Teeth Or Germs

Joey is once again a fountain of bodily excrescences again. He spent 3 or 4 days with an impressively runny nose, and Julie actually had to change his shirt today because of drool. A fairly low-grade fever was a similarly inconclusive symptom. My guess is tooth; colds tend to produce less saliva.

At least he's in a good mood. He's great to be around - unless it's sleep time, of course.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I picked up Sam from preschool on Friday and he actually told me he'd had a good day!

I dropped Sam off at preschool on Monday morning, and though it wasn't completely tear-free, he only seemed distraught, rather than hysterical!

This morning? Hysterics. (Though he did admit to having a fun day once. I think we surprised the answer out of him; every other time we asked, he was ready for it, and said, 'No'.)

I'm sure that this too will pass, but boy! does it ever suck at the moment.

On the very plus side, Joey has been doing his introduction at Brad's house and is handling it like a champ. He's been very happy to go to Brad, to be retrieved post-nap by Brad, and to hang out with Brad. Maybe one of my children will not cause me surprising amounts of grief (sadness, not frustration) first thing in the morning.

3 Stories

Man, have I been having a good run of days with my oldest boy lately. We've had a bunch of really excellent father-son kind of moments. I know they made much more of an impact on me than on him, but I'm ok with that; that seems to be the way parenting works.

When I picked him from preschool on Friday, it was an absolutely perfect day. Sunny and warm, but not uncomfortable. As a sort of "End Of First Week of Preschool" celebration, we went to the ice cream shop that is right across the parking lot. We sat on the grass, talked about random things and shared a butterscotch ripple cone. I taught him to bite the end off of the cone when you finish all the ice cream and we played Eye Spy. (I also got in trouble for not telling Mama that we were going to be late. What can I say? I got caught up in the moment.)

On the weekend, we flew a kite. I've had this kite for years, but never quite put it together, even though I've thought of it frequently. Sam was finally the impetus I needed to get it done, and we took it over to the park. It was his first time flying a kite, and again, it was a perfect day for it; sunny, warm, and a steady breeze. It was awesome. We got it stuck in a tree (which I had to climb), we took cover under some nearby pines when it started to rain, and Sam got it flying almost all on his own. Total movie moment which I hope I'll never forget.

Finally, as we were driving home Monday, I was pointing out the corn plants that grow in a field on our route. I said that we'd stop some time to take a closer look, and Sam asked, "Can we stop now to take a closer look?" First instinct was to say, No, we're driving home, we'll do it another time. I realized then that there was no real reason not to stop - there was a wide shoulder, and we were a little bit early. Out we got, and over we walked. We saw planes and grasshoppers on the way, and before we headed back to the car, Sam was showing me where the corn grew on the stalks. I still don't have a good explanation for why they're called ears...

I've always known that parenting is a long-term investment; I'm really starting to see the fruits of my labour (so to speak), and I can't wait until I have two boys to really share things with.

Montessori - End of Week 1

Looks like this whole Montessori thing might just work out after all. Sam doesn't like the drop-offs - to no one's surprise - but apparently he has fun all day and does well. I wish I could be a fly on the wall, I really do, and not only because I love watching him play with other kids.

Ok, it's mostly because I love watching him play with other kids.

But I'd also like to see how he's really doing. There's always a little part at the back of my head that wonders if he's as happy as the teachers there say he is. I have no reason not to trust them... but there's still that little voice.

He's been napping, which is unusual for him, but that doesn't seem to have had any effect on bedtime, so we're happy about that. One of Julie's big worries was that he'd go back to taking an hour+ to go to sleep; looks like bullet, dodged.

He was pretty upset when I arrived on Friday afternoon. I guess some other kids had already been picked up, and he was wondering why he hadn't been. Makes sense, from his point of view. Julie and I explained to him that other kids being picked up is a reason for him to be excited, as it means that I'm on my way.

We'll see how that goes.

Joey, Damn His Eyes

So our youngest son has decided that sleep is for the weak, or at least that falling asleep is for the weak. He'll now lay quite happily in your arms for 45 minutes and stare wide-eyed at nothing. The last couple of times I got him to sleep, I physically held his eyes shut for 10 minutes.

He may end up a bright kid, but he sure can't take a hint.

(Aside from that and a runny nose, he's doing fantastically.)

Montessori Day 2 Report

Today was three hours, including lunch; we weren't really sure what to expect, considering Sam spent the hour and half before we left the house telling Julie that he didn't like pre-school and spent most of the drive there telling me the same thing.

The drop-off was a nightmare.

There's really something off about leaving a hysterical child; there's something even more off about being used to it. But I digress...

He was upset for a couple of minutes, and then poof! coloured and made a kite (an orange one!) in Arts and Crafts. Lunch was "pasta with pizza sauce" -- macaroni with tomato sauce and veggies -- which he was pretty happy with. Day 2 was a success!

Now we'll see about tomorrow, which is just about a full day...

It's Good! ...We Think

Day one at preschool seems to have been good. When we got there, which was after normal arrival time, there were 20-25 kids there already. Sam's group has maybe a dozen (maybe less) 2-3 year-olds, and when I brought him over, two of them immediately wandered over and stared at him like some really neat kind of bug. They were very nice about it, and cute as buttons. By the time I left, maybe 10 minutes later, there was a neat little circle of maybe 7 little ones. Some of them said hi, but most just sort of gravitated to the new arrival.

My actual leaving was, expectedly, a little rough; there were some tears, some clutching, some pleading... Sam had a bit of a tough time as well. (Apparently he settled down a couple of minutes after I left.) It wasn't as bad as some I've been a party to, so I'll take that as a positive.

He was only there for 2 hours today, so it's hard to say what the big picture is going to be like, but he says he enjoyed, and that's a good start.

Big Day Tomorrow

...Sam starts pre-school! His last day at Brad's was the middle of August; tomorrow morning he starts at a local Montessori school. (Note that we haven't drunk the Koolaid or anything, we just think the curriculum sounds neat and that the extra structure would really benefit The Boy.)

It's only 2 hours tomorrow morning -- working up to full days by the end of the week -- but we think he's going to absolutely love it.