Songs and Rules

That is apparently what preschool is made of.

We don't usually get much out of Nicholas when we ask him what he did at school that day, but the boy does randomly break out into songs and recitations of various school rules. And if you listen carefully and piece it all together, you can get a lot of information about what is going on.

The songs are the most impressive--he seems to have a new one every day. This weekend he sang us songs for days of the week and months of the year. In fact, any time you mention a day of the week, he starts singing. On cue. Every time. Funniest part? We were at a friend's house for dinner and she asked him if he wanted an ice cream sundae for dessert and he immediately began his rendition: "Sunday, Monday . . ."

And while it is sort of impressive that he knows the months (heck, who are we kidding, I'm impressed the kid can say "November" let alone that he can put it in the proper order), what actually impresses me more is his musical ear. I have never heard most of the songs they sing at school and yet I can confidently sing most of them because he does such a good job on the tune.

The rules are not nearly as cute but often more informative about what is going on at school. "Rules" may actually not be quite the right word because these are not the set list of 10 things on the wall. It is more like Nicholas recites every lecture the teachers gave them to correct behaviors all day. And his teachers apparently give very thorough explanations for the reasons behind each chastisement. And you know when he is parroting something from school because it almost always involves the word "friends" or "bodies" and often both.

For example: "When we sit criss- cross-applesauce we put our hands on our own bodies. If our hands are on the floor our friends might step on them. Our hands go on our own bodies when we sit criss-cross-applesauce." I may not have that quote exactly verbatim, but it is pretty close.

Another school-ism (said as he falls down): "I just threw my body on the floor. We don't throw our bodies on the floor when we play freeze dance. Our friends will trip if we throw our bodies on the floor."

I appreciate the explanations of rules, but I have to stifle a laugh over the phrasings. "Throw our bodies on the floor?" Really? Did I miss the memo where saying "fall down" will destroy children's development?

Adding a Twist

Like most 2 year olds Nicholas likes to read the same books and watch the same tv shows over and over and over again. I know this is normal. I know this is good in some way for cognitive development. I find it impressive that he has whole books memorized. (I'm a little scared about the tv shows he has basically memorized, though.)

But, let's be honest. While 2 year olds love reading the same books a bazillion times, parents get bored. I am at that stage with Clifford. Seriously, the book might disappear.

So tonight I decided to stave off the mind-numbing boredom by reading Clifford in a silly fake-Southern accent. And whether you measure success by the fact that I made it through the entire book without wanting to bang my head against the wall or by Nicholas' peals of laughter, it worked.

The only problem is that it was probably a little too hilarious for wind-down time.

A Different Kind of Snow

We have finally started getting snow this past week, after a very mild winter. The first two snows in the past week and a half have been of the 1-2 inch variety and very similar to what we got in Maryland--wet and slushy and gone within a few days.

But this weekend we were introduced to a different kind of snow. It wasn't much still, only about 3 inches, and so not what I would say is a real introduction to New England winter. But there was a really important difference--it was COLD out!

The snow was so powdery that there was no way to play in it. No snowballs. No snowmen. Nothing. It would work for sledding if we didn't live in a complex that was completely flat. And if we had a sled. So while Nicholas was happy just walking around in the snow and throwing it up in the air and watching it go everywhere, I got bored pretty quickly. And my chin started to go numb!

Anyway, here are a few pictures:

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

Negotiating Skills

Apparently Nicholas has been taking lessons at the Uncle Patrick School of Negotiating Tactics.

We just finished dinner and he asked if he could play with his train. Sarah said, "yes, for 10 minutes." (It is, after all, almost time for bed.)

Nicholas replied, "No, 5 minutes!!"

"Sure!" we said in unison.

This comes on top of yesterday, when we offered him ten stickers for a successful potty trip, and he corrected us that he deserved two. So some skills we've still got a ways to go.

Orthography

Nicholas has a habit of trying to do the hard part of a new skill first: he tried to walk before he could crawl, and his second "word" was almost a sentence.

Now he's been learning his letters and noticing words (when the letters are uppercase, and I've decided not to teach him yet why they're called that). So what are the first two words he can spell?

NICHOLAS is first. Now, it's a difficult word, polysyllabic, with odd sounds ("ch" as "k"). But it is his name, so he sees it plenty and it's very familiar.

The second word: XAVIER, which he noticed on Sarah's sweatshirt last weekend. He practiced a few times and has started to memorize it. He's been practicing too. We happened to see in Target this weekend a bath toy that consists of foam letters that stick to the side of the tub when they get wet. He's been very excited about this new toy. The first time he had them he immediately wanted to spell Nicholas, and then insisted that we try Xavier as well, so we did. He's got his name down pretty well, actually, and he's getting better with Sarah's alma mater.

At this point, I'm basically expecting that he'll be trying to take derivatives before he can add and compose poetry in iambic pentameter before he can write a sentence.

Big Blue

Nicholas got his first real taste of the NFL playoffs yesterday with the Giants-Packers game (we were all in the air during last week's game against the Falcons). Since the game coincided with dinner time, Sarah offered to make it a mini-party; we got some appetizer dip-and-chips on our grocery run, and had dinner in the living room (which we do very, very rarely with our little toddler). I have assumed since about Week 15 (when the Giants were embarrassed by the Redskins to fall to 7-7) that the Giants were done for and anything positive they did was a bonus.

They've won four straight since then. "Serenity now!" is my new catchphrase.

Anyway, Nicholas and I put on our Giants t-shirts for the game, and we practiced our "Go Giants!" chant that he's learned:

From 2012 January

Nicholas is starting to pick up on some of the subtleties of the game. He can now identify quarterback Eli Manning, though singling out receivers, backs, and anything the Giants do on defense is still a bit beyond him. (He has the charmingly naive habit of cheering for every reception, even if it results in a touchdown for the Giants' opponents.)

Because the game went rather well, we also got to practice different ways to celebrate touchdowns. The best was to do a double high-five and shout, "oh yeah!"

From 2012 January

That then turned into a game where he shouted "oh yeah" and I had to shout "oh no," followed by him rolling on the floor and laughing. But he was having fun.

Next week the game doesn't start until 6:30, which is a little late to get Nicholas riled up, so we'll probably DVR the start of the game, put Nicholas to bed, and then catch up.

As Nicholas would say, "Go Giants!"

Windy City Adventures

I've had the camera all week to help me finish my research in Philadelphia, so you're stuck with one of my photo essays for Chicago. It was a fantastic trip, by all accounts. It was our first trip there since Brian and Shayna got married, so we got to see their apartment and have fun with them in addition to our professional duties downtown.

On Thursday night, though, all three of us ventured into Chicago for dinner with Uncle Matt, who was also in town for the conference, and went to a Cajun restaurant. The food was delicious, and in addition to crayons they give the kids beads (no quid pro quo necessary). Since no one was sitting near us when we sat down, we let Nicholas roam a bit and play:

From 2012 January

Friday was Sarah's day at the conference, so Nicholas, Uncle Brian, Aunt Shayna, and I headed to the local children's museum, where Nicholas had a blast. The first place we saw was the under-construction house, and Nicholas immediately took up the job:

From 2012 January

He even knew, despite the fact that we kept him out of the apartment this summer when we painted, to dip the brush in the bucket:

From 2012 January

He's fascinated right now with music and/or making noise, so he spent a great deal of time in that room. Especially fun was the snare drum with glittery confetti inside. Pretty noisy, but he's been learning about tempo from his TV show, so he could follow instructions like "play slowly" and "play fast:"

From 2012 January

In the transportation room (oh yes, there was a whole transportation/city life room), there was a train simulator. Well, sort of. There was a spot set up like a locomotive with a video screen that "simulated" driving the train. Nicholas desperately wanted to play at this spot, which I know because he went over to it repeatedly hoping that no one would be there. It took like four tries to get success, but he was really happy that he got to do it.

From 2012 January

On our way out (we almost made it!) we noticed a car room, and Nicholas spent a good ten minutes just running the cars down this hilly course.

From 2012 January

The gang took things a little easier on Saturday while I was in Chicago, I'm told, but Sarah can update you on that if any stories need telling. In the meantime there are one or two more photos up in the January 2012 gallery.

Postscript

The one sad note from our trip came on the ride back to Midway Airport. As we got to the rental car return, Nicholas said from the back seat, "We're going to fly away from Daddy. That's sad." Sarah (who by then was already teary) looked back and noticed that even he was crying. But I reassured him that I'd be home in a week, and that then I would stay for good and not leave.

He remembered that. Last night (i.e., Thursday) we talked on the phone and I mentioned that I was flying home soon (as in tomorrow, Saturday) and he said, "And then you won't leave again!" Nope, not leaving again.

First 4 Days of School

Nicholas has made it through his first 4 days at his new school and so far so good. By all accounts he is doing really well and adjusting nicely. I have nothing coherent or profound to say, so here is another bullet point list:

• He ends each day exhausted and starving. He has in all seriousness been sleeping 11-12 hours every night this week. And I've had to start having a snack for him in the car to stave off complete meltdowns from low blood sugar. I don't know if snack is earlier at this school, his lunch is less filling (no microwave, so no leftovers), or it is just from trying to keep up with the big kids.



• He has learned a few kids' names and brings them up at home in his stories by name. This includes one of the big girls, who apparently read him a book yesterday.



• He is super-stimulated. When I drop him off and often when I pick him up, each of the 3 tables has a different activity set up, any one of which is more of a challenge than anything he has had before. And he excitedly goes over to try them. To him it is basically going to school at a children's museum.



• He is having to get used to having the structure of set stations of activities each with a limit of 4 kids, rather than being able to play with anything in the room at will. According to one of the teachers, he has been consciously testing how serious they are about "closed" stations.



• Although potty training has started making good progress at home, still not a single success at school. (That is a whole post in and of itself, though, one which I may or may not ever get around to writing.)



• I can already detect changes in his speech patterns, although I'm having trouble pinpointing what they are. His sentences are more precise, it seems, and maybe more complex. His stories are definitely more complex. I thought he was a chatterbox before, but geez, the wall of words is sometimes overwhelming. (I guess I now know how my parents felt. Okay, still feel.)



• He has been wilder in the evenings than before. Having seen 4-year-old boys in action, this was one of my concerns about his being with the big kids. Older kids provide great stimulation, but also model behaviors I'd love for him to avoid or at least hold off on. Then again, this wildness could be a result of the aforementioned exhaustion. Either way, tonight he was bouncing around on the sofa, fell off, and smashed his head into the coffee table.



• He is so excited about what they've been learning. They've been doing a lot with patterns this week, which he is excited about (one morning when the teacher asked him if he wanted to make patterns in the water table when I dropped him off, he literally jumped up and down and said, "yay, patterns! I love patterns!"), but according to his teachers does not really grasp the concept of. I love the challenge now, but do worry a little about how it will be in 2 1/2 years when he is still in the same room.



• Apparently their term for "Indian style" is "criss-cross applesauce" and Nicholas thinks it is the most hilarious thing ever. I kid you not, we had to have applesauce tonight with dinner because he was so obsessed with criss-cross applesauce and how you eat applesauce and "that is so funny!"



• Conversation in the car tonight: N: “Miss Clara says my thumb does not go in my mouth and my finger does not go in my nose.” S: “She’s right.” N: “Yes, she is right. She is a great teacher!”



• When I walked in tonight the kids were in a line (with hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them) walking around the classroom pretending to be a train. And because he is the smallest, Nicholas was the last one. He was so excited to tell me all about how he got to be the caboose. I didn't know he knew that word!

Overall, so far, so good. This change was solely about finances, not quality of care, but so far I don't have any complaints. Well, except that they won't microwave lunches. But no complaints about anything that really matters. Cross your fingers that it stays this way.

Louisville Jan 2012

It may have taken me awhile, but I'm just impressed I managed to actually write this post.

This trip to Louisville was the trip of the Barn game. That kid conned I think every relative we saw (except maybe my grandfathers) into playing the Barn game with him. And here is the evidence:

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

And my sainted aunts and uncle each played probably a dozen times (quite possibly in a row) at points when I needed a half hour to shower or pack.

Oh yeah, and we also did other stuff.

Like go to the zoo:

From 2012 January

From 2012 January

Play ball with Grandpa M:

From 2012 January

Play "tennis" with Grandpa O:

From 2012 January

(And I can't forget the video:)

From 2012 January

And get started on Boggle:

From 2012 January

(No, not really. Nicholas wanted to see what they were playing and when I lifted him up to show him that there were letters, we realized that it just happened that all the letters of his name were facing up. So he was allowed to find them each and pick them out to make his name.)

And in general spend time with a lot of relatives, all of whom Nicholas has come to adore. It really does make me happy somewhere really deep inside to see him get so close to my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. And so here is one last shot of him with two of my cousins, both of whom Nicholas has come to completely idolize:

From 2012 January

Brief

I have 3 or 4 posts rattling around in my head, but I spent an hour tonight reading a hilarious blog instead of either working or updating our own rather mundane little piece of the blogosphere and there are still roughly 8 trillion dishes waiting for me.

So, here are the brief snapshots, since I may never get around to the actual posts:

• I have all sorts of great pictures and videos and stories from Louisville and Chicago. Some day I'll upload them. For now there is one at the bottom of this post to hold you over.


• Nicholas has gotten awesome with letters. I don't know if I ever mentioned it in an earlier post, but about a month ago he figured out spelling his name. On our trip (thanks in part to a bag of letter stickers for the plane) he figured out that the ABC song was the letters in order and started working on putting them in order, left to right and then starting a new row below when he ran out of space. (Although still only upper case.) There is probably a technical term for that, but I'll just call it pre-literacy work.


• Thanks to preschool UNO, his numeracy has improved. Not only has his counting objects gotten consistently reliable, but he can recognize how many pieces are there with a glance, to within 1. (i.e. if he has to pick 5, he'll pick 4, 5, or 6 without counting. When he got it at x-mas, he would have to count at 2 to see if he needed more.)


• Nicholas started a new school today. This has been accompanied by lots of anxiety and guilt on my part. This could be a 10-page post, but boils down to him having to readjust and the fact that this is a 1-room preschool where he is the youngest by far and there are kids up to 5 all together. He loved it, although I am still somewhat anxious about all the potential ramifications.


• I felt like Supermom at airports on this trip. Nicholas and I had a system and we were working it. That is a guarantee that next time we will fall on our faces, but man were we impressive. My proudest feat was getting me, him, a stroller, a suitcase, a diaper bag, a backpack, a pack n' play, a carseat, and of course Elmo from the airport to long term parking with no help, no cart, and no shuttle bus available. We totally rocked it! Oh, and also devising a system whereby I kept medicine "refrigerated" for the 10 hours of travel.

There may be more, but it will have to await another random list blog post. But, for now, a picture from Louisville:

From 2012 January

Cockpit

Joe wanted to take the camera to Philly this week to take pictures of the documents he hadn't had a chance to get through yet. Sure, no problem. He'll be home Saturday and we'll just be at school and work all week. No need for a camera.

Silly Sarah.

We get on the airplane yesterday, a whole 45 minutes after leaving Joe, and as Nicholas peeks into the cockpit as usual, the stewardess says, "When we land he can go in and if you have a camera you can get a picture."

Are you serious?!

And this was the best I could do with the primitive camera on my antiquated cell phone:

From 2012 January

Better than nothing, but gah!

But Nicholas thought it was really cool to go in the cockpit and talk to the pilot. I just may now have trouble convincing him we can't do it every time.

Travelling

Travelling alone with a 2-year old is exhausting.

Trying to maintain control when great-grandparents continually offer sugar-laden treats to a child who is exhausted, over-stimulated, and a little manic is impossible.

Working on potty training while travelling, with a host of distractions and a different bathroom 3 times a day is a chore. And not very successful.

Expecting a toddler with lots of energy to burn because it is too cold to play outside to sit and play nicely by himself while you talk with grownups is futile.

Doing all of this while you both have colds is just absurd.

And yet, despite all of this, we're actually having a very good time in Louisville. I'm way too exhausted for this to count as my vacation, but it is so good to see relatives and spend time here. And I really lucked out that an aunt, uncle, and two cousins happened to be in town at the same time. In addition to getting the treat of spending time with them, which I am treasuring, it means someone else is cooking meals and there are other adults willing (and sometimes even eager) to play with Nicholas. I love being here and it means the world to me that Nicholas is developing relationships and memories with my extended family, but I'm just tired. Solo parenting at home is one thing, but take away school and our routines and it is just so much more work.

In other words, I'm going to need a vacation to recover from my vacation.