Candy and Kisses

Yesterday we went to the bookmobile (our every other week ritual). This week however was different. There was candy (MN brand peppermint candies exactly). S asked for one and we said he could eat it after dinner. Dinner ended quickly to get to the candy quicker. As he shoved it in his mouth, and we kept insisting he not try and shove so much into his mouth, he proclaims,
"it's not all going into my belly." Most of his candy eating time was spent with his finger in his mouth trying to scrape the candy off the roof of his mouth.

We have been working on a lesson - when two people are talking you need to wait until they are finished before you can speak to them. This means not trying to talk over people or interrupt them to get their attention. Last night I was talking to Geoff and told S that I was talking to Daddy and he would need to wait a minute. His solution, he climbed onto Geoff's lap, gave him a big hug strategically placing his cheek over Geoff's mouth, then giving Geoff a big kiss on the lips, all to prevent him from talking. Where does he come up with these things?

I'm Ernie, you're Bert....

and you're Cookie Monster. Hi Bert. Can you say Hi Ernie?

A typical conversation in our house initiated by S of course. It's really funny if you call him Abby Cadaby or Oscar "by mistake." In the car on the way to school he asked, "Bert, where's Cookie Monster [aka Dad]?" When I dropped him off at daycare he yelled through the window, "Bye Bert, have a good day at work Bert."

He also has developed his own version of a football game (wonder where he gets that gene?) - the couch is the bleachers and we have to sit and watch his game. His rules, "I'm going to throw the ball and then you clap and say Yeah Ernie." He throws the ball, we cheer Yeah Ernie and he runs after it, then we do it all over again.

For a kid who doesn't watch TV how does he know about Sesame Street, the Internet of course. He likes to watch "videos" - either YouTube or the Sesame Street website. He enjoys watching an orchestra play some classical music, a goofy middle aged man play the guitar and sing kids songs, or Sesame Street clips. He even has his own mouse - a mouse that I use with my laptop so it's not connected but he thinks it works and that he's finding the videos. Talk about generation differences, it's very 21st century.

It's actually a nice before bed activity, it calms him down and gives me a few minutes to clean up.

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!