Looking Ahead

Daniel starts school next week and he’ll be repeating Pre-Kindergarten.  It’s something I’ve wanted to write about here because it was an important decision we made and it involved a bunch of research, conversations with teachers and friends, and good faith.  It was actually a pretty EASY decision after everything was laid out in front of us.  The pros far outweighed the cons and, in the end, I really never saw any cons at all.

Daniel’s birthday is August 30th and the school cut off day for Kindergarten (in Florida) is September 1st.  He basically makes the cut by two days.  If he were born September 2nd, he would have to wait until the next year to start. He will turn five on August 30th and he will be allowed to enter Kindergarten, but he would most likely be the very youngest child in the class.  He was the youngest one in his Pre-K class this past year too.  He did great academically and he’s a really smart kid, but Daniel is a little shy and more reserved than the others. There were little skills that required extra help (like holding a pencil), but mostly he just lacked some confidence and maturity.  He was well liked and had a lot of friends, but he would never initiate the group play or be super social. The teachers said he had the intelligence to move on, but the emotional maturity he would gain from an extra year of Pre-K would be priceless.  We agreed.

Right around the time we were making our final decision, my husband was reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.  I highly recommend this book.  It talks a lot about this very subject.  He talked about falling behind in grade school and how it can lead to problems later in life.  And giving your child an extra year will ultimately pay off for them socially, emotionally, and financially. If you hold your child back he will be older, stronger, faster, and more mature than the rest of his or her class. Therefore, they will be better positioned to outperform their peers in academic testing and even athletics. By “holding them back” you are basically stacking the deck in FAVOR of your child’s success.

I’ve also never had one single parent tell me they’ve regretted the decision to have their child repeat a grade.  But I have heard the stories of regret if they decided not to do it.  That helped us too.  I don’t want to decide later to have Daniel repeat an older grade when it’s, for lack of a better word, more noticeable.

Daniel also goes to a brand new school this year.  It’s the ideal situation for him to repeat Pre-K.  I know some parents have wrestled with this decision if it involved repeating the grade at the same school in the same classroom with the same teacher.  I definitely had all the signs pointing positively in the direction of our final decision.  Also, it’s just a lot more common these days.  Back when I was in school, you were only “held back” for negative reasons: poor grades, bad behavior, personal issues, etc.  Now it’s an opportunity to have my kid turn 18 at home, instead of during his first week at college.  He can be one of the first ones to get his driver’s license, instead of the last one.  He’ll have this extra year in Pre-K to grow more confident and create a foundation for his future.  And I’m excited because I know we are giving him the very best gift: The gift of time.

Daniel’s First Movie: “Cars 2″

We took Daniel to his very first movie yesterday, Cars 2.  We waited until he was 4 years old because we wanted it to be a memorable first experience.  Something we ALL would remember.  Daniel LOVES the Disney movie Cars, so it worked out perfectly that his first movie in the theatre was Cars 2!

Okay, TECHNICALLY Daniel was at a movie theatre once before.  When he was 3 months old, I took him to see some really bad PG-13 movie and I don’t even remember the title.  It was part of a “Moms Morning Out” event.  They kept the theatre lights up the entire time so you could feed or play with your baby while you watched the movie.  But I was a first time Mama and I stressed out every time he cried.  So we left.  But I did manage to snap a photo of his first time at the movies.

This time went MUCH better.  There was no crying involved.  Just my cute little boy in his brand new Cars T-shirt with an excited smile on his face.  Daniel was in awe of the “ginormous” theatre.  We got our tickets from the Fandango machine and he walked right up and handed his ticket to the ticket taker. He loved all the movie posters and he loved that it had an arcade.  We let him play a racing game and then it was off to buy popcorn, candy, and lemonade.  Daniel got some kind of kiddie fruity Twizzler thingy, but then he snagged my Junior Mints after trying just one.  He now LOVES Junior Mints.  He has good concession stand taste.

I laugh at that photo of me with my purse and my big black tote bag.  I always bring a bag of sweaters and pashmina scarves with me to the movies so I can save seats. Plus, I’m always cold.  Bean actually wore his sweater and half way through he used my pashmina as a mini blanket.  It was a long movie. (It was just under two hours.) He enjoyed watching the cars on the big screen, but the movie left a lot to be desired.  We spent most of the time whispering to Daniel about what was going on because there was a complicated spy plot weaved in with oil companies versus environmentalists or something like that.  There was also a lot of shooting and killing (!) cars.  It was a let down. My husband explains it all much better and you can read his review of the movie here.

Daniel said his favorite parts of the movie were the boats, planes, and the London double-decker buses.  He didn’t mention any of the cars, which is so funny.  But we had a great time.  We had a new memory and a Junior Mint-stained little boy to take home.

Swimmingly

Daniel and Annabel are enrolled in summer swimming lessons and it’s been great.  They go twice a week for 8 sessions. This is the first year they have done a group lesson.  Daniel started the ISR (Infant Survival Classes) when he was only 18 months old. There was a lot of screaming and crying involved, but he did learn to float and swim to safety.  It was pretty amazing.

Annabel never “took” to the ISR lessons which really means I didn’t finish the entire program with her.  Daniel did a refresher course for a few weeks last summer, and since I had them both with me all day long, I just stopped her beginner lessons when Daniel stopped his refresher lessons.  She really should have completed the entire thing.  Bad Mama.

This year I decided on group lessons because I want them both to learn to SWIM. I want them to learn the strokes and the kicks and the breathing. I also still have the issue of keeping them together and finding a place to teach both their skill levels at the same time. (Believe me, I know ISR is an AMAZING course and I still would highly recommend it to anyone with younger kids.)

The group lessons take place in an indoor pool so there is no worry of weather issues and I don’t have to slather on sunscreen. First there was a rocky start with Annabel. She has diva moments when she gets pouty and grumpy.  (We are also in the stage of “nap” versus “no nap.”  And when “no nap” wins, she’s a bit of a mess at the pool. Sorry, patient swim teacher.)  But she is now starting to kick her legs and blow bubbles and float like a champ.  Daniel is swimming to the teacher and swimming back to the wall all by himself.  He is starting to learn some basic strokes and if we do another session this summer, I can see him really excelling.  He loves it so much that he smiles the entire lesson.  It’s a joy to see.

Plus, they have really cool bathing suits.  Thanks, Grandma.

Daniel’s Last Day of Preschool

Daniel’s final days of preschool were jam packed with activities.  Besides the graduation ceremony, there was an alphabet party, a water fun day, and an end of year party with the parents.  For the alphabet party, all the kids had to pick a letter.  They had to bring in a food item to share that started with that letter AND they had to come in costume as something starting with that letter. Daniel was a Fireman with a Fruit Salad.

The end of the year party was bittersweet.  It was so nice to see all the kids play together.  It was a “Summer Luau” theme with lots of games and crafts and sweet treats. Daniel was the final line leader – a job he loved so much.  The class really bonded and Daniel had some really awesome teachers.  I was blessed.  WE were blessed.

The VERY last day of school was hard. For me. Daniel was not phased.  He rolled up to that school like it was any other day, except he had some thank you cards for his teachers in his hand.  He had a great year, but he was ready to move on to summer adventures, to a new school.  I don’t even want to THINK about Annabel starting preschool in the Fall.  It all goes so fast.

Soccer

Daniel’s soccer season ended on Saturday.  This was his very first team sport experience with weekly practices and games.  This was my first experience being a “soccer mom.”  I had so much fun.  Daniel did too.

Sure, there were days when he was happy the game was about to end, but overall he enjoyed it.  He liked to spend time with his friends.  He liked to run around.  He especially liked to run and fake fall on the ground which made me especially nervous because of the recent Easter forehead injury.  The soccer league did a great job of encouraging fun and team spirit.  They provided the kids with cool orange jerseys and matching socks.  All the parents helped out with half time snacks and end of game snacks to keep the kids motivated. (Popsicles were the winning favorite.) Hubbie was an assistant coach and the kids just loved him.  Annabel was an awesome cheerleader and a great sport.  She was there ever single Saturday to watch Daniel in her pink princess chair.  (She was also armed with a big bag of fun distractions.) We didn’t keep score.  Well, not officially anyway.  (We won over half our games. Yay!) And the very best part?  Daniel said he would like to play again next year.  SCORE.

Daniel’s Pre-K Graduation

It’s been a big week of milestones for our family.  Today, Daniel had his Pre-K graduation ceremony at school.  It was beyond cute.  First, all the kids performed some summer songs on the big stage.  The songs included the very popular “Florida Alphabet” and “If All of the Raindrops” – my personal favorite.  Daniel even wore a cap (no gown) for the graduation part.  He walked across the stage to greet his teacher, Ms. Michelle.  She gave him a bible and a graduation certificate.  He was so proud. We had to wade through the sea of parent paparazzi to get our video and photos.

We gave Daniel some new Richard Scarry books as a congratulations.  He was so excited.  My boy loves books.  And he loves Richard Scarry books.

We all went out for a family lunch at Chili’s.  It was Daniel’s pick.  Because they have the crazy blue blast drink there, of course.

Congrats to my super silly, super smart, super awesome little man.  I love you oh so much.

Easter ’11: Part One

This was Daniel LAST Easter.  (Please note the enormous blue and purple Easter egg bump on his forehead.)

And this was Daniel THIS Easter.

 

Please note the ginormous laceration across his cute forehead.  It’s the annual Daniel Easter curse.  This was the THIRD Easter we took Daniel to the ER.  The first time was when he was 7 months old and we were visiting my parents in Maryland.  It was Easter morning and we were all getting ready for church service.  I was changing Daniel’s diaper on the bed.  I turned around to grab his Easter outfit from the dresser and in that one, two, three seconds, BAM, he rolled off the bed and fell on the floor.  Luckily it was a short twin bed and there was a carpet, but I was a first time Mama. I panicked and so did Hubbie.  I had images of scrambled egg brain in my head.   I told my husband if Daniel ended up with a learning disability I would never forgive myself. That was an extreme reaction, yes, but I could not believe this was happening to ME.  I mean, I was not that Mama who let her kid just roll off a bed onto the floor.  And here I was.

We took Daniel to the ER.  I think one of the scariest moments was when the doctor separated us to get the story of how Daniel hit his head.  It was to rule out child abuse and I found out later that it’s standard procedure.  I was crying pretty hard so Hubbie handled most of the questions and the examination.  They felt Daniel’s head and checked his eyes and all the other vitals.  He was fine.  He was just a tired little baby that wanted to take a nap.  We felt justified taking him to the ER because we had to board a plane back to Florida that afternoon and what if he passed out while were were miles in the air?  I held him in my arms the entire flight.  He slept with a smile on his face.  I fought back tears the entire 2 and 1/2 hours.  It traumatized me for about a month.

I guess we were in the clear in 2008 and 2009.  Then it happened again in 2010.  Daniel was running around and fell on our hard kitchen tile.  I don’t think he put his hands out because there was just a slip and a fall and a cry and it was so fast.  When we ran to him I just saw the giant blue bump form before my eyes.  I had never seen something like that in my life.  We grabbed ice and asked him a million questions to ensure he knew who he was and where he was.  Hubbie took him right to the ER. The doctors checked him out and said he was fine and he came home in time for Easter dinner.  But then I had to stare at that yucky bump for over a week.

Last Friday was Good Friday and Daniel had off from school.  He was invited to a play date at a friend’s house.  I dropped Annabel off at her GG’s so I could have some girl chat with the ladies. We took a quick tour of the beautiful home and then the three boys went to play.  The moms camped out with drinks in the living room.  The boys moved from the living room to the bedroom playing with all the cool toys.  There were stairs.  Daniel refused to take off his Crocs.  I always insist “no shoes in the house” but the nice Mom said it was OKAY.  LET HIM BE.  HE’S HAVING FUN.  LET HIM BE.  Sometimes I don’t trust my gut.

I don’t know if the Crocs were to blame, but on the way down the stairs for the third time that morning Daniel missed the last step.  I didn’t see this, but that is what he told me.  I heard someone fall on the hard tile and then I heard Daniel’s cry.  I felt like I was moving in slow motion and then I saw it. Blood.  All over his face.  His hands.  Down the front of his shirt.  My heart fell to my stomach.  We thought he broke his nose.  But after wiping him down with wet paper towels and baby wipes we found out it was a big cut on his forehead.  We took him to the ER.  AGAIN.  I know this wasn’t exactly EASTER, but close enough for me.  I could not believe it was happening AGAIN.

Hubbie met us there and I did the hand off.  He’s better than me with this stuff.  He’s calmer.  I really was proud of myself though. I was pretty calm.  I was urgent, but I was calm too.  The ER doctor put Daniel’s forehead back together with skin glue.  It’s pretty amazing stuff.  Daniel was ready to leave the moment we got there.  He kept saying, “I’m FINE.”  He’s a brave kid.  And he has a very high tolerance for pain. He just wanted to go home.  He said it didn’t hurt.  Well, I sure felt a little broken inside.

Easter Sunday was actually really nice and drama free.  I’ll post photos and notes tomorrow.  Unfortunately, yesterday, Daniel had an allergic reaction to that glue adhesive.  The cut became puffy and red so last night at 8 PM we went back to the ER.  The same doctor took off the glue and replaced it with four steri strips across his forehead.   The doctor said he was healing well.  Now we just have to watch for the scar.

SO, Easter 2012?  I’m considering a three day movie fest.  On the couch.  All day long.  No one moves.  No one gets hurt.  I’m breaking this curse, darn it.

It’s Friday, Friday

Happy Friday!  Yahoo!!

And do you know WHY I’m so happy?? Well….

1.  Grey’s Anatomy ROCKED LAST NIGHT.  (I may be in the minority here, but I thought it was just awesome.)

2. I survived Spring Break week with both kiddies at home!  We had some great adventures:  bike rides, park fun, lunch at Panera, a bookstore visit, library craft day, and a perfect rainy afternoon watching Tangled on DVD. We ended the week at the MOSH in downtown Jacksonville.  Here they are goofing around in the indoor tree house.

3. I’m going out to Happy Hour with the hubbie tonight!  I don’t know the last time I went out for Happy Hour.  It was definitely pre-kiddies.

Finally, I leave you with the biggest viral video of the week.  It now has over 72 million views on YouTube! It’s Rebecca Black singing “Friday.”  Very appropriate.   She’s only 13 years old and I think she’s pretty darn awesome too.

Soccer

Daniel’s soccer season starts this week.  His very first team practice is tomorrow evening.  We are all very excited.

Daniel was excited to buy the cleats and shin guards.

Facing My Fears: Sugar Cookies

I’m not a good cook.  My hubbie is the cook in our family, or, rather, he is the CHEF.  He’s amazing and I’m not motivated to go head to head with his skills.  It’s fine by me.  I like to bake. Sometimes.

Now that Bean is in preschool he is anointed with the “star of the week” title about 3 times during the school year.  As part of the fun, he has to bring in a toy and a book to share each day.  He loves it.  He gets to show off his collection of trucks and cars and books that he loves to read.  On Friday, he has to bring in a special snack to share with the class.  When I think “snack”, I think apple slices or peanut butter crackers or popcorn.  But I quickly learned that when the kids think “snack” it means cupcakes, cookies or brownies.  SUGAR, basically.  In the fall we made cupcakes with leaf sprinkles.  They were a hit!  Yahoo! This time Bean wanted to make sugar cookies.

I loved the idea because the letter they were studying last week was “S.”  So we decided to make SUGAR cookies in the SHAPE of STARS with SPRINKLES!

Easy, right?  Well, not for me, the amateur baker mom.  I know I need to amp up my baking skills since I soon will have TWO kiddies in school.  I didn’t go all homemade but I did buy the sugar cookie package instead of the “bake and break” variety.

The tough part turned out to be the star shapes.  The dough was a bit sticky so pushing the cookie cutters on the dough and then trying to lift up each individual star shape was not working.  Bean and I used our creative skills and made each one directly on the cookie sheet.  It took longer, but it worked!

I found this recipe for the sugar cookie icing.  I give it two thumbs up.  The icing was smooth and shiny.  We used paint brushes to spread on the icing.  That was super fun for Bean.  I personally love, love, love the almond taste and it did not overpower the sugar icing too much either.  Then we quickly tossed on the sprinkles before the icing dried and Voila!  All done!

Since I always anticipate a hiccup when I’m cooking or baking, I decided to use crafty packaging in order to make the cookies SEEM more delicious.   I bought the cellophane bags from Hobby Lobby (my new favorite place) and tied them with ribbon. Each kid would get one star cookie and then we bundled extra cookies together for the teachers.  Then put everything in a fancy basket and there is no way they could be bad.

The cookies actually DID taste good, despite a nightmare I had which involved all the kids throwing their cookies back at Daniel and demanding a cupcake instead.  That didn’t happen at all.  In fact, Daniel said some of the kids asked for seconds!  Awesome! Always leave them wanting more.  I now have 8 weeks to figure out my next sugary creation.

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