House renovations

When MacTroll and I built our house there were  few things we wanted to do that we couldn't afford at the time, so we put them in a holding pattern. One was a backsplash in the kitchen. The other was having more wood floors than carpet (life with a child, pets and a spouse who cannot learn to take off his shoes).

Then we found out we needed to tile around our bathtub because if X-man bathes in it... water is EVERYWHERE. So, over the next few weeks we'll be doing updates here and there to accomplish theses tasks. I'll put up some before and after photos when we're all done.

But you know what I should be doing? Getting the last of the pile of mulch that's been in our drive for a month off of it and onto the gardens... oh wait, they need to be weeded first. Sigh. Love summer. Just when I get the outside kicked into shape, I go inside and all hell has broken loose in there!

And then it's time to go back to school...

Speaking of, X-man moves to the 4 year old room on Monday. He's visiting all day today in All Stars II. He says he's excited to be in a building with no babies only big kids. He also starts swimming from 3:30-4:15 every day next Monday.

From Tiger to All Star!

Today, I got the news that X-man will be moving to a four-year-old room on June 7th. He is going to be in All Star 2. He is so excited. I've been talking a lot about the big boy school (the 4 year olds are in a different building near the primary school) a lot. He apparently finds it very motivating because tonight, without a sheet of paper to copy the look of the letters, X-man wrote his name for the very first time from memory.

He was scribbling on a post it pad on my desk. I asked him if he wanted to write his name. He said sure. So I reached for the pen so I could write it on the paper and he could write it underneath it like he normally does.

"No, Mom. I can do it by myself."

He made his X, which he's been doing forever. Then usually he scribbles. But this time, he made an upside down V and then put the line through it. It was clearly an A. I reached out and grabbed KTDID's hand. Then he made an N. Sure, it was backwards, but seriously, who cares. Then he made a D, a very clear E and an R with a long stick, a short stick and a swirly circle in the right place.

I was ever so proud. He and I have been alone all week. And as far as weeks go, this one was superb. No tantrums. No freakouts. No hitting or biting. No screaming in my face. It was awesome.

Musical comforts

So today I walked into the Tiger room during Music class. X-man adores music. He loves his music teacher Ms. Mary and singing with his Spanish teacher Ms. Nora.

Today, Mary was teaching the tigers forte and piano. It won't be a surprise to any of you who have heard me sing that I had no idea what these terms were -- until I sat down with X-man and listened. When the Tigers finished as a group going through the flash cards, X-man decided it was time to go and pick out new sippy cups, since ours our shot.

On the way out, I stopped to talked to his teachers, and suddenly there was music behind me. It was quiet. The kids were crawling toward Ms. Mary from their group spots very quietly. Then the horns cranked on and the kids all danced.

And what made me feel awe and comfort. She was using a song sung by Bjork.

How freaking cool is that? I remember music in pre-school as being the 10 Little Indians (yes, wholly inappropriate now). But "It's, Oh, So Quiet" is the perfect example of forte and piano.

Things that make me feel better when I'm sick

I took X-man into school today, and as we walked through the halls, one of the Tigers (his new 3-year-old room starting on Monday) saw him. His eyebrows raised and he got excited. Then he turned back to the class and said, "I just saw Xander! Is he coming to our room today?"

It was like my kid was the bees knees for that little boy. 

I also learned from Ms. Jen that during his visits to the Tiger room, X-man has been waving to the Wonder Twins through the bathroom during potty time. (They share a bathroom with two toilets in it).

As for me, I'm still sick during these lovely weather days. I think I'm propped up by Dayquil right now, but I took a midterm in my Program Planning for Young Children class today, and I think I did pretty well.

Now I'm resting before I start in on my pro-bono projects.

The Pick-up

On Thursday, I picked up X-man from school. He, as usual, had no interest in going home. I sat down on the floor with the Turtles for a bit and talked to a lot of them that know me. There's a new student in X-man's class who does not speak any English. We're learning bits and pieces about this in one of my classes at school. There are several bilingual students at Next Generation, which is awesome. I love it when I'll talk to one of them in English and then their parents will come to get them and out flows their first language. I am often jealous, and feel a bit like the dumber American with my elementary French language skills. But in this economy we won't be living in a place where my child will learn a second language by submersion.  Of course MacTroll spent 0-5 years in Europe and pretty much lost all of his French, only to have it in high school and lots in college -- and now at 33 is at the same level as me. So... I'll give myself a break.

The other thing that happened was that I met a parent by name. This often doesn't happen. With everyone dropping off their children at different times, you know the kid, not whom he or she belongs to. Today I met Dave, bringing the total Dads in the C-U area named Dave that I know to five, I believe. Dave has an awesome little girl who is very chatty and sweet. I love her enthusiasm. I see Dave the most out of all the parents because we have similar drop off/pick up times. So it's nice to know him as something other than his child's Dad.

On the way out of school, we ran into Golden Girl, a former Turtle who has turned three and moved up to the next classroom and her mother. Golden Girl was a great classmate too. Her mother was also sweet enough to bring up that she had read my blog and appreciated my review of the Children's Museum in Chicago. (I'd link to it, but I'm so lazy this a.m.)

It was the first time anyone had called me out about my blog in public, which was kind of nice. Mostly since lots of other blogs I read I'm excited about because they have a purpose like reviewing local food or keeping the community updated on local businesses or keeping family updated on their children. 

My blog doesn't really have an exterior purpose other than to prove as a centering mechanism for me. 

From a Panda to a Turtle

On May 26th last year, X-man started school at Next Generation in the Panda room. He could barely walk when we went to visit on May 9 after getting the call that they had a place for him (he was on the wait list for a year). When we visited, he noticed all the kids were walking all over the place and decided that he better start working out. By the 26th, he was walking enough to hold onto a teacher's hand at the back of the rope line. 

Now, he's prepping to go to a two-year-old room to be a Turtle. 

Part of me is super excited for him. He loves to learn, and a 2-year room offers all kinds of new challenges. It's easy to see that he's the big boy in his classroom these days. 

The other part of me hates that he's moving up because we really love Ms. Natalie, Ms. Melissa and Ms. Sonya. They've helped us with so much, and X-man adores his teachers (if adoration is measured by the number of mornings he runs in the room and hugs one of them). I appreciate the hard work they do with the kids every day encouraging them to learn. It inspired me to want to be a early ed teacher too. 

But on June 2, he'll be called up to the big leagues. 

So, here's a photo of X-man at 15 months...

And here's one of him at 26 months: 

It's the end of the Panda era.