Avery Starts Preschool

I took Avery to his first day of Preschool today. He has been excited for days, and was extra hyper this morning. When I picked him up in the afternoon I tried to ask questions about his first day. He told me that he had a snack and that he met friends, but he couldn't remember what he ate or any names.

I did find an art project in his bag, a synopsis of what he'll be doing this month, and a schedule of his activities. The teachers at this school really pack in a lot of activities for such a short half-day. In less than four hours they have Spanish, art, outside play, a snack, story time, and then depending on the day, math, science, language, or music.



Zachary is totally different child by himself. After we dropped Avery off we stopped on the way home for bagels, a muffin, and gas. When we got home, Zachary wanted to share the muffin with me. Then he ran to the family room and started taking the cushions off the sofa to make a fort.

When that was over, he asked if we could look at pictures on the computer. Picture time normally lasts for a few minutes until Avery wants to do something else, but Zach kept it going, wanting to see more and more pictures. The lunch table was blissfully quiet with no potty talk or baby talk to drive me crazy. To cap it all off, when we got back from picking Avery up, Zachary was asleep. I put him to bed and had another two hours of one-on-one time. This is fantastic!

Pre-Preschool Visits

Avery and Zachary's preschool teachers came over yesterday for home visits. Avery's new teacher Ms. Fey (pronounced "fie") stopped by first, at 8:30am. He was very excited to meet her and gave her a kiss on the cheek right away. She said that he was her first visit, so I'm hoping she remembers him on the first day. She asked Avery to draw a picture of himself and then took a picture of him. We got our first homework assignment: put a bag together with things that describe him.

Zachary's teacher Ms. Foster came over in the afternoon. She said that he is one of two Zacharys in his class of 15. Ms. Foster had Zachary make hand prints on construction paper. He loved it and was very excited when his hand was covered in blue ink. She took lots of pictures of Zachary, and some of all three of us, to use in various art projects during the year. She also asked Zachary what some of his favorite toys were and he showed her his marble race. He built some towers for her and got so happy he started jumping up and down. Frankly I was a bit surprised
by his reaction because he is often very shy. Zach's first homework assignment was to bring more pictures of himself and his family to school on the first day.

Orientation and school starts next week. Avery starts Tuesday and Zachary starts Friday. The whole family is excited for them to start preschool. I just hope they enjoy school and meeting new people and that the experience is positive so that school does not gain any negative connotations.

Avery and the Printer

I've been allowing Avery to be alone for longer periods of time in the afternoon so that I can put Zach down for a nap. Sometimes (cough) I drift off to sleep for a few minutes myself. Unfortunately, these instances have been known to end with Avery doing something that he shouldn't. Nothing terrible, just minor things like getting a juice box or chocolate milk out of the pantry, or getting yogurt out of the fridge. Some parents are fine with this kind of independence, but until the day comes when the boys decide to sneak carrots out of the fridge, we want them to ask first before taking.

Yesterday when I was putting Zach down for his nap, Avery decided it would be fun to play on the computer. He loaded up "Dora Dance to the Rescue" and played for while. At some point he decided to print something out. Unfortunately it was not one copy, or two, or even ten. He printed 68 copies of the same page, in color. Thank goodness the printer ran out of paper or it could have been even worse!

Jelly on my Tummy?

Most kids are interested in whats happening when their mommy is pregnant. But Zachary has taken it to another level. Very early in Sara's pregnancy, he became convinced (on his own!) that he also has a baby in his tummy.

When he is hungry, he needs: "Food to make my baby grow."
If Avery plays too rough he says, "Don't hurt my baby!"
And ever since Sara let the kids feel her baby kick, we periodically hear "My baby is kicking me."

Today Sara told the kids they had to stop by the doctor's office to drop off forms for preschool. Zachary immediately piped up with: "And I get the jelly on my tummy and I see my baby moving?"

It took a moment to make the connection: he was referring to Sara's last sonogram.

Story Time in Blue Hill

We went to the Blue Hill Library today for story time. Avery was very well behaved, listened almost the entire time, and both asked and answered questions. It lasted for almost an hour, which is a long time for a kid to pay attention, but it seemed to be a good indication to me for how well he'll do in a school setting. The library is a restored historic building and was quite nice inside.

After story time we went to get lunch, but the place where I wanted to eat was only open for lunch Wed-Sat. So we wandered until we found a bakery behind a used book store on Main Street. We had fresh hearth-fired pizza and I got roasted eggplant on my half. Yum!

After lunch we headed to a different bookstore where the kids read books in the kid section and I got them a 20th Century book treasury, which they seem to love. The book has some great classic kid's books and best sellers (and we now have our fourth copy of "Good Night Moon"!).

Hiking Up to Blueberry Hill

We hiked up to Blueberry Hill and boy did it wipe me out. Eli packed a lovely picnic consisting of turkey sandwiches, cheese, apples, and of course, blueberries. I think the kids had nothing but juice and blueberries.

Spectacle Swim

I was browsing through some old pictures on the Hiram Blake web site when I found a picture of Eli and Nora swimming at Hiram Blake Camp. It is from 2003 when I was 30 weeks pregnant with Avery and probably had no desire to get in a rowboat.

Cait and Cullen and Meg are manning the rowboat, so this is probably a dock to Spectacle Island swim (a distance of more than 1/4 mile in very cold water!).