First Week of Preschool
The first days of Eton have gone as well as can be expected. School started a week and a half ago for Katherine, with Wednesday for new kids and Thursday for the whole class. Katherine trooped off to school on Wednesday. We walked her to class to watch her wash her hands, find her locker, put her belongings away and start a project. The second day we stayed until her friend Audrey bounced out of the classroom to greet Katherine who was overjoyed to see her older friend. The third day we walked her to the classroom and barely said goodbye before she started her day. In all, the first three days were super positive.
Then came Monday - and the fourth day - which saw some tears, insufficient breakfast and a hard morning for Katherine. We attribute this to the fact that she had similar issues the fourth day of summer school. Also, she was so excited to start her carpool that morning that she really didn't eat very much, which resulted in low energy and sadness.
Every day since she's eaten a hardy breakfast and for a few days (until class policy changed) she ate her lunch with her friends in class. I basically told her, "once you finish your breakfast, I'll put your freezer pack in your lunch bag." and "you need to eat your lunch at school." It was kind of amusing to see her chipmunk cheeks in the morning as she stuffed eggs in her mouth. And, she polished off virtually everything we packed for the two days in which she actually got to eat lunch at school.
We'll have to find new "privileges" and "consequences" for Katherine. Her behavior is fairly consistent during the day: bounce off to school, eat lunch, rest at home for a bit, have a 10 minute fit about something and then recover for the rest of the day and evening. In general, we've experience 5-10 minute "issues" - hopefully these will decrease with routine, growth and parenting. She's also having to find ways to recharge, which involves sitting around in PJs, reading books, watching her 30 minutes of Berenstein Bears or bugging her sister.
Learning to be a Younger Sibling
Allison is learning many lessons at an earlier age than Katherine. We attribute some to survival instincts, others to habits picked up from us. Today we took Allison to Gymboree for her activity class. Steve opened the door, she marched right in, sat down in the front entry way, took off her shoes and walked into the class area as fast as her little legs would take her. I barely had time to get my shoes off and put away our stuff.
Her favorite past time was crawling up and down cushioned steps, looking for balls and...now riding a "train." Her teacher had fashioned a train cart out of rolling cabinet that she pulled around the classroom. Allison, perched on a bridge when the train started, almost did a double take and hurried down the stairs. She watched and, when the teacher asked for riders, marched straight up to the cart and sat down on the edge. I pushed her back a bit - she sat happily and waved to me and my mom for the ride. I peeled her out afterwards and she lurked, until the teacher made the rounds with the next batch of kids. She then toddled up to the train and made as if to sit again on it (while it was still moving!) The teacher stopped, Allison perched herself on the edge in front of another child, and finished her ride. She would have ridden again, but I removed her from the play area!
