Foster Further

Wow, what a weird time. The kids did their fourth day of preschool phase-in on Thursday. It was a full day, they had lunch there for the first time, and when I picked them up at 3:00 they were exhausted. Tired, grumpy kids. School was already scheduled not to meet on Fri because the teachers had a training. Then we found out Fri morning that schools would be shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus. So....no preschool. Huh. I don't know what to think. I found out Fri that I'll be starting my new job Mon but also working from home, as is Theo, for the next few weeks. I'm dreading trying to re-phase them in all over again four weeks from now. What a crazy time.

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...

This week I'm slowing phasing in the three littles to a real preschool (vs. the little homeschool preschool I've been doing). Today we visited for an hour, with me staying with the kids. When we arrived we brought a gift to the secretary and each kid had a gift book in their backpack to present to the classroom. That went well. My kids love to give gifts and it made a smooth transition into the room. Then it was time to join centers. James had cried all the way from the car into the school, saying "preschool was scary" so he was hiding behind my legs at first. Then the teacher lured him off in hunt of animals and they found a tub of figurines. He happily sat on a rug lining up each animal after first showing it to me and asking me to name it. I sat in a chair a little ways away and tried not to only focus on him so he wouldn't expect nonstop mommy attention but felt safe all the same. Jane was gone. I looked up and she was fully immersed with kids at a cente...