This year, Mr. T’s class goes on monthly school trips to our local nature conservation center.  The plan every year is for a few moms with bigger cars to sign up to car pool and drive a couple of other kids.  I am working most of these days so Mr. T will have to be driven there by someone else.

So the thing is that I’m a car seat safety nut.  Every mom is allowed one thing that she can be OCD about.  This is my thing.  It’s mostly because I’m a newer driver and I didn’t start driving until I had kids.  And it’s scary to learn how to drive with your kids in the backseat.  So I know every single rule and regulation about car seat safety.  I’ve watched all the video’s, including the one really disturbing one that advocated for extended rear facing (before it became the current recommendation).  When I have to move the car seats from car to car, I really take my time and make sure that it’s installed correctly and it doesn’t wiggle from side to side more than it should.  And every single time I buckle the kids in, I check for the proper tightness and proper chest belt positioning, etc. 

So on the days they go to the center, Mr. T is supposed to be dropped off at school with his car seat.  Then the designated drive will install his car seat into her car and drive him there and back to school.  Then my sitter will have to re-install the car seat back into her car.  I guess an average size 4 year old is big enough to sit in a booster seat and I’ve seen them lined up along the hallways before.  But Mr. T is a skinny minnie and doesn’t meet the weight requirement yet.  So he is still in his Nautilus (as a convertible with 5 point harness).  That thing is big and heavy.  And my sitter drives a 2 door coupe.  To get that thing in and out of her car is a pain.  Plus, I really had to squeeze in the back to install it correctly.

That being said, I would rather have Tyler driven directly to the center instead of doing the car pool thing.  I know most moms know how to install car seats correctly. But again, I am OCD about this, so I don’t feel very comfortable about this.  Plus, I only know a few of the moms and even among those, I’ve heard them say things that don’t sit well with me (like, “oh, when I’m only driving a short distance and the baby is screaming and fighting me, sometimes I jsut give up and I don’t buckle him”).  I can’t imagine just letting Tyler being driven by someone I don’t even know. I’m sure there are other parents in the class that feel the same way I do.  I hope.  hahaha.  I guess I’ll have to bring this up with the teacher.

So I called the preschool office and very politely inquired about Mr. T’s placement.  The interim director was at meetings both times I called, but the secretary said she would leave a note after my second try.  The nice thing about Mr. T’s preschool is that the administration makes it a point to know all the kids and parents by name.  I knew I wasn’t just another mom to them.  I waited a day and restrained myself from calling again. 

The day after, the interim director called back.  The interim director actually doesn’t know Mr. T.  Each class has 2-3 teachers and at least 1 teacher from each class goes out to help with drop off/pick up, but one has to stay behind in the class.  She was the one that stayed back, so she never saw Mr. T.  Anyway, she was still very nice and said she didn’t realize that Mr. T will not know anyone next year.  Apparently, even though the policy is that you can’t requests your child’s class for the next year, everyone ends up going to the office multiple times to requests a specific class and/or specific kids they want their child to be with (or in some cases not to be with).  Now I know.  Next year, I am SO going to the office to request Mr. T’s class.

Anyway, she offered him a spot in the class that I wanted him to be in…the class with his friends and 8 other kids he knows.  YAY!  I was so excited because usually after the class lists are out, there is no switching.  I don’t know if it was just the Asian in me, but I found it so uncomfortable to confront them and ask them to do this.  But I’m glad I did.  I know I can’t pick his class for the rest of his life, but while I’m paying for it, I will.   Just kidding….I wouldn’t have minded his original class placement if there were a couple of kids that he knew in there.

So Mr. T got his class placement for his 4 yo class next year.  We are very disappointed with where he will be placed.  I understand that there are many factors that go into who goes into what class, but the whole thing just seems strange.

There are currently 3 three yo classes and 3 four year old classes.  The kids usually get all mixed up the next year, but for the most part, they try to keep friends together.  They say they don’t take requests regarding which class you would like your kids placed, but everyone does it anyway.  I did request a certain class once way back in January after parent teacher conferences.  I wanted Mr. T to be in the smaller class as opposed to the one with more kids.  They told me that they would consider it, but it’s not guaranteed since they don’t really take requests.  I never went back to the office to bother them about it.  Apparently, other parents did…they went back multiple times and insisted that their kid be in a certain class.

So the list comes out and I was shocked to find Mr. T in a class where he would know absolutely no one.  Out of the 16 kids from last years class, 8 were placed in one class, 7 were placed in another and Mr. T is the ONLY one from last year’s class placed in that third class.  It just seemed so strange the everyone else was divided amongst the 2 other classes except for him, especially since other parents told me that they had specifically requested that their kid be placed with Tyler.

It took Tyler until March of last year to even start talking to anyone in school and he was just starting to get comfortable when the school year ended.  He had made 3 good friends that went on to camp with him over the summer.  I was almost certain that he would be placed with those other kids especially since all of them would be doing 2 years of 4 yo preschool (since they all have late birthdays and will have to start kindergarten a year later due to missing the cutoff).   All of his friends will be in the same class next year except for him.

I called the school to try to speak to the director about this to see if he could be switched into one of the 2 other classes.  I don’t really care that he’s not in the class that I asked for…I just wish there were at least ONE other kid from his class last year that will be in his class next year.  Ultimately, I won’t really make a huge deal out of it.  I know kids are resilient and will make new friends.  And if they won’t switch him, then we’ll just deal with it.  But I just really want to find out why the placement ended up that way.  If Tyler was super social, I could understand why they would do that, but he was one of the shyest kids in class (this is according to his teacher last year).  It just seems strange that they would put him in that situation.

Any teachers out there that can maybe shed some light as to why this would have happened?

Since Tyler misses the cutoff for Kindergarten, he will not start until he’s almost 6.  Which means, he has 3 years of preschool since we enrolled him this Fall.  He has to repeat either 3 year old or 4 year old preschool somewhere along the line.  We met with his teachers last week and overall, he is intellectually ready for the 4 year old class, but right now, he is not socially ready.  Our original plan was to have him repeat the 4 year old class because it’s a little more focused in terms of activities and crafts.  The teacher was leaning toward having him repeat the 3 year old class because he isn’t fully into group play yet compared with some of the older kids in class. Some of which started a year later and are more than a year old than him since he’s a very young 3.  Right now, he does a lot of parallel and one on one play.

I’ve had a few opportunities to observe him in a group settings with his classmates.  I taught 1 class and I’ve been to a few birthday parties.  From what I see, it seems like he’ll join in group play IF he’s interested in what they’re playing with.  One birthday party had a huge train system set up and he jumped right in helping to build it and play with it.  At school, they usually use blocks for group play , but he has never been interested in building blocks.  We have a big bucket of blocks and I think he’s touched it at most 20 times over the last 3 years!  It was hard for me to tell if he just didn’t like the activity or if he really just isn’t into group play yet.

He doesn’t have any problems with group activities in terms of snack time, craft time, story time, etc.  The teacher says he’s one of the most independent kids in class and he requires very little teacher attention.  He regularly helps himself to whatever he wants during playtime (even if he’s not always supposed to be getting certain items….like glue and glitter).  He can put on his own jacket and he’s one of the few kids who will get his bike helmet out of his bookbag by himself when it’s time to go out…and he’ll put it back in and zip up his bag when they come back in.

So I’m torn because it’s a long time between now and September, but we have to register him now for next Fall.  I could register him for the 3 year old class again, but what if over the next few months, he becomes more interested in group play.  I think activity wise, he would be more interested in the 4 yo class material.  He learned out to write his name by himself and is very interested in reading and writing (which they do in the 4′s, but not the 3′s).  But I don’t want to register him for 4′s if there is a certain social expectation that he won’t be able to meet.

I hosted playgroup for some of the local moms this morning.  Prior to school starting, he would just sit in my lap the entire playgroup.  Today, he went off in the other room with the 1 other girl around his age and played trains with her the entire time.  (The other kids are around keira’s age and younger, so not much fun to him).  I could hear him talking to her and singing at times.  So he has definitely made a lot of progress over the past few months, which makes me think that he might be ready next Fall. 

Why is preschool so stressful?!!!!

My baby girl is already 18 months!  It went by so fast.  Sometimes I watch her and I’m shocked to see that she’s a toddler…I still think of her as my baby.  At her last appointment (she was 17 months, but it was technically her 15 month appt because we missed one along the way and then her schedule was all messed up)…she was a little over 30 inches and about 22 pounds.  She’s a skinny mini.  I was obsessed with Tyler’s height, but I guess with girls, I figured it didn’t matter as much how tall she is.

She is a BIG diva….it is drama all the time.  Change her diaper…drama.  Put on her clothes….drama.  Take a bath….drama. The fighting with Mr. T can get pretty vicious.  But then there are times when she hugs and kisses him and pats him on the head.

We have learned that she is terrified of animals.  Any kind of animal.  A trip to the zoo is filled with screaming and we have to hold her the entire time.  She’s especially scared of those aggressive geese that snatch the food right out of your hand.  I guess to her, they seem huge since she stand right about eye to eye with them.

She is saying quite a lot these days.  I haven’t really kept track of how many words she has…but it’s enough to express herself.  She has a few multi word phrases…mostly phrases that Mr. T says a lot, “what happened?”  “what’s that”  “i don’t want it” “thank you”.  She sings along to songs too, which is SO cute!

She still walks on her toes…just like I did when I was her age. My mom said I did it for at least a year.  But somehow, she is able to climb almost anything in the house. We’re constantly yelling at her to get down from stuff.

I love this stage of childhood….I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring!

Backyard fun on a nice winter day (i am loving this winter!)

Longwood Gardens

I can’t believe I have a 3 year old!  Where did the time go.  Mr. T has brought so much fun and laughter (and drama) into our lives.  Most recent stats: weight 30 pounds, 11 oz (FINALLY broke the 30 pound mark).  Height: 37 inches? This is highly questionable.  Mr. T was scared of the level they used to measure his height, so he kept ducking and covering his head with his hands everytime they tried to bring it down to touch his head. 

He has grown a lot this past year.  He has gone from crying hysterically at the sight of someone/someplace new to merely clinging to our legs (big big improvement for us).  He’ll even warm up enough to want to play with people he’s never met before.

He has become Mr. American Idol, singing all day long and picking up songs from the radio better than I can.  His favorite artists right now are LMFAO, Maroon 5, the band that sings the “All the Other Kids With The Pumped Up Kicks” (which is SUCH a morbid song in actuality) and, ugh, Brittany Spears.  I brought back my boombox from my HS days for the kids to play with.  He’s a pro at finding radio stations with a dial now. 

He is BFF with Keira.  They are so cute together now….when they aren’t fighting.  When they fight, it’s brutal, especially with Keira quickly catching up in size and strength.  She also has 2 tools that he never used…hitting and biting.  Tyler will push her down, but has never hit or bit her.  Keira will always want to play with what he’s playing with and he has become a hoarder of his toys, often gathering as much as he can in his arms while trying to run away from Keira.  Today they were fighting over whether the handle on their Mega Blocks wagon should be placed up or down.  I tried to sternly tell them to cut it out while one was pulling the handle up while the other was pushing the handle down (all the while screaming like banshees)…but I broke down and started cracking up instead.  

But there are a lot of loving moments.  They love to snuggle on the bed together right before bedtime.  And he loves to give her hugs and dance with her.  He’s starting to treat her like a peer…often directing her on how to play, “no no, Keira, put that there,”   “Keira, Keira, sing the song too.”  Recently, he’s started “reading” books to her…especially the alphabet ones.

He is STILL into trains and cars.  Thomas and the gang are still his main obsession although he’s broadened his horizens and has gotten into Cars.  The FIL got him the Thomas trakmaster set for his bday with the motorized Thomas.  I don’t know what he’s doing with it, but we have gone through 2 battery changes in TWO DAYS.  L and I hate that thing…it’s so noisy.  We got him a balance bike for his birthday.  We haven’t had too many chances to try it out yet…but hopefully in the spring, we’ll have more opportunities.

He still loves jigsaw puzzles.  He can do the 24 pieces ones so quickly.  He really understands them now and looks for the pieces that will complete the picture.  He can do a brand new 24 piece puzzle by himself the very first time without even looking at the reference photo.  We’re trying to look for more 50 piece ones, but I would prefer wooden pieces since Keira bends and eats the cardboard ones, but I don’t think they exist in that size.

He is doing pretty well in preschool.  He stopped crying after the first week and now runs out with a smile when I go pick him up.  After 2 months of silence, he finally started to talk and play with the other kids.  He’s still hesitant to talk to the teachers, but he talks about them all the time at home. 

He has started to lie and make up stories.  He came home with a cut in his sweater. He told us the teacher did it even though he told her not to.  We pretty much figured he did it or the teacher did it accidentally when helping him with scissors.  Little did we know, he’s a pro at using scissors by himself(we never exposed them to him at home) and will often just sit at the table cutting stuff up.  I guess, his sweater included.  The teacher didn’t even know his sweater was cut.  We’ve asked him a million times what happened…he still insists the teacher did it.

We took him bowling for his 3rd birthday with the whole family.  He had fun for the first 30 minutes, and then he got bored.  We didn’t pay for a party package because we’re cheap.  But luckily, the group next to us had and they had the whole alley lit up with blacklights for that party.  So we got to enjoy the party atmosphere without having to pay for it!

My first attempt with fondant

Bday gifts from Auntie Chrissy

Trip to the zoo.  He is obsessed with going to the zoo.  He asks to go every single day.  Luckily, we have a membership and we’re pretty close so we go whenever the weather is nice.

Other random pics:

After an 8 week standoff, Mr. Tyler decides that his classmates are now cool and worthy of his friendship.  According to his teacher, this last week, he has started to play with the other kids, talk to them and try to get their attention.  His teacher, who has taught preschool for 30 years and has probably seen her share of strong willed kids, described Tyler as VERY strong willed.  At least she considers that a good thing.  In her words: “It takes a lot of inner strength to do what you want and not give in…it’s a good thing.  He knows what he wants and he just goes and does it when he’s good and ready to.”  Hmmmm…I guess I could think of it that way.  It’s a good thing….it’s a good thing…..it’s a good thing.

We had a teacher-parents open forum today and it was a relief to hear the other parents talk about the struggles they’re having with their 3 year old.  I always see the other kids in school so well behaved and I think omg, Tyler must be the worst kid in class.  But after this morning, I realized we all basically have the same power struggles with our kids.  One mom confessed that she sometimes sends her kid to school without underwear because he refuses to wear it!  My equally appalling confession was that I dress Tyler for school the night before and he sleeps in whatever he’s going to wear to school.  I was hoping to get some, “me too’s” on this one, but apparently no one else does it.  He takes a bath right before, so he’s clean! He has this thing in the mornings where he will refuse to take off his pajama top.  Just the tops…he’s fine with changing his pants.  It’s such a rush for me in the mornings to get both kids dressed and fed before we head out that I got sick of having to deal with his tantrums in the morning over his stupid pajama top.  So he goes to bed in whatever shirt/sweater he’s going to wear the next day.  I still put him in PJ bottoms.  The next morning, he pees in the potty, I put him in his school pants and we’re done.

I did have a chance to peek in at their school activity today after the forum.  They just happened to be outside in the playground when I was leaving.  I hid behind a car and just watched a little.  Mr. T was running around with the other kids (while wearing his bike helmet????)  Then it was time for them to go in.  The teacher rang a little bell and told everyone to line up by the door.  There were a lot of moans and groans and I held my breath waiting to see if Tyler (who loves being outside) would resist going in like he does with me.  Nope.  He just trotted to the door, found someone to hold hands with and walked in.  so cute!

We also realized he knows the name of everyone in class.  He kept referring to a kid named, “Isaiah” and there was no Isaiah on his class list.  We thought he was just using the name because his favorite cousin is named Isaiah.  After using process of elimination in matching up kids with moms, we figured out that the kid must be Gavin so we started trying to correct Tyler to use the boy’s correct name.  Fast forward to today’s forum during introductions…the kid’s name WAS Isaiah!!!  Gavin must have pulled out of the class after the class list came out and Isaiah probably came off the wait list.  oops!

We laughed when a couple of months ago, Keira started to try to put train tracks together (something her brother does all day long).  Then a few weeks ago (14 months), we noticed that she was actually doing it…purposefully!  This girl loves trains as much as her brother does!

I can’t believe I’m typing these words, but Mr. T will be starting preschool on Wednesday!  He’ll be going 3 mornings a week this year.  We went to the parents night tonight and that really made things hit home.  We met his teachers and looked at his classroom.  I’m a little sad that they don’t have cubbies in his room…they have hooks instead.  Which means he’ll (and by he, it will probably mean ME) have to lug his bike helmet  to and from school instead of just being able to leave it there.  Same goes for snow gear when it snows

Tyler is not too excited.  He whines and cries every time we try to talk about school.  Then he asks if one of us can stay with him in school.  We tell him that we have to leave to do something else but we’ll always come back to get him.  He didn’t like that answer…more crying.  It’s stressing me out.  He hasn’t even gone yet and he’s already crying. 

During the meeting tonight, the teacher told us to talk to her in private if our child had issues with any of the following three things: 1) Separation anxiety 2) Potty Training 3) Food allergies.  While everyone else seemed to be lined up for allergies alone, we had to talk to her about 1 and 2.  She took notes at least.  T is pretty much potty trained, sort of. He is basically just lazy.  He knows how to pee on the potty.  He knows WHEN he has to pee on the potty.  He just doesn’t always tell us because he’s in the middle of something and doesn’t want to leave.  If we bring him, he’ll always pee. 

I feel a little nervous about him being the youngest one in the 3 year old class.  After talking to some of the parents tonight, some of the kids will be at least a year older than him because they decided to hold their kid back a year since they were near the cutoff age.  (I know this is a growing trend and it’s a really popular thing to do in my area especially for boys).  There is a huge difference between 3 and 4+.  T will actually still be 2 when he starts since he doesn’t turn 3 til October.  I know “academically” he’s fine…but I just hope they don’t pick on him because he’s smaller and younger.

I really hope he grows to enjoy it and makes new friends!  He’s such a funny kid at home…I hope others get to see that side of him too.

We still use a stroller for T sometimes, especially if we’re out shopping.  Usually Lenny will wear him, but he’s starting to get really heavy.  If we’re outdoors, we’re fine with bringing our Phil & Teds, but for smaller indoor spaces like stores, malls, the P&T seems massive, even with it’s smaller profile.  We have our Peg Perego Aria still, but Tyler likes to slouch in the strollers, so his feet touch the ground.  He thinks it’s hilarious when he plants his feet firmly on the ground or wheels when I try to push the stroller.  It is just a tad annoying.  The P&T sits up high enough that I don’t face the problem.  I hate putting him in the Aria because I spend half the time yelling at him to pick up his feet.

I spent a long time looking for an umbrella stroller for a reasonable price.  I knew I wanted a smooth ride, a stroller that stands up by itself when folded and a big canopy.  One day, I saw a mom at our post office pushing what looked like an umbrella stroller on stilts.  It was so tall!  I took a quick glance at the tag and it said “Aprica”.  I had never heard of it and thought maybe it was one of those cheapo brands.  I forgot about it until I was doing more research on it and saw it mentioned on some forum.  After a little more digging, I was hooked. 

Not only did it have all my requirements, the seat on the stroller is really high up and has a 70 pound weight limit! The canopy is HUGE.  T’s feet doesn’t reach the wheels at all when he’s in it.  It has a super smooth push and really soft, removable seat inserts.  It also saves my back since I don’t have to bend all the way over to put him in the stroller.  AND comes with a rain cover!  It was formerly a Japanese company but I think it has been taken over by Graco.

The few downsides include a small basket, somewhat complicated fold/unfold and it’s heavy for an umbrella stroller at 13.5 pounds.  But to me, those things I can live with.  The seat height is the best thing EVER! The stroller in general is taller than most umbrella strollers, so no hunching over to reach the handles. The colors are really great and I ended up with the Tea Leaf reen one even though I really like the orange and gray better, but those 2 colors were more expensive (I hate when companies mark up certain patterns).  But I’m not that picky about color since eventually everything becomes dirty thanks to the kids.

(the canopy isn’t fully open in the pic.  There’s another 1/3 tucked in)