My baby is a preschooler!

Connor went to his first day of preschool today. Such a bittersweet moment...he's so ready to spend time with kids his own age and do some learnin', but mommy had a hard time tearing herself away.

His day had mixed reviews...he seemed to have had fun; when I showed up to collect him, he was wearing a construction hat and assembling an airplane puzzle with his new little friend Sharya, but apparently he balked mightily at going to the toilet with his teacher Miss Betty. They encourage the children to potty themselves and her thought is that perhaps he would feel more comfortable if he could do it all himself and have some privacy. We know that potty time is a big privacy thing for him...he does NOT like to be watched...so we agreed and want to get him some stretchy waist pants to wear that will be easier for him to take up and down himself. Something to encourage at home as well. They are working on the five senses for the next two weeks so we did a lot of talking about eyes yesterday. No art projects that day...just a low key day of station play and snacks with other kids. The little stinker ate all his peas at lunch...usually he acts like I'm poisoning him if I serve him anything green! Never underestimate the value and the pitfalls of peer pressure, eh? He's not gung ho about school; he asked yesterday to go "tomorrow" but mommy said no, we go on Wednesday which he accepted very easily which means it couldn't have been that big of a deal.

We are missing daddy an awful lot. He gets to talk to daddy on the computer web cam every couple days depending on whether or not Charlie or Connor need more sleep and miss the chance. He loves to talk to daddy on the computer and gets so frustrated when he can't remember all he wants to tell daddy. His language development doesn't let him tell a story the way he wants, so he usually ends up just spewing phrases and words that make very little sense to someone who didn't go through his day. "Hey man, wet's pway...airpwane...flaps...up in the air! Comcricker (computer...game...I pway k...kangawoo! Book...penen (penguin)..." and so it goes on. From that you might have trouble guessing that he played this morning and read the airplane book. Pop taught him about flaps making the wing bigger and heling the plane fly through the air. He also played his computer game and played k, making the kangaroo sing his ABCs as a reward. He also got a new penguin book from Nani that is shaping up to be a favorite. Mommy has to translate some of the Connor patois for daddy. I'll be interested to see what being around all those children does for his speech. I think daddy is sad to be missing some of these firsts, but Skype is making it a great deal easier.

So here's a first day of preschool picture...he is remarkably uncooperative when a camera comes out. But he was too proud of his new tractor shirt to not get a pic. Note the tortured ambivalence.



Here's Connor's school. I blanked out the address for safety reasons. The school is attached to a day care and the structured school day is from 8-12. Connor arrives somewhere between 8-830, has a snack and playtime then they transition into school time and predetermined activities. he eats lunch around 11-1130 then mom comes and fetches him before the other kids' nap time. There's a nice big playground too but this VA kids are wusses and only venture outside if it's above 50. Since Alaska rules -20 for kids, we laugh at 50.



And here's a gratuitous Timmy pic. He is really loving unadulterated mommy time. He has to compete a lot with big brother for mommy's attention. We took a nap together and then played on the floor with another funky little doll he loves. It too has nubbly knobs for excellent baby teethers. Here he's trying yet again to eat his own hand.



Well, I guess we liked school more than I thought considering he's asked twice more to go today...this every other day thing is right out in his book! We'll have more Connor school adventures soon!