Riley is definitely no longer in the baby room. While he is familiar with clay, they now get tools to work with. Riley is now taking his sticks, making holes, and then putting the clay balls into the holes. His teachers report that many of the other kids look at what Riley is doing and try to mimic him.
He is also now working on puzzles. On this day he pulled the pieces out then proceeded to try and get them back into their space. When that didn't quite work he went to get a bottle to try and use that to get the pieces back in. The teacher reported that when brute force didn't work he went back to moving the pieces back into the slots. He's getting there.
Snowy Plovers are also working with new writing instruments. The kids are very interested in the pens used by the parents for signing in. They are now working with these instruments to observe how the marks look using these utensils. Riley has mastered the pen. (We have some items at home to prove it).
In Snowy Plover they also got rid of the sippy cups. Riley is doing well mastering his cup and has asked that we let him use big cups at home. I'm not ready for that yet, but school is a great place to start this anyway.
One of the other differences is the Snowy Plovers can turn their light table on and off. Riley discovered the switch and spent some time mastering it. He also shared this tidbit with his fellow class mates and now all the children turn it on when they are interested and off when they are done. Its good to teach these "green" lessons at this age.
After breakfast Daddy decided to give Mommy the day off and along with Tim and Turtle took the kids to Gilroy Gardens. It was a pretty warm day, which is typically for Gilroy. This park is perfect for young kids and horticulturists. The day started with a stop at the mini carousel. Its a nice stop off the entry way and you can wind through the gardens and waterfalls as you get further into the park.
There are lots of rides and games for younger kids including the cars on the track. Riley was really excited to get an opportunity to drive. Tim and Turtle rode with Cameron and let her drive as well. To see how well Riley did, check out the video.
While Cameron stays away from the water features at amusement parks, Riley is too young to know why that might be a good idea. Jeff decided to stand under the bucket and Riley was blissfully unaware of what was coming. Check out all the photos to see an incredible shot.
Along with the rides, water features, playgrounds, the kids visited the petting zoo and went shopping for crazy hats. Nobody got a hat, but this one looked really good on Riley.
