Duckling Dash

Benjamin's preschool (mascot: ducklings) hosted an end-of-the-year race for the kids. Instead of a party or picnic, they had been practicing running with the kids and finally finished things off with this dash, which consisted of about 1/10 of a parking lot mile.

There was a sign hanging in the school office entryway that had a countdown to the duckling dash. In teacher speak, this was a countdown to summer break for teachers. Mmm hmm.

But really, it was a cute event. I did my own few mile stroller dash with Claire to the school and even had to cut my run a bit early to make it in time. Except I arrived on time and then had to wait another 30 minutes for his heat. Apparently they were in the business of lying to parents to make sure we didn't miss the 3-minute event. Solid move.

They ran as a class wearing special school t-shirts donated by a local hospital and then received medals, took a picture with their class, received 1/2 banana and a personalized school water bottle (of which Claire was totally jelly since her Buh Buh got a "special drink" and she did not. He also declined the banana and she would've never done that.)

Benjamin was pumped and ready and then... he fell. He and the boy next to him crossed paths a little too close and he took the fall. But instead of being sour about it like I was afraid would happen, he got right back up and his teacher grabbed his hand. He ran the rest of the way. I was totally proud of him, even though he ended up being a total crabpot the rest of the day after. One of the moms I chat with at the playground after school each day had her husband snap some shots of Benjamin racing away. I didn't ask her to, so it was a pleasant surprise.

I love how excited and determined he looks. He was not a fan of soccer and he has no interest in riding his bike, but he's a killer swimmer for his age and he likes to run. They're all different, I'm just glad he's finding his (healthy) niche. Now to just help him grow another inch so the sticklers at the pool will let him go down the slide since he's about 39.75" and needs to be 40". He's been down about 10 times now, but the cranky lifeguards are pushing back this year and he's all kinds of devastated over it.

That air shot above though? Totally my fave. Game face. Determined. Go-getter.

Busy Bees Exit Assessment, Preschool Year One

My view from the conference seat.

Twice this year, preschool was canceled so the teacher could schedule a 15-minute parent conference with each of the parents. There's a printed paper and the evaluations of your kid.

You're not allowed to bring kids. I understand they can be distracting, but staying home means I am the babysitter. Just me. It's not convenient to assume I can get a babysitter for 15 minutes of my day. We have no family local, so I'm left with the option to kindly beg friends and often drive the complete opposite direction of the school to drop the kids off for a conference that isn't really necessary but one I feel terrible about missing since my past (and future!) life was that of a teacher. That held conferences. And expected parents to show up. I do care about my 3-year-old, but I hardly believe she plans to tell me anything I didn't know since she spends 5 total hours of her week with him and I spend all eighty billion hours of mine. But, he is with other kids and it's a social environment and one with structure and all that jazz.

As a teacher, I always encouraged kids to be involved in the conferences because I felt that they owned their learning, but that was also upper elementary when they had a handle on these school experiences and weren't still learning to pull up their pants after going to the potty.

I received a text from another mom in Benjamin's preschool class last night asking if I wanted to tag team the kids (total, 4) while the other heads to the conference. Sure. Sounded perfect. Except, my conference was at 9:00 and hers at 9:15, directly following mine. We couldn't do the whole drop-off-the-kids-at-your-house thing and swap out, because we had no travel time in between conferences. Next idea, hang out with the kids at the school playground. Except, they were having maintenance done and the preschool director deemed it "unsafe" to play.

So, I packed a bag of crackers, books, sidewalk chalk, balls and a remote-control car and showed up in front of the school at 8:55. She arrived and we both kept the kids contained and busy for the half hour right in front of the school on the sidewalk.

The conference was nothing surprising. Benjamin mostly follows directions, but has difficulty sometimes with sharing and, well, caring. He's got his own agenda but has shown great improvement in following directions and knows all of his colors (except gray), body parts, his gender and full name and shapes. She did surprise me when she said he comes willingly to engage in art projects. All of this was written down on his assessment sheet (that I received) and then she told me a few cute stories of him playing "airport" with the other kids in the class. It's cool to know he's now engaging with other kids instead of the parallel play that dominated his early preschool months.

Other than that, I would've preferred 2.5 glorious hours of kid-free time. What on earth am I going to do this summer when I don't even have those 5 hours to grocery shop? #sendgroceries

Exciting Month of Firsts

First haircut and first day of school for the almost 2.5 (Saturday!) year old this week.

We took a jog down to the local haircut joint in a local shopping center this past weekend and got Benjamin a haircut. Nevermind that it was super slow and there were two stylists and they were quite possibly the slowest people on the planet.

Benjamin could not have been better behaved and seemed rather proud that he was getting his hair cut.

Bye bye cute surfer hair...

This morning was another first. The first day of two-year-old preschool! From here on, he will always be attending school (except for summer breaks). He was really excited and a little nervous. The first day is an orientation to meet the teacher, other students, their parents, and learn about the school policies, etc. Dad took him today because I'll be taking him every other day and wanted us both to have experience with his classroom and meeting his teacher.

So many. Just couldn't decide. I am totally THAT mom.

First Day Top 10 List:
1. Two classes of 2yo kiddos.
2. Each class has 6 kids, but capacity is 8 kids.
3. His class has 3 boys, 3 girls.
4. Attends 2x/week for 2.5 hrs each of those days. Just 5 hours a week, but he truly needs this time with other students and other adults.
5. Apparently one of the girls is super aggressive, so that actually makes me feel better when Benjamin bites her. (Did I just type that?) What I really mean is that I am glad he's not the only "terrible" two at times.
6. Lots of "helicopter parents" according to my husband.
7. One of Benjamin's friends is starting as well (2 months younger) but is in the other class, as they are broken up by age. Benjamin's class is the "older" twos. But don't be fooled. His friend is potty-trained in the "younger" class. Le sigh.
8. The teacher was briefing the parents on the policies in the handbook and the kids were playing in the classroom. Benjamin brought over some alphabet toy and then interrupted the teacher to sing the full ABC song along with the "next time won't you sing with me" ending. I'd be impressed, but see #7 above about potty-training and you won't be so impressed. He's no closer to doing his business in a toilet than the day he was born.
9. I totally already offered to handle the Scholastic book orders (insert surprised emoticon because it's only preschool!). Just call me room mom already. Hah. But something tells me I am handling the book orders for the whole preschool for the twos, threes and fours. What can I say, I have experience. Hahaha. Such expertise.
10. At the end of his first day, he yelled, "SO FUN!" really loudly.

I'll leave you with a short interview of the toddler before he left for school this morning.