First Day of School!

Our firstborn had his first day of school yesterday!

He's in afternoon Pre-K.  He's seemed ready as we've talked about it.  And they had an open house on Friday for the kids to see the classroom and meet their teachers.  And one of his teachers visited our home Monday.  So he was prepared.  From what they told me when he was accepted into the program, it could have been a class of 20-25 kids, but there's just 14 of them, so that's nice.  There's 2 teachers plus a para teacher that are there regularly, and specialists that come once or twice a week.

We had a low-key morning.  Played inside and outside.  We had an early lunch because I didn't want to end up rushing him to be ready for the bus, but we had plenty of time so maybe it was a bit too early.

Once we were ready I gave him a red Happy Rock (from a pack of them I bought probably 20 years ago) and told him I'd be thinking about him all day and he could keep it in his pocket and he could feel it there to remind him.  He put it in his pocket and seemed to appreciate it.  But then I told him how the smile would gradually rub off onto him and help him smile and be happy - and he took it right out of his pocket and held it.  I said he needed to keep it in his pocket so he wouldn't lose it but he said he didn't want the smile to rub off.  After assurances that we could draw it back on, he put it back in his pocket.

We did sidewalk chalk while waiting for the bus.


And took pictures.  I told him we'd take pictures of him in his backpack while outside waiting for the bus, so he made sure the backpack was featured too.



Naturally little brother also got a turn in front of the camera.


The boys had fun until our poor toddler tripped while running on uneven sidewalk.  (You can see the uneven sidewalk next to him in the picture above.)  It was the worst skinned knee he's ever had it definitely hurt worse than other falls as well.

We fixed it up and managed to calm him down before the bus came.  My little student was ready and brave.  I asked him if I could take his picture so he sat down on a step and smiled for me.  I meant to get more of the bus in the picture but the thought escaped me in the moment.


I neglected to consider how to include little brother in the process and he did not like what was happening.  I'm sure he was a little more sensitive because of the skinned knee, and because I hadn't included him more, but he was definitely not happy to see the bus drive away with his big brother.  He was pretty inconsolable for a while.  Between that and the knee I spent most of our preschooler's first day at school holding an unhappy little brother.


(He didn't like big brother getting on the bus today either, but there were no tears.  After his nap today he played a bit until he suddenly became very upset and I'm sure it was because he's not used to playing by himself for so long.  He really missed his big brother and was very sad.  So I abandoned the kitchen work to console and then play with him for a while.  Right now he needs me nearly all of his awake time while big brother is away.  It's nice to have the one-on-one time so I'm not complaining.  He was playing alone for a few minutes today when I saw the bus arriving so I called to him that his big brother was home and he came smiling and laughing and running to go out and meet him.)

His bus ride home is longer than I'd like it to be.  My request for a hug when he first got home was denied.  He seemed to have had a good time, he told me about some of the things they did.  After he'd been home a bit I felt for the rock in his pocket and asked if he'd remembered it was there or if he'd forgotten about it, and he said he remembered it the whole time.  I don't know what he meant exactly, but it was a super sweet answer ♥

Another big deal for our preschooler yesterday was that a little while after he got home he went into the bathroom and did #2.  He's done #2 on the potty before, but it's been a long time and he's fairly against it.  I asked him if he'll do that again next time and he said no.

Fruit Flies

-- A few days ago --
My preschooler catches me checking out my cider vinegar fruit fly trap.
Preschooler: How many bugs you got?
Me: 3
P: They making honey.
M: No, there not bees, just little bugs.
M: You making honey mommy.  Wow.

-- Today --
I'm making smoothies and my preschooler asks "what you doing?" with every little step. 

I finally say that "everything I do is to make the smoothies." 

After a minute or so he hasn't said anything and I've forgotten the conversation when I decide to redo the fruit fly trap (yes, in the midst of making smoothies). 

I start to untape the funnel when he says "you going to put the bugs in the smoothie mommy, and they'll get all smooshed up."

I feel like watching me pour it all down the sink must have been a bit disappointing.

Luray, VA

Our little vacation had a second destination: Luray, VA!

First we went to Luray Caverns and arrived early enough to avoid any lines, yay!


Our preschooler wanted to be carried most of the time and had fun discovering the caverns with his dad.


I carried our toddler sometimes but he liked walking too. His favorite part of it all was probably all the rails.
The second pic is the two boys splashing in a puddle.


Checking out the organ.


There are about 70 steps (which aren't exactly flat & uniform) to get into the caverns. I carried our toddler down them at the beginning, but by the end he was comfortable and having fun and did every last step himself, while holding the rail with one hand and my hand with the other.

Luray Caverns green screen photo :)


My big sister joined us for the rest of our day in Luray and the boys were excited to see her.
Next we went to the garden maze. They really loved all the pinwheel type things and the mist. Our toddler especially enjoyed the mist.



When we'd made it through I asked our preschooler if he preferred to be the leader or the caboose and he said caboose.

Then we checked out the animals at the Luray Rescue Zoo.


The Reptile House. Our toddler was quite mesmerized by the snakes that moved a lot.


He also had a hard time leaving Bella, the friendly monkey in the picture on the left.


They both loved feeding the goats. We helped our toddler open his hand for them quite a bit, but it was hard to keep up with him and he'd grab at anything (tiny blades of grass, etc.) and try to feed it to them.


It was fun to see their tiger, Star.  And all the other animals too.


It was a nice getaway but it was time to head home. Our preschooler really wanted another night in a hotel. I think he liked us all in the same room, and especially that he got to share a bed with daddy.

Great Wolf Lodge

Last week we spent a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg and enjoyed their water park. The boys needed some adjustment time as pools aren't their favorite things, but I think they really liked it. There were fun things to do in the little kid area and we took both boys a little into the fort as well. And the kids area outside. I only took pictures on the first day but I think our preschooler enjoyed it even more on the second. On the second day he really enjoyed the outside area, he went down the little frog slide several times, had fun with the water arch, and playing with a water basketball toy.


And here's me and our toddler. His big brother did better the second day but he did better the first. I was pretty tired the second day because I shared a bed with him and he tossed and turned and rolled all night. Anyway, there were things about the water park he loved the second day too.


Our preschooler got a balloon wolf and our toddler got a balloon dog. The dog had an unusually long tail and he discovered the dog could "walk" with him. (They give wolf ears to all the kids, our toddler loved it immediately. Our preschooler was less excited, but not opposed.)


We had dinner at a BBQ place nearby. We thought our little wolf eating with no hands was pretty funny. (At first it was too hot to touch but not too hot to eat ... he must have been hungry :)



Watching the water park while eating dessert. They loved seeing the big bucket on top dump all its water out.


In PJs, waiting for Clock Tower Show & Storytime


Storytime


Mid-morning they have a Wolf Walk where they share some interesting things about animals. And after they got their picture with the main character, Wiley the wolf.


Coloring and cutting in the kids giftshop while waiting for green screen pictures. Our toddler loved the little chairs!


Green screen photo!


Since we'd met Wiley I wasn't too concerned about the other character greetings, but we happened to be around when the racoons came out and I'm glad we were because our boys were excited to meet them. They were all smiles and got hugs. I guess they weren't too excited about another picture though.

(The Blue Bandaid: While at the water park the second day our toddler fell on the concrete outside and scraped his knee. He got it all fixed up at the first aid station; he got to sit in a special chair and had loads of huge smiles for the guy patching him up.)

The Lodge!


Next we spent a night in Luray, VA. Our toddler slept beautifully and barely moved, so I was able to rest too.