterpillar trying to come out of a cocoon. She kept watching with wonder. The caterpillar gradually tried to spread out its wings waiting for them to dry. In order to help the caterpillar she brought a fan to hasten the process and enable the caterpillar to dry the wings faster and with ease.

The caterpillar’s wings drying unevenly and in haste did not open at all and the caterpillar toppled over, never to fly as a butterfly.

The girl learnt a huge lesson that day, that nurture has to be a very aware and conscious process according to the natural needs and growth pattern of the child. It cannot be as what we think it should be, at our convenient time and according to our unreal expectations .

La Petite is situated at Malibu Towne, Sohna Rd, Gurgaon.

Litchi = Papa

At home, Umang's the one who always peels litchis for us. Over the years its kinnda become a ritual between us. And Madamoiselle probably has been observing this. So when the fruits picture book came out last evening, guess what she did? She pointed at the Litchis and said "Papa" :) Over & over again. No matter what I told her. Litchis was 'Papa'.

So here we go... They are probably not synonyms in the dictionary but in Ami's world they mean but the same :)

Looking for playschools... Decisions! Decisions!!

So my daughter is going to be 20 months soon and like all parents around me, I want to send her to a good play school to learn and play with kids her own age. 

So as you can imagine we have been canvasing play schools in the vicinity which would be ideal for her. Something that fits her personality, stimulates growth and yet lets her be and discover things for herself. But there are just soooo many choices and questions that are running in my head as a parent- what are the values I'm  looking to inculcate, what are the fascilities & stimulation that I consider important, do I want my child to grow in an old school methodology or inculcate newer techniques, how disciplined or creative should the environment be, am I willing to let go and trust someone else completely or would I like to be involved & be able to see my child (on camera) and have a bit of control over what she is being exposed to, what are the important skillsets I want to concentrate on, how child-friendly and hygenically-clean is the environment, what are the kind of social skills my child will learn & most importantly do I really trust someone else with my precious bundle?

Phew! I know these are lots of questions... And more schools I visit, the more choices I receive, the bigger the list keeps growing... But I have to decide what's best for my child. And for that I need to be more decisive, for I guess this is just a start to a long journey filled with choices such as this. 

I wonder if every parent goes through this moment of feeling overwhelmed that the decision they make now will impact another human (namely their child) for life. Does every parent fear the same and feel extremely responsible for how the child will turn out? Do we fear that no matter what we choose the child will still turn around tomorrow and say "You should have done that, you ruined my life mumma!" I know its a little melodramatic and maybe things turn out just fine and workout for all of us, but these decisions scare me silly and I only pray HE helps me with the right one! 

Swinging Times: My Princess & the frog! :)

I finally got the swing installed day before yesterday and its turned out quite nice... :) Ami likes it so far and happily sits on it. I'm glad the room's coming along nicely... Though there isn't a specific theme or anything yet. 

Predicting Left...! :)

Hmmm! Looks like Ami's going to be a leftie. No matter how many times I give or ask her to hold a pencil/ crayon in her right hand, it kinnda ends up on her left before she scribbles. And to add to that she points at pictures in the book with her left hand too... Guess we can wait & watch but I predict my darling's going to be left-handed! :)

Rainy smiles, pretty polka dots & pink umbrella hearts!

So quite unexpectedly it rained in the middle of the day today bringing respite from summer heat. And guess who had fun sitting on the balcony swing throughout the time- letting rain do its magic? Ami & Mommy :)

Also my baby doll was looking to use her pink little umbrella but a slight temperature made going out & playing in the rain; not a very good idea. :( Post rain while it was still wettish I let her finally go out with her pink hearts umbrella. It was fun seeing her excitement. ;)