bubba and pooks...

Are getting so big! Seriously.

Serious.ly.

When I started this blog back in July of 2007, Pooks wasn't even TWO months old. This was the first picture I shared of him. Say it with me now. "Awww". He's now 3.5 years. He went from being the baby to having both a baby brother and a baby sister. It just amazes me.

Bubba has {obviously} always been the oldest but it's just recently that I've started to realize how old he really is. When he says things like ''Next year when I'm five, I get to go to Kindergarten?". Um...*gulp*....''Yeah".

Currently they are both in the same pre-school class {well, at Wee Wigglers there is only one class} but because of their age difference and because Bubba went last year as well, they have different homework. Pooks is working on colors/shapes right now and Bubba is learning how to write his lowercase letters and phonics. I'll be honest, even though there is an age difference of 13 months, when it comes to most things they are equally knowledgeable...different homework or not. Both already know all their colors and shapes. Both recognize and know all of the numbers and the entire alphabet, upper and lowercase. They're both quite good at phonices and catching on quickly to the sign language they learn at school.

The difference between the two kids is in actually caring about it. Bubba loves school and learning. He loves doing his homework. He does it perfectly, double checking with me before actually writing to make sure he's doing it right. Last year when he had to color his assignments he colored beautifully, making sure to stay in the lines and even drawing extra shapes on the back of the page. It'll easily take him 10-15 minutes for his one sheet. The sheets he's now doing are a connect-the-dots that form a letter, then he practices writing the letter below.

Pooks on the other hand, does his homework to get it done. Learning comes easy to him...he doesn't really think about it or talk about it or practice. He gets out his homework page, gets out his crayons, climbs up and asks ''What do I do Mom?". I explain it, he grabs his crayon, does it and is done in under 3 minutes. He does it correctly but quickly. "Color the squares blue" translates in Pooks' mind to "Scribble blue on every square as fast as I can''. I don't know if this is simply his personality or if it's because he already knows his colors and shapes so having to color them is a waste of time? 

I'm not sure. I do know that I've tried to teach him to write his name and to start writing the alphabet but he doesn't seem to have the dexterity {or desire} yet. To each their own...I'm not in a rush for him to grow up, plus he has another year of preschool to go and I don't want him to get too bored. 

Day 1, 2 and 3 are done!

I know, I stink at updating, sorry 'bout that. But the boys did start preschool on Monday. Bubba went for a semester last year so this was all old hat to him but Pooks, he was excited! So excited that he woke up at 7:04am asking ''Is it time for school now?". Um...school starts at 9am buddy...you're a little early. So they got up and immediately got dressed in clothes that had been laid out the night before. Then they wanted to eat. But I was responded with "We can't eat yogurt mom, it's just too messy. I want ceweal."

As you can see, Bubba thought he was a little too cool for photos 

And one with Peanut, who acted like it was his first day too

So by the time they were finished getting dressed and eating breakfast it was, oh 7:31. "Is it time for school now mommy?"  Um...no. So while they hunted down their shoes and picked up their pajamas, I got myself ready. I then had to do their hair...a first for us. But since they had gotten their hair cut last Wednesday, they had been insisting that I "spike it up" for them. Okay so I used B's hair paste on my 3 and 4 year old's, what other choice did I have? By the time this was all done it was almost 8am. Still had another 35 minutes to kill before we needed to leave the house. Okay, let's take some pictures outside...

Can you tell who was still a bit sleepy? Bubba wasn't quite used to getting up at 7am...

After about, oh 3 pictures he was complaining about the sun in his eyes and it being too bright and why did I need to take SO many pictures?

So by now it's all of 8:15 and they are chomping at the bit to get in the van. Okay, okay we'll get in the van! So I let them buckle themselves in, I slowly make sure that I have everything we need. We head across town and Mommy "needed" to stop at Sonic for a 99 cent Dr. Pepper. We get to the school ant it's 8:31. I know they don't even unlock the doors til 8:45am. So I suggest we listen to two school songs on our Wee Wigglers CD. 

We do that and it's 8: 37.

So we call B and I try to encourage him to talk the boys up, that lasts about 30 seconds. At this point another little boy is also there so we get out of their minivan. We get to the door and yep, it's still locked. So I bust out my camera to get a pic of Pook's first ever day of school. The one pic I get:

Yeah, I got the whole ''sun's in my face mom, no more pictures" and that was it. I put the camera back in the van and called it a loss. Shortly afterward, Miss Deb came downstairs and unlocked the main door and the boys trekked upstairs. They {meaning all 3 boys} immediately head straight for the toys while I fill out paperwork. Pooks was super excited, bringing over cool toy after cool toy to show me. I finish the paperwork and chit-chat with their teachers for awhile. I then tell Peanut that it's time to go and he tells me "No Mama, I play". Um, no you don't get to play here but we'll go to the park. That was the hardest part, getting Peanut to willingly leave. The older boys? I heard a ''Bye Mom!!" as they were playing.

One and a half hours later it was time to pick them up. They did wonderful. Miss Maria said that they both listened so well and they played together like little best friends. They got along with the other kids, they didn't fight, they ate their snacks...everything went well. No tears, no hesitant moments at all.

Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same. I got a hug and a kiss and a ''See ya!" . Today though Peanut didn't even fight leaving. He was more than happy to say bye to his brothers and have Mommy time. He is really liking the attention of being the only kiddo. Everything is "Mom or Mommy". I think he says my name so many times just because he gets my immediate attention rather than having to wait or having to repeat himself. His behavior has been wonderful! Overall, it couldn't be going better. I'm enjoying the time with just Peanut, the boys are enjoying school and we're plowing along. Now in a month, when Miss Sweetcheeks makes her appearance, I'm not sure how well Peanut will handle sharing me again but we'll worry about that when the time comes.

In roughly 12 hours...

I will be picking up TWO of my children from their preschool program. Yep, it's the Sunday night before school starts and they couldn't be more excited. While I am excited and looking forward to a little bit of a break and some alone time with Peanut, I'm a bit...apprehensive. I really think that Pooks will do fine but a teeny part of me thinks he might have a meltdown. And I don't think it will be when I leave...I imagine it'll be about 15 minutes into their day when he realizes that this is for real. Bubba was in this program from Jan-May of last year, however Pooks had to wait til he turned three so tomorrow will be his first day.

So back to them...It took them over an hour to settle down and fall asleep. They have picked out their outfits and have them laying out. Their backpacks are in the van and ready (despite the fact that they won't need them tomorrow...they wouldn't listen to me about that). They already chose which cereal they want for breakfast and reminded me to wake them up and tell them that it's ''Time for school'' just like on Nemo.

At dinner tonight Bubba was telling Pooks all about his ''school''. Things like ''At snack time, you don't get to pick...you just eat what Ms. Maria gives to you. You can't just cry." He told him that he had to use his walkin' feet and that he had to listen. Pooks didn't seem too nervous, his plan is to walk up to other kids and say ''Hey Kid, I'm Logan...what's ewe name?" and he's dead serious. I told him it might be nicer to say ''Hi, I'm Logan. What is your name?" But he didn't like that. I also reminded him that if he needed to use the bathroom it was best to tell Ms.Maria or Ms. Deb that he had to potty...he should not yell for everyone to hear ''I need to pee!" (which may be what he does at home).

I will do the usual Mom-thing and take a gazillion photos, I'm sure. I'll have to have all 3 kids plus myself ready and out the door at 8:30 so wish me luck!

today was the day!

for bubba's first day of preschool!

after giving it a couple of days (since this post) to really let it sink it, he was super excited to start school! he went to bed last night knowing that when he woke up he'd get to go to school.

here he is enjoying his breakfast

(usually we have cereal but since today was special we had scrambled cheesy eggs, potatoes, banana, yogurt and orange juice)

we went ahead and dropped pooks and peanut off at nanaw's house to play before heading to school. (i knew i'd have to fill out paperwork and with peanut walking now, well it just wasn't gonna be easy)

here he is outside of the building, and yes his eyes are closed because of the sun shining in his face but i still thought it was cute. he was really saying ''cheese''!
yes, i did the ''first time mom dropping off kid thing'' and took more pictures. judge all you want but it was a little bit emotional. i've never dropped bubba off anywhere (other than nanaw and papa's house) so i knew this was a bit hard for both of us.

here he is outside of his ''wee wigglers'' classroom

and a close up of his cuteness!

as soon as we went up those little stairs, while hesitant, he was excited. i started filling out paperwork while he explored. he immediately found a fire-truck and book about construction that were pretty exciting. i told him that mommy needed to go and he said ''stay just for a minute'' so i talked to his teacher a bit about what their ''day'' is like.

during drop off time, it's free play. once everyone is accounted for they head to the circle rug for story time and phonics. after that they do an activity/craft, then snack time and then a game/song or they head to the gym. while talking to Ms.Deb, bubba came up to me again. at this time some of the other moms were leaving so i told him that it was time for the mommy's to leave. i told him to go play and to listen to his teacher, he gave me a big hug and never looked back.

surprisingly we both took it very well :)

i ran a few random errands while he was in class then went and picked up pooks and peanut. see, here's the thing...bubba was excited and hesitant to start school. pooks however wanted nothing more than to go to school and he couldn't. i was nervous about how drop-off/pick up would go with pooks then seeing the classroom. in my mind i imagined a tantrum of epic proportions when bubba got to stay and pooks had to go.

so i decided that i would take pooks to pick-up bubba first, so he would see all the kids cleaning up and lining up to leave (rather than during free play during drop off). it went quite well. he did ask to play a few times but he stood by me and held my hand. Ms. Deb said that bubba did really good, he was really quiet but seemed to have fun and behaved well. this week is pretty laid back, just getting the kids used to the class and teaching them how to line up, where toys go when you clean up, etc.

when we got to the car i asked bubba if he had fun. he responded that ''yes, i played and it was fun. i not talk to other kids though, i just was shy." while he wasn't like "we did x, y and z today'' he did talk about it once i prompted. for storytime they read ''If You Throw a Pig a Party" and then (in his words) "we made the puh sound too. just yike da letter P". he also got to play basketball and they had a snack. after repeating "waisins and gonola wars'' i figured out it was raisins & granola bars.

overall it was a very positive experience and he is excited to go again tomorrow! my little guy is growing up :)

yikes!

okay so we've been homeschooling for a few months now and bubba is really catching on quickly! he already recognizes all of his colors, shapes and the uppercase letters of the alphabet. he loves to paint, color and use glue. he can count to 10 and add simple additions. (1+2, 2+2, 1+3..any number under 5 plus another number under 5) he is really good at following directions and is getting better and better at sounding letters out. we have recently started learning to write letters. when you consider that he's not even 4 yet, i think that is really good!
he enjoys learning, he frequently asks for ''school time.'' the only thing that i can't give him or teach him is the social interaction that preschool provides. i planned on enrolling him in a church based preschool in february or at least get him on the waiting list for next year. but that's the sad thing, even if i get him on the list in february--he's not guaranteed a spot for next year!.

luckily for us, our city's park and recreation department is awesome! while they don't have a lot of sport activities for the 4 and under crowd (micro-soccer and dance is it) they offer a preschool program! it's a little less structured than regular preschool but i think it will be perfect for bubba and his social needs. first of all, it's in a community building, it's an hour and a half each day and the teachers are other moms; they don't necessarily have a teaching license but they have experience with children (and passed a background check). basically they are like me but they work in the social setting rather than at home! (and oddly enough, several of the church preschools around here don't have certified teachers either!)

so this program has a 2 day/week option or a 4 day/week option. because it's only 1.5hrs each day, we opted to enroll bubba in the 4 day week session. there are 16 kids total in his class and he starts monday.

monday as in this coming monday...that will be here in 5 days. yikes!!

while i was all for enrolling him, i have to say this is happening quite quickly! i honestly thought the class would probably be full (it was last semester) so when i called i didn't have high hopes but thought we might get into a 2 day session, even if it wasn't the days that we wanted. well, there were 3 spots left and bubba snagged one! i was excited and emotional all at the same time. my oldest baby is going to do something all by himself and honestly while i'm a bit emotional about it, he's not happy about it. at all.

he knew that some day, he would go to school. so when he woke up from his nap i explained to him that he would start monday. his response "no, i just don't want to. i do school at home'' and pooks response? ''me go to school mama, me do. all by myself me do''. well pooks can't go, while he is potty trained, he doesn't meet the age requirement. he won't be able to enroll until the fall. (or in toddler terms, he can't go until after his firetruck birthday party). bubba was insistent that he didn't want to go, then he finally decided that if i could go with him it might be okay. i tried explaining that while i can take him the first day, i will be dropping him off and then coming back as soon as it's over. he kinda gave me this look of disbelief then asked to watched scooby-doo.

end of that conversation!

i'm going to try to keep easing him into the idea, i know it will definitely be something that he will like and that he will benefit from--it's getting him through the door that i'm worried about!

without further ado...

i present you with pictures of our classroom:

(view from the staircase leading down)
their toy area

tada! our classroom side

i took $1 sesame street flashcards (which we already owned) and hole punched them, then strung into a banner. one is for shapes, one is for numbers
the boys "school" table

train table, my desk, peanut's playpen and the "reading sofa" as bubba calls it

reading corner again

our learning poster, day of the week sign and weather signs

all set up for this week's lessons!
B took this tonight while i was painting some scenes from eric carle books to go up on the walls, this is my desk :)

the very hungry caterpillar

and morphed into a beautiful butterfly

so, the best part: we were able to do all of this and we only spent $60. we purchased the foam puzzle mat flooring ($40) and then spent about $20 on the posters/wall hangings/and some general school supplies from the dollar tree. next time we're at sam's club we need to get another package of flooring...i underestimated the square footage of the area!

and the greatest part in all of this? how excited bubba and pooks are! they are beyond thrilled. they love playing in the ''vasement''....i think it's a combination of newness, toys they haven't seen in months and they really like learning. bubba asked me several times if we were going to have school today, he just can't wait. even peanut was squealing and crawling around down there! overall i think it was a huge success!

be on the look out...

for pictures of our new ''school'' as the little dudes call it.

i had the great idea to clean out half of our disorganized, cluttered and full of total crap unfinished basement, to used as a playroom/classroom. it's a good sized space and it has a full size window that lets in a lot of light. while it's all cement and drywall i knew that if we tried hard enough we could (in the words of tim gunn) "make it work". my goal was to have a nice, clean, SAFE place for the kids to play and learn without spending a lot of money. we already had 2 art easels, a little tikes table, 2 totes of toys and basic shelving. so with the help of b, nanaw and papa (and the dollar tree) i was able to do just that!

i will post pics sometime tomorrow evening. i want to let the little dudes see it first (they were so excited that they couldn't fall asleep!) and i want to snap the pics in daylight :)

we made the plunge!

into home-schooling that is!

we had every intention of bubba attending a pre-school this year, however that just isn't possible. there simply are not enough schools for the number of toddlers in the area. he is on a wait list at the one I really want him to get in to, but she (the woman who runs the preschool) said it is a long list and my best move is to get him on the wait list for 4 year old preschool when that list opens in FEBRUARY! so in february i would have to get pooks on the 3yo wait list, then get bubba on the 4yr old wait list and hope they make the cut. being on the list, doesn't guarantee a spot! every kid who attends preschool here must attend a private or church based school, as preschool is only provided by the school district for need-based students. it is really frustrating!

what adds to that mounting frustration is that bubba really, really, really wants to go to school. he wants to learn and he wants to have friends and it's hard. i try to work with both older boys at home, they do love to learn. whether it's books or flashcards, trips (like questing) or crafts they pay attention and they take it seriously. i sneak learning into everything i can. trips to the grocery store we talk about the color and shape of produce. we talk about vitamins and healthy food, we count and we talk about opposites. on walks we talk about nature, animals, the weather, etc. even watching something as simple as ''Home Cooking with Paula Deen" we count how many eggs she adds, whats in each little dish, etc.

so after researching a bit online, looking at other preschool/daycare curriculums and lesson plans, i decided that i will homeschool them, at least for now. it's not a complete shocker; i was going to school for early childhood education...i do have an interest in teaching and i think it will be good for all of us.

we started this on monday and will do it monday-friday for 30-45mins each day. normally 3 year old preschool is 2 hours, twice a week. i know my kids and i know that i would never get them to pay attention for 2 straight hours. i am very much following their lead on this, i want it to be fun and educational!

so, every morning when peanut goes down for his nap (around 10am) we have ''school time''. they each go potty, wash their hands, we pick up all the toys and turn the tv off, then we sit at the kitchen table. each week follows a simple structured routine so they know what to expect. each week we focus on a theme, followed by learning a vocabulary word about that theme, as well as a letter, a number, a shape/color, and a nursery rhyme or song.

on monday's i put together our ''learning board''. i show them each thing that we will learn that week. so for example here is this weeks board:
(the theme is cows, the vocabulary word is 'calf', the letter is A, the number is 1, the shape is a square and the rhyme is 'hey diddle diddle')

on monday they watched me place each thing on the learning board and i briefly said what it was. then we learned all about cows. while they colored a picture of a cow, i read them 2 short books about farms and animals, adding in extra tidbits about cows: what they eat, drink, where they live, etc. we talked about what colors they can be and then i introduced the vocabulary word: calf. i sang ''hey diddle diddle'' a few times and then we roamed all around downstairs acting like cows. mooing and pretending to eat grass, corn and hay. they *loved* it!

it is kind of freaky how much information these kids retain! they told B (and nanaw and papa too) all about cows later that day.

tuesday we said 'hey diddle diddle again' then talked all about squares. after talking about them, looking at a few on flashcards and in their workbooks, we went on a square hunt. we walked, crawled and ran all through the house finding every square that we could. on rugs, the backsplash of their kitchen, potholders, blocks, books...you name it and these kids found it. bubba even corrected pooks several times when he pointed to a rectangle but called it a square! ''dat's not a square [pooks], dats a wecktangle. it's got yittle sides and big sides. see?"] they were more than happy to point out all the squares when B came home too!

today was ''letter A" day. (for now, we're working just on capital letters) this actually worked much better than i thought, and i think i will probably do this every wednesday on letter day.

basically, i needed to multitask and had to do so creatively. i needed to go grocery shopping and do ''school time'' both before peanut's nap. so i combined them! before we left the house i told them how today we were going to find all the letter A's at the store. in signs, on cereal, posters, toys, etc. when they saw an 'A' they needed to tell me and we would take a picture of it. (i took our old point and shoot digital camera and an 'A' magnet with us). we needed to find lots of A's so we could take the pictures home and make an A poster.

holy cow did they do awesome, bubba especially. pooks caught on and found a few all by himself but bubba was pointing them out left and right. on big signs, little bags, boxes--he even found one on Barb's name tag which he promptly took a picture of:

nevermind the blurriness, he is 3 after all!

so now they are napping and i'm getting ready to print off all of their letter A's. on friday, which is a review day of the week, we will make our poster.

overall, it's going really well. they are genuinely excited when i say that it is school time and actually listen to me! what a concept, right??