Climbing the ladder

Blah, I've decided that I just can't play catch-up and need to just blog when I have the chance.

So the big news today is Claire, yes that 15 month old, started climbing a ladder at the park. She was two rungs up before I reached her and then faced the dilemma of wither or not I would let her try to climb it (it was taller then me and curved at the top (pic to come). I decided to let her try, with me spotting her in case she slipped. I excepted her to give up at the top where it curved, but this little girl was pushing my hands away and made it all the way up. At the top she gave me the biggest smile and squeal of delight. I think I am in for trouble now, but luckily she only tried to climb the ladder that once and the rest of the time used the stairs.
In other news, my mom's preschool is going well. I taught this week and the class a few days ago on music went really well. We talked about rhythm, pitch, and dynamics. We danced to "fast and slow" by Laurie Berkner, sang a scale and did a drumming song. The kids loved it.
Today, I taught instruments, and it didn't go as well as planed. We made rain sticks, but the moms had to do everything while the kids played. At least they put the beans in and liked playing with them after. Oh, I also thought I was going to teach them to play a song on the piano.... Nope. Three kids ages 3 2/3, 3, and 2 3/4 are not ready to all follow directions at the piano, at least to the extent I needed to teach them.
Life here is still good. Although, I've been missing LA a bit this week (weird). Actually, I've just been missing the Natural History Museum, Sample Sales, Mother's Beach, and my USC mom friends. The rest of LA I don't really miss, but I keep seeing more and more how fortunate I was to have that time and especially those friends. It was worth the frat house parties until 3am, dirty neighborhoods,  smaller space, and burned-out hobos outside my door. Heck, it was even worth going to the laundry mat three time a day when my son got sick. In short, the people at USC ward were freakin' awesome.
I, however, feel so blessed to have make friends with the other moms in our preschool group. It is interesting though that there can be so many starkly different shades of wonderful. I continue to be amazed at the friends I meet strengths, but I am also reminded that no one is 'replaceable.' The more you get to know someone the more singular they become. Isn't that amazing? 6+ billion starkly different individuals.