Do They Have Cars?

Andrew looks forward to daycare much more now. Either it is because he is older and bonds more with others, or that he just prefers the new school since we moved them last year.

We requested an early placement for him in the pre-K program at the daycare, to get on track for kindergarten. Normally he would not start kindergarten this Fall because he doesn't turn five until December, but we could choose to early enroll. Testing for kindergarten begins on February 16th.

The first report from his pre-K teacher, after a few weeks, was positive academically, but she felt that since he was among the youngest in the class, that he may not be ready emotionally.

There were also reports that he was spending a lot of time wrestling with a couple of the boys in his class. That surprised us–had not seen him wrestling at school or home. We have since witnessed the behavior and it is clear that he is more of a willing participant, with the other two being the aggressors. We’ve talked to him about saying “No” and paying more attention to the teacher.

Fortunately, a new program opened up where they break out into a smaller class for a couple of hours (in another room, with a different teacher) for accelerated studies each day. We jumped to sign him up, hoping that this will make a big difference.

So now both Bethany and Andrew have homework. Of course, it is really homework for us too–mostly mommy. Andrew seems to be enjoying the challenge of the new class, and word is that he 's doing very well.

With Jack Frost after Frosty the Snowman play.

Andrew is tall for his age, so he outweighs most of his age group, but he is average for weight to height. Even when he was three, people thought he was five; so making him appear all the more immature.

It’s hard to remember he just turned four. It seemed that he was three for a really long time. I had to stop and do the math more than once to convince myself that he was still three.

We’ve come to expect Andrew to do things that are not really age appropriate, because he is so big and the same height as Bethany, and because they do so many things together. When they sit, Andrew is taller because his height is in his torso and Bethany’s is in her legs.

His favorite activity is “watching a show” or “watching a movie”. Second would be “go to Target”, where he mostly hangs in the toy cars section, or watches the movie trailers in the video section.

Anytime we go to a new store, he asks, “Do they have cars?” Surprisingly, most do!

Next on the top hits list is playing with his cars and his car tracks. (Sometime I should count how many cars he has. On second thought, it may be better not to know.)

Thankfully, following closely behind playing with cars is going for a walk or bike ride, right in front of playing catch (with any type of ball) or batting.

Not to forget reading. They do both enjoy us reading to them. So we are not totally shirking. Though clearly not dedicated as those “good” parents that read TWENTY minutes EACH? day.

We go to the library once a week, whether or not there is story time. Andrew (and often Bethany) plays on preschool video game computers. Bethany will more likely follow me around looking for books and videos, or interject herself into some activity with other children. She is very social.

Occasionally we've let them (mostly Andrew) play at home on the Internet preschool game sites. For Christmas they received a video game system, so we’ll see how that shifts his activities. We assume that it will eventually be a struggle to keep his video game time under control, but believe it is necessary now for development skills, and prehaps to bond with his friends.

Andrew continues his weekly t-ball class and starts his twice a week soccer again. He has had more fun at the t-ball, because the class was mostly just three other boys, in a gym. At soccer there are twenty other boys and girls, so things get a bit more hectic and disorganized; not as much the confidence builder. On the other hand, he has a cool coach, that he looks up to. Now the new t-ball class is outside with ten other kids, so we'll see how that goes.

Smiley Faces and Glue

Bethany’s excelling in her first year at (note to self: need to be more positive) Kindergarten, after somewhat of a rough start. We started getting daily reports from her teacher after the initial report below, and being placed, by her teacher, on a behavior plan. Placing Bethany on a behavior plan…not us, just to be clear.

“She is doing well in Kindergarten, but she is very young and at times very immature. She is still struggling to sit still, to sit in her chair, to be quiet when I ask and sometimes keeping her hands to herself. She is funny and silly, but sometimes she has a hard time knowing when to stop being silly and start listening.”

She continues to have above normal trouble with remaining quiet and still, but improved from the first weeks. The teacher says that this is in line with her being younger than most in the class.

The goal each day is for five smiley faces on the report. She was averaging three before the holiday break. In the first two days since the break she’s gotten five. When she gets five, we all do a happy dance (picture the Chicken Dance). There is also a coin bank where deposits are made or removed, depending on the score for the day.

It must be exhausting for such a high energy, imaginative person to try to restrain herself and to focus. She is clearly more tired than she was at daycare; falls asleep at dinner from time to time, and on any evening car trip.

We’ve gone in for two parent-teacher meetings, for first hand performance overviews, plus there are e-mail exchanges with the teacher, mostly of a generic classwide kind, but sometimes little notes on Bethany.

Her Aunt Laura has been to the class twice now as a teacher volunteer. We each need to plan a day off work to volunteer also.

We attended a dinner at school the first month, then a fun nighttime Fall Festival with games and bouncies galore. And, along with grandma, got to see a holiday recital for her class where they sang, danced and played instruments.

One day I received a call from the school nurse. Uh Oh!

Bethany had fallen on the playground. The cut was under her chin and small, so they were leaving it up to us as to whether she needed to see a doctor. Well, given that sight unseen option, we really had no choice (other than good parent vs. bad parent).

I took off work, picked her up and went to her doctor, where they glued the cut closed. A little adventure for both of us.