One word – BIG! Much bigger than at this point in my pregnancy with Alex. I wore the pants I’m wearing in this picture until he was born, but I fear these won’t last that long….
But, our little girl is growing well and doing good which is the best of all.
Tons and tons of snow! Almost 3 feet! Whew – at least we have a generator this year so no power outage on Christmas day! Alex loves the snow. His hands would get so cold because he wouldn’t wear gloves, but he didn’t care one bit.
Well, we finally had the last straw.
It all came to a head last week when Lance was taking him to preschool in the morning and he said that he was crying and saying he didn’t like preschool – like he has been doing every morning since switching to this new preschool. He would cry and beg and plead not to go saying that nobody liked him and he didn’t have fun. It broke our hearts to hear this over and over again, but to some extent – this is to be expected. After a fun weekend at home – who would want to go to preschool?
But this was different – we’d been trying to make this work and trying to make this work for a long time. What was going on?
After reflecting for a bit we realized that his personality had changed since we’d been going to this preschool. He is very outgoing and always wants to play, but especially these past few weeks at Wiggle Worms he hasn’t wanted to do anything – just sit on the sidelines and not participate. It’s so odd for him – but we finally put the clues together. He thinks of Wiggle Worms as another “preschool” with a “teacher” and he doesn’t want to do it. He has loved Wiggle Worms in the past and has been fully of energy running up and down the trampoline and jumping in the blocks.
After our the last preschool that was so wonderful and Alex loved it – this was a hard one to take:
1). drop off at 7:45 AM – probably followed by 1+ hours of cartoons – is this what we pay almost $1000/month for? And that is just the morning. I have no idea how much tv he actually watched there.
2). heavy emphasis on kindergarten readiness – letters and numbers and coloring “in the lines” with no imagination work or play or art. No play-doh, etc. He’s 2 1/2! Who cares if he can color in the lines?
3). two boys who are older (that also have older brothers) that taught Alex about fighting, sending him to “jail”, and “guns”. The teacher would say that when they did it too much that she would put them in time-out and say “you know how boys are”. (Although I know this is probably inevitable at some point when he’s older – I don’t think it’s OK to have this be his day when he’s just 2 1/2!)
4). He fell off a toy and hit his mouth pretty hard. His gums bled a bit, but there was no incident report. She told us about it – but nothing else. When we asked him about it – he said it really hurt and he cried and cried. We took him to the dentist (at his regularly scheduled appt) and they said that his two lower teeth are LOOSE! I can’t believe this one!
5). A teacher who answers the door and expects the parents to just leave their kids there “it just works better this way” and who doesn’t give some sort of synopsis of his day either written or verbal.
6). lack of supervision – often I come to pick up and the kids are outside on this covered deck with a locked gate. She is sometimes in the bathroom changing a kid and the kids are outside by themselves unsupervised.
After writing all of that – I feel bad that we didn’t do something sooner. How awful! We finally put all the clues together and had the last straw. Time to find a new preschool – not an easy task. Especially considering all the other things going on.
But, craigslist came through for me again! We found a wonderful preschool and visited last week – just Lance and I. There were lots of toys and the teachers looked happy and engaging. The kids were all happy looking as they got their coats and shoes on to go outside. It was much more like our last preschool that we loved so much. It’s a Mom who has her two kids there as well as other kids. She’s been in business for 3 years and has 1 full time teacher and 2 part time teachers. She has a well established routine. We were very impressed with the whole setup. She diapers/potty times the kids all at the same time so they can learn from each other, with as needed diaper changes/potty times of course!
So, Monday morning we took Alex to visit and meet everyone and he loved it! We were welcomed in and introduced to everyone. We got to see other parents drop their kids off and we liked what we saw – parents who came in and took a few minutes to get their kids adjusted and the kids were happy when they left. After a few minutes of being shy, Alex started playing with the cars and trains, play-doh, tools and other kids. They got to watch the salamander get fed crickets. It was so fun he didn’t want to leave! It was definitely a rough time to have to go back to the dreaded preschool after seeing such a wonderful place.
But, we only have 6 more days left and we’re outta there! Such a weight has been lifted off our shoulders – it was hard to keep track of how bad it had gotten until we put it all together. It’s difficult to put all this in words – it’s confusing and has been a tough situation for us.
No Way!
I’ve got my parents wrapped around BOTH of my little pinkies. See those 2 popsicles in my hands?
Sick boy – taken on Sunday
This last weekend I got sick, and I mean sick. I had a fever of 100-101 on Friday and got to stay home and watch tv all day! Then in the evening – my fever rose to 102, then 103, then 104! And, let me tell you – that slows you down. I felt sick and told my parents that I was sick and that I had to sleep with them. Boy! they said it was a rough night, but I felt so loved and taken care of. My throat was so sore! I just wanted to drink milk, juice, eat ice chips or have the wonderful popsicles you see in my hands.
On Saturday they took me to the doctor and they stuck some q-tips down my throat to test for something called “Strep” and something called “the flu”. Both came back negative – which means I probably( Most likely) have the dreaded H1N1 or what some people refer to the “the dreaded swine flu”.
(Apparently the flu test only tests for type A and type B, but not specifically for H1N1)
I continued watching tv all day on Saturday and watched about every cartoon out there; sesame street, sponge bob, fireman sam, tom & jerry, and my new favorite scooby doo.
My parents are such pushovers that I got to sleep with them AGAIN – two nights in a row!
Then, Sunday – my fever broke and I was feeling better, not 100%, but better enough to be bored and playing around, albeit not at my usual pace. I still got popsicles all day and watched my fair share of tv and we also decorate the Christmas tree a little bit.
The parents were tough on Sunday night and said that I wasn’t sick anymore and had to sleep in my own bed. Well, after some pouting and shouting, I gave in and slept in my own bed. I really didn’t want to go to preschool on Monday and cried the entire way there. I told Daddy I was sick and that I wanted to stay home and watch tv. But, he said we “had to” go since Daddy had to go to work and he said I wasn’t sick anymore.
Now I’ve just got this cough that is lingering, but at least my sore throat is gone.
Scuba divers, starfish, and octopus – oh my!
We took a trip to the aquarium this weekend and had a very nice time. Alex is obsessed with scuba divers. OBSESSED!
And he saw “HUGE” fish and “HUGE” starfish. He also loved his hood – couldn’t get him to take it off even for the photos.
We even posed as a scuba diver and a fish!
P.S. Sorry for the photos – I forgot my camera and we had to use Lance’s iPhone. Not the best in the low lighting of the aquarium!
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