World in a song

This song sums up the world of my five year-old today:

I go to kindergarten
I go to kindergarten
I go to kindergarten
I just lost a tooth!
(repeat, ad nauseum)

One tooth down, 19 to go.

Why I haven't written lately...

'nuff said?

Like a slap of aftershave after using a month old razor, summer came to an abrupt halt today. Both girls started school, one in 4 yr. old pre-K and the other in kindergarten. If the emotional pulls weren't enough, a parent also gets bombarded with forms, information, rules, numbers and whatever else. All nice enough and from good people, but I thought it was the kids that were supposed to be overwhelmed by the end of the day. I don't even know where to start. So I won't, for tonight.

Now that I'm back, I'm sure you'll hear more.

See sewer robots

Why doesn't my calendar look like this? This was Genevieve's day.

• Sleep in a little late.
• Breakfast.
• Shop at farmer's market. Buy flowers and cookies.
• Play with balloon animals.
• Play freeze tag with friends in a beautiful downtown place.
• Eat cookies.
• Listen to bagpipes.
• See sewer robots. See yourself on the sewer robot TV monitor.
• Eat lunch. Give flowers to teachers.
• Nap.
• Music time.
• Play time.
• Dinner.
• Go to friends house and play.
• Get picked up to go home to bed.

What did I do? G-a-a-c-k! Nothing nearly so fun.

The only slight improvement I would make would be to replace "bagpipe" with "banjo," but that might just depend on the day.

So far, so good

As previously mentioned in three posts in January (this one, this one, and this one), Genevieve and I some serious issues with drop-off and pick-up time at her pre-school, and that we had a moderated dialog to attempt some resolution. Since then, our pre-school transitions have improved greatly. The first week following the dialog still had residual whining and reluctance, but with reminders Genevieve eventually cooperated. Since then, the pick-ups have gone smoothly with only minor exception, and few reminders. I arrive, set a timer with at least two minutes, and inform her of the time she has remaining to play, say goodbye, get water, etc. At the conclusion of the time, she is good (in that five-year old way) about getting dressed and catching the bus on time.

On Wednesday, she had a relapse, but even that meltdown showed the utility of our agreement. After the tantrum went on too long, I calmly informed her about the agreement, and that her meltdown meant that she needed some time to calm down and that would come as a time-out when we arrived at home. Her crying continued for a while, but her tantrum subsided and she got dressed in her winter gear and walked (frozen tears all the way) to the bus on time.

Dry run

Today, my wife and I took Genevieve to a kindergarten introduction at the local K-2 school. Parents bring their soon-to-be-entering-kindergarten child, and parents get a broad overview of most pertinent facts and children get to march of with their soon-to-be-classmates to go do art and sing with the kindergarten staff.

As parents who did not grow up in our current "city" of residence (in New York State, this would not qualify as a city, but hey, whatever), this was our first experience of our local school, so we were learning as much or more than Genevieve. But the biggest reason to have this thing wasn't for the kids, or for the school to get that paperwork in from the parents. It was a dry run... uh, wet run for first time moms to practice their crying skills as the kids gather up and file out of the room. I don't know that this will make September go more smoothly, but She-Who-Sees-Her-Daughter-Entering-College-Really-Soon noted that there were many wet eyes in the room.

As for Genevieve, she loved it. She could probably start tomorrow, as far as she is concerned.

County fair talk

Last night I was reflecting on the great job done by the people at the pre-school and childcare center that our children attend twice a week, and today my wife reported on another specific instance of why we think highly of them.

It was field trip day to the county fair for Genevieve's class, and my wife took both of my daughter's (neither had class today, but they were both invited). Following the instructions to arrive 15 minutes prior to bus departure, my wife listened to the pre-departure safety and expectations talk.

First, the instructor (Barb) talked about how they would proceed to and board the city bus, and noted exactly who were the safe adults (the teachers and parents). On the bus there might be some people who looked nice and were nice, and some who looked nice and weren't nice, and who didn't look nice but were actually nice, and some who didn't look nice and were not nice. And no one could be able to tell who was who--not the teachers, not the parents, and not the children. So it was very important to remember exactly who the safe adults were, and only leave the bus or walk with one of the safe adults.

My wife noted, and I agreed, that this explanation seemed to cover all of the important points with the right amount of emphasis without getting hung up on who might be "dangerous" or "scary" or whatever else it is that we adults might have apprehension about.

Then came the expectations about the fair, including an itinerary of what they might expect to do, and what might be possible depending on behavior and /or time. Again, a good setup to create a framework for appropriate behavior and what to look forward to doing next.

I try to provide my kids with that sort of framework on the days that I am home with them -- if only I could do it with such ease!

All photos from the fair had other children in them (and no permission), so I'll post a cell phone photo of Reesa from a few days ago.