Showing posts with label preschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preschool. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Another post about preschool

Today

I was going to write about our fun-filled family night at the drive-INs last Saturday.

I was going to write about my alone time with hubby and baby Saturday afternoon running errands and going to Walmart and running into an old-long-lost friend whom I need to do more catching up with.

I was going to write about last night's Back 2 School night at the preschool, and how proud and grateful we are that wonder boy is going to this school. And how surprised we were to find out that he already knows his months from January all the way to December!

and I was going to write about how happy I am with how far he's come with his swimming lessons, because yesterday, he was able to do his pop-ups more than half the length of the pool for the first time ever.

and finally, I was going to write about how, his last two days of school last week, I was able to drop him off, without fuss and tears, just a big boy good-bye, and see ya later mom.

But instead, I'm going to write about another horrible morning drop-off at preschool! And how I spent an hour of my work time googling for HELP on the subject matter.

So help me god!

I am really, really, really tired of it. So tired to the point that I was compulsive enough to consider even changing schools on him. Yeah, like that's really going to resolve our issue.

But seriously, ironic how, in the midst of this dilemma, I received a phone call last Friday from one of the prestigious schools that I signed up for months and months ago, with the news that they have 1 spot open if I am still interested.

So, I totally and completely got all worked up with the idea that maybe, just maybe, he will like it better there, and that, we are going to save almost two hundred dollars a month, meaning, I can maybe buy myself some new shoes, or a purse, or maybe an expensive hair cut. LoL!

Whatever.

I was soooooooo dreaming! Not just about the shoes, and the purse! But the whole idea that this school is the answer to my problems.

First of all, the tuition was a lot more than what they told me over the phone. Secondly, the teacher was sooooo MEAN. And as an adult, who tries to write, and use fancy words once in a while, I really want to avoid trying to use that word, but there's no other words to describe her but "MEAN". She was literally yelling at some of the kids who were already teary-eyed while they were in line to wash their hands, so hubby and I thought, sheesh, if you're like that while we're here, I don't even want to know what happens when we're not.

Surely, she has some good teacher qualities, which is why she's a teacher, but something just told me that a classroom full of super-behaved 3yr-olds just felt a little bit eerie to me. To make the matters even worse, on our way out, our "tour" person told us that if money was an issue, and that if we couldn't come up with the stated $11k/year tuition fee, that, we can probably work something out! WTF is this? a car sales woman trying to wheel and deal me into signing up my child? So, we left, and said, thanks... but NO THANKS!

Now back to my REAL problem.

This morning, wonder boy happily and excitedly got ready for school, because get this, he's this week's V.I.P. - meaning, he gets to bring something for show & tell each day, and he gets to be line leader, and most of all, teacher's helper. And let's not forget, he gets to show off more stuff about himself. So I put this together.... in the wee hours of the night:





I'm a scrapbooking drop-out so I had all the stuff on hand, it was just a matter of getting them all together, which is pretty much what kept me up until 1 o'clock in the morning.

Now, really, back to my story....

Same old story, skipping and hopping along the parking lot, cheery good mornings to the passer by's... skip some more.... and hop some more.... until...... sccccrrreeeeccccchhhhhhh!!!!!! He froze like a statue and hung on my leg all over again, and this time, he cried, out loud, really loud..... I WANT TO GO HOME WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

And just like that, we are back to square one.....for the eleventeenth time.

. . .

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ONCE UPON A nap-TIME

So after many attempts of getting an accurate answer from wonder boy about what it is that he likes and not like about school, it all comes down to not-liking naptime. Sunday night when I told him that he needed to get ready for bed early because of school the next day, he immediately went into a stress-mode.

me: honey, you have to go to sleep now because you have to wake up early since you have school tomorrow.

him: mommy, i don't want to go, i don't want to nap there.

me: you don't want to go to school?

him: i want to go to school, but i don't want to nap there. pick me up during dinnertime? (he meant lunch time!)

me: mommy cannot pick you up at lunch, i have to go to work.

him: but you take so long, i don't want to nap there.

me: ok tomorrow, i'm going to talk to the office and see what i can do

THE NEXT DAY - I went to his school office and changed his status from "napper to non-napper", which means that he gets to go do other activities in the afternoon instead of napping. HOWEVER, they are required to have 30 minutes of rest time (just sitting down, head down on the table).

him: so i'm not going to nap, right?

me: nope, you're going to the big kids' room after lunch

him: ok, bye, see ya! (dashed off to his friends, no hugs, no kisses, no hanging on my legs!)

AFTERNOON PICK-UP

I had to pick up his back pack and lunch box from his homeroom.

homeroom teacher: He was soooooo happy today, told me 3 times that he didn't have to nap anymore! go ahead and pick him up from the other room.

I left the room to go to the other room, only to find him drooling on the right side of his face, with drool hanging from his mouth, through his forearm, and on to the table, dead-asleep, snoring as loud as a hog! (Unfortunately, i forgot my phone in the car, because that picture was worth a thousand words!)

afternoon activities teacher: I ask all the kids in here for rest time, and he fell asleep 3 minutes after sitting down.

Woke him up and started walking to the parking lot.

me: honey, i thought you didn't want to nap?

him: oh no mommy, i wasn't napping, i just had to rest my head down because teacher said!


. . .

Thursday, September 18, 2008

17

...number of days that wonder boy has been going to school.

And today, day 18, he decides to hang on to my leg like a chimpanzee who just found his mommy chimpanzee for the first time in 20 chimpanzee years. It took me and his teacher and our 4 hands/arms to peel him off of my numbing leg.

I dashed to the door as soon as he got peeled off, and I knew I shouldn't have looked back, but I did! He looked at me with his eyes saying.... "mommy, i hate you for leaving me here... i hate you, i hate you, i hate you!" and he started to cry. And as I exited the door, the cry got louder and LOUDER!

I ran to my car and burst into tears. Should I go back? Should I take him home? What's wrong with this place? What is he not liking about it? He was fine yesterday, what's the difference between then and now?

The thing is, he was skipping and hopping and singing from the car to his classroom, then suddenly, he morphed into a shy, scared, and anti-social chimpanzee.

Most mommies I know re-assures me that it's only a matter of time, and that their child took 2 long months of balling and crying every drop-off before they finally got the hang of it. I really thought I was one of those lucky ones who'll never have to experience this feeling. THIS feeling of utter guilt and helplessness.

But I'm feeling it.

And it sucks!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Just venting

Is it just me or does every other mom out there feel like their weekdays are just filled with never-ending to-do lists???? I try to get as organized as i possibly can to keep my sanity, for instance, last Thursday, I created this week's daily menu to avoid having to think about what to eat and what to serve every single day. I went grocery shopping over the weekend and checked off everything I need on my list.

Then Monday came, school started, and already, at 3.5 yrs old, wonder boy has homework! Ok, so it's not like math or science, but it's a "Me Doll" that needs to be turned in on Thursday or Friday! To top it off, tomorrow is a "cookie" social so he needs to bring, get this, ONE cookie!!!! So it's not like I'm going to go out of my way and bake my oh-so-special homemade chocolate chip cookies so that he can bring just ONE! But that only means that we have to stop off the supermarket before school so we can pick up his ONE cookie.

Oh yeah, and then, tomorrow evening, they're having an "ice cream social" for parents and teachers and classmates to get to know each other! wth???? isn't that what Back 2 School Nights are for? Don't get me wrong, I plan on being heavily involved with my children's education and activities, and maybe even one day, be brave enough (or crazy enough) to volunteer as a room parent, but c'mon, this is preschool AND this is just the first week of school! Can't we just adjust to all of this first?

. . .