What I Learned In Kindergarten

Garrett has finished his first week of Kindergarten. Every morning Garrett puts on his clothes, makes himself presentable, has a little breakfast, and heads out the door with his daddy. Chris and Garrett meet Isabela and her family along the way and join the masses of parents who are all filing toward the school. Garrett and Isabela go into the school together, but they attend different classes. Sometimes they share their lunch period and a recess, but there seems to be no predictable way of knowing how much they will see of each other at school. Isabela's mom and Mary and I go to pick up the kids after school and then we try to figure out what happened in the school day. Our interrogation goes something like this:

Question: How was your day at school?
Isabela: Great! I saw Garrett at lunch and I read a book to my class.
Garrett: Um... fine.

Question: Did you eat all of your lunch? (Mother of child starts to rummage through lunch box to determine what was eaten.)
Isabela: Well, I didn't eat all of my lunch. I ate one apple slice and only the white part of my hard boiled egg. And some of my milk.
Garrett: Yes.

Question: What exactly did you do at school today? Did anything special happen?
Isabela: Today we had music and I love the music teacher. The girls in my class were respectful to the teacher, but the boys had problems. Also, we learned about Jack and Jill. Did you know that a "crown" can mean more than a crown, such as a king's crown? A crown can also refer to an area of the head. Right here! (points to head). And did you know that in the nursery rhyme, "Jack and Jill" that when Jack falls down and breaks his crown, he does not actually break a crown like a king's crown, but he breaks his head!

While I am absorbing the morbid details of this story, Garrett proceeds to answer the above question.
Garrett: Um. I drew a picture of myself. And I lay down on my towel and I wasn't scared and there was some music and I didn't have a towel with characters on it, I just have a purple towel and that room was all dark.

Question: Did you use the bathroom?
Isabela: No.
Garrett: No. Um, mommy, did you know that if you have to go to the potty, you don't have to do like this (Garrett proceeds to grab his crotch and jump up and down with is hand in the air). You can just say, "Excuse me, I need to use the potty."

About this time the conversation circles back around to lunch with questions like, "Why didn't you eat your carrots? Did you not eat them because you were full, or because you don't like them? Or because you didn't have time? Why didn't you eat your chicken dinosaurs?

Garrett and Isabela: I WANT A CHICKEN DINOSAUR!
Mary: I want shicken dine-saur too!

We proceed to empty the lunches and pass out leftovers. Eventually we make it home and Isabela and Garrett beg to play with each other until dinner time.

Now, let's get back to this very educational issue of Jack and Jill! I'm aware that learning about rhymes are an important part of learning how to read. Got that. And I very much value learning about the multiple meanings of words. Love words! Love multiple meanings. But, is it really necessary to explain that Jack's head is busted open? I did a little research on this pleasant nursery rhyme. Turns out that Jack's head is not just busted open, it has been CUT OFF! Yes, friends, the innocent thirsty Jack that we all know and love, did not just go up the hill for a pail of water. He is purported to be Louis XVI of France, who was beheaded (lost his crown) and Jill is purported to be Marie Antoinette, who was beheaded after Louis (came tumbling after). No wonder nobody ate their lunch.

The Great Frousin Visit of '08

When Garrett was born, I considered my close friends to be like aunts to him. I called them "fraunts." Soon, some of the fraunts started having kids of their own, which yielded "frousins!" Our little friend family is very special to us, particularly since Garrett and Mary don't have any actual first cousins. Our frousins are our age mates and it is a priority for us to try to see them once a year. This year, Fraunt Emily and Fraunt Anna courageously drove from the DC area all the way to Urbana! They packed the frousins in the car like little sardines. In total we had 8 kids in the house, all under the age of 6 (Garrett, 5.5; Aidan, 5; Connor, almost 4; Ella, 3.5; Mary, almost 3; Kerrigan, 2.5; Charlotte, almost 1; and Mackenna, 9 months.) Pretty much every six months after Garrett was born, one of us had a baby! Wow.

Each family had their own room in my house, although eventually we had to move the babies to their own room (big brothers and sisters are compelled to touch their baby sisters). Then we had a family in each room, a baby in the entryway, and another baby in the library. One time I had to make a phone call at night and I went out to the car so that I wouldn't disturb anyone. Chris moved to another house for the week. He came home around dinner time to touch base. It took about 30 seconds for him to get that deer-in-the-headlights look and announce his departure. We fraunts thought things went remarkably well! All the kids sat for their meals and ate a good portion of their food. That's a big deal when there are so many distractions around. Probably the craziest time was bath time. I have some great video footage of that. Imagine 3 boys in the tub, 2 girls in towels, Mary on the toilet, and babies crawling around the floor--in a single bathroom. Anna and Emily were the masters of the bath, rotating kids in and out, passing diapers overhead, and flinging jammies on damp bodies in a single swoosh over the head. Very impressive. It should be an Olympic sport, I think.

We had fun, busy days playing in costumes, playing pirates, pretending to be spacemen (I found two boys in my closet one day; they told me it was their rocket ship), doing art projects, blowing bubbles, having three-wheel races in the driveway, going to the indoor playground, munching on popsicles, making chalk outlines of our bodies, and watching movies. At the end of the day we fraunts enjoyed a well-earned refreshment and went to bed early in order to brace ourselves for the next day. Although we didn't get much time to do grown-up friend stuff, I was so impressed with how well we worked as a team to take care of the kids and make sure that they had a good, memorable visit. Good job mommies!

Garrett's First Day of Kindergarten

Garrett's first day of Kindergarten started with breakfast with friends and family. Our friends Anna and Emily and their 6 kids were visiting us from Virginia! They all had waffles and juice and waved bye to Garrett as he headed out for his first day of school. Garrett was cool as a cucumber, but I was a bit scattered and nervous. As we were walking out the door, Garrett said, "Wait mommy! Don't I need my lunch?" I had loaded the poor kid with 5 pounds of school supplies, a towel for his rest period, and a sack of goldfish crackers to share with is class, but had completely forgot his lunch. Also, my camera wasn't working properly so I had to borrow Anna's to take a picture of our first journey to school.

We had a pleasant 10 minute walk. The only time I felt emotional was when we walked by Isabela's house. Isabela had her first day on Friday, but she was very aware that Garrett was starting on Thursday and watched for him out her window. Garrett waved to her enthusiastically and said, "Hi Isabewa! I go to school now!" Her support of him and his happiness to see her was a near tear-jerker.

Chris did a great job of talking to Garrett about his day on the way to school. He told him that he would have two teachers and that he would eat his lunch in a bigger room with the other kids. He explained that he should listen to his teacher and not play fighting games. He also told him that he would make lots of new friends and he practiced saying, "Hello, my name is Garrett. Would you like to play with me?"

When we got to school, I couldn't remember if we were supposed to wait outside in the designated triangle, or if we were supposed to take the kids inside. They had said something about doing it differently on the first day. Another mommy decided that we should just try to go inside. We were quickly rerouted by the school secretary. I had the distinct feeling that I was going to be sent to the principals office. Funny how you never shake that feeling. Finally the bell rang and all the kids filed into the building. We waited until everyone was in and then went in ourselves. We introduced Garrett to his teachers and took some pictures. The teachers then cued us to leave by saying, "Ok, boys and girls. Let's all wave bye bye to mom and dad." There was a chorus of goodbye's and then we left, snapping pictures as Garrett faded from view.

After school, Anna and the three girls (Kerrigan, Ella, and Mary) met Garrett on the playground. He was very happy to see us. I said, "Hey Garrett, how was your big day." He said, "Oh fine. Mommy, when they turned those lights out and it was dark and I had a dream that Connor and Aidan got on a plane and I said bye to them and I was sad to see them go home and that's what happened when the teacher made the room dark and I wanted to go home." I said, "Oh, you mean during your rest time? You didn't like the way the room looked." He said, "No I thought it was dark and I had a bad dream." I asked him if he used his towel. He said, "No, cause I forgot it. I didn't have a towel." Man, I sent the towel and he didn't even use it. I made a mental note to email the teacher and say, "What gives? I sent the towel!?" Later I noticed the towel in his backpack. What's up with this towel? Will I have to send it back and forth everyday? I definitely need some clarification on the towel. So then I asked Garrrett, "How was the rest of the day? What did you do first." He said, "Well, first I go into that room and we had a group time. We read a book about special people, like my teacher uses a chair machine. Then we made a picture about being special." I said, "Oh, I see. You're teacher told you that she uses a special chair and then you had to think of ways that you were special. What did you draw?" He said, "I drew myself." I said, "But what did you draw that showed that you are special." He said, "I don't know, mommy. I just draw myself like I was told." Then I asked him, "How was your lunch?" He said, "It was good." I asked, "Did you eat it all?" He said, "Well, no I just ate some of it and then I played." I said, "Oh, well we'll have to see what's still in your lunch box." Then he said, "Also mommy, I had to pee and I thought about it and I thought I think I'll just wait until I get home." I explained that he could ask the teacher about using the bathroom. He said, "Yeah, but I thought I should go at home." Hm.. We'll have to work on that.

When we arrived home we had juice and cookies with all of our visiting friends. Garrett seemed like such a big kid all of a sudden. I told Garrett that I needed a helper to hand out the juice boxes. He said, "Ok mommy, I'll take off the straws and put them in the juice box for all the little kids." Then he turned to the kids and said, "Ok, I gonna help you. I gonna put in those straws and then I'm gonna give you a juice. Okay kids?" It was so cute.

Occasionally throughout the day Mary would ask, "Where's my Garrett?" She's surprised not to see him in the car when I pick her up from her preschool. She will notice that he's not in the house. I think she will start to anticipate our walk to the school and be happy to see him. I have to remember that this is a big transition for her as well. I missed Garrett too. Even with the commotion of having 7 kids in my house that day, Garrett's absence was felt. It was a big "First Day" for all of us.

Paul's Visit and A Post Visit Photo

Garrett and Mary recently had a great visit with their godfather, Paul. In fact, we were having so much fun, we forgot to take a picture! Rats! Here's a picture I made so that I can pretend that I remembered.

During his visit Paul had the opportunity to watch Garrett in his swimming class. He was impressed with Garrett's progress and encouraged Garrett to listen to his swim coach. That means you have to keep your head above the water, Garrett! Paul also helped me and Mary assemble the train set and make a marble shoot. It would have been nice to have a picture of that. We went to the park and played in the water-play water fountains and had some custard cup ice cream. Paul saw how messy kids are and how great it is to understand the properties of proper spoon handling. For example, one should not hold one's spoon with the bowl of the spoon in the air so that all the ice cream can drip down your spoon, all over your hands, clothes, and the floor. Paul also accompanied us on a trip to the hair cutting shop, where Mary got her first real haircut. We wanted to make sure that Paul got the full tour of our family affairs, so he also was available for Mary's eventful trip to the potty in which she both peed and pooped and got her "poop candy" reward. Yes, Paul has traveled all around the world, but I'm sure this was his most educational stop. I wonder why we forgot the camera? Paul is now an expert at getting kids in and out of the car, and he knows how to help Mary learn to say please and thank you. It goes something like this:

Mary (big whine): Mommy!! I want apple juice!
Caroline: Oh, you do? Can you think of a nicer way to ask for apple juice?
Mary: I want apple juice!
Caroline: Can you say, "Mommy, may I have some apple juice please?"
Mary: Yes!
Caroline: No, you don't say "Yes, I want juice." You ask for the juice the way I'm saying it. Say, "Mommy, can I have some apple juice please?"
Mary: YES!
Caroline: Paul, can you say, "I'd like some apple juice please, Mommy."
Paul: I'd like some apple juice please, mommy.
Caroline: OH! Good asking Paul. Mary, now you say it like Paul said it.
Mary: Please I have some apple juice mommy?
Caroline: Of course! Thank you for asking so nicely.

Another stop Paul made on the family tour was to learn the art of preparing a dinner party whilst watching Garrett and Mary. When one is cooking in the kitchen with one's back to the goings on of small children, one must poke one's head around every once in a while and make sure that the little turkeys aren't up to no good. Frequent peeks at Garrett reveal that there is no risk of Garrett causing a problem or injuring himself. Peeks at Mary remind one of how important it is to keep peeking. Unfortunately what usually happens is that there is a period of high activity in the kitchen and one forgets about the peeking procedure. By the time one remembers, it is too late. In this particular instance Paul and I were preparing dinner for 5. We had things on the grill, two versions of main dishes on the stove (one vegetarian and one delicious), as well as a golden beet salad with toasted walnuts and goat cheese in the works. While we were busily washing, chopping, stirring, marinating, grilling, and so forth, Mary was running back and forth talking about pools of water. I said, "What Mary? You want to go to the pool?" She said, "Yes. Pool of water. I wash the turtle." I thought she must be talking about the dinosaur slide at the indoor pool, which looks like a turtle. I said, "It's not Mary's turn to go to the pool." She left the room, talking about pools and water and turtles. After a few minutes I finished chopping something and saw a small turtle on the floor. The turtle was surrounded by a large towel. In one of those flashes of insight, I realized that Mary had been saying she washed her own turtle, which meant that she had been playing in the sink in the bathroom, which also meant that she may not have turned off the water. I rushed to the bathroom and to my horror (and T minus 45 on people coming over), I found the sink overflowing and 1.5 inches of water on my bathroom floor. After a series of "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!'s," Paul came rushing to see what was the matter. He said, "Oh wow. What can I do? Where can I get towels?" I said, "Keep cooking." The show must go on. "I'll take care of this." Before I touched a drop, I grabbed Mary, who was hiding under pillows on the couch, and said, "Mary look! This is bad. This is very bad. Bad Mary! I think you should go to your room and think about this bad water. I am not happy with you." She went up the stairs with her tail between her legs and didn't come out until I returned for her apology. So, something tells me that this might have been a new experience for Paul, although I think it did deepen his already well-developed appreciation for wine. Kids make wine taste better. And if I were telling the story of our entire evening, that would be a good lead in to the next paragraph. Alas, I am not. We're discussing Paul's visit with Miss Moo and Mr. Mo.

After 3 and half days Paul had to say goodbye to us. Garrett and Mary were quite sad. Mommy was very sad too. Mary keeps talking about how she's going to see Paul next week. She won't see him next week, but she will see some other exciting visitors next week. They will look forward to Paul's next visit. They always remember the fun things that they do with him and point out his pictures around the house. We hope we didn't scare him away. Maybe he'll come back when Mary is in boarding school. Whenever he comes, we'll be sure to take a picture.

Check Ups

Today Garrett and Mary had their yearly check ups. Garrett had to have 3 separate shots and he took 'em like a man! I was so proud of him! Unfortunately, Mary was acting like an orangutan, bouncing around the office, talking non-stop, and pretending that she was the doctor. When it came time to talk about Mary's growth, the doctor said, "So, how is Mary? Clearly there's no problem with her language development!" No, definitely no problem there, unless you consider the inability to stop talking a problem.

Today Mary insisted that she go outside to visit with the neighbors cat. I was taking a phone call, so I took the phone outside and instructed her to stay close to me (Heaven forbid I should have to hang up the phone and follow her and the cat on an endless journey). Of course, she started to move out of my sight toward the neighbors house. I said, "Mary, come back here. TOO FAR! I can't see you." Holding up one finger, she said, "I be back in a minute mom!" Oh, well, since you put it that way. Right. I told her to come back THIS INSTANT! She came back and put her stuffed kitty in the center of the driveway to keep watch over things. Only then would she follow me back inside. She is SO willful!

Garrett's big moment of the day was jamming his foot in the door at the indoor pool. In case I haven't told you, Garrett is the loudest crier on the planet. So imagine that you just jammed your foot under a heavy door and you have crumpled to the ground with screams of pain, are rocking back and forth to self-soothe, and your sensitive mother is saying, "Okay, okay, it will be okay! But, honey, please cry a little quieter. You're scaring small children." I'm not totally heartless. I did cross forbidden swim staff territory to procure a bandaid and then carried his wet, damaged, 50-pound body to the car. Once we were in the car and the crying had stopped (but not the bleeding), I said, "Now, Garrett, when we get home, I'll help you out of your wet clothes, and then I want you to go straight to the computer and play Lego Star Wars. You must stay off of your foot." He said, "Okay, mommy. I think that's a good idea." You bet.

My glass of wine tasted mighty good this evening. Mighty good.

New Blog Access

Hi, everyone. Well for the first time ever I had a suspicious comment on my blog. You know, I am generally a trusting person, but when it comes to my kids I am super cautious. I was alerted to the fact that I had a suspicious stranger commenting on the blog... not a friend-of-a-friend type, but a weirdo-type, so now I will need to make the blog an invite-only thing. This is sad because I like the idea of my friends sharing our stories with their friends. If you have a friend who would like access to the blog (I know some of you have a link to the blog from your own blog), then please send along their address. I would be happy to have many readers who are just normal, happy, well-intentioned people reading our blog. For example, my sister works with a lot of great people who check up on Mr. Mo and Miss Moo from time to time. Just send me their addresses and I'll invite them to view the blog. Sorry for the censorship. I truly wish it were not necessary.

Star Wars and Dinosaurs!

Mary and Garrett love to wear hats and costumes. They put on their clever disguises and they are transformed! Here Mary is a Dinosaur (Garretts previous Halloween costume) and Garrett is a Storm Trooper (Thanks, Pop!).