What We're Doing

I affectionately referred to last week as "hell week." My friend's baby, who shall henceforth be called Another Baby, started staying with us during the day. I picked up Luke and Other Boy (brother of Another Baby) at carpool every afternoon and hung out with all four kids until Other Momma got home. It was a lot of juggling and a lot of planning, but the week flew by and I remembered something about myself: I thrive on busyness. It makes me feel happy and productive and fulfilled. The house stayed clean(ish), I stayed organized, Weston and I read more books than we have in a long time while I rocked a sleeping baby. It was nice.

This week, the schedule switches again. Earlier arrivals in the morning, earlier departures in the afternoon. A more erratic carpool schedule. Weston has his first day of preschool (eek!) Luke has his first elementary school picture day. I have my first opportunity to help out in his classroom. I recently stepped deeper into a volunteer organization and I have my first conference call with some team members. (I have team members!) McMoose is nearing the end of a busy cycle and we are looking forward to seeing him around more. Busyness ebbs, busyness flows, and we're riding the wave.

Thoughts on a Thursday

• Last week, I was very committed about going to bed early and getting lots of rest. This week, things have gotten in the way. Movies called my name and said, "Watch me, watch me!" The internet called my name and said, "Read me, read me!" A friend called my name and said, "Come to a restaurant with me after the kids are in bed!" I regret nothing.
• Weston gets scratched by at least one cat every single day. Every day. I think it started soon after he started crawling at 5 months of age and it continues still. Tell me: why hasn't he learned to stay away from them yet?? He loves them so and feels the need to rub them, hug them, love them, kiss them, lie on top of them. Poor Weston. Poor cats.
• Last week, Elsa ate a bee. Or maybe a wasp. I wish I had thought to take a picture of her poor, swollen face. I'm really glad she's back to looking normal again.
• Weston and I have had a lovely time spending all day with just each other for the past three weeks. Tomorrow morning, we begin a new journey and a friend's baby will come to stay with us during the day. For the first time, Weston will be expected to be the "big kid" and make allowances for someone smaller than him. Let the good times roll!
• I fell even more in love with Luke's school (and his teacher) this week. Sensible homework policies, freedom of (some) choice during the day, projects that he finds interesting. Can I just tell you? He gets to choose what to do at school. I mean, they all eat at the same time and take bathroom breaks together and go to the playground and music class and PE at the same time, but in the classroom, they choose their works. They can go to the library every day if they want, as long as they have a friend go with them. When I picked him up yesterday, he was so proud to report that he had finally finished a project that he had been working on since last week, which involved tracing the continents, poking holes around the edges with a thumbtack and punching them out, gluing them onto the "ocean," gluing the ocean onto "outer space," and making stars and planets in "outer space." (I think he added the outer space and stars of his own accord. I've seen this particular work done by another kid and there was nothing about either of those things.)
• Weston calls the letter "s" a "snake letter." Today, we were at a meeting where everyone wore name tags and he went around the room, studying everyone's nametag and declaring, "You have a snake letter in your name, too! Ssssssss!" He also insists on me spelling his name with as many S's as will fit on the paper. Wesssssssssssssston.

Tooth Mouse

This morning, the kids and I started talking about losing baby teeth. Some of Luke's peers have begun losing their first ones and I was curious about what expectations he had for when he loses his.

Me: So what happens when you lose a tooth?
Luke: You grow a new one.
Me: Yes, but what happens to the tooth?
Luke: Um...you throw it away?
Me: Yes, I suppose you could. But some people like to pretend that there's a tooth fairy that comes to get old teeth. They put the teeth under their pillow and the tooth fairy leaves them something. What do you think about that?
Luke: Well, on a day that wasn't my first day at school, but a different day, I read a book about teeth. It was about animal teeth, but in the end, there were pages about human teeth and it said that in some places, instead of pretending about a tooth fairy, people pretend about a tooth mouse or a tooth bird.
Me: Cool! So what should we have, a tooth fairy, a tooth mouse, or a tooth bird?
Luke: A tooth...mouse!
Me: Ok. And what do you think the tooth mouse might leave?
Luke: I think our tooth mouse should leave a dollar so I can pay for things.
Weston: I think our tooth mouse should just leave the tooth in my mouth!

Ice Cream

Me: After we pick up a bag of Elsa food, we can go get some lunch.
Weston: You know, I like ice cream better.
Me: Better than what?
Weston: Anything else.
Me: Are you trying to convince me to get you ice cream instead of lunch?
Weston: Yes, I am.

20 minutes later, upon arrival to our lunch destination:
Me: Ok, let's go!
Weston: Yes, let's go *whispers something indecipherable*
Me: What?
Weston: I said, "Let's go *whispers something indecipherable again.*"
Me: I still didn't hear the last part. Can you say it loudly?
Weston, grinning: I said, "Let's go get ice cream," but I said it quietly so you couldn't say no.

While Big Brother's Away...

...little brother will play!

Weston is rediscovering the art of keeping himself busy and is quite enjoying himself. We had all kinds of plans for this week, but then Weston came down with a fever, so we're hanging around at home instead.

Since he doesn't seem to actually be feeling very sick, he has been spending his time making up strange games for himself. Yesterday, he built a structure that he referred to as, "the longest fence in the worrrrrrrrld."

 

Today, he has made a road with a gate and is narrating the game with a constant chatter of, "Beep, beep, get out of the way!"

First Day Reflections

When I picked Luke up from his first day of kindergarten today, he insisted on walking out to my car without holding the hand of the older child who was supposed to be helping him out, insisted on climbing in himself, insisted on buckling himself in. One day into "big kid school" and he's pretty sure he's grown.

Me: So what did you think of school?
Luke: Awesome.
Me: Did you have a favorite part?
Luke: I liked everything. There were too many things to even remember them all, but they were all good.

Later, upon inspecting his lunch bag:
Me: Um. You didn't eat very much, did you?
Luke: I ate the cheese stick for snack and the blueberries and pretzels for lunch. Never pack berries again because when I open the container, they fall out onto the floor.
Me: And then what?
Luke: The teachers picked them up. Actually, maybe next time I could just ask one of them to open it in the first place.
Me: Maybe so. And why exactly did you only eat a cheese stick, pretzels and blueberries?
Luke: I thought that it would be time to do the next thing, but surprise! At lunch, there were lots of other kids still eating, even after I put my lunch away.
Me: Uh-huh.
Luke: Maybe tomorrow, I can just eat until the teacher rings the bell.
Me: Hey, good idea.

Luke: Will Weston go to this school when he's in kindergarten?
Me: Yes, probably.
Luke: You know, they have a preschool there. He could just go now.
Me: Yes, I know.
Luke: So? Can we do that?
Me: No.
Luke: Aww. Why?
Me: Because kids who go to that preschool go five days a week and I want Weston to only go two days a week.
Luke: Yeah, but Mama? I think Weston will like going five days a week because then, he won't have to wait as long between when he leaves school and when he goes back next time. And also, they HAVE to go five days a week here because if they don't, how will they ever learn Spanish? It would take way, way too long if they only heard Spanish two days a week. And if Weston went here, he could talk in Spanish to me all the time.

Me: So is there a story time at school?
Luke: No. But did you know you can read WHENEVER you want?! It is so awesome!

I fully expect that the kindergarten honeymoon is going to come to an end sometime within the next couple of weeks, but I'll gladly take the happy-for-now transition instead of the tearful transition that some kids endure!

Almost Back to School

We got to go see Luke's new classroom at school and meet his teachers and I thought it was a very exciting morning. Weston thought it was so much fun that he wanted to stay and play all day. Luke, on the other hand, when asked what he thought about his school, replied, "I'm ready to go home now." And so it begins.

I'm pretty sure that he was feeling overwhelmed by the fact that a room that is supposed to hold twenty-eight 5-7-year-olds and two teachers was attempting to contain twenty-eight 5-7-year-olds, their various parents, guardians, and siblings, and two teachers. I don't blame him for being a bit skeptical, but once we got home, he read the daily schedule that they sent home with us and started to get excited once again about going back next week. (And true to self, his escape from the loud, crowded classroom was to sit in the reading corner and read a very long book about sea animals.)

Afterwards, we went to the toy store and bought Weston's belated birthday presents and then went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. Over the past couple of years, we've gotten into the habit of stopping at this restaurant for lunch every couple of weeks because it's on the way home from preschool and they have a lunch buffet and they usually only charge me for one meal, even though my children can quite easily eat as much as I do. It was a nice way to spend our last weekday of life before elementary school.