Baby 2 and preschool hunting

All seems to be ok with baby 2. I had the fetal anomaly scan on the 22nd of March and everything seemed to be fine. And it's confirmed, we're having a baby girl..

Time flies quite quickly, it's already midway through the 2nd trimester! Another 14 weeks or so and she'll be here. I can't imagine what life with 2 will be like, but everyone survives it... so I guess we'll get there.

In other news, I've been preschool shopping for Madison. Since we've been back from Melbourne, I've been to see 3 different schools.

The first was Preschool for Multiple Intelligences( PMI ). Grounds were a little small but mostly the principal intimidated me a little. Well... she did run something for NTUC, so she kinda reminded me of a strict primary school principal.. they run on the concept of appealing to different "intelligences" that a kid possesses, doing a different theme everyday. Only trouble was that the "intelligences" classes were all held in the afternoon. Hence she strongly encouraged us to do "full" days rather than "half" days. But 830am to 5 Pm 5 days a week is quite tiring for a not-yet 3 year old?

The next school I went to was Pat's schoolhouse at Whitley. It's been newly renovated hence the classrooms were superb. The principal was really friendly and patient, taking me through the classrooms without rushing. The kids all seemed to like her too. Only downside to them was their waitlists. Unless I started Madison this year in the toddlers class! And the noisy, dusty piling works next door on a residential project.

The last one for the week was the Montessori school at Newton. Again, really nice principal. I didn't know anything about the Montessori methods of teaching, so was a little surprised to see all the kids ranging from 3 to 6 all mixed up in one classroom. Each quietly doing their own activity, with the teacher moving from kid to kid supervising them. Great in my opinion for the 3 year olds to be able to mix and move quickly upwards in terms of their skills. But what of the 6 year olds? Still in the same classroom as the 3 year olds? Another drawing point? Proximity to the Novena house. So someone could walk over and pick Madison up from school.

Next on the list... carpe diem at Watten estate, another Pat's at Buckleys and Cambridge at Novena... it's pretty good to visit the schools, to get a clearer idea of what each does during the day... so that we know what $700 -$1000+ /month gets us!