Growing Into His Paws

I really do want to be blogging again. I promise. It's just harder than it used to be. Allen's not a toddler anymore. Everything he says and does is not hilarious (sometimes, it's downright infuriating!). He's in school from 8:00 to after 3:00 everyday, and on days I work, I don't see him until almost 6:00 in the evening.

So it's hard ... he's not providing me with witty one-liners or hilarious stories or funny dances on a daily basis anymore. He's still hilarious -- don't get me wrong -- but he's so much more independent now, that we just don't see it as often.

Please bear with me, and don't give up. I may not be able to blog every single day, but I will continue to blog. So keep checking, and if you haven't heard from me in awhile, nudge me with a comment.

Now, onto some cute/sweet/funny things from the last week.

• Last week, he saw a commercial for the new Ice Age Movie coming out on Blue Ray & DVD on Tuesday, December 11th. Don't you know that he remembered! He said multiple times over the last several days, "On the 11th we have to get new movie!" (he kind of sang it and did a little dance each time). You can imagine his excitement Tuesday morning!
• Sunday we had some friends over (hospitality after the meeting). He was so excited for everyone to be there and sat at a table with friends who were all probably over 60 years old. But he loved it. He has such an affection for the friends at the Kingdom Hall, especially the older ones. In fact, he made one man ride up the elevator with him so Allen could show T his room (T is in his 60s). 
• He decided on Sunday that he wanted to start picking his chores again each day (we use the fisherkids system) and did really well earlier this week. The past couple days he's slacked off though :/
• This morning, because we all had an early meeting to attend, Nana, Papa, and I all took Allen to school. As he got ready to get out of the car, he gave us all kisses. The staff member helping the kids in, said, "Oh, you've got a lot of love this morning." To which Allen replied, "I've got three loving givers today!"
• Tonight, we're home from our meeting because he's running a fever. However, he's not acting sick ... he's been waving his light saber around, putting puzzles together, playing games on my computer and iPad, and now he's whining that I'm NOT playing a game on my computer. So, he has the fever, but I'm the one who's feeling dizzy and sick.
• Since I wrote this, Allen's fever has suddenly disappeared. He has been super hyper, and as he was taking pillows off my bed (and hearing me warn him over and over again to watch my wine glass), knocked a pillow into my glass -- at full speed -- and spilled wine EVERYWHERE. Seriously it was like a wine massacre in our room. Splatter all over the place. Good times for Mama.
• Lest I forget the title of this post ... Monday he had a tennis lesson. It was just he and another little girl this time, so he was able to get more personal attention. And it was Coach Warren. Coach Warren (not my dad) tends to be a little harder on the kids. He's not mean at all. He just really makes them focus. So during a water break, he came over to talk to me. We discussed Allen's progress and what Coach has been helping him with, and then Coach said the greatest thing: "Kids all grow into their paws at different times." He went on to tell me that his 14 year old just grew into his paws. It made me feel so much better. Because Allen is SMART (he scored in the 95 percentile in Math and 99th in Reading in standardized testing)! But, he doesn't want to ride a bike ... or take risks ... and he can't consistently catch a ball. So to hear Coach reassure me that Allen is OK ... that Coach has seen kids like Allen before (maybe even his own child) ... made me breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. My child is not destined to be an athletic loser like me. Whew!

I guess that's all for tonight. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Still trying to remember to include them/take them in the first place.

xoxo!+

International Noturno Aventura

This past Thursday night was International Night at Allen's school. We were away last year, so we had no idea what to expect, but we were very excited. Allen's been talking about Brazil for the last few weeks. Plus we were making Brazilian food!

Here's what we made:

Little Coconut Kisses

 Creamy Corn Cake (which we made as muffins, obviously)

Interestingly enough, both items were Gluten free (an experiment Brian and I are trying).

We arrived at the school, and Allen got a passport, which he was to get stamped in each country. The countries were: Brazil, Antarctica, Thailand, Ireland, Chile, Aruba, and India.  Here are some photo highlights ...

Annie the Anaconda. She's a life-size model -- 22 feet long! The kids stuffed her with recycled paper, and painted her. She was gorgeous!

 The Amazon Rainforest

 The children cut out different insects and animals from the Amazon and colored them. Then Ms. Avril and Ms. Jennifer stuck them onto the trees. You can also see part of Annie the Anaconda here.

 Chilling out with a snow cone in Antarctica (get it?)

 Ireland!

 The elementary students made a topographical map of India

 Allen's future bride, Amelia (according to Allen) showing off her henna.

 Ms. Amy decorating Allen's hand with Henna.

 Allen's passport. Which was stamped in every country!

You can see more pictures here, but these are the highlights. Allen's classroom was by far the best. Brazil had the most food, and the most creative decor. Overall we had a fantastic time!

Brazil

International Montessori Week is coming up, and Allen's class is studying Brazil (remember, last year was Italy).

This evening, as we were waiting for our pizza, Allen kept repeating some word. And then he announces, "That's Porgucheese."

You mean, Portuguese, buddy?

xoxo,
AHC

PS Of course, once we laughed and corrected him, he kept saying, "Porgucheese Porgucheese."

As I mentioned the other day, we had a situation with reference to Allen's school. Last Thursday night, I was unwinding after meeting by checking Facebook. In my news feed was a link to this article. Talk about upsetting! Not only were the allegations disturbing, but the fact that the school had not informed the parents of the incident was alarming. I immediately email the school's director.

The next morning, a rather generic email was sent to all parents by the school's board. It basically said that the situation had been "appropriately addressed" with no further explanation. So I sent another email to the Director and President of the Board expressing my grave concerns about both the safety of Allen and the other students as well as concern for the boys involved. I was invited to a meeting with the Director.

She immediately assured me that Allen has no contact with these children. Since the incident, they have adjusted the playground schedules so that only one class is on the playground at a time; thus providing more supervision. They have fenced off the tree, as it was a blind spot (obviously) on the playground. And the teachers have spent their last two In Service days reviewing protocol and procedures for incidents like these. But most importantly, the Director immediately notified three different divisions of DSS (Department of Social Services). Child Protective Services made a notation of it, and OHAN (Out-of-Home Abuse and Neglect) is investigating it.

I feel very reassured after speaking with the Director, though I wish that they had just share the above information in the first place. Preferably before we'd read about it in the newspaper (they had no idea the article was going to be published).

Have any of you moms out there ever had to deal with a situation like this? What did you do? What did the school do? Sadly, while I never want to have to face this again, I have a bad feeling this is not the last incident like this that Allen will be exposed to during his school career ....

xoxo,
AHC

It's been awhile

The above picture has nothing to do with anything ... I just feel bad posting without a picture of the boy (but in case you're curious, he was showing me his Orange TicTacs).

We have been busy. I'm finally healthy again. Mom and I went to Atlanta to Market last week. It was the quickest we've ever done it. We were only gone two nights. But we got some cool stuff.

Allen totally rocks. He's taken to calling his great grandmothers the "old girls." They love it. They came for dinner tonight (along with Nana and Papa), and Allen was in heaven. He loves his Gramma and Gigi.

Allen's been listening to the Bible Stories in the car lately. I think he's really benefiting. He's calling them to mind very easily, and bringing them up in conversation. We're very proud. Now if only he would put into practice what he's learning (we're still having a hard time obeying Mom & Dad).

Mom and Dad (me and Brian) are a little stressed out lately. A situation at Allen's school has come to our attention, and we're not happy with the way it's been handled. I'm meeting with the Director of the school tomorrow. I'm nervous ... I hope I can firmly express our stand.

I guess that's all for now. I'll let you know how things go tomorrow. And I'll try to get some more pics and stories together this week.

xoxo,
AHC

Isn't he too young?

This morning on our way to school, Allen informed me that a boy at school (but not in his class) was knocking him down at recess. Through the discussion, Allen explained that this boy did not want to be friends with him -- had no interest in that -- he just insisted on knocking Allen down. He also told me that if he and one of his friends were playing together, they were able to knock this boy down.

I explained that he should tell the boy he couldn't be friends with him if he kept doing that. And that it wasn't right for he and his friend to push him down. That we should treat others the way we want to be treated.

He didn't quite seem satisfied. He proceed to ask me to come to his class with him and come with him to recess so I could see this boy.

I did stay in his class for awhile as he showed me several works. Once he seemed comforted and secure, I left. His teacher and I had a brief discussion, and she assured me that she's aware of the situation. And when Nana picked him up from school, his teacher assured her that he had a good day.

But then tonight at bedtime, he told me that the boy pushed him down again. I asked him if he told him to stop, and he said no. Then he said that I should come with him to school all day, so that I could help him (and protect him) from this boy.

Boy does the Mama Bear in me want to give this child a piece of my mind! But I know that's not the solution. What do I do? How do I handle this in the way that is best for Allen? Help!!

xoxo,
AHC

PS Photo from here.

It's those eyes ...

Above is Allen's first self-portrait. Age 4, October 2010. His teacher, Ms. A, pointed out to us that we won't get many more drawings like this, since soon he'll learn the stick figure. But I love this drawing. Look at the eyes. Not only are they my boy's most striking feature (and, of course he knows this, since everyone remarks on them), but it occurs to me that it says something about how he views the world ... full of awe and wonderment over all he sees.

Ms. A also told us -- at our parent-teacher conference -- that Allen is confident speaking in front of the class (since he introduces himself to just about anyone, we were not surprised), and that he interacts with all the children -- even the shy ones. Our hearts swelled at the thought of our sweet boy caring about every child in his class, drawing out the shy ones ... we could not be more proud. Ms. A also mentioned that Allen loves geography (he knows the continents), is extremely enthusiastic (somehow, I'm not shocked), and is enjoying the pre-math works (whose child is he?).

In other news, my Mama is recovering from sinus surgery. Dr. Christian (the most wonderful doctor ever) told us that he cleaned out lots of junk from her sinuses (old nasty stuff too), and once he got that stuff cleaned out, he found polyps, which he also removed. She's in a lot of pain and is struggling with some nausea. And in true Cheryl fashion is extremely impatient about her recovery. But I think she's slowly accepting that it will take some time.

Soon I hope to backtrack to September and share with you details of the Farmer's Table and our anniversary trip to Greenville. Then I'll share with you the gifts I received ...

xoxo,
AHC

What a day

I have pictures to share, but honestly I'm too tired/lazy to upload them from my phone. They're not that great anyway. Just from us messing around last night with my new toy. 

Today was a rough day.First thing this morning, we (the Joli girls -- me and Mom) found out that the design elements we've ordered for the Farmer's Table event probably won't get here in time (we're providing the event decor for it, and Southern Living is going to be there .... eeeek!). This means we have to redo the entire event design. Then, genius that I am, managed to lock my mom and me out of the shop during shop hours (we were doing a site review with the fabulous girl's organizing the aforementioned event, and I walked out without the keys to the shop). So we had to drive all the way to Brian's work to get his key so that we could get back in.

Immediately after work, Brian and I were off to our Parent Orientation at Allen's school. This was actually really nice (except for the teeny, tiny chairs we had to sit on which was awful). Allen's teacher, Ms. A., is so unbelievably awesome and enthusiastic that it makes me want to be in the class every day.

If Allen were writing this blog, he would tell you that the highlight of the day was when Mom and Dad came back to pick him up and they had the much-anticipated Chuggington toys with them. Allen's face lit up as soon as he saw what was in the box. He begged, pleaded, and tantrumed in an attempt to have us set up the train tracks tonight (mind you, it was after 8:00 when we opened the package, and we were still at Nana and Papa's). He also examined the back of one of the packages and began telling us about all the "chuggers" he didn't have yet. Then he said that he "wished" he had "all the things for Chuggington." So glad to know he's grateful for his gift :)

Tell me friends, do you have children who have started/will be starting school? What are you doing to prepare? Do your children show appreciation for their toys/gifts, or do they beg for more? What are your strategies for dealing with these?

xoxo,
AHC

Growing Up

Allen working on his computer like his Mommy does

Have you missed us? I've missed you. I wish I could give you a good reason for my blogging absence all summer, but I really have none. A variety of factors contributed to my being away, but my new-school-year-goal is to blog regularly.

So Allen's official first day of school was yesterday, though he got to sneak in a a couple days early last week to get acclimated again (since he came to school late last school year). He's doing beautifully. Absolutely zero anxiety about school. It's like he never left. What's beautiful about the Montessori program is that children are in the same class from age 3-6, so they develop relationships and friendships with children that continue throughout the program. This seems to work beautifully with Allen's character ... which makes for a seamless transition.

In other news, Allen is successfully sleeping in his own room, in a temporary big boy bed. One of the contributors to my absence here was that Allen was sleeping with us every night. But we've successfully transitioned him back to his room, and now he's ready for his new big boy furniture. We've ordered it, and it should arrive sometime in October. 

As usual, Allen is full of amusing antics, stories, and sayings (right now, he likes to say "you wear me out"). I won't attempt to regale you with the stories of the summer, but I promise to keep you posted going forward.

Have a wonderful day, and please comment. I've missed you all so much, and look forward to reading your kind words again.

xoxo,

AHC

Since you've waited so patiently

Here's the video of my handsome boy singing "My Favorite Things". Sadly, it was very difficult to hear the children, but you can see my boy trying his best and holding his own. The lyrics (modified) are below.

My Favorite Things
Performed by the Morning Glory Class at EC Montessori
New words written by the teachers and children

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with string
These are a few of my favorite things

Ice cream at the airfield and Pigeon Point Park
Playing at the beach at Hunting Island State Park
Alligators at The Chocolate Tree
These are a few of my favorite things
(repeat)

When the pollen falls
When the gnats gnaw
When the thunder claps
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

Amazing

My boy was awesome tonight. He's exhausted and sleeping next to me as I type.
I'm exhausted too ... all that excitement wore me out!
Stay tuned for the video ... hopefully. Trying to figure out how to crop out the other kiddos from the video, since I have no editing software ....

xoxo,
AHC

Pickled Pigs Feet

I'm giddy today. Allen's first stage performance is tonight. I haven't been this excited in a long time (of course winning Best Gift Shop helps, too). We will videotape the performance, so I won't tell you what he's doing. But I will share some other cute things he's said lately ....

Last night, he still had soap on his legs after the bath water drained. So I filled his bath cup with water and rinsed him off. He said, "Thank you Mommy. You're so kind!"

A little while later, I was singing a song to him, and he said, "That's enough! That's enough!" Brian asked him why he didn't want me to sing anymore, and he said "Because it's annoying."

Last week, as we were walking into school, we had the following conversation:
Allen: Mommy
Mommy: Yes, Allen.
Allen: I love you.
Mommy: I love you too, buddy.
Allen: And Mommy ...
Mommy: Yes
Allen: I really like your outfit today.
Mommy: Thanks, Allen. You look pretty handsome yourself.
Allen: I know.

Here are a couple random shots of my handsome boy ...

Stay tuned for a recap of tonight's performance.

xoxo,
AHC

PS I just realized I forgot to post about the Title. Lately, when Allen is insistent that he doesn't want to eat, but I know he's hungry, I'll say, "I know what you want ... Pickled Pigs Feet." This continues into suggesting all sorts of gross foods (like fried grasshoppers, etc.). Now, he says, "Pickled Pigs Feet" and cracks up in anticipation of what will come next.

Quotable Allen

Heard this week:

At school yesterday ...
Miss C -- a teacher at Allen's school -- told me that her son (who just joined Allen's class) told her that he was going to play with Allen that day.
I replied, "Oh Allen, do you have a new friend?"
Allen nodded his head, and then announced, "And I wiped a boogie on him!"

This morning while getting dressed for school ...
Allen (to Daddy): You're Mr. Naked Pee.
Daddy: Well then you're Mr. Naked Poop.
Allen: We have to go get our costumes!

(Do all three-year-olds find bathroom talk hilarious?)


Tonight while explaining why he needed to get in our bed ...
Sometimes when my feet get in bed, they get scared.

xoxo,
AHC

Little Opera Aficianados

So yesterday was the big day -- the day I visited Allen's class and told them all about Italian Opera and La Traviata. I was so nervous. Almost more nervous than giving a talk at the Hall. I couldn't believe that 26 little faces could make me so nervous, but they did. What if they asked me a question I couldn't answer? What if they hated the story? What if they were bored?

Right away I got them involved. Two little girls passed out the puppets -- Alfredo for the boys and Violetta for the girls. We practiced saying Opera Seria and Opera Buffa. We all said the characters' names and the name of the opera.

They LOVED the music, and had a blast holding up their puppets as they heard Alfredo and Violetta sing. They laughed and danced their puppets around. They all said "Ewwww" when I told them that Alfredo and Violetta fell in love; and one adorable little boy wanted to know if they kissed.

The children were so well behaved and polite. They all participated when I asked them to repeat certain words; they all told me "grazie mille" for coming in to share opera with them.

And of course, watching Allen participate was the highlight for me. He was able to sit next to me on the floor (I was in a little chair), and throughout my presentation he would lean over and hug my leg at various times. Once, he whispered, "I love you, Mommy." He was so excited that I was there.

Overall, I think it was a success, and Miss Avril was very kind to me. In fact, she had some of the older kids draw pictures of Alfredo and Violetta, and all the kids signed a thank you card that they made for me. It's beautiful, and I'm touched.

Do you like opera? If so, which is your favorite??

Snow, Singing, and Cupcakes

We awoke to a gorgeous morning with the snow already melting. So sadly, we had no chance to play in it. But we did get a picture of it before it was all gone ...

Since we slept in this morning, we lazed around the house in our pajamas for awhile before getting ready for our day ... Allen serenaded us  with some of his made-up songs, and I was able to catch one on video .... (which isn't uploading, so I'll have to try later).

As planned, we ran errands, but first we ate a delicious lunch at a new place called Shoofly Kitchen. I had the fruit and nut wrap and it was scrumptious. They have a cute little boxed lunch for kids that includes multi-colored goldfish. Allen was thrilled.


Allen has outgrown his dress shoes, so we went to the local shoe store -- Lipsitz -- to purchase a new pair for him (I'm all about supporting local shops ... have you heard of the 3/50 Project?). I love the owner of the shop because he really knows what he's doing, and he takes time to make sure the shoes fit well. And he interacted beautifully with Allen.

Anyway, I was able to get all my supplies for my Italian opera project that I'm working on for Allen's school. Allen's class is learning all about Italy this month, and one of the things being introduced to them is Italian opera. I will be visiting the class this week to tell them about opera and then to tell them the story of an Italian opera. I decided I should show up with visual aids, since we're dealing with 3-5-year-olds.


Now, I'm not sure how familiar you are with Italian operas, but they're pretty much all focused on sex and death. So I've had quite a time trying to find one that I could make appropriate for this age group. Originally, I'd planned on The Marriage of Figaro (sounds innocent enough, right), but it was so inappropriate that I couldn't find anything redeeming in it. So now I've settled on La Traviata -- a love story about a Courtesan who dies of Tuberculosis. I know I know ... what am I thinking, right? But at least I can tell it as a love story and end it before she dies. And we won't mention her occupation.


Back to my visuals ... I'm not finished yet, but I have made my little figures of the main characters of the opera. Aren't they cute?

I'll show the completed project once I get it finished.


Finally, Allen got "pupcakes" at the grocery store today. What are they, you ask? I didn't know either. Dad had to translate for me .... Cupcakes (how did I not know that). I think he really enjoyed it, don't you?

 

Then he sat next to me on the couch. I called to Brian in the kitchen, "Could you please bring me some water, babe?" And then Allen says, "Can you get me some chocolate milk, honey?"

I think that's all for tonight. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend, my loves!


xoxo,
AHC

School update

School seems to be agreeing with Allen a little bit more this week. On Tuesday I dropped Allen off at he front door, and the director took him inside. Per Allen's request, I asked that his teacher be told that he was scared of the kids (this was an unsolicited/unassisted comment by him). When I picked him up, though, he said he had a great time.

Yesterday went even better. For whatever reason, there was no one to walk him into his class, so I had to do so. But we got there without much incident. He did insist on bringing his chocolate milk in, but binky was left in the car, and after a brief request for it and look of panic, he wandered in to show Ms. Avril that he learned how to say, "I Love You" in sign language (courtesy of the book, The Kissing Hand).

Today was awesome. Again, I had to walk him all the way to class, but as I was hanging up his sweatshirt, he started to walk away and towards his class by himself. I had to call him back for a kiss goodbye.

Here are a couple pictures from school this week (no action shots, just his first painting and his folder).
 

Next week, we are going on our first field trip ... to see Alice in Wonderland at the USC Beaufort Performing Arts Center! I've volunteered to be a driver, so hopefully I'll get to go with him!

xoxo,

Where's the love?

It's another picture-less post, and I'm sorry. I wanted to get pictures up of the beautiful house, but it's not quite finished, so the pictures will have to wait.


Anywho ... tonight I need to vent about two things. And I'm hoping ya'll don't mind ....

First of all, I'm a little anxious about taking Allen to school tomorrow morning. He's been home for five days now (one sick day, one in service day, two weekend days, and Columbus Day), and he keeps saying (very happily), "I don't have to go to school today!" I'm dreading tomorrow when he says that, and I have to say, "Well, actually kiddo ..." Part of why I'm dreading it is because when I picked him up Wednesday from school, I was met by the Educational Director who asked me two things: 1) To drop him off at the door and let a teacher bring him into class; and 2) To leave the binky at home.

Now, I understand why both requests were made. I mean, Wednesday morning, he did make quite a scene in the classroom when I tried to leave. And, other children wanted his binky (it was the only day he'd had it there and he had it because he made quite a scene when I left the classroom). But, his teacher did invite me into the classroom. She invited me to sit down. And everything I've read about helping children adjust to school says to stay with them until they're comfortable, so tell me this, my friends ... what in the hell was I supposed to do? And furthermore, if you don't want the kid to make a scene, and his only attachment is his binky ... do you really want to take that away from him when he's starting something new?

I say all of this, but tomorrow I will drop him off at the door. And even though he'll probably be hysterical and they'll have to pry him off me, I will keep the binky in the car. But I just have to go on the record and say that it's not fair and it's not right.

Onto my second complaint ... how is it that I have 5-10 visitors to my blog each day, but have ZERO comments (or one). Sheesh ... my sister and P aren't the only ones who can comment (she's on a Mediterranean cruise right now so she's not commenting at all). Show me some blog love, pleeeeaaaaase. Or I may just stop writing ...

xoxo (I guess),

First days of school

Allen started school this week. Overall I think it's actually going OK, but it's been extremely emotional for both of us. For instance, he wasn't too thrilled to be leaving for school on Monday morning ...

... though once we got to school and he saw Ms. Avril again he was very excited.

He went right in with her and learned how to take out his mat, unroll it and roll it back up again.

It was so cute to watch him take everything in. I could see that it was all a little much for him, but on Monday he took it all in stride ...

A cute story ... the above pictures were taken while the children sat around the red ellipse, and sang songs. They sang a song in which they each said their names and asked how they were; and they sang "Where is Thumbkin." Allen thought they were singing "Where is pumpkin," and he yelled, "It's wight there!!"

We picked Allen up Monday and he was happy and fine. He was excited to go home and play with his toys, and he told us that he would go back to school tomorrow.

Tuesday was a little more difficult. Brian and I went together so that we could give the teacher the Education brochure and talk to her about the holidays, and Allen was fine while we were there. But when we tried to leave, he broke down. He cried hysterically and clung to me. The teacher's aid had to pry him off of me. Brian and I started to walk away and a teacher and a volunteer chased us to make sure I was OK. And they were so reassuring and sweet. One of his teachers came out and told us that he was fine also. Once he got in there he did OK.

But it was hard. Hard for me to leave him. Hard for me to see him that upset. I felt like I was abandoning him. I was afraid he was going to be traumatized. I cried a little bit in the car, but tried not to dwell on it. And when I picked him up he didn't even realize it was time to go yet! It helped, of course, that a fireman came to visit the children and gave them all fire hats ...

 

And I love this one of him rolling his eyes because I wanted to take his picture ...

The entire way home from school yesterday, he talked about what he did and what he learned. It was awesome!

But this morning, he burst into tears at the first mention of school. He cried most of the morning. Then, he changed his attitude and seemed like he was going to be alright. He got right into the car; and when we got to school, he got right out and walked in with me. This morning, Ms. Avril invited me in, and I sat with Allen and helped him decorate his folder.

When it was time for me to go, though, he cried ... A LOT! It was awful ... again. But by the time I got down the hall, he had calmed down. And again, he was fine when I picked him up.

So I've decided that, while it's going to be tough, he's going to be OK. Better than OK even. I think he's going to like school, maybe even love it. I hope ....

xoxo,

AHC

Back to School Night

Even though Allen is not starting school until October 1st (and after he's potty-trained), we were invited to EC Montessori's Back to School Night. I was really excited to go because I wanted us to meet his teachers, and I wanted Allen to see his classroom so it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming on the first day of school.

As soon as we walked through the front doors and saw the Director, we felt so welcomed! She said several times how please she was the we came, and she directed us to his classroom right away. It was the same one that Allen spent some time in earlier this summer when he and I toured the school, so he wasn't quite as overwhelmed as I feared.

He stayed in Mom's or Dad's arms for a few minutes as we met his teachers, Ms. Rose and Ms. Avril; but pretty soon he was walking around and exploring. He asked us to sit down with him and look at a peg toy (I'm sure that's not the correct name for it, but I'm still new at the Montessori philosophy so bear with me). This happened to be the same toy that Ms. Bev showed him earlier in the summer, so I knew that he remembered the room and the earlier experience.

Ms. Avril joined us after a few minutes, and pretty soon, he had run off with her to "work" on something else (I did learn that the children do not "play" at Montessori school. They work. Mom works, Dad works, Allen works. It gives the child a sense of confidence and places importance on what he is doing. I love that.) As you can see, he totally hit it off with Ms. Avril.

Back to School Night was supposed to consist of a half-hour in the classroom, and then about an hour out in the playground for picnic dinners. I had packed our little picnic, and Brian and I were ready to dig in. But Allen had different plans. And eating was not in those plans. He played with Ms. Avril for a really long time, and when we finally convinced him that we should leave, he nearly knocked her over when he hugged her.

Once we got outside, we had chickens to see, equipmment to play on, and dirt to play in. We also caught up with three of his favorite girls who pushed him on the swings for awhile. We never did get to eat ....

All in all, it was a fabulous experience. I have never met a more warm or enthusiastic teacher as Ms. Avril. She went on and on about how excited she was to meet him, and how she couldn't wait to have him in class. And she was very reassuring and warm with Mom and Dad too! I still don't know much about the Montessori method, but the staff at this school have me hooked anyway.

xoxo,

Potty training help

We got word this morning that Allen got into E.C. Montessori, or as he calls it, "my special school." We're all very excited. He will be in the primary class (3-6 year-olds) starting this Fall.

Now we have to potty train ... please please please send me words of wisdom! I'm desperate!

xoxo,