For the past couple of months, I 've been participating in the Healdsburg Community Nursery School(HCNS) with my 33 month old twin grandchildren, Rody and Sophia. It’s been an amazing experience.
Here they are, out on the school’s field trip to the Pumpkin Farm in October.
This past Saturday, I attended the “Giving Thanks” celebration at the school. In the front yard, kids were squealing and laughing in a “jumpy house,” and adults were conversing in the warm fall sun. There I met Emily McGrath and her HCNS alumni son, Finnegan, 5 ½, photo below. His younger brother, Aidan, is in the same class as Rody and Sophia. She organized the celebration with the help of the other school board members.
Inside the school, I smelled cookies, which were just coming out of the oven. Standing back by the kitchen, I met Nora Bulloch, whose friend from Burlingame was shoveling the cookies in and out of the oven. I asked Nora why she liked HCNS, and she responded that it helps parents “act appropriately went they participate in their kids’ education in the upper grades,” and “it helped me learn how to be as a parent.”
Well! I have to admit that Teacher Lisa, who is there in the morning when the twins and I attend, is helping me learn how to be a grandparent. Here’s an example: The kids wait in line on a bench in order to play on the swing that’s suspended from the ceiling in the front of the schoolroom. My grandson Rody took his first twirl on it, then got back on the bench to wait for another turn. When he decided to do something else, I jumped into his place on the bench and said “I’ll save your place, Rody.” Lisa gently reminded me that I had missed a teachable moment. I think you get the idea.
One of the most wonderful things about HCNS is how it encourages kids to use their imaginations. Here’s the kids’ kitchen.
I had no idea who important it is to create an environment that enhances a child’s ability to imagine until I read
Can The Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control?. Now, if I can just let the kids develop their own imaginations. That means I need to exercise some self-control and just watch what they are doing instead of plunging in and acting like a three year old myself.
This past Saturday, Giorgia Park, completely upgraded, opened. Greeting me as I stopped by are Sonja Drown, the city's Recreation and Transit Services Director, as well has heading up our Senior Center, and David Mickaelian, Parks and Recreation Director.
Yesterday, the Healdsburg Community Nursery School took a field trip to the park. Here they are on a slinky, slitherly bouncy feature. 
Evocative of the old Giorgia Park are the "towers," now at the apex of a grassy hill. 
This turtle is ambling through the sand at the water feature. The blue in the foreground is a raised trough with tile in the bottom and water coursing down it to an outlet to the sand. Yesterday grandson Rody did a belly flop in the sand and came up wet, sandy and happy.
Most of the nursery school kids appeared to enjoy this grassy (some kind of astroturf) hill. It's steep enough to be a challenge getting up and down, but it looks safe for toddlers.
