Tag, You're It!

Parker was running around the house one night saying tag, you're it!  Where does he come up with this stuff?  Preschool.

My kids have a pretty crazy weekly schedule, they are with one Grandma two days a week, one Grandma one day a week and at a home daycare the other two days a week.  On top of that, I enrolled Parker in half a day of preschool per week.  At the time I kind of questioned whether it was necessary, but I figured we would see how it went. 

Well, I think it's been amazing.  Parker is a shy kid, I would say he's slightly introverted and takes a while to warm up to a situation.  He loves playing with his brother, and his brother goes everywhere else with him.  We absolutely love the  home daycare, but home daycare is regulated as to the max number of kids they can have, which is 5.  So there are only maximum 3 other kids with them at daycare and only one of them is Parker's age.

Preschool gives him the opportunity to interact with more kids who are in his age group, and not have his little brother to fall back on.  After he started at preschool I saw such huge improvements in his vocabulary.  He would come home singing songs.  I asked him who he played with and he told me "Joshua".  I had no way of knowing if this was true until I was talking to Joshua's mom, not knowing who she was, and she said that Joshua always talked about Parker.  Ok, I guess they are friends!

The other night I asked who he played tag with and he listed off four of the boys that go to preschool with him.  

It's strange to send your kids somewhere and not know what they are doing.  But I also love that he has somewhere that he can go independently and grow and learn.  

Field Trip with My Big Boy

Parker had his first every field trip last Tuesday!  We went to the apple farm with his preschool.  I had been trying to think of something I could do just with Parker, and while I had originally planned on taking Cooper as well, I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to spend some one on one time with my big boy!

It would of been closer for us to drive ourselves, but the bus was half the fun!  Parker talks about school buses all the time, so getting to ride on one was a lot of fun for him.

While there, we went on a wagon ride, picked some apples, played in a sandbox, saw some cows, and of course ate a few apples.  

 

I think we both had a good time.  It was nice to be able to fully focus on Parker.  The funny thing is, I'm not really sure he cared much that it was just him.  He was actually very confused in the morning and when I told him we were going on a field trip he kept saying "baby come too".  When we left him at my mom's, he looked at Cooper's car seat and said "where baby?"  I'm sure it was nice for him to have some time without Cooper, but I also like that he seems to miss him when he's not around.  

Preschool - Here We Come!

Parker started preschool this week!  It's a big deal and it's not I guess.  I guess it's a big deal because it's larger class sizes than he would get in daycare and probably a bit more structured.  But he has been in daycare before and will be going back, so it's not like he's never left my side.

That being said, there was a little bit of a separation issue when I was dropping him off because for the past 10 months he has either been with me or family that he knows well.  So he seemed very confused that mommy and Cooper weren't staying with him.  He wanted me to play on the slide and with the diggers.  Then the teacher got out some trikes and he got on and he could care less about me.  

When I was talking to him about going to preschool the other night he would say "ride school bus".  I don't think anyone told him he was going to ride a school bus, so he put that together on his own.  Luckily he forgot about it and didn't seem too upset that we got him to school in the van.

When I picked him up (2.5 hours later...see it's not a huge deal!) he was sitting nicely in the circle and was excited to see me.  

I can't wait to see where this year takes him, the friends that he makes and the things that he learns!