Transitioning to New Zealand, Preschooler Edition
Natasha has had a lot of adjusting with this move. The traveling went fairly well till the end, when she was losing it, and Daniel and I were so ready for her to sleep for a good 12 hours or more. Ha!
We bought a tablet before we came for us all to use, but specifically, to reduce our amount of coloring pages and activities needed on the plane(s). That also meant we didn't bring many toys or books or anything to fill the hours once we got to our new home. Upon touring our new house though, we were pleasantly surprised to discover our landlady had prepared the spare bedroom for a little girl by adding some children's books and stuffed animals.
So while Natasha told her Grandma the other morning that "I don't have very many toys..." she has plenty for this point in life and she is surviving. ;) Daniel bought her a new Doc McStuffins coloring pack this afternoon, so we are set to go with lots of new pages to color, and our next purchase will probably be some plain paper for all her doodling. The tablet has been very handy for all of that while journeying 30 some hours across the globe, but now I'm trying not to let a technical gadget entertain her all day.
However one app that we have really liked is Librivox. Back home, Natasha would sit for hours and listen to books on CD from the library. Librivox is a collection of audiobooks read by volunteers and they are free! So far she has been listening to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Five Children and It".
As seen here, in her new room:
Today was Natasha's first "official" preschooler's gymnastics class at Gymnastics Nelson. We had talked of enrolling her in a class back in the States before we left, but it seemed silly since we'd be leaving for 3 months. However, how handy that they just recently started the new term for a 10 week class here in Nelson! So today she learned how to jump from a large block to a bar all by herself. I was so proud of her. :)
Tomorrow, we're going to storytime at the library. One nice perk about being in a country that speaks our language is that we can read the books at the library. (Kind of obvious, but I'm grateful for all the little things.) Not sure yet if we'll be able to get a library card; you need your name and address on a somewhat legal piece of paper. Like a bill or something. I might have our landlady write up something for us, as it would be ever so nice to bring some books home to read. Otherwise, we'll try to enjoy them at the library as much as we can.
Walking has become a huge part of her life. Since we don't all have bicycles (only Daniel so far, and his new *required* helmet hasn't arrived yet), we do a lot of walking. Compared to our trip to Europe last year, she has come a long way. Daniel basically carried her all over Paris and Germany, whereas, this time we aren't offering her that option very often. The other day we all walked about 4 1/2 miles, and she didn't complain too much. I must say, it makes her eat more and fall asleep quicker!
I hoped she would sleep for the entirety of this particular flight. She didn't.
We bought a tablet before we came for us all to use, but specifically, to reduce our amount of coloring pages and activities needed on the plane(s). That also meant we didn't bring many toys or books or anything to fill the hours once we got to our new home. Upon touring our new house though, we were pleasantly surprised to discover our landlady had prepared the spare bedroom for a little girl by adding some children's books and stuffed animals.
So while Natasha told her Grandma the other morning that "I don't have very many toys..." she has plenty for this point in life and she is surviving. ;) Daniel bought her a new Doc McStuffins coloring pack this afternoon, so we are set to go with lots of new pages to color, and our next purchase will probably be some plain paper for all her doodling. The tablet has been very handy for all of that while journeying 30 some hours across the globe, but now I'm trying not to let a technical gadget entertain her all day.
However one app that we have really liked is Librivox. Back home, Natasha would sit for hours and listen to books on CD from the library. Librivox is a collection of audiobooks read by volunteers and they are free! So far she has been listening to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Five Children and It".
As seen here, in her new room:
Today was Natasha's first "official" preschooler's gymnastics class at Gymnastics Nelson. We had talked of enrolling her in a class back in the States before we left, but it seemed silly since we'd be leaving for 3 months. However, how handy that they just recently started the new term for a 10 week class here in Nelson! So today she learned how to jump from a large block to a bar all by herself. I was so proud of her. :)
Tomorrow, we're going to storytime at the library. One nice perk about being in a country that speaks our language is that we can read the books at the library. (Kind of obvious, but I'm grateful for all the little things.) Not sure yet if we'll be able to get a library card; you need your name and address on a somewhat legal piece of paper. Like a bill or something. I might have our landlady write up something for us, as it would be ever so nice to bring some books home to read. Otherwise, we'll try to enjoy them at the library as much as we can.
Walking has become a huge part of her life. Since we don't all have bicycles (only Daniel so far, and his new *required* helmet hasn't arrived yet), we do a lot of walking. Compared to our trip to Europe last year, she has come a long way. Daniel basically carried her all over Paris and Germany, whereas, this time we aren't offering her that option very often. The other day we all walked about 4 1/2 miles, and she didn't complain too much. I must say, it makes her eat more and fall asleep quicker!
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