Preschool

Ben and Zach finished their second week of preschool on Friday. Florida has a free VPK program which provides kids, who will be entering Kindergarten the next school year, an opportunity to get a jump start and prepare for grade school.

We're fortunate to have a center down the street from us that participates in the program, and the boys love it when I force them to make the walk everyday!

Darius and I were told at the start of school that the boys would be put in separate classrooms, which we were okay with. A couple days later the boys ended up in the same classroom, and then a few days after that they split them up again because their class size was already too big (and paired up they were sometimes disruptive). It was all a little chaotic, but I think the boys are finally settled in their own classes.

On Friday parents were invited to attend a special snack time with their kids and asked to send a snack to be shared with the class. This memo was posted on the classroom sign-in sheets the day before, and of course I had to send snacks for each class. Fun. At that moment I wish they would have kept the boys in the same class for another couple of days! Oh well, the sooner I adjust to double-duty-school-related expenses the better!

20 children + approx 20 sugary snacks = CRAZY! Honestly, who decided it was a good idea to have everyone bring a snack on the same day? Just try telling a 4-year-old they can't have all the same sweet treats as the kid next to them.

The double-duty stuff is definitely something that we can figure out, but when in comes to division...that's a little trickier.

I wanted to be with both Ben and Zach during their snack times, and there's just no proven way to safely split a person in half! I found myself darting back and forth between classrooms to be fair to each of them, and it was hard for me not to feel bad for whichever son I wasn't with.

It was a taste of what's to come. It felt awful.

How do parents with multiple children, with coinciding needs balance those needs and manage the guilt that will inevitably arise?

I'm a Libra. I like for things to always be balanced, and it's very frustrating for me when they're not.

There will be guilt. There will always be times when I want to be in two different places at once. I will have these feelings the rest of my life. It will be difficult. I won't like it, but I'll get used to it eventually....right?

Last days

Darius' last day with Alaska Airlines was on Wednesday. His coworkers treated him to a moose spaghetti lunch with other goodies (can I just say....chocolate chipotle creme brulee is delish!). They were also very kind to give him a beautifully framed aerial photo of Cordova. I know Darius has really enjoyed working for AA and will miss the people and work. On the flip side I know he's also excited at the possibilities that await us in Florida.

Today was the boys' last day of preschool at Mt. Eccles Elementary. Although it has been just a month, and even though they may not be able to articulate it, I know they will miss their teachers and their classmates. When we picked them up this afternoon I could immediately hear Zach crying from down the hall. He was so upset because in class they have stories paired with stuffed animals/puppets in backpacks that the kids can check out to take home, and Zach couldn't take one home with him today. His teacher told me that she had put a little surprise in their packs that would cheer him up once we got home....did it ever!

Zach has had a favorite dragon hand puppet at school and would talk about it ALL the time. A few weeks back there was a lice report at school and although I don't know of any cases of it in their class, I guess it was cause for the teachers to put up certain toys for a set amount of time. It was probably 2 weeks that the dragon was "missing" and Zach was so upset. I finally had to tell him that Dragon was sick and that he would come back to school when he felt better. Oh happy day when Dragon reappeared.

 

In Zach's backpack was Dragon. He is such a happy little boy right now and has yet to let go of Dragon. She also slipped in a toy shark and whale for Ben, which I believe were some of Ben's favorites. Their teacher also made them each a little book titled Ben/Zach is Moving. Inside there are pictures of the boys and their classmates and activities they did together with the narrative of how they will be missed. So very sweet. The boys even had a special surprise visit earlier this week from their teacher from last school year. She came to read the class stories and had a little one-on-one time with the boys. If there's one thing I'll miss the most it will be the boys' school and the experience they've had there with preschool. What great teachers and staff!

Happy School Day!

The boys' first day back to preschool was today and they were very happy to go!

We had been going to the elementary school during the summer for lunch, so I heard a lot of talk from the boys about school and their teacher for the past few months. I think it was a little confusing for them to go to school almost every day, but not really go to school.

I tried to explain to them ahead of time that they had a new teacher, but regardless they still were looking and calling out for their old teacher when they got to school. I can only imagine how many times they asked their new teacher where their old teacher was....they have a gift of being a little redundant at times. When Zach got home he informed me that his old teacher had disappeared, and I think he also mentioned something along the lines of how it was a mystery.

After school they enjoyed their hair cutting-bribe reward of ice cream sandwiches. My parents are here visiting and my mom did her best to give them both haircuts before school, with Ben's cut being far more successful than Zach's.

To all of Ben and Zach's cousins and good friends - We hope you all have a great school year!

Nope.

There are a few classic recipes that I grew up with which I still make, one of which is whoopie pies. I got to thinking about them as I was thinking of something to make for the boys to take to preschool with them when their turn for snack comes up...of course after I send a healthy snack for their first turn.

I don't know how other kids react to chocolate, but mine go a little nuts like Hammy the squirrel, so I thought I'd test out vanilla whoopie pies. Vanilla whoopie pie recipes are much harder to come by than the original chocolate pies, so it took a little effort to find one that looked like a winner.

Here's the final product:

They look yummy right? Nope. Pretty gross. My sweet tooth isn't terribly picky, but these are definitely no good. At least I thought enough in advance to try them first before making them the day of.

Sometimes it's just best to stick with the original.

In Training

Darius and I met with Ben and Zach's preschool teacher last week during parent-teacher conference. We didn't have much to talk about since the boys just started, but we did discuss our goal of trying to get the boys out of diapers by the time they returned for preschool after summer break. She gave us some great advice, and so far it's made all the difference!

For the past few days Zach has been running around in his birthday suit. The advice was to skip the underwear and just let him go nude. Apparently the sensation of not having anything there to catch the pee and poop makes him more aware of his bodily functions and so far it's working!

We've had a couple of minor mishaps...mostly because of aim, and there was one instance where a considerable amount of pee ended up on the kitchen rug. I couldn't be too upset with Zach though considering it only ended up there because he was trying to dump his potty contents in the sink and missed. What a sweetie!

Ben has absolutely no interest in sitting on the pot yet, but he does notice Zach, and we're hoping he'll catch on soon. Until then, I'm enjoying the freedom of changing half as many diapers! Now, if we can successfully introduce underwear and clothes....

Happy Birthday Michael....and yes, your b-day card was colored by the above naked tot.

It's SO quiet!

Ben and Zach officially started preschool yesterday! I can't believe it all happened to soon, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all. The boys were so excited to go, which surprised me a little considering they didn't really have a strong understanding of what preschool even involved.

Darius called us while we were still in Florida and told me that he had a meeting with the elementary school's principal and preschool teacher and that Ben and Zach would be starting right after they turned 3. I didn't expect it all to come about so soon, but here we are!

I had a pretty good inkling that I wouldn't be needed on standby their first day. Their teacher invited me to stay if I wanted to, but I thought I would be more of a distraction, so I waited for some other kids to arrive before slipping out. I didn't feel weepy or emotional, just really excited for them. I knew they would have a great time, and it was reassuring to know they had each other as a familiar face in class.

When I picked them up they were happy and excited and just bubbling over with things to say. I didn't get a lot of intelligible details from either one of them with the exception of Zach telling me the rest of the day, and all of this morning, about the spaceman he played with and could he please play with it again. First thing he did when he got to class this morning was seek out the spaceman.

It's a very odd feeling to all of a sudden have 3 hours to myself during the day. The idea of free time is going to take a little time to sink in.