Privacy, what's that?

I often have conversations with S about giving me a little privacy, a few minutes to myself. Our conversation went like this today:

The scene - I walk into the bathroom, he walks in right behind me and sits down on the stool he uses to reach the sink.

S: What does privacy mean? No one else around? Apparently I can't give you any privacy.

I just had to laugh - it's getting more and more common that I hear him repeating what I once told him. Good thing I find it funny to hear a 2-year old try to say "apparently".

Too funny

Direct quotes:

S: "Cover my curtains, they're looking at me." [they have Winnie the Pooh and friends on them]

S: [upon waking up] "I was covering my head because those pictures are looking at me." [Pooh pictures on his wall that I think I have convinced him go to sleep at night when he does so they're not able to look at him]

S: [the first thing out of his mouth this morning] "Are you wearing a red shirt? Can I touch your red shirt mama? It's beautiful."

The first day.....

of preschool did not go as planned. S was a bit nervous - made evident by the fact that when we brought it up at dinner the night before he burst out in tears, "I don't want to go to preschool. I want to go to toddlers." We calmed him down and even made cookies and a card for his toddler teachers to say thank you. He made it clear he didn't want to go to preschool Monday morning but we strolled in. He hugged my leg most of the time, but agreed to show me around a bit. Then it was time for me to leave, and it happened - he lost it, S was a complete and utter mess, hysterical crying. I have a vague recollection of him crying one other time when I left and that was pretty mild and ended once I was out of sight - basically he loves school and does very little crying there. If anything, he cries when I pick him up because he wants to stay and play with his friends. In particular if I happen to arrive before they have gone outside to play in the afternoon he is not happy and I usually have to wait around so he can go outside with this friends - the solution, I stay at work and get more done and pick him up later, problem solved.

But I digress - I finally left and he was still hysterical, it was really sad. He kept saying, "I don't want you to leave." "I want to go to work with you." Of course I had a day full of meetings so no ability to hang out much longer than I already had. I called to check in later and he was fine. After I left he sat in his cubby with his blanket and bear for about 20 minutes just wanting to be by himself. He then ventured out and started playing with toys, and from there he was all good. He was a bit confused because last week he was just visiting preschool and always went back to toddlers so apparently he kept asking his preschool teachers when he was going back. All in all it was a great day, and this morning when I dropped him off, there were no tears and he seemed ready to go.

I have no doubt he'll love being a preschooler, more independence and pretty cool activities. Yesterday he even got to pour his own milk at lunch and loved it.

What did you do in preschool?

S: [very excited and all smiles while he said it] "Color with markers. And I got to keep the cap. I held it in my hand."

A big transition in the life of a toddler - when a marker cap is no longer a choking hazard!

A skirt? Really?

Yesterday was a big day, S was visiting the preschool classroom for the first time. No surprise, he loved it and spent most of the morning there. When I went to pick him here's what happened:

Me: Are you wearing a skirt buddy? Why are you wearing a skirt?
S: It's not a skirt momma it's a shirt.
Me: No, this is a skirt (pointing to the skirt), and this is your shirt (pointing to the shirt). [said with much enunciation]
S: Oh. Can I go outside with my friends for a few minutes?
Me: Sure
Teacher: I can tell you what happened. He was playing at preschool and his shorts got wet. They didn't have all his stuff so they grabbed these from the Center (aka the loaners) thinking they were shorts. They didn't realize until they put them on that it was a skirt. And then he didn't want to take them off. He was so proud because it was from preschool.
Me [to S]: It looks just great on you.

On the way out of school:
Parent 1: I heard what the teacher was telling you, that's a really funny story.
Another teacher: How was preschool S?
Me: Great, and he's coming home in a skirt. [I shared the story]
Teacher: [laughs] That's really funny.
Parent2: I was wondering why he was walking around in a skirt.

S trots right out of school as proud as can be to be making his transition into the preschool classroom! Look out preschool here we come!

I'm open!

Last week for the first time, I took S to watch Dad officiate a football game. His description of what Dad does - "he picks up the ball and throws it".

He wanted to be on the field and I explained that we need to stay off the field while the teams were playing. Here's his explanation:
S: "When the players are done I can go on the field?"
Me: Yes
S: "If they throw it to me, I can throw it back?"
Me: Sure, if they throw it to you, you can throw it back.
S: [yells] "Throw it over here!"

Look out preschool.....

This has two meanings:

1. Many days on the way to school S proclaims with much enthusiasm: "Look out school, here we come!"

2. We got the yellow slip - the one that says S is moving up to preschool. A spot has opened up in the next classroom. Next week he will be visiting, and then on Sept. 21st he will be a preschooler - a younger preschooler mind you, but a preschooler none the less - and yes they have younger and older preschoolers. I think he's ready and will love it. A lot of his toddler friends will be in his class, not to mention a bigger and more challenging playground with huge slides, places to climb and jump, and more sophisticated art projects. The classroom also has a class pet, very exciting! And who knows maybe seeing more potty trained kids around will rub off :)

No Dancing!

Day 1 - S asked to bring a book to school, he typically doesn't ask to bring things so on the rare occassion when he does, we typically say yes. He wanted to bring a Thomas the Train book that plays music and was excited to show all his friends. When I went to pick him up at the end of the day the book was in the teacher's office, and so we forgot to bring it home and didn't remember it until it was too late to go back.

Day 2 - We retrieved the book from the office and I learned why it was there (instead of in his cubby, which is essentially public access although there are rules). One day 1 the music was playing and kids started dancing. S did not want them to dance to his music and told them to stop dancing, they couldn't dance. The teacher explained that when you bring a toy that plays music that other kids can hear, they can choose to dance if they want. Since the book was already at school we left it there for the remainder of day 2.

End of Day 2 - I pick S up and the book is once again in the teacher's office. This time his teacher explained kids were dancing and he didn't want them to. The solution - S could turn away, he didn't have to watch them dance if he didn't want to. S then decided he no longer wanted to share the book and put it in his cubby. Some of the younger kids were not good at following "the rules" and kept trying to take it out of his cubby to hear the music again. S asked the teacher to put the book in the office, and we brought it home with us at the end of the day.

Day 3 - The book stayed at home and S didn't ask to bring it to school again.