Facebook Archive - Sept 2013

Aug 31, 2013 - Listening to Jonathan Coulton with Ian: "Mommy, why would a monkey go to a boring meeting?" I can't wait til they cover presidents in school. Sept 5, 2013 - Rich (to me in the car): "I feel bad about Eirikr ..." Ian: "What did you do to Eric?" Rich: "I told him we could drive him to the SCA meeting this weekend but then forgot and made other plans. So now he can't ride with us." Ian: "Well, that sounds awful." Rich: "Thanks, dude. That really makes me feel better."

Sept 6, 2013 - Ian had to complete an assignment where he listed his favorite book, food, song etc. He declared his favorite song as "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" by the Politics. Thankfully, we've convinced him the "you're just f#ckin' killin' me" lyric should be "why you always tickle me?" Which really is much more up his alley. And having watched the video, this is even more the anthem of every jacked up preschooler. He already tries impromptu parkour on any available surface.

Sept 9, 2013 - Ian: "Why don't we have ninja turtles in our city? I guess that's how God made the Earth with his magic." And here I was prepared for a whole discussion on the properties of ooze but God has answered all turtle mysteries.

Sept 19, 2013 - We toured the Kempsville Presbyterian Day School this morning and saw a dinosaur hugging a ballerina. I'm in love.

Sept 19, 2013 - Ian is officially enrolled at Kempsville Presbyterian Church Day School (KPC). His first day is Monday. I called the Catholic school and "dis-enrolled" him (if that's a word). I'm waiting to talk to the business office about getting out of our contract there, but that will most likely be Friday or Monday and honestly I'm not worried about it right now. We are keeping Ian home with us tomorrow to take a much deserved and needed day off as a family. Maybe we'll go to the zoo. And we will all be IN THE GREEN ALL DAY. I may hand out stickers to him at the top of each hour just because I can. Thank you all for your passionate and heartfelt comments about Ian's situation at school. It can be hard at times to open up one's family's struggles to the Internet, but you all are definitely on our team. Go team!

Sept 20, 2013 - Last night we stopped to pet a neighbor's cat and I got him to come over by making the "tch tch tch" noise and wiggling my fingers. So today at the zoo Ian reached out his fingers and "tch tch tch"ed at the lions.

Sept 20, 2013 - We were discussing how Ian can wear whatever he wants to the new school including his Cornell t-shirt with a bear face on the front and a bear butt on the back. Ian then got all serious and said, "Mommy, can I say butt at my new school?" I'll add that to his student profile.

Sept 23, 2013 - Ian: "Miss Cindy is my favorite teacher! If you listen and share and are kind, you get to put a gem in the jar and I GOT A GEM! Am I gonna go to this school every day? Cause I love my teacher!" My heart is full today.

Sept 25, 2013 - Me: "Looks like you got another sticker today." Ian: "Yeah. That says I had a good day today. But I have a good day every day at school."

Sept 30, 2013 - Ian: "Is today a school day?" Me: "Yep." Ian (dubiously): "Am I going to the school where Miss Cindy is my teacher?" Me: "Yep." Ian: "Yay! I love school! I'm gonna get so many gems!" This marks the first pleasant Monday morning we've had in a long time.

First Day of Pre-K

It's been a long time since I've reported on the day to day happenings of the world's best boy, but the first day of school seemed like a significant milestone. We've been calling the day care "school" for years, but this was honest to goodness school with a cafeteria meal plan and uniforms and recess and a single teacher. We signed Ian up at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School for several reasons, none of which have to do with being Catholic. He's been going to St. Gregory day care since he was a few months old and it's been good to us. The day care, church and elementary school are all across the street from our office, so it is certainly convenient. And with Ian's birthday being 22 days past our area's arbitrary September 30 cutoff date, no other Pre-K I called would accept him. We would have had to "red shirt" him for a year before he could have done Pre-K next year and he would have been bored out of his mind.

So the Catholic school took him with open arms. We had to buy uniforms that are polo shirts and khaki shorts and white sneakers. He's not allowed to have any tattoos or nail polish and his shoe laces have to match his shoes. Given that I come from the wolf pack of parenting models, all these rules made me a bit nervous, but Ian seemed to do okay. We had several discussions about the uniform and he was dubious of the button shirt but Daddy wore a similar outfit that first day for solidarity.

Yesterday was the first day of school but it was really just an open house from 8-9am. Ian dutifully dressed in his uniform and was a star student for that hour. I was surprised that he actually wanted to keep his school clothes on while we ran errands that morning.

Even more surprising what this morning when MY son, who is NOT a morning person, cheerfully agreed to put on khaki shorts and a polo shirt at 6:30am. We dropped him off without a hitch and it was super easy. He was stoked for school!

There were a bit of shenanigans at dismissal in that they didn't have a letter saying he should go to after school care, but we sorted that out. I just don't understand how schools that do this every single year can forget to mention things like that.

We went to pick Ian up at 5:20pm and he was very upset that it apparently had taken "forever" for us to come get him. He said he had fun at school but he didn't like the after school program because there were big kids there and they wouldn't share toys with him. We're going to bring a backpack tomorrow and see if he can have a few special toys of his own to play with after school.

He wasn't allowed to have a blankie at school either, but he seemed to fare well with that. We brought him back to the office with us so we could finish our fantasy football draft. He ate a bit and went to watch a movie on the loveseat in my office. By 7pm he was out cold and he hasn't moved since.

This school stuff is hard work!

Playing doctor

Tuesday we went for Ian's three year check up. I suppose it's no longer a well baby visit but more of a "well, kid" visit. Ian was confused by the early pick up from school. When we said we were going to the doctor and he had to get in his seat, he was all "No! I want to go with you!" It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about but then I realized he thought we were going to Daddy's doctor appointment for his belly and not his. "No, dude, this is your appointment. So we're all going." Oh. I wondered if Ian would ever have interest in trucks but in the last few weeks he's rallied. As we waited in the lobby, he took a dump truck and systematically moved every toy in it from one side of the room to the other. He clearly had things going on.

We waited for the doctor and the nurse told us to strip him down to his undies. Ian was more than happy to oblige that as he's all about naked time. Except he kept asking why he had to keep his undies on. We told him he could ask the doctor when she got there, and he would walk around holding the waistband and ask us with one eyebrow raised, "now can I take my undies off?" I swear, I can't make this stuff up.

He is 41.75" tall and 42 pounds. So he's huge but the same factor of huge he's been his whole life which is normal. He kept wanting to hide in anticipation of the doctor coming. He's really been into that "hurry before X happens!" thing whether it's getting to the car before Daddy locks the front door on the house or hiding under the blanket before the doctor opens the door. It's exciting being three.

So we did a lot of hiding and waiting and when the med student came, we did lots of tests to check his balance and look in his ears and eyes. Everything is super normal and he's perfect in every way (ok, they didn't say it quite like that, but they don't want to make other patients jealous).

It was, dare I say, a fun visit. I ignored most of what the pediatrician handout says about time outs and discipline and foods. I don't fault the doctor's office for giving standard info, I just don't need it. I'm gonna let my kid eat butter and I'm going to talk to him when he's upset and I can't make him sit somewhere by himself and cry.

He can play hide and seek in his Batman undies all he wants.