It’s our First Mommy and Me Class

Yesterday was Paulo’s first pre-pre-school type class. I remember taking my daughter to this FOUR years ago! The classroom looks exactly the same. The toys are still the same toys. The format is the same. And we also have the same teacher. It was weird being in the same environment with my second child. Just so surreal!

With my daughter, the class seemed so fun and relaxing. We did puzzles, Playdough and paints, and she was very easy going. It was a gratifying and pleasant experience. With Paulo, it’s a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT story. At first, he wouldn’t walk into the classroom. He clung to my leg and I had to walk into the room looking like Frankenstein. Then within the first 15 minutes, he threw puzzle pieces all over the floor, toppled over a stack of blocks, screamed and whined because he wanted the exact same cars that another boy was playing with, then proceeded to have a tantrum in the middle of the rug. The teacher had to come over to see if he was okay. (Yeah, he’s fine. Just the Terrible Twos.)

At Circle Time, he didn’t want to sing the “Slippery Fish” song. He wanted to eat the toy fish that each child was given to hold then had a fit when I tried to pull it out of his mouth. The fish stayed in his mouth. At least he wasn’t screaming, right?

At snack time, he accidentally flung his spoon out of the yogurt he was trying to eat and spilled a spoonful onto floor which happened to spill on his t-shirt and jeans on the way down. Easy clean up, right? Until I realized that the little spoonful of yogurt managed to splatter all over my sweater, shirt, and jeans before landing on the ground! (Lovely!) Then when he had HALF-EATEN everything out of his lunchbox, he threw another tantrum on the floor because he was done eating and wanted to go to the train table. A little girl walked up and stood over him and said, “Are you okay?” (Too cute! That would have been my daughter.)

At recess, he didn’t want to share. He cried because another boy was playing with the steering wheel on the play structure. He wanted someone else’s ride-along car. He wanted to sit on the swing that was occupied. He tried to steal a child’s bucket in the sandbox. And finally, he took a handful of sand and tossed it in my direction. So now I have sand stuck to the yogurt on my sweater and jeans that I didn’t wipe off completely, plus I have sand in my shoes! (GRRRR!!!)

But enough about the negatives. Here are some positives…

• He made a shamrock project.
• He learned to play with Playdough instead of eating it.
• He didn’t dominate the train table like he usually does.
• He got some much needed outside playtime.
• And most especially, Mommy got to spend some quality time with my little “angel.”

It’s all good!

This class goes on for 10 weeks. One week down, NINE more to go. This is the first time he’s been exposed to all kinds of stimulation in one place at one time. I know (and I hope!) that each week will get easier, and that he will learn to play nicely with others. I really don’t want to be the mom that everyone talks about behind her back. “Oh, she’s the one with the bratty child.” It will get better, right? Right?

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First Day of School… again

First Grade, First Grade, here we come
We know we’ll have lots of fun.
Lots of things to make and do.
Reading, Writing, Numbers, too.
First Grade, First Grade, here we come.
We know we’ll have lots of fun.

This isn’t the first day of school for Miranda, but her first day of First Grade. And although we’ve been through this before, this year seems to have hit me harder, maybe it’s because it’s a full-day of school now or maybe it’s because she’s my little helper and without her I’d have to take care of her little brother all by myself. The whole family woke up extra early to make sure we would get parking, find her classroom, meet her teacher, and take pictures while we lug all our donated school supplies to the classroom. I made sure that I prepared her First-Day-of School snack and lunch as requested: cheese stick and goldfish, a cutie tangerine, a PB&J sandwich (Mommy, make sure it’s raspberry jelly.), Fritos, a juice box (Mommy, I want the reduced-sugar kind.), and a water bottle. We also pre-selected her First-Day-of-School outfit: a Le Top two-piece shorts set from the Spring 2009 Bloomin’ Beauty collection. And on top of that, we still had the little guy to get dressed and fed. So much hustle and bustle in the morning that you don’t have time to get emotional.

Miranda’s classroom door closed and we headed back to the car, then Paulo looked around and said, “Maw-maw?” (That’s how he says “Miranda.”) —and that did it for me! In those two little syllables he uttered, I knew exactly how he felt. What are we going to do now that Miranda is at school? I missed her already and we’re only in the parking lot. (I know, pathetic!) Most stay-at-home mommies cherish this freedom of being able to go to the gym, or have coffee or lunch with the ladies, or even enjoy a day of uninterrupted shopping. But not me! I was a wreck all day. At lunch (after I fed Paulo) I sat at the table eating slowly, staring at Paulo who was banging a pair of drumsticks on everything in his path, and longing for the silly, endless chit-chat from Miranda as she talked about her crazy dream last night, or what she and her friend did at their playdate, or even just her singing the same lines from “Seussical the Musical” over and over. All I could think about was, “Is it 2:05 yet? Did I pack her enough lunch? Did she wash her hands before eating? Are her classmates nice to her? Is she sad?” So many worries to worry over.

At 2:05 pm sharp, I stood outside her classroom and waited for her to come out. As soon as the door opened, she ran straight to me and said, “Mommy, I had a SUPER day! I made 5 new friends and I got to eat in the lunch room and I played at recess but I was eating too long so I didn’t get to play that much because I couldn’t finish all my goldfish but tomorrow I want 2 cutie tangerines and I have my own desk and we made a dolphin carrying our rules on his back and I get to make a paper doll of myself just like we made in Kindergarten and Eamon is in my class this year and Daniel sits next to me and I didn’t get to sit with Lucas in the lunch room because Sullivan took the seat next to him so I sat next to Kaitlyn and I played exercise with Bella where she is the leader and the other girls follow what she does but it was too hot so I stopped playing to get some water…” Oh, dear! There’s the endless chit-chat that I was missing at lunch. It was so good to hear her stories (in one long sentence). She had a great first day and I was worried over nothing. On to Day 2… wish me luck!

For those back-to-school outfits
shop Le Top’s fall 2010 collection here

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