Eureka!

I scrubbed a toilet today. Two actually. The washer and drier are both busy, loaded by none other than yours truly. I've done all my food shopping and cooking for the past few days. Sigh. Typhaine is back. Cheryl is no longer ours every other day. It's back to reality and reality sucks.

It's not like I haven't done any of this stuff before, but I'm the first to admit that I've gotten a bit spoiled these past coupel of months - and I've been SHARING Cheryl. I can't imagine what it's like to have a helper all my own! Funny, but somehow I feel like a better mother these past few days. I'm more on my game and somehow more patient. It helps that the kids have also been absolutely fabulous. Yippee!

Well - mostly fabulous. Poor Hudson absolutely did not want to go golfing today. He LOVES to play golf and talks about golf all the time. Today? Not so much. Maisie hugged the sobbing toddler and said, "It's okay, Hudson. I'll show you what to do." She then proceeded to golf his entire lesson, loving every minute of it and doing pretty well. Talk about doing a 180! She HATED even walking into the room when we've taken him to class before and there she was today, putting with the best of them. Hudson cheered up the second we left the room though screamed his head off at the grocery store once again. Weird kid.

The best news? I think I found the perfect school for the kids!!! It's called Odyssey. I wasn't allowed to take photos, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like by clicking on the link above and checking out the Fourth Avenue campus.

The two--year-old campus is about 15 minutes by cab from Orchard. The grounds hae an actual orchard with a ridiculous amount of food being grown - with the help of the kids. The kitchen cooks hot meals every day and the kids also do some of the cooking during the week. Last year, they had a Little Chefs project where all the kids made food and the parents came to the fair and bought it. It was like the ultimate lemonade stand! That's kind of how everything is there: a brilliant way of teaching little kids - if you ask me.

Outside of doing things like math, phonics, writing and such, they do a project every semester that incorporates all those skills. So this semester for example, they're doing a play. The class negotiated the theme, characters, prices - everything. They practice writing numbers and letters by making tickets to the play. They use art by creating sets. They practice reading by learning lines. The lessons go on and on, all incorporated into the project. At the end, they put on a play for the parents.

Parents are a big part of the learning process. If you want, you can bring your kids early and have breakfast with other families or you can bus them to the school - whatever is best. The school is open 7A-7P, but class is 9-12:30 for Hudson, 9-1:30 for Maisie.

The students are from 21 different countries, climbing all over the fabulous playground and doing art in a very cool art room. The room I was most psyched to see? The therapy room! The school embraces kids with issues like Maisie and they have a spot for each kid in January. By the way, their school year goes from January to December. 

My friend Glenn told me about Odyssey before I ever even got here and yet I just got around looking at it today. I could have saved myself so much worry! I have a few more schools to look at before I leave here, but I feel like both kids could excel here and do well until it's time for them to go to the international schools. 

That's a good thing.

Sorry - no new pix today though I did add a few to the Legoland blog!