That's right folks, things they are a-changin around here. A lot. Where to start?
RILEY - In my search for the answer to 'What am I gonna do with Riley next year?', I happily found a solution at a church where both little ones used to attend Mothers Day Out (a hundred years ago before I went back to work and then came back home, etc.) and where Riley and I also attend a Moms group twice a month. This church offers a 3 day program called 'Transitional Kindergarten' which will be perfect next fall for my late-fall-birthday-munchkin-who-will-be-almost-six-when-he-goes-to-big-school-finally. It's more academically intensive than a traditional Pre-K and aligned with our districts curriculum so he should be very well prepared when he does finally get to follow his brothers into the world of academia. Technically I think he's supposed to be 5 by Sept. 1st for this program too, but they seem to be overlooking that detail for us. I guess that is the advantage of a private school, and knowing people. And, well, it doesn't hurt that when Riley was just 6 weeks old he played the starring role of 'Baby Jesus' in the 4 night production of the huge church choir Christmas pageant production at this particular church. Celebrity will really get you somewhere if you let it! LOL!
Anyway, during this process we wanted to make sure that Riley was going to be ready for the 'more' of the T-K program. I am sure it will be fine, but if he went in today, he would be very overwhelmed. We talked alot about the differences between the 4's class which is regular Pre-K and this one. So then I asked the most loaded question ever . . 'What if . . .?' and landed Riley in an open spot for Pre-K for the spring semester so there is no question of his readiness in the fall for T-K. And that sounds really wonderful and like I am a prepared and thoughtful mother with Riley's cognitive preparedness being my biggest concern. But here's the truth of the matter - this kid is BORED! He needs out of the house a little bit. So, today Riley started Pre-K for 2 days a week. He'll be going on Monday and Wednesday each week (Wed/Fri this week because of our start date) with the possible expansion to 3 days a week next month depending on a few different circumstances. Hence - the QUIET! Well, quiet except for the pounding of my Boxer's entire body against the back door to let me know he's ready to come back inside because a simple scratch on the door is just not sufficient and one must surely need to announce their presence by running at full speed across the entire yard and then hurtling into glass to get mom's attention. Other than that - quiet.
When people hear that I am putting Riley into school now, in February, I get asked 2 questions.
First - Why didn't you start him in the fall?
Lot's of reasons. Selfishly, I wanted Riley to myself a little bit because the time we've had alone has been pretty limited over the years. He's probably my last baby and I wanted to enjoy having a little munchkin home with me for as long as I could get away with it. I might have done it for a one-day-a-week program, but those aren't offered at this age. Frugally, this kid is home for another whole year and that's a lot of preschool to pay for (even with Scott's work reimbursement program which ensures that we don't pay for very much of this whole process) when I am home all day anyway. Again, might have done it for the one day thing, but not available. And Peevishly, I was kinda annoyed because Riley was only a few weeks shy of turning four at the beginning of the semester, but no one would consider putting him in anything other than a 3 year old class or starting him there and moving him up at the semester break after he turned 4 or anything. Waiting until now, when he is 4 seems to have turned the tide (at least at some of the schools) and enabled him to go in the 4 year old class. Granted, he'll be the youngest one in there, but he is also the youngest child and 'knows' more at this age than either of the other two did.
I left him happily figuring out the center system and choosing between gluing pretzel sticks down on outlines of big P little p or tracing and coloring the letter P at another table. He did try and hide in my leg for about 20 seconds while we got settled in, but that was entirely for my benefit. This munchkin was super pumped! I kissed him and he turned to the enrichment and challenges immediately. The thing he was most excited about was that I bought him a lunch box and he got to take his lunch to school like his brothers. He also thought it was pretty cool that he was taking a paint shirt to school and that he gets to go to the library every week to borrow a book like Scooter does.
Second Question - Heather, what are you going to do with all that time? Friend - you are looking at it. Haha! Just kidding, although I can see already that this is going faster without having to stop and fill a milk cup, find a toy or change the input mode on a tv. Honestly, I don't know yet! It is going to be nice to get stuff done faster, but it will also be strange and even though I have more time on my hands with no kids, my daily schedule will actually be abbreviated. Riley goes from 9-2 and when he's with me my 'available' time is really 8-2:45. For today, though, it's blogging then running an errand (place doesn't open until 10) and then running off to work for a while. Plus laundry and prepping dinner. Not too different from when Riley is home really. I am looking forward to having time to better prep my grocery coupon shopping without having to ignore my kids for 2 hours to do it. Also, shopping at multiple stores to get better deals will be easier without having to load and unload a kid in the process. And there are also some changes for me in the works for the fall, but we'll get to all that later.
TYLER - Where did the childhood part of this life run off to? Ach! Tyler's Junior High acceptance letter came home with him yesterday. He did not get his first choice of schools, but his second. (Insert a private grumble for me here because it's the furthest from home of the three options, not FAR, but further) Now, let me be clear - it's a Magnet school with an emphasis in Math, Science & Leadership and it's the top rated Junior High in the district. This is the second choice, the runner up, right? But, it wasn't his first choice which is also a Magnet and the one where his Orchestra teacher works and his Art teacher and most of his friends are going there. Although - I don't think Tyler cares that his friends will be there so much as he doesn't get why everyone else he knows got their first choice of school and he didn't. And honestly, the friend of his that I like the most and think is the best influence on him will be at the same school as Tyler. This makes me feel good even though I know that there are any number of new and improved bad influences awaiting him at any Junior High he may attend. Anyway, per Tyler's request I have put a call into the placement office to find out 'why' and if there is a possibility of change. I don't expect to get a call back since he did actually choose this school as a possibility and they have much bigger issues to deal with. I am working with Tyler on the idea of acceptance and thought my parents (who we met for ice cream to soothe feelings last night) and I had made some headway. Right up until Tyler told me this morning that he was going to talk to the Orchestra teacher (who adores him) and see if she could 'pull some strings' for him.
Okay - this would annoy me, but honestly that is really the lesson he learned this week at Enterprise City. EC is this cool thing that all 6th graders in our district get to do each year. They get assigned jobs, salaries, bosses and rules. They have to keep a checkbook, get a paycheck and make deposits and write checks/get cash and complete certain tasks and purchases without getting overdrawn. They have to take out business loans and make enough money to pay them back and hopefully have a profit afterwards. I was a volunteer and I couldn't believe how fast the day went. Teach kids the free enterprise system, supply and demand, etc. is the goal. My son was an attorney who spent his day being hired to argue friends cases in front of a judge to lower fines issued by police officers for walking on a green square in the middle of the room that was the town 'grass'. Here's the lesson these kids learned - it's not what you know, it's who you know. One of Tyler's best friends was a judge and he always did better on his cases with that judge than the other one and he had a better record than the other attorney who didn't know either judge well. Our kids got an extension on their first loan payment due because one of Tyler's buddies was the bank president. When the fines were lowered to a point that hiring a lawyer was a pointless endeavor, the 'Accountant' in his office went to talk to her best friend, the Mayor, to get them raised again and help with their supply/demand problem. So why wouldn't Tyler think that it was a good idea to ask someone to grease a squeaky wheel? He just learned that lesson big time on Monday.
Pause for inundation of photos. Tyler's friends, the judge and bank president, are in here too as well as some good ones of Tyler arguing cases and one of all the kids in our office trying to figure out how to balance their checkbook, fill out deposit slips and endorse their paychecks. The whole thing was just amazing to see come together. I am very glad I got to be there. It also didn't hurt that the Judge's father is a friend and was the official photographer for the day. City Hall was 2 doors down from us with the bank across the hall. Our boys dominated the 1000+ photos he took. Oh - and the tie was Tyler's idea. He made Scotty teach him how to tie it himself and then practiced over and over and over again the night before. He told me his Uncle Matthew had taught him once that if you do something 3 times it becomes part of your short term memory and if you do it 7 times it becomes part of your long term memory and he did not want to forget how to tie a tie. That's good because Scott leaves for work before the rest of us get up and I could not have helped him since I don't have a clue . . .
Tyler's also heard a lot lately about how hard/bad/miserable/tortuous Junior High can be. He's getting it from everywhere, including teachers. I have been guilty of this myself, even indicating to him that the key to surviving the next two years was to keep his head down and get through it. When he told me I made it sound like a war zone I had a parenting reality check. Ooops. Okay, so really it's just there are so many changes going on at this time - physically, emotionally, socially, academically - it's hard for everyone, but you'll be fine sweetie and there are also some really good times to be had and you get to become even more of your own person! Yay! Note to self: Limit the number of middle school horror stories you tell around the house to bare minimum. Do not let your own horrific memories overshadow your child's experiences. Right. Ch-ch-ch-changes.
And SCOOTER - please don't let this be a jinx, but guess what????? Scooter is walking into school on his own! Without being pushed, pulled or cajoled or anything! I kinda used the 'Riley's going to school soon and I don't have time for this kinda stuff' as the first prod. Then I got lucky and while I was trying to put my foot down, Mrs. Crump had door duty last week. When she realized what I was doing on Monday afternoon, she told Scooter that I was no longer allowed to step off of the grass/dirt and onto the concrete anymore. (We were parking alongside the school and walking up the grassy slope from the side to the door.) This really stressed him out, but the next morning I refused to step off of the mud and onto the concrete and I just lifted him over onto the steps and Mrs. Crump grabbed him and took it from there. Wednesday morning it was pouring rain for the second day in a row. I announced that we absolutely could not walk through all that mud to get to the door and pulled into the school drop off circle. This, of course, has been the goal all along. I want to eventually not have to get out of the car myself, but we work in baby steps with Scooter so I parked along the left hand 'parking' side and walked him across past the 'drive-thru' side and up to the steps. Well, really we ran because it was raining still. I stopped at the bottom of the steps and refused to go up. Scooter wouldn't go up, so I lifted him to the top step, Mrs. C grabbed his arm and I turned and left. Thursday morning I told him it was still muddy and we were doing it again. This time, when we got to the base of the stairs, he went up while holding my finger, but I stayed down. When he discovered this, he tried to turn around and come back to me, but Mrs. C. said 'No, Scott, we had a deal remember?' and he turned and walked inside. I never heard what the deal was as my son told me later he only went in because it was rainy.
So Friday morning arrived and it was sunny and dry, but it was also 'Popcorn Friday' - the first of the year for Scooter. He kept asking me to give him his quarter for popcorn, but I put him off until I parked in the circle. Then I told him I would give him his quarter at the door. We walked to the stairs, he held my fingers until he got to the top and I handed him his quarter, told him to not lose it and put it in his pocket and he turned and walked inside. All weekend I told him how excited about that whole experience I was. But there was a weekend in between Friday and Monday and Mrs. C. isn't on door duty this week. But I was a busy mom on Monday, going to EC with Tyler and so in my busyness I convinced him we had to keep this up and he went in like a dream. Yesterday, Riley watched us do it again with absolutely no prodding. When I got back in the car I asked Riley if he saw that (he's always distressed by Scooter's behavior) and he said 'Yessss! He did it!'. This morning Scooter kept telling me I had three drop offs and that was a lot and he did it again. Mrs. Crump happened by just after he walked over the threshold and had a good laugh over my little celebration dance in the middle of the walkway.
Wow - it only took five months and some rain. Isn't it sad that this was the first time all year we had enough rain to make the grass muddy? If it had rained last fall maybe we wouldn't have had this problem for so long. Anyway, I know Scooter will be fine now because he knows he can do it. I will give him a couple weeks of this phase and then start backing off the letting-go-of-my-hand point. The curb is only 25 feet from the door, but I know the hardest thing will be getting out of the car by himself. We'll get there eventually though.
Okay - that's it for now, and let me tell you that's enough! I'm tired, honey, and it's early. Maybe my first day of no-kid-ness should include a nap. Doubtful though.
Enjoy your day and God Bless!
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