The Weekly Review: Week 22

Blog Post that Made Me Laugh

It takes talent to take a routine experience (trying on a shirt at a store) and turn it into a hilarious story. Linda at All & Sundry manages it though. Ironically, I actually didn't think the shirt looked all that bad.

Weekly Article that Puts Things In Perspective

I read an article about a family with 11 children between the ages of twelve and one. None of her pregnancies were twins. It makes me rethink complaining about having handled two under two.

The Weekly Michael

This was Michael's last week at daycare. Next week he starts preschool. He knows he's going to "big kid" school starting next week. So far, he is taking this news with complete calm and mild interest. I am so hoping that next week goes beautifully for him. I hope it will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship between Michael and school. Our district is small. There is only one grade school, one middle school, and one high school and they are all together on a single campus. The buildings have all been recently renovated and the campus is beautiful. We have no plans to relocate, so Michael may well spend the vast majority of his waking days in this spot from the time he is three till the time he is eighteen. That is a pretty amazing thought and I want it to go well.

Ava this Week:

There are transitions everywhere. As Michael transitions from daycare to preschool, we are having Ava's transition meeting to begin planning her transition (if she qualifies) from early intervention to school district services. We had Ava's transition meeting yesterday. I'll write more about how that meeting went tomorrow.

Weekly Lesson: Buying Store Brand Doesn't Always Pay

As part of my attempt to eat better, I've been making lunches from steamed veggies. I usually get a name brand mix of broccoli and cauliflower in a microwave steamer bag, but they are a little pricey so I decided to try the store brand in a non-steamer bag. Well, steaming it was definitely a pain (compared to the steamer bag). It took longer, didn't come out as well, and dirtied more dishes. But the real problem was the quality. Almost half of the bag was broccoli stems. Just chunks of the stems. I actually threw them out because I find them tough to chew and not very tasty. Guess it wasn't such a great value after all.

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.