Snapshots From a Day

Yesterday I got a little creative. Just a little. I printed out some worksheets from some teacher ebooks I've had on the computer for a while. I colored them to make them a little more eye catching. Then I slid them under some glass on a low coffee table we've been using as an art table for the kids.

Re-reading my last sentence, I realized that I made that last part sound easy. It's a long table and a heavy piece of glass that sits in the table top so that you can't get your fingers under it. I had the brilliant idea that I'd just tip the table over a bit so the glass would lean out and then I'd grab it. Let's just say I'm lucky the floor was carpeted. I then laid the pictures on the wood and sat and stared at the piece of glass for a good ten minutes trying to decide if I wanted to try to get that thing back on the table by myself. It's almost as tall as I am. Well, I did eventually get it back in there, but I'm hoping that the crack was there before I started the project and I just hadn't noticed it before...

Anyway, I gave the kids some washable dry erase crayons and let them color directly on the glass. They get to color and do the worksheets and then use a wet washcloth to clean it off and start all over again. They love it. They spent at least 30 minutes straight playing with it the first time and went back to it several more times during the day.

We also had a playdate yesterday. A friend of mine came over for the morning with her four year old daughter. The children were wonderful and played fairly independently with few conflicts all morning. That's pretty good for a two, three, and four year old. At one point I walked into the playroom and saw this:

The children were having an elaborate tea party. I'm guessing the idea was our guest's because my two had never played tea party on their own before. All three children were involved. They spread out a blanket, set everyone up with a teacup and saucer, and emptied the contents of the play kitchen so they would have food to "eat". I even filled the teapot with milk and let them pour and drink "tea". It was adorable and I thoroughly enjoyed spying on them a bit from around the corner.

All in all, yesterday was a good day.

Imminent Transition

Two mornings a week I drop the children off at a very nice local daycare at 7:30 in the morning. They feed the children breakfast, alternate indoor activities with outdoor ones (weather permitting), and feed them lunch. I pick the children up at 12:30 pm. I get five blessed hours of time to myself. During that time I schedule appointments when necessary, but mostly I just work on independent pursuits. I work on this blog, or the book. I love those ten child-free hours a week. They keep me balanced.

This is Michael's last week at daycare. This fall he is eligible to enter our local school district's preschool program and the first day is next Tuesday. We're still sending him two mornings a week, but now the program is from 8:30-11:00 am. Breakfast and lunch are not served.

As of next week, I will have to serve one child, but not the other, breakfast and lunch. I have to drop children off and pick them up in different places at different times. And let's not forget that the wonderful 10 hours of keep-me-balanced time to myself will suddenly be cut in half. Now, I'm not complaining exactly (Ok. Fine. I am complaining a little.) I know that we are lucky to be able to send the children to school two mornings a week. I know that we are lucky to have multiple programs that are high quality and have openings for the children part time. I know that even five hours a week is more alone time than many moms get. I know that many moms are doing multiple drop-offs and pick-ups a day. However, it is still a transition for me right now and I'm allowed to point out the changes.

Michael is excited I think. And I actually believe that a shorter school day might be better for him. He hasn't been as excited about school since he was moved to a different room with new teachers and a slightly different mix of children. I am hoping that the shorter school day will be good for him. Also, his friend from up the street will be going too on the same days.

Also, my recently retired mother (who lives only about 5 minutes away from us) has offered to pick Michael up from school and watch him and feed him lunch so that I don't have to coordinate two children in the afternoon. I am so grateful for the offer and I think it is a win for everyone involved. My mom and Michael get some special bonding time and I get a little extra quiet time myself.

And so that transition is right around the corner for all of us. Let the schooling years begin.

Hurry Up and Wait

Our OT evaluation yesterday was something of a mixed bag. It took two hours. The vast majority of that was mostly the OT asking questions and listening to my answers. We filled out one test instrument that was a parent questionnaire designed to give a "sensory profile".

We did very little hands-on work with Ava. She did teach me how to test Ava's gag reflex. That went startlingly well actually. As it turns out, Ava's gag reflex is not overly sensitive. Ava was very, very anti-social. Perhaps if Ava had been more receptive, the evaluation would have been more hands-on.

The OT observed me giving Ava lunch. She requested that I serve Ava one thing I know she likes (grapes) and one thing that she doesn't love, but she might occasionally eat (egg). Now, Ava used to eat egg when she was littler. I haven't gotten her to eat it in months. Today, she ate it with very little prompting. Why do they always do that?

And now I just wait for the results of the evaluation. It feels odd. I think somehow I thought this evaluation would provide a lot of answers and I hadn't stopped to think about the fact that I wouldn't get them right away. Silly of me. I used to do nothing but speech evaluations and so I know that tests have to be scored before the results are given. And so the next wait begins.

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In other news, we're now trying liquid oral antibiotics for the mystery ailment that's been upsetting the kittens' tummies for over three weeks now. I will be trying the first doses tonight (two different kinds). Somehow I'm not expecting this to go well at all.