Kindergarten Orientation

We had kindergarten orientation this week. Did you hear me? My oldest kid starts kindergarten in the fall. Holy *&^)! As I sat in the room with all these other moms, many who looked like they too were novices of this public school game and many who were long time veterans, I just couldn't get over that I was sitting here. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Sure the days, weeks, months, years have passed and much of it was a blur, but how did we get to this moment. Will I feel the same at graduation in 13 years? Thirteen years?

Anyway, the orientation went well. I was a bit confused when they showed pictures of the teachers helping the kids to zip their jackets. Apparently this is a skill 5-year-olds usually learn in kindergarten. What? My three-year old can zip her jacket!

Oh, and don't forget the part where Alex wrote with a Crayola marker on the chalkboard. Uh huh...way to make a stellar first impression on the teacher! I guess someone had left the marker on the chalk tray and he thought that meant it was OK to color on the chalkboard. Perfect!

School at Home: Week 3

Even though it was spring break this past week, I felt it necessary to do continue with 'home at school' but with an Easter theme. Our week began with an Easter egg hunt with my DC area mom's group. I hadn't planned on going with our busy weekend, but the weather moved the hunt to a better day, and we made a last-minute decision to attend. We are SO glad we did.

I made sure to get over to the library and check out several books on Easter--one about Easter in Sweden (of course), one about an Easter egg tree, a few about bunnies, a few religious ones and even one about Passover (since my grandfather is Jewish and I wanted to give them the basics of a Seder meal.)

Thank God for the Enchanted Learning site which gave me a few worksheets, coloring pages and counting/math activities with Easter-related things included. We finished out the week by coloring eggs, decorating our own Easter tree and baking our traditional Easter bread. So all in all....another good week.

This week, we're moving on to food, nutrition and the food groups.

School at Home: Week 1

We completed our first week of what I'm calling "School at Home" with Alex. I can't bring myself to call it "homeschooling" so this feels better for me. I figured if I documented it all here then I have to actually follow through. Here was our week in summary:

It was Space Week. We started by checking out many, many books at the library on space and planets. We read all of them and talked about the planets and rockets. A few of the books I checked out were super easy ones that I thought he could read, and he did!

We worked on identifying "space words" like: space, rocket, planet, star, moon, etc. Alex asked to do an estimating project one day so I counted this as our math lesson for the day. We used star, moon and heart stickers and practiced estimating how many were in each bag. Anna played too.

Our big project was making a solar system. We spent most of the morning painting and putting it together. (See picture). Alex LOVED this. I was surprised in a matter of hours how quickly he'd learned the order of the planets and was ready to recite it to anyone.

We read about the first lunar landing and then watched some of a DVD from Netflix with footage. He couldn't believe that it was actually real and he was able to see it. Thursday we took a trip downtown to the Air and Space Museum and that was just a wonderful trip for us. I couldn't believe how much information he had retained during just three days.

The real kicker was I let him round out the week on Sunday by watching Star Wars--a movie he's been begging to watch once he turned five. I figured with his birthday on Saturday it was nice way to end the week and celebrate.

This week is Spring Week. So far so good! Lots of fun thigns planned.

The Cast Came Off

It was a long three weeks with the cast. I learned a lot about Alex during this time. His self disclipline is a amazing. We had only one incident of the cast getting a bit wet. He, for the most part, kept it out of the sand and mulch and followed the "rules" of the cast. He learned to ride his scooter with one hand + 2 fingers. He learned to cope and deal the best he could with nary a complaint about his temporary "disability."

And when he woke up yesterday morning, even before the cast came off, he was a completely different boy. He confessed that he hadn't been sleeping very well. Which in turn was probably accounting for the massive change in behavior the past three weeks. Funny how I hadn't put two and two together.

He was a brave little boy as they sawed off the cast. He explained to Anna it would be really noisy but it wouldn't hurt. How did he know? But he was fantastic. I do have to give major props to Commonwealth Orthopaedics for their attention to children's special needs. The X-ray lady was ready this time with a basket of lollipops.

The first thing we did when we got home was take a very long bath. So now he's free from the nasty smelling cast and we're off to celebrate with a party this afternoon. He wanted balloons with casts on them, but I drew the line at that one.

The Angst Continues

We have an emotional household. Before children, it was me. Hey, I can fess up and admit that I am a HUGE drama queen about...everything. Enter children. Suddenly my drama means nothing to anyone anymore so now the kids drama trumps mine and rightly so.

Tonight as I'm speeding about to get kids in bed after a day of listening to Anna cough and choke (damn cold), I hear Alex weeping. I walk in and he's not just upset, but clearly processing something in his mind.

Mom: What's the matter, baby?
Alex: I'm so afraid that Froggy might end up under the pillow in the middle of the night. [sob] And if he does [sob] I'm so afraid that the blanket fairy will come and take him and leave me a big boy gift.
Mom: Do you want the blanket fairy to take Froggy and leave you a big boy gift?
Alex: [Weeping] Nooooooooooo. But I'm afraid that might happen. What if she thinks he's there for that reason.
Mom: Where did you get such an idea?
Alex: From that book Owen. [Damn kids books!]
Mom: OK, the blanket fairy doesn't come unless we write her a letter. So as long as we don't, Froggy stays with us.
Alex: He can stay forever?
Mom: Yes, forever. How old is Mommy?
Alex: Old. [Nice.]
Mom: Does Mommy still have a lovey?
Alex: Yes.
Mom: Ok, then we're OK. Froggy can stay with us until you're 25 if you want...or even as old as Mommy. If you ever decide you want the blanket fairy to come and leave you a present, let me know.
Alex: I only want Santa to leave presents.
Anna: [from the other room] What about the tooth fairy??
Alex: She only leaves money!

His sobbing finally stopped when we agreed that Froggy would follow him wherever. I did explain that the thumb sucking would need to end, but that Froggy could indeed stay.

Preschool Woes

My son came home yesterday and told me he was tired of preschool. Of course in the same breath, he said he was tired of going everyday to school (which he doesn't). He informed me he's been at that school for 100 days already and it was time for him to be in kindergarten. I explained that even if he felt he was ready for kindergarten, you had to be five to attend. (And in his case 5 1/2 since he has a March birthday.) And that kindergarten was, indeed, every day.

So he made me a deal. "If I go to preschool all next week, THEN will you let me go to kindergarten?" I'm not sure what's going on here, and I'm hoping to go into the class next week and take a look at what they are doing. But after much protesting from Alex--which is a first for him--I decided to let him take his first "mental health day" home from school. He didn't want to go and I figured I would give him a break. Well, actually I wanted to make him go, but my husband reassured me that he wasn't expected to enter the rat race at age four and missing a day of school wouldn't hurt.

School Starts: Girl Goes to School

My kids start school this week, and today was Anna's first day. Because of the days they go, she had to start before Alex. Can I just tell you there was a lot of "why does she get to go first?" conversation in this house lately. Alex goes tomorrow so a day is a HUGE difference in the life of a four-year old.

So this year started out much like last year. Except Anna plays the I-don't-want-you-to-leave-grab-my-leg card. I don't buy this anymore. She pretends she's shy so the teachers give her extra attention. Sweetie, I'm on to you.

After about two seconds of pretending she's so scared to be there, she darts to the dress up area and starts playing. Did she look back? No way. I feel so fortunate that it's always this easy. I did hear later from her about all the other kids who cried for their moms. My little gossip queen. For her, the big step up from the 2s class to the 3s is being able to do car line. She loved it, but soon have to learn it's not OK to dart out to the car.

While Anna was in her one hour of phase in, Alex and I used this rare time to have lunch together. How fun to take my boy out for lunch alone, without his sister. His response was "Mommy, it's fun to do things just with you sometimes. I love Anna, but sometimes I love just me and you. Can we share some ice cream?" Yes, ever the master negotiator.

New Math

I'm over at DC Metro Moms today talking about "unmentionable" things today. It should be a good laugh. One my son will hate me for later.

Camp Drop Off is Never Easy

Today finally arrived! After six weeks of summer with either one kid or both kids at home, today I dropped both kids off at summer camp. Well, it's only morning summer camp so I imagine it is more like preschool outside. But, still, today I am kid free. I had all my papers in order and prepped the kids before I dumped them both off.

But I was sad as I drove away.

Alex, disappointed not be in the same group with his other friends, frowned and moaned and then jumped right up on the bench and started playing. He looked at me and said, "good bye mom. See ya!" Done.

Anna wasn't quite as convinced. She played the sad card about not wanting me to go. I kissed her, said I loved her and walked off. I expected to hear crying and moaning and maybe even her darting after me. Nope. I look back and she's happily playing on the bench with some kids.

I got in the car and drove home. Happy to have some time to get chores done. Sad that I just left them in the hands of a few college kids, who I hope are capable of keeping track of 12 kids. I try not to think about it too much or I know I would go back and check on them during the day.

Determining a Successful Outing

The day after July 4th. Kids slept in until almost 8 a.m. (Those that know my kids, know this is unprecedented.) We were recovering from a late night, and our morning--while good--was rainy. Our plans with friends at the pool were shot so we opted for something new. My friend Allison called and said several moms were meeting at the Air & Space Museum. Rainy, holiday weekend + free indoor museum = amusement for my kids. (Ok, I only took one kid.)

In the back of my head, I must have known that this equation also means big crowds. But the outing got me thinking. Am I a 'half full' or 'half empty' kind of mom for outings.

Let's dissect this and see if this was a successful outing.

The Good
1. I got to see four of my mom friends while only having half my monkey crew.
2. Since we carpooled with two other moms, I only paid $4 of the $12 parking fee.
3. My son got to see his friends.
4. My son got see the planes (which he doesn't care about), the space ships (which he also doesn't care about), and eat at McDonald's (which he will tell you he loves more than anything, but his daddy says is very unhealthy because the beef from the hamburgers comes from corn-fed cows and not grass fed. Alex will tell you all about a cow's stomach, too, if you want to hear.) But he still loves McDonalds.

5. Squished pennies keep kids happy for a long time.

6. The kids had fun and were tired afterwards. (Read: Everyone will take a nap)

The Bad
1. Son got in trouble from wanna-be security guard for running down the ramp.
2. Squished pennies went up in price from 51 cents to $1.01. Damn inflation! 3. Crowds (most of it other kids or older people in wheelchairs) makes it hard to keep track of six kids under four.

The Funny
1. Same security guard was busting up other families' fun as well.
2. Squished pennies were really the highlight for everyone.
3. Had to bypass the second stop on the control tower tour for Alex's potty emergency.
4. Alex really led the group by what HE wanted to do: eat, squish pennies, see the space ships, go to the bathroom, go home. Nice.

My vote: Outing was a success. While it was packed and the kids were literally everywhere and without much focus, us four moms were fully aware that this was a preschool-led activity. None of us had expectations except to be somewhere out of the rain with the kids. If they had fun, so did we.

"He Needs a Weapon!"

These were the exact words from the lips of my son while we were together drawing a picture. The activity goes like this. We draw a picture of a person together. I drew the head, he drew the body. I drew an arm, he immediately went for the end of the arm (where a hand should be) and said "now he needs a gun. What? Seriously. Is this kid crazy? Why does it always have to be about a weapon, I think. So of course the next words out of his mouth are "Ok, how about a sword?" No. So his follow up is, "What kind of weapon can I draw in there?" After we talked at length about why it doesn't always have to be a gun, sword, stick or bomb (that's the latest thanks to my husband introducing him to smoke bombs for July 4th), he agreed on drawing candy and an ice cream cone. Clearly second place to a weapon.

Telling Birth Stories

Over at DC Metro Moms today, they're talking about birth stories. Rather than bore the general population with the nitty gritty, I decided to talk there about how I faked labor with my second baby, but here I would bore you with the details.

03.27.2004 Doha, Qatar (Alex, at left)
I had been having--what I now know to be--light contractions for several days. They had become fairly frequent and what I thought was stronger. We called the doctor and she suggested we meet her at the hospital at 7:30 p.m. to be checked. We arrived and checked in. In the U.S., I hear this can be a painful process. We walked in, they took our name and phone number and assigned us a room. That was it. Nothing more was needed. At 7:45 p.m. my water broke right before Dr. Amal Badi arrived. I was unsure of how people could ever wonder if their water broke or not because it was quite obvious that’s what it was. Fluid gushed, soaking my pants, top of my shirt and shoes.

The bad news was when they checked me, my cervix was neither dilated nor effaced. But now I had the water breakage that made the clock start ticking. (You only have 24 hours after that otherwise risk infection.)

My mother was arriving in Doha at 10:30 p.m. so since it looked like things wouldn’t happen in the next 2 hours, Andrew left to go pick her up. Right before he left, they checked me again with still no progress even though the contractions were starting to come faster and stronger now. They were ready to induce since things weren’t moving along on their own. I decided to wait on the pitocin until Andrew returned from the airport, knowing that these contractions would be much worse once medication took over.

Andrew and I kept in contact via cell phone while he waited at the airport. I felt very alone. I was the only one in the delivery ward that night, and while my doctor had stayed, she was resting in the next room. There was only one nurse on duty and I was scared.

By the time he came back, the contractions were getting pretty painful. I was convinced that surely now, things had started to move. My cervix was starting to efface but still no dilation….they said the contractions needed to be stronger to move him down. At midnight, when Andrew and my mom returned, they started the pitocin. Almost immediately I began to feel the difference in the intensity. I tried every position that I read about in all the books and some were definitely better than others. The birthing ball was where I spent most of the time in these early parts of labor. I walked as much as I could, but the pain was like nothing I could ever had imagined. Since the baby was in a posterior position, most of the pain was in my back. I felt like my whole backside was going to split open.

At 4 a.m. they checked me again and after 4 hours of pain-wrenching labor and no drugs, I was finally about 1 cm dilated. But I wasn’t allowed to get the epidural until 4 cm. By this time, I was tired and run out of energy. At least if things had been moving along a bit more, I might have been more encouraged. They decided to turn off the pitocin and give me some Demerol so I could rest. The Demerol immediately made me start vomiting and become dizzy. If only they had told me this would be the reaction, I would have been lying down when they administered it. So, I had about 3 hours of sleep with just the normal contractions. What a difference! I think if I had progressed normally, I would have been able to better handle the pain. Andrew slept on the hard, cold floor beside my bed (no extra bed) and my mom got a bed upstairs in what would be my room later on. At 8 a.m., with still very little progress, they turned the pitocin back on. The pain was even worse than before. Andrew and my mom, all working on very little sleep, helped coach me for the next 4 hours. They came back in to check me and I was only 2 ½ cm dilated. I just couldn’t take the pain anymore and still felt I had so long to go. They administered another dose of Demerol, which did nothing this time except make me sick again. About 30 minutes later, I decided I just couldn’t make it any longer and asked for the epidural. I loved the lady who brought me the drugs!

I was a bit scared about getting the epidural. The thought of someone sticking a needle in your spine…yikes. But Andrew stood there and held me the whole time and helped me to be calm about the whole thing and it really didn’t hurt.

Once that took affect, everything seemed so much better and moved much faster, I was able to better handle the pain and relax. By the time they checked me a few minutes later, I was already 4 cm. The pain started to increase gradually, but quickly. My doctor was due to arrive around 3 p.m. but at 2:30 I started feeling like I needed to push. I don’t think they believed I could have progressed that quickly, but at 3 p.m. when they finally checked me again, I was fully dilated and ready to push. The room was a sudden burst of activity as everyone started running around to get ready.

What a relief! What excitement…the time had come! Mainly, it was nice to know that this was almost over. I was afraid that the result would be a C-section since I was nearing the 24-hour mark. Once I started pushing, I felt that things were finally almost there. The delivery room was filled with, what seemed like, a million doctors and nurses. Apparently, there was nothing else going on in the hospital that night and I was the main attraction, drawing at least (from what I remember) about six additional nurses who were bored from no excitement.

Andrew and my mom were great coaches telling me what a great job I was doing and giving me updates on where he was in the birth canal. Andrew, who used to not want to have ANYTHING to do with watching the baby come out, was now fixated on baby’s every move--in between, wiping my forehead with a wet washcloth. As we got closer, I was told I would need an episiotomy, which I wanted very much to avoid, but apparently there was no way that head was coming out of me without it. Once the incision was made, it was two or three more pushes.

After about 55 minutes of pushing, they brought him out with a flying swoosh and set him on my chest. I started kissing him and telling him how much I loved him before they moved him on the incubator next to me to check him. Andrew took his place next to the pediatrician to make sure all was right there and my mom stayed with me through the stitching process.

I thought I was done now and after I pushed out the placenta, they were worried I was bleeding too much. They were afraid that my cervix had torn and would need more stitches. They topped off my epidural to investigate the problem. Turns out I had a blood clot that needed to be removed.

After a few minutes of doctors looking over Alex, they brought him to me to try to nurse. Andrew and I cuddled him and both of us started to cry. What a precious little miracle had been set into our arms. I was pretty sure that all that pain had been worth it. I was also pretty sure the next time……would have to be easier.


And it was....Anna was born less than 16 months later after eight hours of labor and three pushes. (Anna at left)

What is the Goal Here?

When did my kids get so smart? With Alex it was sometime between age 3 and 4. I don't know when, but suddenly he's able to outsmart, outwit and outrun me. Anna is on the verge of getting there too. She'll learn from the best, for sure.

I won't go on and on about the little things he says like: "We have to wash our hair to get the chlorine from the pool out of it. Mom, did you Chlorine is an element on the periodic table?" No shit, kiddo. Oh, he can also tell you the symbol for it.

This morning I caught Alex doing "workbook" with Anna. Yes, I am one of those mothers who buys summertime workbooks to keep my kids busy at the table while I clean up dishes or get dinner on the table. I don't push it, but they love them! So we all sat down to work on the infamous workbook together and lo and behold, my son knew how to read the words: truck, car, plane, train and bus along with a few other ones I didn't know he knew. But I won't go on about that.

But the funniest thing I've heard in a long while was the negotiation at dinner the other night. He's always been--like most kids--a master negotiator. You give him 5 minutes until bedtime and he'll talk you into 8. He clean his plate down to just the right amount in order to get dessert. So upon chowing down a dinner of pasta, chicken and broccoli, my Mr. Smarty Pants looks down at his plate and says: "OK, mom. What's the goal here to get dessert?"

I'm sure my chin hit the floor. Goal? Do you even know what that means? Apparently he did. Apparently he knows it has two meanings which he went on to explain to me. But he quickly finished and then came right back to inquiring about dessert.

He got dessert after achieving his goal.

A Perfect Walk

Yesterday when meeting up with several moms from my mom's group, I made the last-minute decision that we'd walk the mile to the playgroup instead of our normal drive. It seems silly to drive when I noticed the actual mileage was about .9 miles. What a waste! But with two young kids who don't sit in the stroller, it often limits us on transportation.

The weather is perfect here for walking so the kids agreed to ride in our red wagon. Not really knowing how long this would last, I was fully prepared to turn around at anytime, but surprisingly, they loved it.

As we walked we had great conversations about the things we saw. The kids didn't seem to be rushed to get there, although I must admit pulling nearly 80 pounds of kid got old fast. But as we have another event this afternoon--also less than a mile away--I think I might opt for another walk today.

We walked to be green, to enjoy the fresh, to have some conversation and get some exercise. Look at the gas we saved!

First Day of Camp; Ahhh...Summer

So after my post last week about anticipating summer, I thought I'd let you know how it's been going so far. Well, I'll sum the past week up in four little words 'Summer Camp Started Today!'

After a week of no routine, no schedule and no husband in town, our happy little family was about to fall apart. Until today. Alex started half-day camp at his school. He was so excited when I dropped him off. He had his friends, in his old classroom, with all the toys and didn't even look up to say goodbye.

Anna and I left to pick up our pool passes and run errands. I returned to find a rejuvenated son--who had just built a castle out of cardboard boxes and made his friend Audrey the princess. Apparently the theme this week is Medieval fun and they are making crests, shields, reading stories about knights and singing songs about dragons. He sang the whole way home and said he couldn't wait to go again tomorrow. Who wouldn't want to play castle all week?

Mommy is better with a break. Anna is better with 1:1 time. Alex is better with some time with friends. I give props to those who use summer as a time to let loose and sleep in late and stay up late. My kids wake at 6 a.m. no matter when they go to bed and are ready to head out the door by 9 a.m. every day. So for me, 1/2 day camps here and there break up the summer and give us some structure to the day. But our afternoons are still all about the pool.

Questions from Alex

I've been reading this new book Writing Motherhood, which I LOVE by the way. It's basically a great instruction guide for people like me who love to write and love even more writing about their kids. She offers up unique ideas, suggestions, topics and strategies for keeping yourself writing. One of the things she mentions is keeping track of the questions your kids ask.

Here are the questions from Alex (age 4) in about a 10-minute period in the car yesterday. (Yes, I wrote them down at the stop lights.)

Are we on the toll road now?
How long until we get home?
When does daddy get home?
I see an airplane, is daddy on that airplane?
Is today Tuesday?
When is Tuesday?
Is Daddy your husband?
Can Abby be my wife?
Is Max excited about me coming to his house today?
When do we go to his house?
Are we going to his playground?
Why not?
How old is Cameron?
Is he in Anna's class?
When will be in Anna's class?
Is 18 months older than 2 years?
What time does Elizabeth get off the bus?
When is 3:30?
Does she sleep at school?
Where does she sleep?
Can I have peanut butter and jelly when I get home?
Do I have to take a nap today?
How come you didn't slow down at the yellow light?
What happens if you slow down at the yellow light?

There was discussion in between some of these, but yes, this is the thought flow. When I look at these clustered togethered I realized how interested he is in other people. Funny guy.