Monday, February 12, 2007

OEYC

Just down the street from us there is a great building. It's called the Ontario Early Years Center. I had been told about it as soon as we moved to Georgetown but had never ventured down to it. I'm not sure why, just one of those good intentions I never got around to. Until Saturday. Nick is in the midst of two very busy months which greatly limits the amount of time he has to spend with the girls and with it being the middle of winter everyone is a little cramped from being in our space so much. A couple Thursdays ago I went to check out the OEYC with my friend and we were wowed by what it had to offer. So on Saturday there was a family drop in time. It's super neat because you go with your kids for free and enjoy the activities but there is no structure until the last 15 minutes. You just get to let your child lead and play. There is a regular drop in time on Mondays that I'll be taking the girls too which will be very fun for Isabella, not so much for Brooklyn. But once or twice a month they also have open Saturdays so Nick can play with one girl and me the other. There is a special infant room Brooklyn will greatly enjoy, but Isabella is much too big for it, a successful trip to the OEYC with two kids in separate age groupings is really a two parent trip. Anyway, we had a great time. Isabella rode around on Little Tykes tractors, climbed up slides and down the stairs leading to them, (isn't she quirky?), played with a water table, a sand box and even painted a picture. At the end of the time all the parents and kids get together in a circle for about 15 minutes and sing action songs. Nick glared at me when it started with that 'you-knew-I-would-have-to-sing-and-left-that-part-out-on-purpose' look, which in all honesty I did not know. Even though he was a tad embarassed because he didn't know the songs he warmed up to helping Isabella learn the actions cuz we don't know the songs either! I was so very excited about the next family drop in on February 24th, only to find out it's for DADS ONLY! Humph. But Nick said he would go and has alredy started to invite his other daddy friends. I'm so glad I took the walk down there it's definitely a great resource!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great facility! We have Tumble Time at our church, but it's only once a week. It's great to have somewhere to go with the kids in the winter!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a gold mine in the middle of Georgetown! A place for the kids to play with a variety of items, meet new friends and get Momma and Poppa out to meet new friends too! And bonus, you don't have to clean up after all the activities are done!!

Up the slide and down the stairs!? She does like to find the odd way to accomplish a task! Oh, maybe she is left handed - you know, backwards like her Gramma and Grampa, ha ha! Have fun anyway! When Nick takes Belle on Dad's day, you get to do whatever Brook likes - including sleep - so don't get too jealous!!

Jen said...

What a great find! Take advantage.

karen said...

Good for you for going! I need to start taking advantage of all that free stuff too -- it always ends up being so fun!