But, first, Gus is supposed to be making family dinners now that I'm headed back to work. Tonight's exciting entree was ramen noodles, after past exciting entrees of spaghetti and mac-n-cheese. He also did some fancy math to try to convince me every serving of ramen contains 24 grams of protein to meet my "every meal must have protein and a veg" mandate. No, son, cooking up four packets so the pot has 24 grams does not mean each person consumes 24 grams, nice try. Besides, ramen packets? Actual protein in that powder? Hmm, I'm skeptical.
The best part of the meal was teaching Kate to say "ramen", though: Wobin? Mah-ben? Amen?
She finally gave up, stared at her bowl and said: "It good! I yike it!"
So, day 3 of preschool. On Wednesdays they start the day with a 45 minute Mass. Serious flashbacks to my days in a Christian school when we had chapel every Wednesday. Except we didn't have to go to chapel until we were in 6th grade. Mass is for everyone, PreK through 8th grade. Ugh. Well, my kids will sure know how to cope with boredom in a church service as a result of attending a private Catholic school.
I'd told the teacher that I'd drop the kids off and then sneak into the back of the church so I could see the Mass just so I knew what they'd be experiencing (since I'm not Catholic and have never attended one) but I hoped by hiding I wouldn't be a distraction to the kids. Their class sat in the front row. I positioned myself all the way in the back, at least 15 pews behind them, and behind another woman. Within 5 minutes Jane had spotted me. Wow, parenting girls is so different than my introverted, oblivious boys.
She wanted to turn and grin and wave so I had to shake my head no and motion her to turn around to face front. She was disappointed but obedient. Then, of course, she had to tell Kate that I was there. Kate had a much harder time. She couldn't resist turning to peak at me every few minutes. I had to pretty much hide behind the woman in front of me.
During the homily the priest came over to the PreK group to ask, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" He only called on kids who raised their hands. My three were oblivious to this nicety (oops, no need for that school skill when homeschooling). James listened to a few kids, got the gist of what was going on, and called out, "I wanna be a DOLPHIN!" The priest was listening to another child at that moment so Kate, seeing James wasn't being noticed, yells at the priest, "Him say DOLPHIN!" The priest ended the Q&A session at that moment. Hoo boy, for the first time in my life I've got the little untrained hooligans in church. (I am confident their teacher will correct their behavior soon, though. And I'm appreciative.)
The rest of the service went pretty well until the end when Kate stood up on her pew, turned to face me, and mouthed, "Mama, I gotta go potty!" I was pleased she didn't yell it. I was also stuck. I really, really do not want to be that mama who pushes in and over-parents while the teacher is in charge. I also knew Kate had on a pull-up as I'm doing for these first weeks till she gets used to the school potty schedule. And so I shook my head no and motioned for her to sit down. Ugh, that felt pretty rotten. She was instantly sad and confused, her little lip pushed out and trembling. In her mind she did was she was supposed to do, tell me she needed to go, but then I, inexplicably, did not help her.
(When I picked her up from school I explained that when she's with her teacher she has to tell her teacher she needs to go potty, not me. She seemed to understand.)
I think the rest of the day went well. All three were eager to go with me when I picked them up. This morning I'd had to wake all three from sleep--which is a first ever. They're definitely tired out from all the newness.
On our way home I stopped at a park and let them play for about 20 min. They all seemed happy and unbothered during our park time. No concerning behaviors. Jane is already singing the songs her teacher is teaching them. She has an amazing aural memory.
After we got home we had lunch, I enforced an hour long quiet time of separate silent play or rest, and then they pretty much played outside the rest of the day. I think they just need the chance to run around unfettered. I'm so grateful we have a huge fenced in yard. When I called them in for supper they'd made a huge pile of gigantic limbs and called it their spider web. James was sitting in the middle calling himself the spider. (And exactly this behavior is why my kids will always be excused from homework during the elementary years.)
Tomorrow they go all day! First time eating lunch at school! How many clothing items will come back with food smears all over them?!? How tired will they be?!? What exciting thing can I do on my last day of total freedom before I start work?
There's no school on Friday so they get a three day weekend. Then it's right into the real deal--all day, five full days for Jane and James. All day, four days a week for Kate. (She gets Fri at home with me because I think she needs the time at home still and my work allows me to work from home and she is the only one who truly could be quiet when I'm on the phone.)
Funny moment--last night Theo and I were talking and we realized we hadn't figured out carseats or car swapping when planning for me to drop the kids off and go to work and him to come from his work to pick them up in the afternoon. We only keep carseats in the big van I drive, not in his little car. 15 months of the girls being here and STILL we have these forehead-slapping moments where we go, duh! We have three little kids!
We're still talking through what to do...
The best part of the meal was teaching Kate to say "ramen", though: Wobin? Mah-ben? Amen?
She finally gave up, stared at her bowl and said: "It good! I yike it!"
So, day 3 of preschool. On Wednesdays they start the day with a 45 minute Mass. Serious flashbacks to my days in a Christian school when we had chapel every Wednesday. Except we didn't have to go to chapel until we were in 6th grade. Mass is for everyone, PreK through 8th grade. Ugh. Well, my kids will sure know how to cope with boredom in a church service as a result of attending a private Catholic school.
I'd told the teacher that I'd drop the kids off and then sneak into the back of the church so I could see the Mass just so I knew what they'd be experiencing (since I'm not Catholic and have never attended one) but I hoped by hiding I wouldn't be a distraction to the kids. Their class sat in the front row. I positioned myself all the way in the back, at least 15 pews behind them, and behind another woman. Within 5 minutes Jane had spotted me. Wow, parenting girls is so different than my introverted, oblivious boys.
She wanted to turn and grin and wave so I had to shake my head no and motion her to turn around to face front. She was disappointed but obedient. Then, of course, she had to tell Kate that I was there. Kate had a much harder time. She couldn't resist turning to peak at me every few minutes. I had to pretty much hide behind the woman in front of me.
During the homily the priest came over to the PreK group to ask, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" He only called on kids who raised their hands. My three were oblivious to this nicety (oops, no need for that school skill when homeschooling). James listened to a few kids, got the gist of what was going on, and called out, "I wanna be a DOLPHIN!" The priest was listening to another child at that moment so Kate, seeing James wasn't being noticed, yells at the priest, "Him say DOLPHIN!" The priest ended the Q&A session at that moment. Hoo boy, for the first time in my life I've got the little untrained hooligans in church. (I am confident their teacher will correct their behavior soon, though. And I'm appreciative.)
The rest of the service went pretty well until the end when Kate stood up on her pew, turned to face me, and mouthed, "Mama, I gotta go potty!" I was pleased she didn't yell it. I was also stuck. I really, really do not want to be that mama who pushes in and over-parents while the teacher is in charge. I also knew Kate had on a pull-up as I'm doing for these first weeks till she gets used to the school potty schedule. And so I shook my head no and motioned for her to sit down. Ugh, that felt pretty rotten. She was instantly sad and confused, her little lip pushed out and trembling. In her mind she did was she was supposed to do, tell me she needed to go, but then I, inexplicably, did not help her.
(When I picked her up from school I explained that when she's with her teacher she has to tell her teacher she needs to go potty, not me. She seemed to understand.)
I think the rest of the day went well. All three were eager to go with me when I picked them up. This morning I'd had to wake all three from sleep--which is a first ever. They're definitely tired out from all the newness.
On our way home I stopped at a park and let them play for about 20 min. They all seemed happy and unbothered during our park time. No concerning behaviors. Jane is already singing the songs her teacher is teaching them. She has an amazing aural memory.
After we got home we had lunch, I enforced an hour long quiet time of separate silent play or rest, and then they pretty much played outside the rest of the day. I think they just need the chance to run around unfettered. I'm so grateful we have a huge fenced in yard. When I called them in for supper they'd made a huge pile of gigantic limbs and called it their spider web. James was sitting in the middle calling himself the spider. (And exactly this behavior is why my kids will always be excused from homework during the elementary years.)
Tomorrow they go all day! First time eating lunch at school! How many clothing items will come back with food smears all over them?!? How tired will they be?!? What exciting thing can I do on my last day of total freedom before I start work?
There's no school on Friday so they get a three day weekend. Then it's right into the real deal--all day, five full days for Jane and James. All day, four days a week for Kate. (She gets Fri at home with me because I think she needs the time at home still and my work allows me to work from home and she is the only one who truly could be quiet when I'm on the phone.)
Funny moment--last night Theo and I were talking and we realized we hadn't figured out carseats or car swapping when planning for me to drop the kids off and go to work and him to come from his work to pick them up in the afternoon. We only keep carseats in the big van I drive, not in his little car. 15 months of the girls being here and STILL we have these forehead-slapping moments where we go, duh! We have three little kids!
We're still talking through what to do...
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