WW: We Watched Rowan Graduate From Preschool!

WW: We Attended Rowan's Last ECFE Class :-(

Rowan's First Day of Pre-K!

I swear, this little baby boy growing inside of me is going to be creative and energetic — a real go-getter. How do I know? Because he has sucked these qualities out of his mother!

But now, after a much-needed summer break, I will attempt to get back into blogging. We have too many huge milestones coming up for me neglect our only baby book for Rowan and his soon-to-be-born baby brother.

Our first big milestone of the fall: Rowan's first day of pre-k!

We started the morning with Rowan's favorite breakfast: French toast with whipped cream and maple syrup, bacon and strawberries. He slept great last night and woke up excited for his big day.


Dressed and ready to go! Thank God for school uniforms. I never have to worry about what he's going to wear or whether his outfit matches. Heaven, in my book.

He's ready! (Yes, we eventually ditched the gum.)

Stepping onto the bus. This is the moment when most moms lose it, but I was determined to put on a happy face when Rowan peeked out the window.

And he did peek! You can see Kyle's smiling reflection in Rowan's silhouette.

Then the bus pulled away, and I did start to lose it. But just a little bit.

How was his day? Well, I wasn't expecting "A kid freaked out and puked!" to be one his first reports about the day. He didn't seem bothered, though (until I made him wash his hands for a full 60 seconds). He said he had lots of fun and looks forward to going again tomorrow. All in all, a successful first day!

Headsprout

My kid can read!

Well, not quite. That would be an exaggeration. Probably even a downright lie.

But he has learned a bunch of new sounds and words over the past couple of weeks!

I can’t take any of the credit, though. He’s been playing Headsprout* — an online video game that teaches phonics. The game has 80 levels, which are called episodes. After playing the free trial episodes (and loving them), we purchased the first 40 episodes for about $100.

Expensive? Yes. But we’ve been quite impressed by the program.

After only five episodes, our little guy could read his very first story! (Don’t get too excited. I can type the whole thing in about five seconds: See Vee. See San. See the van.)

He plays each episode a couple of times before moving on. He’s now on episode 8.

I just hope he doesn’t get sick of it. Using a computer to teach reading is a lazy parent’s dream!


*I'm not affiliated with Headsprout and receive no money for recommending their products. Just thought I'd share something we've been enjoying. If you would like to send me money, though, contact me at takesmoneyfromanyone@email.com.**

**This is not a real e-mail address.***

***I'm sorry if this is your real e-mail address...unless you get money because of it...then I'm mad.

Meat Eater

I can't bring myself to post about holidays and major milestones. Finding something meaningful to say on days like Christmas, New Year's Day or my son's birthday is just too much pressure.

So instead of musings about a new decade or a list of resolutions, I give you a picture that our little artist drew today (labeled by me for your convenience):

I bet you're wondering why I chose to post this picture. After all, kids produce a ton of artwork. Why share a drawing of a meat-eating rock?

Well, once you read the conversation that occured while Rowan was creating this picture, I think you'll understand why it's now one of my favorites.

Rowan: "Mama, I can use markers and glue sticks without any help now."

Me: "I know. You're getting so big. You can do a lot of things all by yourself.

Rowan: "And I know a lot of stuff, too."

Me: "Yep."

Rowan: "Like about science and space."

Me: "Mmm Hmm"

Rowan: "Like I know that when an asteroid falls to Earth, it becomes a meat-eater."

Me: "A meat-eater?"

Rowan: "Yeah, it's an asteroid up in space, and then it falls down to Earth and becomes a meat-eater."

Me: [thinking...then cracking up!] "Oh my God, Rowan! Do you mean a meteor?!"

Rowan: [thinking...then smiling sheepishly] "Oh yeah. That's right. A meteor!"

The thought of him imagining a world in which rocks fall from space and transform into razor-toothed carnivores gave me the best laugh I've had this year! ;-)

Wishing you lots of laughs in 2010!

My Kid Needs the Tiny Font

This week, Rowan's preschool sent home a list that includes the holiday wishes of everyone in class. I had to laugh when I scanned down to Rowan's wish. While it appears that the other kids could easily blurt out a simple want or need, Rowan required a drastic reduction in font size.

What did he say?

"What I want for Christmas is in a book with toys and stuff that you can get for Christmas."

My guess is that the sentence should have ended with a "..." because I highly doubt he planned to end there. How do I know? I've heard this wish before:

"What I want for Christmas is in a book with toys and stuff that you can get for Christmas. It's a special car wash race track that shoots water* and then the cars land in the water. But the cars don't get wet until the end, because the water shoots over the cars until they land in the pool."

Maybe they didn't have a font tiny enough to include the whole thing?

*I know what you're thinking: "A water-shooting race track? What a mess!" Well, you'll be happy to know that Rowan now wants a Lightning McQueen race track that absolutely does NOT shoot water. I wonder if it was our most recent trip to Target that changed his mind. ("Oh my gosh, Rowan, look at this race track! It's sooo cool! Don't you think it's cool?") Hmmm...I wonder.

Snack Attack

It was my turn to “bring snack” for our ECFE class today. It’s an annoying task, really. Each week, one parent is required to purchase three different snacks: one appropriate for the infant/toddler room, one appropriate for the preschool room, and one appropriate for the parent room.

Last week, our parent educator informed us that we should no longer buy cereal for the infant/toddler room. “They have more Cheerios and Kicks than they know what to do with!” was her exact quote. So instead, they want us to buy packages of special cereal and fruit puffs from the baby food aisle.

Hmmm.

Is anyone else a little confused by this logic? If they have an overabundance of Cheerios and Kicks, why don’t they just feed the babies Cheerios and Kicks? Why do we need to buy anything at all? Can’t the babies make it through a 1-hour class without special puffs to sustain them?

I don’t get it.

But the baby snack was the least of my problems. In the old days, we were allowed to bring homemade treats for the parent snack. Not everyone did, of course, but it was always nice when someone took the time to bake a pretty tart or cake for the group.

Not anymore!

“Due to concerns about H1N1, homemade snacks are no longer allowed in the parent room,” was the official position given by our educator.

Hmmm.

Is anyone else a little confused by this logic? I mean, I understand if the concern is about dirty kitchens, poisoning attempts or allergies…but H1N1? Why are muffins baked at 350 degrees in someone’s home any more likely to carry H1N1 than a plastic tub of mini scones that who knows how many people have touched at Target?

I ended up buying the puffs for the babies, some crackers for the preschoolers and an assortment of mini scones and rolls for the parents. More than $35 later, I had an acceptable snack.

You know what would really prevent H1N1? How about not passing around a snack at all? Can’t we all make it through a 9 a.m. class without nourishment?

Caught Learning!

Ask Rowan what he learns at preschool, and he'll happily tell you.

"Nothing," he'll say with a sly little grin. "I learn NOTHING at preschool!"

Oh yeah, little punk? Now I have evidence! You can't fool me anymore. No siree.

Consider yourself caught in the act of learning!

Counting to 20 (or something?) in Spanish

Singing about the months of the year

There's No Place Like Home

We had a few rough weeks when Rowan started preschool this fall. Going from in-home daycare — and in our home at that — to structured preschool was a big adjustment. But we've now reached a place where Rowan seems reasonably happy at school.

We still have our occasional hard days, though. This afternoon, for example, we had the following conversation while driving home.

Rowan: "Mama, I don’t very much like some things about my school."

Me: "Really? Like what?"

Rowan: "Like a lot of things."

Me: "But you have some good friends there, don’t you?"

Rowan: "Yeah, I like Rebecca and Matthew and Maverick."

Me: "So playing with them is fun, right?"

Rowan: "Yeah, but I still don’t like some things about school."

Me: "Hmmm."

Rowan: "Like...I wish they had just one basket of toys."

Me: "Really? Just one basket?"

Rowan: "Yeah, like one basket of toys that I could look in whenever I want."

Me: "OK…"

Rowan: "And I wish they had a couch instead of an ABC carpet. Or maybe two couches."

Me: "Oh."

Rowan: "And I sometimes wish they had a T.V. instead of play areas."

Me: "Rowan, are you describing our living room?"

Rowan: "Yep."

Naturally, I felt a little pang of guilt. After all, no place feels as comfortable as home.

But school has been good for Rowan in so many ways. He's made some new friends ("Wow, you're invited to a birthday party?"), learned more independence ("Wow, you can put on your own coat?") and adopted some good habits ("Wow, you sing all the way through the ABCs to ensure adequate hand-washing duration?!").

So I'm happy with our three-day-a-week separation. And really, five minutes before we had our conversation in the car, he was singing a pretty different tune:

"Mom, go sit over there for a minute. I'm not done playing."

Go figure.

Starting Preschool

Starting in August, Rowan will be going to a preschool/daycare three days a week. He seems excited, but he has lots (and lots and lots) of questions. Here was our conversation this morning:

Rowan: Am I going to sit on a wooden chair with a desk at school?
Me: Uh...no, Rowan, it's just play school. You don't have to sit all day.
Rowan: [appalled] But aren't they going to teach me anything?!?!
Me: Yes, you'll learn things, but you don't need to sit at a desk to learn.

**long pause**

Rowan: Do you think they'll bring in a block of ice and have us do a science investigation?
Me: [laughing] I have no idea. Where did you even hear that?
Rowan: I saw it on Sid the Science Kid on PBS Kids dot org. He draws pictures in a journal of everything he learns.
Me: We can get you a journal, if you want one.
Rowan: REALLY?!?! I do want one!

We meet with his new teacher on Friday. I'll warn her to expect lots (and lots and lots) of questions. ;-)

-Angie