Every once in a while, there comes a day full of wonderful reminders of what it's like to view the world through the life of my 3 (soon to be 4) year old...today was one of those days. School ended for Jake early last week and after spending the rest of the week running Nanny and La La ragged, and having a total BLAST at his sister, Hallie's, 3rd birthday party, it was time for his new "camp" to start today. (I've come to learn that "Camp" is the word you use to describe pre-school during the summer.)
Personally, I was nervous...anxious...ok, if I'm being honest, I was DREADING taking him for this first day. I blocked 2 hours off on my calendar and began praying for the best at least 3 weeks ago. After all...NEW place, NEW kids, NEW teachers, NEW routine, NEW EVERYTHING!!! Enough to tie my stomach into knots. But not my little guy, he was his happy-go-lucky self. Of course, we started off with our normal "I don't want to go, I want to stay here"...but this is par for the course each and every day, and hey, why not give it the 'ol college try, right? Can't fault the kid for trying...(besides, who wouldn't choose to stay home with "the world revolves around you" Nanny?) But, without much fuss, we were on our way.
In the end, he had a "frantatic" day...his version of "fantastic"...LOL And the school even was kind enough to send me some pictures so I could see him in action, smiling, and doing puzzles and clearly not agonizing over any of the things I had feared. Looking back over the event, I thought there were quite a few really cool life lessons to be learned, including:
1. Friends don't take years to make, they take minutes if you start by assuming you can trust everyone and that they're all worthy of friendship, until proven otherwise (or in this case, until someone steals the piece of chalk you're playing with or tries to kiss you...LOL).
2. The best way to make friends quickly is to bring cool stuff with you on your first day and more than enough to share with everyone. In this case, Jake asked to bring 4 big boxes of sidewalk chalk...BIG HIT!!
3. You only get one chance to make a good first impression...which we assume is why he proceeded to count all 80 pieces of chalk for his teachers when we first arrived. First, he started by ones, but then realized that he'd be there a long time...so he switched over to counting by 5's as the teachers stood with their mouths dropped wide OPEN as he counted up to 80. And just to be sure they were duly impressed, he began again and counted by 2's. That's our boy!!
4. Friends don't let friends do big floor puzzles alone... Check out this enormous solar system puzzle he and his two "friends" were able to do... Of course, he was the only one who could name all of the planets too...not to mention reminding everyone that Pluto is NOT a planet anymore (and Pluto is still so sad about it...LOL)
5. And there's no better way to leave a lasting impression than to show off by writing your name (first AND last) on the sidewalk for all to see...(you'll need to read it upside down)
All in all, for him, a FRANTATIC day!!! I, on the other hand, am going to try some of those same tactics at work tomorrow...should be interesting. LOL
On another note, Jake and I had a wonderful time at Hallie's 3rd bday party this past Saturday!!!!! It was held at this really cool kids gym place in Philly and the kids were able to bounce (on a big trampoline), jump, roll, balance (on a balance beam), run wildly through obstacle courses, play with dozens of balls, eat pizza and cake and generally just be KIDS however they chose.
Hallie and her two new singing doll friends snuggle in her new pillow
Jake, Hallie and Sharon with Hallie's birthday presents...
Have you ever seen a more beautiful baby??
Guess who that is in the background bouncing the birthday girl?!?!?!Jake spent most of the ride there explaining to me how "big brothers" are supposed to help their little sisters unwrap their presents by starting to rip the paper for them. And he was so excited about the presents that we got for Hallie that he even convinced Hallie's mommy, Sharon, to let her open them before getting them home. Here are a few pics of Hallie and her presents and Jake...looked like they were a big hit!
We're really looking forward to 4th of July weekend when we're going to all pile into a big Expedition and make the 3 hr trek down to the first ever Donor Sibling reunion for the 1976'rs...Jake, me, nanny, Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea. There will be 8 children there all together ranging in age from about 6 to just a few months (Baby Lea)...ironically, 4 boys and 4 girls. For those of us who are familiar with the 1876 traits...this should be VERY interesting!!! More on this later...and of course, after...assuming at least one of the parents survive to tell the tale and share the pics...LOL
In closing, there are 2 cute Jake stories to leave you with... Last week, Jake and I were playing this game that's made up of 50 or so wooden shapes with holes in the middle. These pieces are used to make patterns on sticks and the game comes with some examples of the patterns and the child is supposed to find the right shapes and put them in the right order (PGTM, I know you know exactly which game I'm talking about here!). This, of course, was no problem for our little guy and we had a good time playing for quite a while. Once he was bored with this game, he asked if we could play another and I said we could as long as we cleaned this one up. So, he picked up all of the sticks and all of the templates and put them away while I put all of the 50 or so pieces back into the box. Now, this is the kind of box that comes with a clear plastic cover that slides in so you can see all of the pieces, not a "dump everything in it" kind of box. So, I was about to pick it up to put it back on the shelf and he grabbed my arm and said "Momma, that's not right!" I looked in the box and thought for a moment that maybe I had missed some pieces or something...boy, was I wrong. Jake proceeded to take the box, empty out ALL of the 50 pieces, group them by shape and by color and arrange them neatly in the rows. Funny part is, as he started to do this, I almost said "oh come on now, Jake, you're not really going to do that are you?" and then I realized...just like that song "Cats in the Cradle"...My boy was just like ME...he's growing up just like ME!!! Oh, am I in trouble!!
Driving in the car the other day, he asked "mommy, do you know how many stripes are on an American flag?" And to my dismay, I must admit, I did NOT. To which he replied...there are 13, my silly mommy and 50 stars! Well, alrighty then... I'm not looking forward to the day when he can put all of the states in the right place, cause I never make it before the buzzer for that one either...LOL
Hope everyone has a GREAT week!! And happy birthday to Aunt Amy (tomorrow)!!! We love you!!!!
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1 comment:
Please let Jake know that Pluto IS still a planet. Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity--a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned. I am a writer and amateur astronomer and proud to be one of these people. You can read more about why Pluto is a planet and worldwide efforts to overturn the demotion on my Pluto Blog at http://laurele.livejournal.com
I don't have kids, but my five-and-a-half-year-old nephew understands that there is a debate and that people don't agree about what Pluto is because it's so small and far away, meaning we know very little about it. He also knows that there are strong reasons for Pluto remaining a planet, specifically, that it circles the Sun and that it is round. All children deserve to know that there are two sides to this story.
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