More About School

Sebastien and Eden have successfully attended school without a parent twice now. Both have gone without tears and had a fabulous time. Get ready for a long post....

The first day I dropped them off after lot of talk over the previous week, so that by the time we got there, they pretty much understood what was going to happen. I still expected that when I turned to leave, someone (ah-hem Eden?) would be anxious and want me to stay or something. I had all sorts of plans to make this go well. But when the time came, I kissed them good-bye, they turned away and didn't look back. So...that's great! I'll admit I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I may have wandered the hall with Violet a little bit, you know, just to be sure. But it was not necessary for me to linger. They were good.

Did I cry? Well, maybe I teared up a little as Violet and I drove away. But honestly mostly I was just proud, thankful and excited.

When I picked them up, I went a little early and I could see them through the window of the classroom. They were sitting in a circle with the other kids, doing the "Going on a Bear Hunt" song, and fully participating. Bash was bopping his head and doing the motions, and Eden was also doing the motions, watching carefully to make sure she had them right. It was a precious sight.

Mrs. Vos told me that they did great. She said that when she announced that they were going on a bear hunt, Eden looked at her and said, "A bear hunt? That's interesting!" And at one point they were making fuzzy bears, and Bash kept putting on more "fuzz" (paint) and saying, "Is it fuzzy yet?" with every new stroke of paint. She also mentioned that at the very end, with only a few minutes left, Eden got a look on her face, "like she was done with her day here." Mrs. Vos invited her to sit on her lap, which Eden did for a minute or so and then she was all smiles again.

Bash was very sad to leave. He continued to tell me that he wanted to go back to school the whole way home, once we were in the house, and through lunch. Eden was absolutely beat from her busy morning, and did not want to talk about details.

However...when Eden woke up from her nap, I crawled into bed with her for some snuggles. Suddenly, she said, "They had Veggie Tales, and we have Veggie Tales! They were there!" I said, "Veggie Tales? At school...on TV?" And she said, "No.... SONGS!" Well this opened a floodgate of information. She went on about rest time and laying on a mat, and Mrs. Vos turning off the light. She talked about the color of her mat, and the color of Bash's mat, at which point, Sebastien was apparently awake because he said, "yeah...green." She told me about the bear hunt, about the song they did and the craft. She was excited because next week they were going to talk about caterpillars.

Which leads us to this week. Both of the kids have had colds this week, and I was praying that they would not have to stay home from school. Thankfully no fevers and enough improvement meant that they could go today. They were both so excited to go back.

I have not gotten a lot of details about their day today. But they did well again. Neither were sad when I left. Bash brought Bob and Larry for Show and Tell. Eden brought their LeapFrog computer.

Adam picked them up and walked them home. Mrs. Vos reported that Sebastien was a little more subdued, which makes sense since he is still a little under the weather. But later we were asking them about school and Eden told us that they watched a beautiful butterfly on TV, and that "Mrs. Vos had a low TV but Mrs. Alfree had a high TV." I don't know what that means. She also told me that she showed her computer for Show and Tell and said "I teached Mrs. Vos how to use it." And Sebastien spontaneously told us, "A butterfly lays an egg, and the caterpillar comes out and it has so many legs! Then he spins and spins a cocoon and goes inside and stays for two whole weeks. And then he wiggles his body and wiggles his head and POPS out and...it's a beautiful butterfly!"

The other sort of funny thing is that Eden has not peed at school at all. She wears her undies, but she won't pee there. By the time she gets home, she has to GO. So I said, "Why didn't you go pee pee at school, Hon?" And she said, "Oh, our potty is just better."

Can I just say how much I love hearing them talk about school! It just warms my heart. I am so proud of them, they have both taken to this new adventure like total champs. So far the Friday morning preschool experience has been wonderful and I'm just so thankful.

First Day of Preschool...

Sebastien and Eden had their first day of preschool today! Well, it was technically just "visiting day," but we are counting it as the first day. 

All ready to go!

Done with pictures, let's go Mom!

 We had a lovely walk to school. The kids chatted eagerly all the way there. "Will we get to paint?" (Eden.)  "Does Mrs. Vos have a basement?" (Sebastien.) "What door will we go in?" (Also Sebastien.) "Is it going to be Christmas at school?" (Eden) "I'm going to play a xylophone!" (Sebastien.)

Eden was a little anxious about going to school and repeatedly asked whether I was going to stay with her. As it was visiting day, I could say that I was. (I am not sure how it will go next week when I have to drop them off and leave...but one day at a time.)

Aren't they adorable in their way-too-big backpacks?

I only have pictures from the walk to school. I did not actually take pictures in the classroom. Mostly because none of the other moms were armed with cameras. Plus I felt like maybe I needed to just be in the moment and not preoccupied with capturing the moment on camera.

Their teachers are absolutely wonderful and definitely did a great job allowing the kids to explore and get to know their school setting. Sebastien was eager to answer questions and speak up. He had fun exploring the room, and seemed comfortable with the whole situation. Bash was sad to leave. The entire walk home, he dawdled (even more than usual) saying "I want to go back to school!" He even stopped or turned around a few times, like he was going to head back there whether Mommy liked it or not.

Eden was more shy at first in school, but was definitely interested in the craft they did and the "bear hunt" that was organized. After all was said and done, she walked in the house to tell Grandma Tuls (who was home with Violet) "We had fun at school!" She also had stories to tell Daddy later. I think that we have our tentative girl pretty convinced that preschool is a great thing. (Cross your fingers and say a prayer that she'll hold this opinion next week when it sinks in that Mommy doesn't usually stay at preschool. But again, one day at a time.)

Happy Birthday Violet!

Our sweet baby Violet turned 1 on August 30! We had a birthday party for her on the 28th, and we were overwhelmed and touched by the attendance and the gifts of family and friends who adore our girl almost as much as we do. Violet was fairly serious during her party, taking it all in. But some day she will love hearing all about her first birthday party!

Sebastien and Eden had a great time at Violet's party, and thoroughly enjoyed eating Violet's cake and opening Violet's presents. They liked entertaining Violet's guests and playing with Violet's new things. They've even asked a few times since Violet's birthday, "Is it Violet's birthday again today?"

Violet is looking and acting much less like a baby and more like a toddler all the time. She is not walking quite yet, but she is very capable of getting where she wants to go, nonetheless. She crawls pretty quickly and scoots around the furniture with ease. She can stand for a couple seconds on her own, and has taken about a step and a half a few times.

Violet loves books, and she points to pictures and words (with her chubby little pointer finger) wanting to know what things are. She also likes to take our fingers and make us point to the things she's interested in. Vi is more and more eager to follow her brother and sister around and she often wants to join in their activities (much to their dismay at times.) But by far Violet's favorite thing is music. She enthusiastically joins in our after-dinner family dance parties. She bops and twists to music without fail. And usually when someone starts to sing, she will begin to swing and sway.

Violet is gaining new words as well. In addition to Mama and Dada, her favorite word is "ball." She can also say, "up," "buppa" (grandpa), "buh-bye" and she can say "oof"(woof), "moo" and "meow." She can sing "EIEIO" and does the motions with "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." She says "ooooh" when looking at books with Mama and "mmmm" when she's eating. She also can fake sneeze, and she often joins in laughing when everyone else is, with a rather fake-sounding laugh.

Violet loves finger foods, and it's harder and harder to get her to eat baby food without her making a ridiculous mess. (She really took to her birthday cake, but then struggled to sleep that night, all hopped up on sugar.) She likes to hold her own spoon and dip it in her yogurt or her baby food jar to feed herself.  We've switched Violet to cups from bottles, and from formula to milk. She does not always love drinking from her cup or drinking her milk. But we're sticking with it. We also dropped her bed time drink. She has done just fine with that change. She sleeps very well at night, and usually naps two times a day.

The last year with three very young ones has of course had its challenges at times, but it has been worth absolutely all of it. Violet is sweet, funny, adaptable, clever, social, cuddly and just a wonderful addition to our family. We are so excited to continue to watch her grow and learn about the world around her.