Tea and Ice Cream

Mitchell starts school a week later than Ben is beginning to get antsy at home now without his older brother. He keeps asking when his school starts and if his classroom is bigger than Ben's and if his teacher is cooler than Ben's and does he get to go all day too. He keeps Ben up at night discussing his plans for making friends and what he will do on the playground, but, most importantly, he talks about ice cream and tea parties.

Where did he get the idea there will be ice cream and tea at school this year? About a week ago, he received his very own piece of mail inviting him to an ice cream social in a nearby park to meet some kids and families from his school. His teacher will also be there and personally invited him! This letter has joined other precious items he is keeping in his backpack to take to school with him next week. When it isn't in his backpack, he carries it around "reading" it to us all over an over again and asking if we want to come with him to eat ice cream and make friends.

There is also a day next week at school where I have been invited to stay after drop off to have tea and coffee with the other moms. These are two separate events, but they are one and the same in Mitchell's mind. No amount of explaining on my part can convince him that we are not having an ice cream and tea party at the same time. He hears me but clearly isn't listening. He keeps asking me which I like better: ice cream or tea. "Which are you going to choose, mom?"

I love how excited he is getting. I love that he and Ben stay up at night talking about school and the best ways to make friends. I even overheard them talking about sharing their friends with each other the way they share all their toys. Just a few more days, Mitchell, and you too can put on your backpack every morning and explore life away from your mother! I love a chance to miss you!

Thump, Thump, Thump...

The rain ruined Ben's first drop off of first grade. I won't go so far as to say it ruined his first day of school, as he has not finished it yet, but the day he has been looking forward to for weeks now got rained on; not just sprinkled either - DUMPED on!

He woke up excited, ate breakfast excited, got dressed excited, even walked to school under his umbrella excited. It all started to get less exciting though when the pouring rain forced all kids, parents, and siblings all into one room with one door leading to it. It got a little crazy. I think Ben was picturing himself showing up to a sunny schoolyard where he would be able to run around a bit before I dropped him at the door, where he'd give me a quick hug and blow me a kiss before following his teacher neatly and orderly through the door and up to his classroom.

When he joined the chaos and other clearly nervous kids in the wet, humid, and crowded hallway, he squeezed my hand extra tightly and said quietly, "Mom, it hurts a little bit right here" with his other hand over his heart.

With a little lump in my throat, I explained to him that he was just getting a little nervous because it wasn't quite as orderly as he so loves it and that was just his heart thump thumping a little too hard. I assured him the feeling would go away once he got up to his classroom and away from the chaos. He squeezed my hand again and said, "Yeah, you're probably right. I do feel a little nervous and can't wait to find my teacher and my class!"

It continues to amaze me how alike Ben and I are sometimes. I remember quite vividly my first day of first grade and the uncomfortable thump thump thump of my heart.

I can't wait to pick him up in a couple hours to hear how the rest of the day went for him. Milestones are tough sometimes (for kids and moms) and growing up requires a lot of courage for kids, even if it is just the courage to face a crowd of strangers and fight the discomfort that comes with being a new kid in a new place surrounded by chaos. I am "all grown up" already and just the thought of being in Ben's place today makes me a little sweaty...

Let's Get It Started!

Remember how I told you I have a soundtrack for my life? Well, today, it is yet another annoying song. This time by the Black Eyed Peas:

Let's get it started in HAH!

Let's get it started in here!

That's just a snippet of that oh-so-annoying song, but it has been running through my head all day since we stopped by Ben's adorable school (K-3) this morning to drop off some paperwork. I intended to stop in, drop it off, and then take off before any of my three kids could do any damage to any students' artwork or projects or flood the drinking fountain.

Well, the staff had other plans for us. After dropping off the paperwork, the lady in the office took us on a school tour (the second we have had since arriving here; I couldn't say "no" when the boys were just as excited to do it the second time as the first.) She then searched the school for Ben's teacher. After finally locating her, the teacher then insisted on showing Ben his new classroom (which we had just seen with office lady) and chatting with Ben about anything and everything under the sun.

Plenty of stickers later, I finally forced the visit to an end, only to find the boys wanted to stay and play at the school playground! They were pretending they were at school and on recess and having lunch and sitting at desks. Ben made me be Ms. Jinks (his new teacher) and pretend to give stickers for good behavior.

What a refreshing change from last year where I basically had to show up the first day blind - no idea who his teacher was or where to be or what was expected of us. I am so glad we stopped in today. I guess when you pay your teachers and administrative staff as much as those at our school get paid, you go the extra mile.

This visit this morning has only made Ben and Mitchell more ready for school to start. I remember feeling the same way by the end of summer when I was a kid: let's just get school started! Ben especially thrives under the kind of structure and schedule that school provides not only during school, but for the rest of our day, and Mitchell can get excited about just about anything!

Now, more than yesterday even, we all feel that in regards to school beginning next week, "let's get it started in HAH!" (is that really what the BEP say, or is that just what we say? anyone actually know the lyrics?)

What's For Lunch?

I had the delightful opportunity to chaperone on Mitchell's class field trip yesterday. While certainly challenging and sometimes frustrating to be surrounded by that many pre-schoolers (it was two classes combined), the humor sprouting up everywhere more than made up for the fact that none of them can line up and stay in a line for more than 3 seconds, the class rule: no fingers in yours or anyone else's noses is only harder to enforce the harder to try, pushing each other is as natural as breathing, silliness is as contagious as yawning, they REFUSE to go the bathroom in groups but need to go the moment you come back with the last kid, and they are even worse at remembering names than I am! By the end of the trip, I had resigned myself to answering to "You! Hey, you!" and "Mitchell's mom!" and "Hey, lady!"

While funny things were constantly being done and said (like the little boy I sat near on the bus who had a whole list of great questions like "What do camels sound like?" and "Why are killer whales called 'killers'?" and "Can killer whales eat 100 baby seals?"), the funniest time for me was lunch time.

You should have seen the excitement when they all sat down to eat. For most of these kids who get home from school long before lunch time, this was their first experience bringing a lunch with them to school and they were just crazy about it! They were unpacking every item, opening each thing, taking a look at it, then sampling each thing before adding it to the pile in front of them. They were comparing their loot and attempting to trade. They were showing off their napkins. Each kid wanted to show me and talk about each item his mom gave him, which was difficult given the kid to adult ratio, but I tried to listen to them!

It wasn't just funny how the kids reacted to lunch. It was also humorous to see what each mom sent with her kid. These little 3 and 4 year olds had whole sandwiches full of all sort of nutritious things, which would have been enough to fill my adult belly! One kid had a bagel almost as big as his head. Another kid had a picture of his mom in his paper bag. A little girl had quite the diverse selection of deli meats and cheeses all sliced and put in separate baggies. My favorite though, was the boy who brought a gigantic bottle of orange juice. He opened it up, took out three straws from his bag, put them in, then tipped the bottle up to drink out of it (why did he put straws in it? I don't know...) and missed his mouth. The juice dumped all down the front of him and puddled in his t shirt in his lap. I made him stand up then and the puddle splatted on the ground. So much for his giant bottle of OJ... Shucks.

We had a blast, but it was quite a long day for the kids (and me!) and by the time the bus came back for us, we were all very ready. You might think worn out preschoolers would fall asleep on the ride home, but no, I believe the bus ride was their favorite part and NOT something to be slept through! Driving along Lakeshore Drive in a big, yellow school bus would have been enough for these kids. We could have just done that, I think!

What a fun age when everything is an adventure, mud is the best thing ever, a big, bumpy, squeaky school bus brings you delight, silly faces make you laugh 'till your tummy hurts, and you are allowed to walk around with your finger in your nose and come out of the bathroom stall with your pants still around your ankles...

That's MY Baby!

Now that the weather is warming up, I no longer have to torture Jack by forcing him to remain strapped into his stroller, all swaddled up in a fleece-lined sack, hat down over ears (and usually eyes too because he's so wiggly) socks pulled on up to his elbows under his jacket (to keep them on because gloves are WAY to easy to continually pull off), struggling wildly to escape.

He has absolutely NO patience for riding or sitting in a stroller. My other boys jump at the chance to sit in it or be pushed around in it and always have, but Jack has other things on his mind.

In the mornings, as we wait around outside the school for the doors to open, Jack does his thing. I set his feet on the ground and he is off running! Usually, there is a dog or two there, which is a blessing for me because it at least keeps him in one spot, even if it is on top of or underneath a dog. That is better than running away into the street or over to the playground for an early morning play session. Every parent knows him by name and he has to "talk" to each of them and show off his shoes or whatever he might have in his hands.

He makes the rounds, searching kids and adults alike for anything that might have liquid in it. Next to dogs, shoes, and my recycling bins, water bottles are his most favorite thing!

The preschool kids love him too. I see him sort of as their mascot. Most kids come with their own younger sibling in tow, but I have never seen any of them pay an ounce of attention to them. They follow Jack around, trying to pick him up (although he weighs as much as some of them, I'm sure), pinching his cheeks, making silly faces, running to and fro with him, pointing out dogs to him, and generally crowding him until he falls over.

How does Mitchell respond to this? Sometimes he ignores it. Sometimes he participates. Sometimes he gets jealous and tells them all, "Hey, this is MY baby!" He is such a grump in the morning though that I allow Jack to be Mr. Social to show Mitchell how much fun he can have if he will just get out of the stroller and begin his day already.

When the doors finally open, Jack is one of the first to run inside (if I am busy chatting and he can sneak past the teacher, that is.) Once, I found him neatly lined up inside with the kids, ready to walk to the classroom with them. The kids thought they were going to smuggle him in.

I love his little personality and how friendly and unafraid he is. My goal is to keep him safe, yet attempt to leave his fearless friendliness in tact as he gets older.

What Do I Do With This?

I am not a saver.  Perhaps I once was.  My mom and sister would have to remind me on this one, but my current self does not hang on to unnecessary items, as a general rule.  I don't keep birthday cards.  I don't keep clothes I never wear, I get rid of baby things as soon as they are no longer being used.  I never re-use Ziplocs and don't fix holes in my worn-out socks.  I have moved enough times now, in and out of all sizes of homes, that keeping boxes and boxes of things I don't need and have no real use for is only more work and takes up room I don't currently have.  

The only time I struggle with keeping unnecessary things is when my adorable children make/bring me something from school, church, or here at home.  I do keep the best of their work in their journals, but there is something from each boy almost every day - from well-done homework to thanksgiving turkeys made from cut-out hands and feet to small houses made of sugar cubes.  They bring memory verses with corresponding pictures they've drawn and paintings and framed photos.  Mitchell even brings a little booklet home every week in which he has practiced writing his name on every page!  It is one of the highlights of my week!  

My kitchen and their bedroom is fair game for hanging these masterpieces.  I don't allow them to hang things anywhere else in the house, but these two rooms are a constant art show, for those who appreciate the fine art of pre-school and kindergarten art!  It honestly makes my unsentimental heart sad to have to throw something away to make room for the next onslaught of art coming in.  It is so unlike me to hesitate over throwing away a painting consisting of black and orange swirls of finger paint, swirled together in a "storm," which is what Mitchell labels all his... unrecognizable paintings, but I truly do feel sad to throw them away after they have had their share of wall space for a time!

Some of the stuff they come home with though is puzzling at best, and it just can't be hung.  What do i do with these things?  I can't just throw them away right in front of them!  What, for example, do I do with this gem?

And I have more dragon paintings and drawings than I can possibly use.  I could decorate an entire wing of a museum with them!  

Fortunately, the boys make so many things, it is rare for them to get too terribly attached to any of them.  I rarely just dump things when they are watching, but neither one notices when they wake up in the morning and the walls are much neater and tidier, if a bit less colorful and entertaining.  They don't stay that way for long!

A Mountain of Down

I miss the days when the only thing I had to do between deciding to go outside and actually going, was tell the boys to go put their Crocs on.  We could be sitting on the couch one minute, and literally, within the next 1-2 minutes, could be out the door.

I would like to show you the mountain of clothing we are now required to put on in that tiny, 2-minute window that has now stretched to at least 10:

Our already tight morning routine/schedule has gotten even tighter, now that I have to factor in the "winterizing."  The first time I underestimated how long this would take, we were late enough to school that they had already locked the doors and I had to go around the long way and walk (or, more accurately, run) the worried boys to their classes.  

I have myself plus three boys to help bundle up, not just once, but at least three times a day!  Since a mountain of down jackets, mittens, hats, boots, and scarves is not something I want to have to look at or step around constantly and the boys aren't tall enough to hang all their own things up, I spend almost as much time putting all this necessary winter wear away!

Gone are the days I can leave Jack in his jammies, chubby little bear feet exposed, happily munching on Cheerios in his stroller as we get the older boys to the right place.  He now has to be fully dressed, then bundled until it would be impossible for him to get to a Cheerio, let alone get it into his mouth.

I have yet one more complaint about this whole process.  Perhaps it would feel more worth it if we were outside in the elements for more than 5 minutes, but their school is literally across the street!  I suppose I should be thankful for that (and I am), but most days the getting out/putting on/taking off/putting away takes more time than actually spent wearing the stuff does!

How many days until summer???

Mitchell's Backpack

Mitchell loves his school backpack.  I don't think he cares too much about what it looks like or that he can wear it on his back, but he LOVES having something to put his treasures in and bring them with him wherever he goes.  

Sometimes, he has specific things he is supposed to bring home from school like an announcement from the teacher or a picture he drew.  Sometimes he needs to bring something to school, like two objects that begin with the letter "F," for example. Most days, though, he doesn't really even need a bag, and any other boy might just either leave it home on those days, or at least carry it empty.  Not my boy.  Some days, when he gets home from school and I ask him if he has anything in his bag to show me (expecting a picture or an announcement), his face brightens and he says "Yes!  I have all kinds of stuff in here!"  He then sits down at the table and theatrically pulls one thing after another out, in a seeming never-ending stream of objects!  We are talking Mary Poppins style here!  

He hasn't pulled a lamp out yet like Mary Poppins, but sometimes the stuff coming out of it is quite funny and surprising: toys of all kinds (of course), assorted kitchen utensils, my checkbook, books, empty water bottle, flashlight, vacuum attachments, mittens, scissors, jack's hat, a fossil... you name it!  If it will fit in there, he will sneak it in!

I Really Don't Have Time For This

I have a lot to get done on a school morning.  I have to get Jack up, fed, diaper changed, and dressed.  I then have to wake up two sleepy boys, help them get dressed, shoes on and tied, and bladders drained.  I then have to get them fed and make lunches, get teeth brushed, make sure Ben's homework is done and signed, then somehow find time to get out of my jammies, then get us all into jackets and backpacks and out the door in time!  

Thank goodness Jack is such an early riser.  He normally wakes up so early, that I have plenty of time to get all this accomplished without too much rush.  I actually usually enjoy our morning routine and having so many good reasons to get up and get going first thing.  Normally, things flow along smoothly as long as everyone keeps moving.

Then there are the mornings that Jack decides to throw us off by sleeping in (well, sleeping in for us is sleeping any time past 6.)  When this happens, I oversleep and suddenly, what I normally have a couple hours to do while drinking my coffee, I now have to squish into one hour (how do I drink my coffee under such pressure?)

So this morning, amidst the craziness of trying to get the proper pants on the proper boy and making sure Jack doesn't have to do drop off in a poopy diaper, Ben and Mitchell decide they want to play dinosaurs!  Ok, I'm thinking, you may be dinosaurs while you get ready.  All is fine until Mitchell decides to mess with Ben, my play-by-the-rules boy.  Mitchell decided that he will be a dinosaur, but the only detail he will give about himself is that he is a sky-diving dinosaur.  This just ticked Ben off, as he was wanting Mitchell to give his full stats: what is your species, size, color, age, and name?  Nope, not gonna tell you, Ben.  I am just a sky-diving dinosaur with no name!  Deal with it!

Well, Ben was not happy about this and continued to push Mitchell to the point that he was no longer having fun messing with Ben and they both started complaining/whining to me!  "Mom, Mitchell isn't playing right!  Dinosaurs don't sky dive and he won't tell me his name!"  "Mom, Ben won't let me be what I want to be!  I'm the boss of me!"

All this is happening while I am still in my jammies, tying shoelaces for big boys while being climbed upon by a baby boy and I just didn't have it in me to handle it with any sort of grace or creativity, so I just looked at them and said, "I really don't have time for this" and walked away.  

Sometimes I just can't be the mediator in a silly argument between two stubborn boys and maybe I do it too much already anyways.  My desire to have them never bickering is a tad unrealistic and perhaps even unhealthy.  It grates on my nerves when they do this, but if someone told me (like my husband) that I was never allowed to disagree or argue with the person closest to me whom I love the most but also bugs me the most often, I'd probably give quite a skeptical scowl, if not laugh outright!  

So this is one rule I am going to re-think.  It can't be a rule just because it bugs mom.  I am going to use the line "I don't have time for this, I know you can figure this out on your own" more often.  

PS - "From the Peanut Gallery" (This is Matt hijacking the computer because I just got home to an empty house and had this on the desktop).  I laughed out loud at this - mostly because I am glad I was in another state during this morning's drama, and partly because my wife conveyed the situation with such precision that I felt like I was there!

Shtarting To Shound Shilly

So far, I am nothing but pleased with the school year.  The boys and I are quite happy with how things are going - they are learning, having fun, and making friends.

I only have one complaint so far, and while it isn't the school's fault, I'm not really sure who specifically to blame it on, so I just say, "he picked it up at school."  Mitchell, who is normally a very clear annunciator and only has a few words he routinely pronounces incorrectly, has picked up a lisp!  Suddenly, he has replaced his "s" sounds with "sh" sounds.  I will finish my entry in Mitchell's new language.  

At firsht, I jusht tried to ignore thish new development.  After all, it'sh not like he doeshn't know how to shay hish "sh's" and needsh to be taught.  I figured it wash shomething one of hish friendsh wash doing and he wash jusht trying it out.  Well, it hash been a week or sho now and it ish shtarting to get on my nervesh.  Sho now, not only ish he talking like thish, but I correct him every time he doesh it, making it doubly annoying for ush all!  Hopefully, thish ish going to be a very short-lived experiment of hish.  I may jusht end up doing it myshelf if he doeshn't quit shoon!

Probably a Pretty Good Rule

As we watched Shrek and Fiona give each other a kiss tonight, Ben started chuckling and said, "Mom, can I tell you one of my rules at school?"  Wondering what kissing and school rules had to do with each other at the kindergarten level, I asked him to continue.  "No kissing allowed!"  

Well, that certainly sounds like a good rule to me, but I was curious as to who was doing this kissing in order for the rule to have been made, pointed out, and enforced.  I figured some girl was the culprit (you really can't trust those girls, you know.)  When I asked him who was kissing people, he said, "Well, Johnny kisses just about everyone."  Johnny is the guilty party here?  I was not expecting that one.  

Men At Work

Mitchell has created a new game for himself: he is no longer a boy going to school in the mornings, he is a man going to work.  Clearly, he has gotten over his aversion to "becoming a man."  It isn't enough for him to participate in this fantasy though - I have to join in as well.  He meticulously packs his "work bag" like daddy does each morning (his backpack is so full each  morning that I feel sorry for him when I lift it onto his little shoulders.)  He insists on me calling him either "man" or "Matt."  When we get to school, he no longer wants me to walk him to the door or give him a kiss goodbye.  He stops me and says, "Mom, I'm a man and I'm going to work.  Pick me up in a little minute.  I can walk to the door myself."  When I pick him up a "little minute" later and ask him how school was that day, he patiently reminds me that he was not at school and I should refer to him as "man" or "Matt" (or "Mr. Leem today - whoever that is...)  

It only takes a couple minutes of faking though before he forgets his own game and begins excitedly telling me about how he chased Charlie around the playground, breathing fire at him and trying to rescue Big Boy Jack (not to be confused with our own Baby Jack) from the dungeon, and singing his newest song he has learned in music class.  I'm pretty sure Matt and Mr. Leem do not play dragons, get stuck in dungeons, or sing B I N G O and Twinkle Twinkle at work.  

He really has fun with this game and I am thrilled that he wants to emulate his daddy.  I can play along with his "man" game as long as, in the end, he is having age-appropriate fun at school while looking forward to being a man at the same time.  It seems to me he is doing both quite well.  You are a funny boy, Mitchell. 

When I asked him to "look like a man" before school this morning so I could take his picture, this is the face I got.  Mr. Leem sure is a strange dude...

Is It Nap Time Yet?

Ever since school started a couple weeks ago, I have been more tired than usual.  I am still figuring out how to manage my schedule so that I can get all the drop-offs and pick-ups done, baby napped, meals made, clothes changed, gym visited, house picked up, plus all the other things that I squish into a day.  In all the schedule changes, the one thing that has gone away is any sort of down time for me.  The boys' schedules are not the same anymore and are just staggered enough that I am basically "on" from when they wake up until they go to bed.  

All this business is wonderful.  I love it.  We are all loving the new changes in our lives and adapting well, for the most part.  At about 3:00 in the afternoon though, it hits me - that wave of sleepiness that mocks me for voluntarily getting up so early and begs me to lay down immediately and just close my eyes for a few moments.  I have found myself falling asleep in the funniest circumstances, actually.  A few days ago, I fell asleep sitting up on my patio while my boys played out there.  When I woke up (surely only a few minutes later), I was still in the sitting position and Jack had painted his face with dirt and was cracking his brothers up.  Yesterday was funnier though.  Jack was down for a nap, so I had the big boys crawl up onto my bed so I could read them a story.  Mitchell was asleep by the time I turned the second page (yes!  one down, one to go!) but Ben was not showing any signs of sleepiness.  It certainly was making me feel sleepy!  At one point in the story, Ben interrupted me to say, "Mom, you're reading it wrong!  That word you said didn't even make sense!"  I re-focused my blurry eyes and began again.  This time, he interrupted me with "Mom, I think you are falling asleep because you are talking really funny."  One more try on my part resulted in the book slipping and hitting me on the forehead.  Ben laughed at that one, but made me finish the story anyways.  He then had mercy on me and let me doze for about 10 minutes or so.  That was all I needed.  I woke up, made some coffee and was ready to tackle the rest of my day with a bit more gusto.  

Thriving Amidst The Chaos

This week was the first week of school for my big boys.  They have been so excited for the last few weeks, counting down the days till that first momentous day finally arrived.

Ben has done all this before, but Mitchell was a first-timer.  How fortunate for him that he gets to attend the same school as his big brother!  In fact, their classrooms are right next to each other!  Knowing Ben would be so close erased almost all fear from Mitchell and, for their part, it was a fun first day.

I wish I could say the same thing for myself though.  I did not have fun amidst the total chaos that surrounded the drop off and pick up.  It was as if two giant mobs descended on the place, pushing and shoving each other, competing for the ONE door that all the kids had to get through.  After asking plenty of clueless parents, I finally found out that my kids had to be dropped of in different areas, regardless of the fact that their rooms were right next to each other!  Thank goodness Matt chose to come with us, so we divided and conquered!  After circling the school, dragging Ben with me, I did eventually find the correct place to bring him.  Matt had a similar experience getting Mitchell to the correct place, but in the end, they both joined their classes successfully.

This chaos was repeated at the end of the day at pick up.  They really thought it might work to dismiss each kid in the lower grades and preschool one at a time through one door.  Now since this was the first day of school, there were two parents for each kid (and sometimes a nanny and a stroller) you can imagine what this must have looked like!  I know what it looked like as a parent on the outside, but now imagine what the poor 

little kids were seeing from the other side!  More than one poor soul burst into tears at the door when faced with this terrifying mob of parents yelling and reaching for their child.

How long has this school been in operation anyways!?  117 years, my friends!  One would think they'd have the kinks worked out by now.

On the positive side, I must say that it was really just that first day that was so chaotic.  The staff regrouped and came up with an alternate plan, and that added to the fact that I actually knew where to be and when made subsequent drop off and pick up much smoother and more efficient.  

Actually, so far, those two instances of disorder are the only things I have to complain about with school this year.  Both boys love their classes and teachers and are bringing home glowing reports of their days.  Ben is really making a great transition from "playtime" preschool, to real school with lessons and desks and pencils and gym class, while Mitchell is quickly learning how to play in a group of kids and follow directions and figure things out without his mom helping him.  

One positive thing that has come from school starting that I wasn't expecting is how excited they are to see each other when Ben finally gets home!  I pick up Mitchell a few hours before Ben is finished, and while we have a good time together, he really just is not himself until his big brother gets home.  They immediately pick up right where they left off, only with more enthusiasm and camaraderie because they haven't been together the whole first half of the day!  It is so cute to sit back and hear them tell each other over a snack what they did at school that day - things they claimed not to remember when I ask them.

I think the very first day of preschool calls for a trip to Dairy Queen, don't you?  I let him pick what he wanted, and he, as always, picked a vanilla dipped in chocolate ice cream cone.  Well chosen,  my big big preschooler!