New things little man has learned . . .

• how to take off a velcro diaper.
• how to open the door to mom and dad's room by pulling on the door stopper.
• how to remove a door stopper (and the plastic cover).
• how to turn the pages of a book.
• how to open cabinet doors.
• how to sign light.
• sometimes a trash can will fight back - it tipped over on him.
  
• flags are fun to wave.
  
• how to play the piano (he doesn't pound it because he lacks the leverage)

These are just a few of his recent discoveries and abilites. They really do surprise you just about every day at this age.

I knew it was coming

Last week I commented on moves towards making preschool more academic. I believe that in general 3 year olds do not need these "academic standards" to help them learn what they need to know at this age. Today I received proof positive that my fears might come true in New York city. Apparently, the chancellor is promoting academic preschool for three year olds. AHHHHHH! Don't they know what is good for our littlest ones?

What to do??

I am a little lost. This is the first weekend that I have had "free" since the middle of May. I busied myself getting ready for little man's Curious George themed birthday party/ Labor day bash. We have decided to have breakfast for dinner - a pancake buffet! So this week I will be making more pancakes than any one person should.

Additionally, I have been giving myself a crash course in the Montessori method. I had a few good books about it and went to the library to find a few more. I think I am putting most of the pieces together now. I can see why it might take two and a half years of course work to master all this information. I have also read through some yahoo user group messages and friendly blogs that have given some good guidance.

I started cleaning my house. This will take a few days - because I am slow (unmotivated in general) and because I am WAY behind. As a part of this I have started organizing the mounds of paper everywhere - little man enjoyed playing with all the papers that were going to the trash. I have put together all the paperwork for summer camp and I am about half way through writing that report - YEAH!

Tomorrow my new class starts - now that I have only one and a full semester I don't think it will seem as overwhelming. So, not to worry, I am finding things to do. My husband still wants me to read Harry Potter - so far I am holding out.

My first phrase

Today little man said his first phrase. Let me preface this by saying once this past week I think he said bye-bye in context. Yesterday as we were doing our nightly reading and prayers I could have sworn he said "Amen" after I did last night. Well this morning was unmistakeable. We were eating breakfast and saying good-bye to Dad. Dad got out the door and then A picked up his hand, waved and said "ba-ba da-da"! Well I freaked out and ran to the door and told dad to come in and give his genius son a kiss. A was a little overwhelmed by the attention. When Dad left again A did it again - not as clear - but he was doing it!

He has also been trying to use signs but it's a little confusing. To most people his favorite sign looks like milk. But, we haven't taught him the sign for milk so it could be many different things: waving (hello/bye-bye), light (which I think he also did on purpose this morning) or come here (because we are always waving at him to follow us places around the house). You have to watch him in context to see if he's just flapping his hand or trying to say something. I should probably start being more dilligent about the signing again now that I'm home more often.

If it's not one thing . . .

Last night I decided that the toddler size prefolds I am using are so awesome that I should try them at night. I did put in an extra "insert" of terry just to make sure it absorbed enough. When I went to get A (after he slept through the night - YEAH!) he was dry as could be. I was very excited. The prefold kept everything in and the diaper cover (bummis super whisper wrap) worked great!

I was quite surprised when I turned on the lights later in the morning to discover a wet spot on his sheets. The only thing I can figure is that it was a big pool of drool. Little man is teething (although they haven't popped through yet). So, if it's not one thing - it's another. My husband did call me today to let me know that I had a very dirty cloth diaper waiting for me at home. I think he was a little frustrated with it. But with the toilet attachment it was cleaned up in no time flat. The only problem was little man trying to "help" me out.

What your preschooler should know . . .

Stay at home moms sometimes are concerned that their children, who haven't attended preschool, may not be ready for "school". I found an interesting list of things your child should be able to do in preparation for preschool. These types of lists are never exhaustive and have to include things that are somewhat measureable. But it is interesting.

Actually the whole concept of the site is interesting because they are basically campaigning AGAINST universal preschool. "Who would be against schooling?" you may think to yourself. Well, I have to say that I probably would be a member of this camp. It is a difficult issue but in the end I don't think that all three, four and five year olds should spend full days (or even half days) in school everyday. Of course, some families need care like this and hopefully their providers incorporate age appropriate materials. I guess that's the other issue. Often, when the school district gets a hold of preschool it twists it into some type of academic exercise that is not in keeping with the needs of young children (even first and second grades often don't use appropriate methods because they are getting ready for tests in third grade). Anyway, I see the need, I know the research and at the end of the day I think many, but not all, can benefit from preschool. I am glad that it is becoming a more widespread option - but it should not be mandatory by any means.

In some ways, this leads to our co-op idea. Basically, few of us have the funds or got on the waiting list early enough to send our children to preschool. However, we are intelligent people with a range of abilities and interests (cooking, music, other languages, etc.). So, we are looking at pooling our resources to create a "co-op preschool" for our kiddos. It would probably only meet two days a week in the morning and we are still debating about the type of curriculum we would use (montessori, enrichment, Bible based, etc.) I will post more about this little adventure as it develops.

Whirlwind Tour

We just returned from a 700+ mile trip with stops to see friends and family. Our primary goal was to attend a wedding (which we made it to just in the nick of time). During our three day trip we attended three church services in three different cities, met a new baby, met a new boyfriend, saw the grandparents and great grandparents and drove all over DFW. (I slept - my husband drove.) A was a trooper (although the first night was sort of rough). He did make it through all of the services without too much complaint and spent a lot of time in the car contemplating deep thoughts. We were trying to encourage this as my husband selected Famous Romans and a biography of Isaac Newton to be our books on tape. Newton was quite an interesting character. The lecturer for the Romans tape was a great storyteller and I actually enjoyed military history. My husband wonders how I could have been a history major and never had an interest in the military - oh well.

So now it's sort of back to normal life. I did register for a fall class on running gifted and talented programs today. I am prepping for A's first birthday and a fundraiser event. Additionally, my friends and I are considering starting a co-op preschool. So we'll see how all of this fits together. I also intend to start cloth diapering again - which I am looking forward to in a sort of strange way. So, back to being somewhat domestic. We'll see what happens next.

Lessons learned

This is the last week of summer camp - an 11 week ordeal. I have learned MANY lessons about myself in the midst of this craziness. If you know me you might think - duh - as I share these lessons, but help me remember them in the future.

1. I love to start things; I'm not so great at finishing. I started multiple projects with the kids with great intentions, high hopes and somewhat of a plan. However, I wasn't always as good with the follow through. This surprised me because I've always thought of myself as a fairly disciplined person. In some ways I "lose interest" or something new comes along. Now that I am a mother I need to be more prepared to follow through and finish what I start.

2. I am not a good rule follower and therefore NEVER want to run a licensed child care center. In high school if you asked me what I wanted to be I would almost always answer a preschool/kindergarten teacher. Actually, I wanted to run my own center. I have even taken quite a few courses to support this interest. Today's events drove home the point that I would be a TERRIBLE center director because I really can't follow the rules. I am saddened because this issue caused other people trouble today - which was not my intent.

3. In order for my singing to be "appreciated" the audience must be under 7. At least once this summer I had to stop in the middle of a song because literally I was hurting my own ears. The kids thanked me (partly I was losing my voice too). So, I was not really intended to sing anything beyond fun camp songs. The younger the audience the better - they are less discerning about those things.

4. I like working with "smart" kids. I realized that most of the jobs that I have had have been with kids that would be considered gifted and talented. I don't intend to be elitist but I realize that I enjoy working with kids who are budding nerds. Who really enjoy learning and are hungry for it. I am not so good at coaxing kids into learning. So, it is my goal to complete the 4 courses in gifted and talented education and see where that leads me.

5. I have a LOT to learn about management. I am too trusting of people, expect them to have good motives at all times and to care as much as I do. Well, they don't. I also do not like to break the tough news, make the hard decision or do other things that are "management" activities. So, I can plan things very well, but carrying them through is much more stressful because I am not good at directing other people therefore I do it all myself. Again, I have often thought of myself as a leader - but maybe I am not as much of one as I had hoped.

This summer reaffirmed my decision not to be a classroom teacher. It taught me that I do not have what it takes to run a child care or full time preschool program. It has bolstered my opinion that I am cut out to do something that doesn't really exist out there - run great enrichment programs. What that means I don't know - but I intend to continue praying (and trying not to scheme too much) to learn more about this.

Is summer over??

Well all, it has been a LOOOOOOOONG time. I took on way too much this summer - two grad courses about gifted and talented education and running a summer camp (technically open 6:30 - 6:00 every weekday). I have almost survived it - summer camp ends this week and I think I ended up getting A's in both of my classes. I also learned a fair amount from the classes too - which is more important when you are basically taking classes for enrichment purposes. Maybe at some point I'll distill some of what I have learned over the summer. NEVER AGAIN would be the main message - but there are more.

If nothing else this summer has been good because my husband and A have been able to spend mornings together. They have bonded a lot. A is now crawling really fast and trying to reach up and grab everything. He is super tall for his age so basically every table is fair game as far as he is concerned. This is a problem because mommy and daddy are pack rats - and not very neat ones at that. Ah well.

A turns 11 months tomorrow. So, we are getting ready for his big birthday party. I didn't expect to do the whole birthday bash - but now I am getting excited about it. So, it will probably be more of a party than I originally intended. Most of my activities are aimed at my friends children who are 2+. A will be happy playing with his cabinet of old cool whip containers and will probably not care very much about the party except that lots of his friends will be here. We just love to have parties - so it will be fun.

I'll share more about the craziness as I decompress. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night so I need to hit the sack now.