Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Preschool Update...

I guess I'll base how good our preschool day is on how many tissues I need to wipe the sweat from my brow. Perhaps the room is just hot.
Today we got to school, and you walked so nicely to your classroom. You always say, "back pack" as we pass by the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms with their belongings hanging on the hooks outside. You then usually say, "Park!" when you see their playground!
We have been at preschool a total of 4 times! You now come into the room, play a little on the floor before venturing outside. I remind you that it is Circle Time, and you really could care less. Then I remind you that we are suppose to be inside, and I wait. The wait is getting shorter. Today, it only took about 4 minutes for you to come back inside! You play "near" the circle, but haven't yet sat down in the circle!
After Circle Time is our crafts. Today is Autumn theme. YOU LOVE TO PAINT. Today when I showed you what Mrs. Nakayama was holding up to paint, you screamed with delight! You then ran over the the squirrel table to start your craft. We glued brown yarn on the squirrel for his tail, glued an acorn on his paw, and you were basically fascinated with the hole puncher the most.
We then went to the wreath table to glue on autumn items: leaves, turkeys, squirrels, acorns, on to our paper plate wreath. You could care less about this craft.
Then let the painting begin. You sat so nicely to use all the colors for your leaf!
We used a sponge that was cut up to dab on your leaf; browns, oranges, yellow & red filled the leaf to capacity!
It only gets better, because after crafts is OUTSIDE PLAY! Your very favorite thing to do!! You now like for me to hold you while you hang on the bars! You also like to ride the tricycle and swing!
When the bell rings, you are usually the last one in the room for snack time. Today you ate your pound cake first, then grapes and a few goldfish!
Everyone cleans up and returns to Circle Time. Not us. That is when you point to the door and tell me "all done". So, we usually leave 15 minutes early.
Today, though, I only wiped the sweat off my brow with 4 tissues! A GREAT IMPROVEMENT!

Monday, September 14, 2009

First Day of Preschool

My darling Austin,
Today was your first day of school. You woke up at 4:45 AM to start the day, and no amount of coaxing could get you back to sleep. So, we met Grammie and her friends at It's a Grind for coffee at 6:00 AM. We came home and had eggs and cream cheese on toast for breakfast, and you did a great job eating your eggs. Soon it was time to stand in the infamous spot in front of our house for the "first day of school" picture. My brothers, myself, Kalie and Ashley have all had our pictures taken in the same spot since I was in Kindergarten! (Unfortunately, I am unable to download my pics, so that will have to wait until later)
We got to preschool and you loved it. You played on the floor with toys and others for 30 minutes. One little girl was crying almost the whole time. This was registration day, fill out all the cards day, sign up for snack day, etc... so I'm sure she was just trying to adjust to all the noise and people.
You, however, did great! Soon we were able to go outside and you played like crazy. Toward the end of outside play, you noticed the swings. Lately, you want me to push you for at least 40 minutes on the swing. Well, after about 5 minutes, the bell rang to call us all in for snack time. You did not want to go. I talked with you, but you still wanted to spend more time outside on the swings. Finally, I pried your fingers from the chains and got you off the swing. It was all downhill from there. Once we got in to snack time, you washed your hands and sat down to your goldfish and string cheese. You were finished long before the other 25 children had time to wash their hands. You wanted to go back outside. Out of 27 children in the class, you were the only one crying and pitching a fit. I held you in the back of the room, wiping the sweat from my brow, as I bounced you, spoke to you, and walked you from door to door. You continued crying for at least 20 minutes. During this time, children ate their snack quietly while Mrs. Nakayama spoke to the parents about our roles and responsibilities. I heard about 30% of the speech.
Next was Circle Time. Once again you started to make a big fuss, and this is when I said, "Why am I still here?" I said good-bye to the teacher 30 minutes before class was over and took you to the car. We talked about what fun we had at preschool and how excited we were to go back on Wednesday. I put you in your car seat, turned on the engine, turned around to tell you that I loved you, but you were sound asleep.
Poor baby. Quite a first day at preschool!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

6 Things

1) We had a blast up in Big Bear the first week of September. It was perfect. The weather, the balcony which I sat on while I watched fish jumping out of the lake, the laid back tone for Todd, Austin & I, and the leisurely way we approached each day. Nothing more than laying around watching TV, boating on the lake, swimming in the pool, throwing rocks in the lake, and eating out! Perfection.

2) The night we came home from Big Bear, Austin came down with a high fever. Great. The fever lasted three days; the rash broke out soon after. I called the doctor and was told he had Rosiola. No problem. The rash would last 3 - 4 days while he played and acted totally like himself.

3) I started back to school on Wednesday, 9/9. My classroom is such a wonderful place to be. I worked all summer and then some to create a fun, energetic, clean, happy, bright, wonderful place to spend the day with my students. I think it paid off - everyone comments on how much they like the room. I'm so glad. What a blessing to go to work and love it!

4) Ashley and Kalie both started back at school, both are "in love", and both are working more than one job. It is precious time that I spend with them since they are both so busy!!

5) I cut my hair off! Jessica, my hair stylist, did a new look for me yesterday. I was so ready for a fresh look. She chopped off about 5 inches off the back. It's that new V line look - a little longer in the front and shorter in the back. When I take a picture, it will be posted.

6) Austin starts preschool tomorrow - and I'm going with him! He'll go two days a week for 2 hours each day. I have a wonderful friend that will sub for me in my classroom so I can attend each week with Austin. I'm so looking forward to this wonderful time with him!

That's it for now.....