Emmanuel Preschool 2121 Cedar Hill Cross Road (by entrance to UVic)

Children learn through play in our all inclusive, non-denominational Christian preschool. Great facility; outdoor play area and a gym for rainy day play! Two teachers with ECE certification plus an assistant teacher to help with special needs children. A competent and caring teaching team!

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Class Options for 2017–2018: Mon/Wed/Fri morning class Tues/Thurs morning class 5 mornings a week

Phone 250-598-0573 preschool@emmanuelvictoria.ca

www.emmanuelpreschool.ca

Kids’ Dentist

Dr. Anita Gadzinska-Myers

is a Board Certified Specialist in Pediatric Dentistry and has a Fellowship in Special Needs Dentistry for children • Accepting new patients now (infants to teenagers) • Referral not needed • Member of Cleft Lip and Palate Team

Special Services:

short wait list • intravenous sedation • hospital dentistry • nitrous oxide

Victoria Pediatric Dental Centre 206–1830 Oak Bay Ave

www.victoriapediatricdentalcentre.ca 32  Island Parent Magazine

Story Time

250-383-2133

’m a writer married to another writer, so it’s no surprise, I suppose, that our kids, now nine and 10, have developed a love of reading. That’s not to say we live in a quiet house. We still need to nag our son to tidy his room and keep track of his most basic belongings. Our daughter can be as volatile as nitroglycerin until she gets the first fork of dinner into her mouth. Together they can go from silence to Sibling Shoutdown in a blink of an eye. But left to their own devices, they prefer to settle into a good book. And that makes me happy. I’d like to say reading is in their genes, but their bibliophilia is mostly thanks to their mom’s biceps. Every week, my wife hauls heavy bags of chapter books, graphic novels and books on CD back and forth from the library. Her arrival with a new haul ranks with the return of Santa or the Easter Bunny. On the flipside, our kids complain loudly if their stash of stories runs dry before the next resupply. I envy their utter immersion in a book. Standing beside my son as he reads on the sofa, I can’t break through his willing suspension of disbelief. “It’s time for dinner.” No reply. “If you don’t come now, I’ll eat your dessert!” Still nothing. “The library burned down and there are no more Garfields!” “Huh? What?!? No!” I wish I could bottle that feeling of being a new reader so I could savour it again—the joy of having nothing except school, dinner and bedtime between you and a vast universe of stories to explore. Most nights, after rustling the kids to bed and then an hour or more of answering emails, I’m lucky if I can pick up the novel collecting dust on my bedstand before I start snoring. Many of my best memories as a boy are associated with books: The thrill of getting the new Scholastic catalogue and the green

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