Around the sun without crying

We had Alice's daycare birthday celebration this morning. In the big class, they do it a bit differently in that the child is the line-leader for the day and the parents stay for a while in the morning. The first time we did the Around the Sun ceremony, Alice was turning two and didn't know what what going on really, so I just led her around. The second time, when she was turning three, she burst into tears after only going half-way around or so.  This year, she told us, she was not going to cry.

But first, we had to spend some time in her classroom.  It was quite interesting. I observed the interactions of these small humans like an anthropologist studying a foreign culture. We hear so little of Alice's interactions during the day, unless something traumatic happens. Here are a few of my field observations from the morning:

-small female humans behave much better than small male humans
-there's nothing cuter than two kids building a tower together
-kids are surprisingly fashion-conscious. One boy had a velcro cargo pocket on one side of his shorts, but not the other, and went around investigating and discussing pockets with all the other boys
-The kids noticed each other's shoes and compared shoe sizes
-Many of the kids just played with the toys associated with the work, rather than doing the work as intended
-Some of the kids were really sweet (or attention hungry) and colored pictures for us or came and talked to us
-The teachers are really good with the kids and gently direct them

The kids start their morning by doing "work" -- the Montessorri name for the the little self-teaching activities the kids do. In this class, each child works on a little rug and that is his or her space. If two kids are working together they will push their rugs together.

Alice first did the dinosaur work, where you match the picture of a dinosaur with two dinosaur toys--one of the full body and one of just the skeleton. She didn't seem like she had to work too hard on that one.

Next, she did some numbers work, where you put the written numbers on top of little hooks where you hang a string of beads representing that number. Meanwhile, a group of kids talk to me and show me what's in their pockets.

Oscar and Alice are working together.

Soon, the kids are told to get books and they sit on the line and read for a few minutes while everyone puts their work away. Alice's friend Rye was apparently telling me something very interesting.

Next, Alice the line-leader and her helper collect all the books and put them away.

Then we sang the national anthem.

After that, the helper asks the line leader "5 important questions." I'll let the video take over here. It's about 16 minutes long, so grab and snack and settle in for a spell.

After the ceremony, the kids went to their tables and ate the morning snack of cupcakes and bananas. I didn't want my cupcake, so Zac ate it for me, and Alice ate the frosting blob. We hadn't intended for her to eat it, but frosting left on a plate does not go unnoticed by this child, and she stuck her fork in it and ate it.

Simon and his trains

It finally occurred to me to just make Simon a train track on the TV table where he loves to drive things back and forth. He was using a slinky as a tunnel, or driving his trains through the ferry boat, so it made me think that he just needed a tunnel. He'll play happily here for quite a long time, and it's always the first place he goes in the morning and right after school. In fact, he loves it so much he frequently cries when we make him stop playing trains to do useless things like eat breakfast or supper.

Whenever his trains come unconnected or his track falls apart, he'll come to us for help. I'm training him to go to Alice for help, and it's having a good effect on their relationship, as Alice learns it's fun to be a big sister since she can do more than Simon, and Simon can have interaction with Alice other than screaming when she takes his toys.

Alice's artwork

 Most of the time she still just scribbles nonsensically and says she's making hurricanes and tornadoes and spider webs, but occasionally she'll surprise us with something semi-coherent, like this picture of Peppa Pig.

Rocket shoes

We were getting the kids ready for school, and Zac said, "Alice put those shoes on. I'm not sure if they're the right ones for school."  I looked at her shoes, and she was wearing the black crocs from her cousin Braeden that we keep on the back porch so she can easily slip on shoes when she wants to go outside.

I said, "Alice, those are your porch shoes; you can't wear those to school today."

Alice said, "I know, mommy.  These are my rocket shoes! I'm going to that corner up there."

Acting like a 4 year old

Zac and I were in the bedroom discussing birthday plans, when we heard Alice's door open. We waited a minute, then I went out to see what was going on. She had brought her musicial light-up seahorse with her for protection, and was in the bathroom.  When I looked at her for explanation, she said proudly, "I'm acting like a four-year-old." I asked what that meant. She said, "It means I'm going to the bathroom at night, then I'm going right back to bed!"

I was worried she'd gotten it into her head that she was going to get up at night now, and this was just some excuse, so I was quite relieved when she actually had a quite large bowel movement. She did go right back to bed, but then a few minutes later came out again, now saying she had to tinkle and that the bumps in her back (her shoulder blades) itched. She did seem to have a bit of heat rash, so I put some powder on her back and sent her back to bed, this time with a sheet instead of her warm blanket. She stayed put the rest of the night.

Birthday preparations

This week, we are gearing up for 3 days of celebrating Alice's 4th birthday. Friday is her daycare celebration, Saturday is her family celebration, and Sunday is her first ever birthday party.

Getting ready for all of these events was so overwhelming I had to make a list of what we needed to do each day to prepare for the next event.

Once I had a list, I was okay.

Sleeping beauty

The birds

Setting: This morning, in the kitchen.

Zac: "Alice, you need to take that box of chalk back outside on the porch."

Alice: "But dad, it's so birdsy out there!"

We're still trying to convince Alice that it's pleasant to hear the birds singing in the morning, but in the meantime, she doesn't like to be on the back porch alone when it's so birdsy.

Ellie Rose's Birthday Party

Ellie Rose had her birthday party at a little picnic shelter next to a playground at a park. It was a great idea--exactly what we'd been looking for for Alice's birthday but hadn't been able to find. In the end, I'm glad we're just having a small party at our house, since this is a tough act to follow anyway, and it would have been silly if the kids were doing the exact same thing two weekends in a row.

Simon immediately went for the bubbles, and he finally learned how to actually blow the bubbles for the first time!

The kids mostly ran around and played on the playground and with the various outdoor toys. Alice and Grayson even played with the frisbee golf stands that were nearby.

But the best part (for Alice) was when Elsa, from Frozen, showed up to play games with the kids and paint their faces.  I asked Kerri, the host, if this was a friend of hers, and she said, "No, I bought her online." Kerri apparently didn't get the memo that we're supposed to be the slacker moms who don't do things like rent entertainers for the childrens' birthday parties. But I think this is telling--even the type of moms I'm friends with are throwing great kids' parties.  Alas, poor me.

Alice was scared of Elsa at first, but once she understood that she was just a normal person in a costume, Alice had no fear, and chatted away, telling Elsa things like, "I got my face painted at the science museum!"

At cake time, Simon was happy to sit at the table, but he did not like the hat and he didn't even take one bite of his cake. Normally he loves cake, so I don't know what that was about.

The birthday girl with her new dolls, and Alice trying to hoard all the party favors.

Hawaiian shirt day

Saturday morning we had no plans other than going to the grocery store. So we had a somewhat relaxed breakfast, wherein Zac made Alice a bagel that looked like a donut, thanks to powdered sugar and sprinkles.

Alice liked the idea, but only ate a few bites.

Simon thought it was the best thing ever to feed me raisins with his fork. It was all fun and games until he stabbed me in the throat.

This Hawaiian shirt is kind of crinkly, and the first time I tried to put it on Simon he outright refused. Zac managed to get it on him this morning, though.

Simon had no trouble getting into character, lounging around with his belly hanging out.

He even got his travel suitcase ready for vacation!

Alice spent some time reading books with Teddy.

When we told her to get ready for the store, she surprised us by putting on not only her shoes, but also her sunglasses and hat.

Simon, who we carried down these steps for 22 months, now insists on walking himself.

And he's very happy every time he does it all by himself!

We finally made it to Harris Teeter around 11 am, with these two looking like tourists.

Since I get a lot of giftcards to Starbucks from students every year, which we don't spend, I bought the kids their first cakepops from the Starbucks in Harris Teeter. They were thrilled.  Simon soon ate his, but Alice just licked hers.  And licked, and licked...

Here it is an hour later at home. She never did eat it.

Father's day at daycare

Bath portrait

shenanigans

Zac got these glasses as a gag gift at a work party--they used to have a wind-up nose and mustache that wiggled back and forth.  Alice calls them "Daddy's old glasses," and every time Zac will say, "Yes, I wore them every day untilmy nose fell off."

Cheeky green bean

Alice had cleaned up the floor under her chair with the little dustpan and broom, and was now sweeping under Simon's chair.  Suddenly, she exclaimed, "Whoa! Where did that cheeky little green bean go?" The green bean that was on her dustpan while sweeping up under Simon's chair had disappeared. She soon found it under her foot, and returned it to the dustpan.

Alice's nightmare

This morning, Alice told me she had a nightmare. I asked her all about it, and this is the story that emerged, although it is unclear how much she actually dreamed (if any) vs. how much she made up on the spot.

Alice's nightmare: The world was being eaten by two knights wearing black helmets, rainbow-colored clothes, and gray shoes. The knights were the bad guys, and the earth shot them in the eye, and then they died.

Another time, she told me she had dreamed about knights attacking Pluto. When I asked her why, she said, "Because he was a dwarf planet."  Poor Pluto, being bullied!

The world according to Alice pt. 2

Alice often asks about pictures in magazines. This one of stack of coins interested her, but she didn't believe it was coins and insisted it was hotdogs.

About this picture, Alice asked, "How can Z talk without a mouth?"

But this was the picture, from Mad Magazine, that really generated a lot of questions. Once Zac explained the basic plot line, Alice asked, continually, "Why are those people pushing their dead dad off a cliff onto a beach?" Zac tried to explain how humor and jokes work, but I don't think Alice ever understood.