June's 1st Day of 4-Year-Old Preschool!

June was all smiles as she embarked on a new year at her new Montessori school.  She'll be going five half days per week.  (A little more than I'd like, but when you move to town late in the sign-up game, beggars can't be choosers.  Besides, it's preschool, so I can pull her out now and then whenever I feel like it!)  As luck would have it, the school is owned and run by a family friend of ours who grew up in my hometown in Missouri.  What are the chances?  It's nice to know she'll be in good hands.


(And now I shall force myself to include these terrible photos with the parental units for posterity): 

(Quick! Everyone go for Mom's boob!)  (How did this woman even get out of hair and makeup anyway?)

I didn't expect any problems at the drop-off, and there were none, but suddenly on days 2, 3 and 4 our normally sweet little June was waking up like a bear.  An angry grizzly, to be exact.  As Joe said, it was like having your favorite teddy bear suddenly furiously mad at you for no explicable reason.  The food is not right!  My chair is not right!  I want bananas!  How dare you give me bananas?!  You are not paying enough attention to me!  (Even as we sat next to her gently patting her leg and offering condolences.)  So, it seems that starting school did affect her after all, just in a different way than what we've experienced with Georgia.  June is her own person and is by all means entitled to her own emotional bumps in the road, but sometimes the fact that she normally takes everything in stride so incredibly well means that these bumps take us by surprise.  This week we're sticking to a stricter bedtime (now that her nap has been dropped) in the hopes that our mornings will be more peaceful, and so far it's working.

At drop-off there's a carpool lane, but when we pick her up before lunch we get to walk in.  I know there are many wonderful models of preschool, but I have to say that there is something about the Montessori environment that is just so wonderfully calming.  Already Waylon is making himself at home in the few minutes that we're there each day; he'd love to stay if he could.


(This is not a post about Georgia.  I shall simply say it only got worse from there.) 

Overall, last week was a bit rocky.  In addition to June's moodiness, after the long Labor Day weekend, Georgia struggled to go back to school.  It was also Week 1 for me of our "new normal", now that both of the girls' schools have started.  And that was a harsh reality.  I guess what I'm getting at is this:  school is not the promised land for me that I had been holding it out to be.  This was a fun, but long, summer of endless unscheduled days in a messy new home in a town where I know exactly one other family.  So, to make it through mentally, I just kept telling myself, "Well, when school starts, we'll have more of a routine, we'll get to know people, and the girls will be gone for a little while so I'll be able to make more progress."  I don't regret thinking that way, because it helped to get me through.  However, I was wrong.  Yes, we do have more of a routine now, and that feels very, very good.  The sum total of time that the girls are away is only two hours and twenty minutes each day, though, once you account for the fact that the hours of their school days do not perfectly coincide.  Add in driving for two drop-offs and two pick-ups, plus the fact that I've got Waylon with me at all times, and well, it's not that my primary goal in life is to get away from my children (as it may sound here), but let's just say I was on crack when I thought this would feel like "freedom" or when I assumed I'd suddenly become more productive at home.  The reality of school is that it just means I can no longer jaunt off on big city adventures with the kids whenever we want.  I know it's only Tuesday, but Week 2 is going much, much better now that I've adjusted my expectations.  Want to feel like you're knocking it out of the park?  Just lower the bar.  : )

That probably sounded like I'm being sarcastic, but I'm really not.  Our life is good, it's just full of changes, and I'm usually the slowest to keep up.  June, on the other hand, always seems ready to go get 'em, and we're proud of her for that.  We don't even care what year she graduates - it's all written in chalk anyway.


 

Kindergarten!

It's really a good thing that I didn't get around to writing this post until a day later, because Day 2 went much better than Day 1.  No tears at drop-off on Day 2 -- woohoo!  That is major!

Georgia's first day went fine, but it always feels like we've all been put through the wringer emotionally.  A washing machine of emotion, set to extra agitation.  You'll see from the pictures how confident she looked beforehand.  The pictures may make this all a bit hard to understand, because what happens is that she seizes up and is gripped by anxiety at the very last second.  That is when the crying and "tree-frogging" (where she becomes human velcro) occurs.  All I can say is that everything is getting better.  We are more practiced at dealing with this, and the distance in time between the seize up and the actual event in question is shortening all the time, which I think is a good thing.  It means she's learning to overcome her worries and shrink them down to size.

I was a bit teary-eyed myself after dropping Georgia off, not so much because I was having nostalgic "oh, my baby is growing up" feelings as because I was just overwrought from getting her through the experience.  A gluttonous adult lunch out with Mexican food and several Margaritas was in order, but instead I settled for a twenty minute playdate with June and Waylon at my friend Maggie's house. : )
      
Not that I wasn't also feeling the bitter-sweetness of our firstborn growing up, too.  In my high strung state, I found myself privately choking up to the Okee Dokee Brothers children's song "Along for the Ride" on the way to school.  Good Lord, what is happening to me? 

Because that river is deep and that river is wide
And I’m a gonna need you child to be my guide
And if we’re gonna make it – to the other side
It’s gonna take more than just coming along for ride

When Odysseus sailed to sea
He left behind Penelope
She waited years, patiently
For him to come back from his Odyssey
But I would rather have you sittin’ here next to me
Lookin’ at the map and tellin’ us where we oughta’ to be

I promise, it's more compelling when you can hear the music.  So anyway....

It was really funny listening to Georgia describe her first day to various relatives on the phone yesterday, calling it as "awesome" and "one hour long" (not true).  I guess once she pushed through the initial difficulty of walking in the room, I think she really had a good time.  Despite her enthusiasm, I was expecting more tears on Day 2, so I was beyond thrilled when she was able to waltz in with no problems this morning.

In some ways this week has been a new beginning for me, too.  If we are to be happy in Downers Grove, I need to make new friends and connections myself.  The kindergarteners all got name tags pinned to them, but sometimes I wish the moms did, too.  This whole business of forcing myself to make introductions on the playground is not my forte, but I'm trying my best.

Enough talk.  On to the pictures.  June's first day isn't until next week, but she definitely wanted in on the action, as you'll see.


I re-created her class year poster as best I could. Here's hoping the kid gets a good laugh a few decades from now when she looks back on these things.


The dress she chose was made with love by Nana.




...and now the Sockasaurus is out to help.

How adorable is her class?

Here they are waiting to be picked up afterwards.
Reunited, and it feels so good!

One more for good measure, because I happen to be in love with June's new cat shoes. : )

This may be our second stab at kindergarten, but it sure feels a lot more "real" this year.  Last year it was kindergarten in name only, but in fact was the same Montessori mixed ages classroom that she'd already been in the year before, with the same two teachers and nothing new to adjust to but the schedule.  Last year the occasion was momentous to me as a mom only because I let the kindergarten label carry import in my mind, but now Georgia's off to the races at the school where I expect she'll spend the next seven years.  Her little Montessori school didn't care if you skipped or even make you call in to report it, which felt a lot more like preschool to me, but now we're in the public system, and I had better get my ducks in a row.  Or my cat feet in line.  Heh heh.  Sorry, lame attempt to somehow tie this all together.  Ta ta now!
      

No pressure

No pressure, Downers Grove public school district, but this entire suburban experiment is riding on you.

No, really. I mean it.




(P.S. It was a day of ups and downs as expected, but we made it through. I'll post all the pictures as soon as I get a chance.)

Back to School, Back to Kindergarten

Tomorrow will be Georgia's first day of kindergarten.  For the second year in a row.  

I guess I haven't discussed it much here, but you may have picked up from other posts that Georgia's repeating kindergarten.  No, wait - that totally makes it sound like she flunked out!  To the contrary, she's doing really well academically as far as I can tell.  She loves to read, and though we never push her to practice much of anything at home, she begs me to write out subtraction problems and things like that.  Our decision to hold her back stems from our desire to let her catch up to her peers socially and emotionally, so that she can feel more comfortable.  

Somewhere along the line last year it became apparent just how much school was taking out of Georgia each day.  It was a long school day (from 8:20-3:15), and it left her so emotionally strapped that by the time I picked her up, our afternoons were often a struggle.  Poor girl had nothing left for us, having spent all of her energy to hold it together in a group setting all day.  My sister first floated the idea last winter that, given that we were moving to a new school district anyway, and she has a birthday just before the cutoff date, maybe it would be a great opportunity to hold Georgia back for her own benefit.  Huh.  Surprisingly, I had never even thought of that, and I'm not sure why.  I guess even though all three of our children have August birthdays, I've always been a believer that schools have to put this arbitrary deadline somewhere, so we might as well just play by the rules, so to speak.  I'm sure Joe and I were also influenced by being part of the Chicago Public School system where there essentially is no such thing as "holding someone back".   

Georgia has matured so much and made amazing strides in the last six months.  She can run off and play and meet new kids in ways that I didn't think possible not too long ago.  And yet, I'm feeling really confident that going into kindergarten rather than first grade this year is the best thing for her.  It helps that we also got input from the social worker at our pediatrician's office.  I wish I could say her former teachers, (as much as we all loved them), had a vote, but they were surprisingly reluctant to weigh in.  I like the fact that Georgia won't be the only new kid there trying to fit into a group of first graders who already know each other.  She is ecstatic about the fact that doing kindergarten this year means that she only has to go for half a day; she'll be home before lunch.  

There's no question that as a family we're making a slow start toward academics.  But I sincerely hope that taking a step backwards will help move us forwards.  I will admit that I'm a little freaked out about the fact that the kids and I are going to have even more hours of "togetherness" to fill this year, since Waylon isn't enrolled in anything at all yet, and I will have both girls back in my custody each day by 11:45.  (June's preschool hours mean that she'll be attending slightly more school each week than Georgia!)  However, I am trying to look at this extra year with Georgia as a gift.  Almost like a do-over for all the tear-filled afternoons we struggled through.  Georgia's growing into a person who is really fun to hang out with - funny, smart, and still young enough to care about spending some snuggle time with her mama.  So if we can keep the peace at home, this extra year of kindergarten truly will be the gift of time to me.

All of that said, there's just two little problems.  One is that I'm about 95% confident about the choice we've made, but that's just it - it was a parental choice.  If her birthday had fallen about three weeks later on the calendar, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, but as it is, I am a human who can't help but experience tiny pangs of self-doubt and wonder if we're doing the right thing.  As I sat in her kindergarten classroom during last week's "move-in" day surveying all of the other kids dropping off their school supplies, I felt strangely self-conscious about her size.  Georgia is tall for her age, so even if she were entering first grade, chances are that she'd be one of the taller kids in the classroom.  Given that she'll now be the oldest rather than the youngest in her grade, though, this physical difference just stands out more.  I know the height difference really makes no difference and that it will probably disappear over the years anyway, but I guess what I'm saying is that it just makes the choice aspect of this feel so...abundantly obvious.  My 5% confidence gap in the decision we've made also comes from [brace yourself for an enormously arrogant parental statement coming your way] the fact that we think Georgia's very bright.  I get it, I know all parents think their little angel kindergarteners are very bright.  We all gave birth to geniuses, right?  Obnoxious thought.  But again, the choice aspect of this has me slightly worried that the school is going to be calling me in October saying that all the material is beneath her, and Georgia must be advanced a grade.  I just have to keep reminding myself of a few things:  (1)  In education, the social is just as important as the intellectual, (2) There are other smart kids in there, (3) If she were born three weeks later you wouldn't even be questioning any of this, Kate, (4) You and Joe always say you value the social as much or more than the intellectual, so stop dithering and put your money where your mouth is, and (5) When this all came up originally, you said you refused to obsess about it, because that would basically be stupid "first world problems" obsessing, so do not obsess.  

The other little problem that I'm having with this is wondering what it means for June and Waylon.  They also have August birthdays.  Should we hold them back, too?  Everyone dismissively says, "Oh, don't worry about it, just evaluate each child's readiness independently," but I think that's much easier said than done.  Once you've bought into all of the anecdotes and evidence pointing towards holding one child back, it's harder to convince yourself that having your next child be the absolute youngest in her class is a good idea.  Also, my thinking on the matter is colored by the fact that the kids are exactly two years apart.  Not two and a half years, or two years and three months, but (in the case of Georgia and June), two years and nine days.  So, does it suddenly become weird to have them go through life exactly two years apart in age, but only one year apart in school?  I just don't know.  This post was meant to enlighten you on our decision-making process about sending Georgia to kindergarten again, so I'm sure it seems that that is the decision I've been obsessing about.  However, truth be told, it is the decision of whether to send June to kindergarten at age 5 or 6 that occupies more of my mental space.

It's been a little odd reading the blog posts of (or just chatting with) friends who have kids going into first grade this year.  The Harrys and Annas and Lolas and Lilas of the world that I always considered Georgia's class year cohort.  It's also a little odd to go from full day school and packing lunches back to half day school with lunches at home.  You can't help but sometimes feel that the world is marching forward while we're heading back.  It feels right, though.  This is just what she needs.

Pictures and a first day report to come.  Wish us all luck!  

School Night Eve

Summer's grand finale: S'mores and singing "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" under the twinkling stars. (And we had been doing so well last week on inching back their bedtime in preparation for school. Oops. Oh well.)



Lying on my back looking up through the trees into the blackness at the stars was a real suburban appreciation moment for me. I do have them from time to time. : )

Kindergarten is Coming

Kindergarten looming in the distance has not been bothering me, not one little bit, because Georgia's going back to the same school, in the same mixed-ages classroom, with the same two teachers, so it feels a whole lot...the same.  It's just 5 days a week instead of 3, so what's the big deal?

Except now I'm sitting here while Waylon is napping, and June is off at "Summer Madness" camp (i.e., hanging out at Ms. Linda's house for a couple of hours - "camp" makes me feel like there should be cabins, fires, and water skiing, but everything for kids these days is apparently called camp), and Georgia is writing up a guest list for June's third birthday in her journal (it's pretty exclusive, but lots of stuffed animals made the cut).  So, yeah, I'm freaking out because this suddenly feels like the last day ever that she and I can just hang out.  (Duh, I know it's not, but it sure feels that way.)  I'm not looking forward to being bound by the school calendar.  I prefer total freedom and autonomy, thank you very much.  (Not enough to homeschool, so don't even make that joke.)  And yes, there is a part of me that is very much looking forward to having someone else be responsible for entertaining and challenging Georgia for most of the day.  Blah, blah, blah, I get it.  Still, I'm just saying.  I am presently turning into the total cliche mother and will definitely be hiding my tears from my baby as she heads off to school on the first day.  Thank God there will be no bus involved; that would just put me over the edge.

Okay, I have to go stare at this picture and hyperventilate into a bag now.  (Just kidding.  I think I will play with the live version of one of these children instead.)  

{June dressed herself today. And put her panda in a plastic bag to make sure it doesn't get wet. (???) Georgia also chose her own dress (and added the random blue ribbon), but it looked so short I had to check the tag to make sure she hadn't accidentally grabbed the 3T instead of the 5T. Nope, just growing. Her legs may make you wonder if we're feeding her, but I swear she consumes more than any other child, male or female, that I have ever encountered.}

First Day of Co-Op

June started pre-preschool this month.  (I kinda refuse to call it preschool since she's only two and still my bay-beeeee!  I prefer to think of it more like a glorified playgroup or "mother's morning out" thing.) 

Anyway, this is one of those situations where the fact that I have a lot less to say about June's first day of school drop-off activity in comparison to her sister is a really good thing, right?  My biggest worry is not that she won't grow to love it eventually, but that the teachers will steal her and not give her back.

I mean, seriously.  How could you not want to scoop her up?  Her lunch bag is the size of her entire torso.












  

Yippee!

Day 1 of Georgia's preschool was a raging success. A ten out of ten in our book.
She was SO ramped up for it that she surprised us by showing up in our room at 7:00 a.m. fully dressed from head to toe (including her shoes and socks) in the outfit that we had laid out the night before. This from a girl who normally fights to keep pj's on all day if she can. No tears at dropoff, no tears at pickup, and happy reports for us after it was over. According to the teacher, she only cried a couple of times for a few minutes, at transition points like when they went out to recess. This is all miles ahead of where she was last year, so we'll take it! Hooray!


A new tradition, to be photographed with this poster on the first day each year. Here's to hoping that she doesn't make a liar out of this thing!


She insisted on being photographed with a musical instrument on the first day of school. I have no idea why, but we went with it.






Off they go!

Raise Your Hand if You're Ready for Some PRESCHOOL!

I am!

Not sure if the kids are, but I am really looking forward to:
a) everybody around here having more of a set routine;
b) each kid getting the age-appropriate activities and attention they deserve; and
c) not having to care for three children 24-7!  (I am allowed one selfish reason, right?)

Georgia's first day is tomorrow.  A confession:  I have been getting really jealous lately of all the facebook updates and blog posts about the wonderful school experiences of everyone's super well-adjusted kids.  I can't help it.  School was such an uber-disaster for our family last fall that I think to myself that nobody appreciates how lucky they are, and how easy they have it.

But enough of my pity-party, because we've all got our own challenges.  (And in the grand scheme of things, as stressful as it all seemed at the time, if I'm filing preschool dropout under "family uber disaster", well then I guess I've got a pretty posh life.)  I was (naively) optimistic about Georgia's first day of preschool last year, and I'm optimistic again this year.  She really has matured and changed a lot.  Also, last year's school was primarily selected for its proximity to our home, whereas this year's school was primarily selected for its ability to allow Georgia to phase into it slowly.  She started going to a mom and tot class there with me once a week last winter, and then did a three year old "transition" class that met once a week for a couple of hours this spring, and then again for a short session this July.  So the grand plan has been that when she shows up tomorrow, it won't feel so new, and she'll at least feel comfortable in the building and hopefully recognize a few faces.  But beyond that, she really is doing so much better these days anyway with her separation anxiety and at adjusting to new situations and people.  Fingers crossed for a happy report tomorrow!   

The funny thing is that we tried to not make too big a deal out of the start of preschool this year, attempting to bill it as, "Oh, the next session of your school is starting," as if it were really just a continuation of what she had already been doing.  Well, she's no dummy, so between the new larger backpack, the new lunch bag, and everyone talking about "back to school", she's WAY keyed up for this.  Oh, and let's not forget the greatest thing of all:  the ballet slippers!  Her school requires everyone to take off their shoes and wear ballet slippers all day, I guess so that the floors stay clean and the kids clobber each other less.  So Saturday we picked up a pair of ballet shoes at Target and she has been infatuated ever since.  Wearing them to bed.  Refusing to go to the park because it would mean taking off the slippers.  Putting Joe's tube socks on over them just so that she can join us for dinner on the porch without taking off the ballet shoes.  She woke up yesterday morning with a big blister from having worn them 'round the clock with no socks.  The blister was a blessing in disguise, because it's the only thing that's made her relent and remove the slippers.  I was beginning to get worried that the biggest problem on her first day of school would not be saying goodbye to mom and dad, but changing into regular shoes for recess.  Oh well - we should be so lucky, right?


One day when I get around to it I'll update the food allergy blog to share our experiences with this school on that front, but for now suffice it to say that they've said all the right things to make us feel comfortable and have been nothing but understanding, so we're feeling good about that.