Another Epic Mother's Day (#4)

On Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day with action-packed family-filled fun.  We went to Blue Jay Point County Park up at Falls Lake. It has a playground and lake front (and a natural play area that we never made it to.) The weather was absolutely lovely.

Upon arrival, Alice took off to the playground, while Simon went straight to the bench and demanded gummies.

After exhausting the playground, we headed down to the lake.

I didn't realize the weather would be so warm, so the kids were wearing pants. We rolled them up so they could go wading in the water.

Luckily, Alice made friends with some girls who were also playing there and that kept her occupied most of the time.

 

  

Simon had one of his tantrums when we decided to leave the lake and I did not want to carry him up the hill. The funny thing was he declared he could not possibly walk, yet he was quite good at running up the hill behind me screaming for me to stop. (Zac had generously offered to carry him, but Simon demanded mommy.)  Eventually, worried that our screaming child was disturbing others, I picked him up. Zac snapped this great shot of the bottom lip (with the added touch of chocolate drool from a bar Simon shared with Zac.)

 

We made it to the van and changed the kids into dry clothes. At home, we fed them lunch and then put them down for naps. After naps (where I took a walk and talked to Laura), we played in the backyard while Zac cooked supper.

After supper, we opened presents, which were books, more legos, and a tower marble game. Poor Zac -- mother's day comes right after my birthday. But he always does a great job picking out fun things.

Then the day concluded as all days do -- with bedtime snack, bath, and books. The day was eternal.

Simon happy; Simon sad

Simon likes to make "salads" with the plastic food on the porch and will happily eat it.

But he was very sad later that day....

Mother's Day in Simon's class

Friday morning was the Mother's Day celebration in Simon's class. There wasn't a program for this one like there was in Alice's class. The moms just crammed into tiny chairs around tiny tables and ate breakfast with their kids. Impressively, Simon didn't totally freak out, and actually sat in his chair and ate some fruit and muffin.

But, being a two year old, he then proceeded to play under the table with his friend Townes.

Then he presented me with the mother's day gift. I already knew it was something involving pink paint, based on the pair of shorts that were ruined because they had non-washable pink paint all over them. Simon hates having anything on his hands, so he must have tried to wipe it on his shorts immediately after having it pressed on the canvas.

Instead of having the kids do a song for us, the teachers played a video of the kids singing the song. I guess they were tired of training the kids for weeks to only have them freak out and not perform on the big day. Although having them sing it for us while we were there would have been way cuter, the video was probably a good solution.

Before I left, I asked Simon to pick some work to show me. He chose the flower work, although in his eyes, it was a volcano.

After giving him hugs and kisses goodbye, I managed to get him distracted showing his show and share car to his friends, so I was able to sneak out without a breakdown. This was an especially impressive feat given that Simon's currently specialty is breakdowns.

Mother's Day in Alice's class

Thursday morning was the Mother's Day celebration in Alice's class. All the moms were instructed to show up around eight. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we watched our kids do some of the Montessori work in the increasingly crowded room.  Then around 8:15 the line leader for the day rings the bell, and all the kids magically put away their work and roll up their mats. Then we all got on the line (blue tape on the floor, in the shape of a square, for circle time.) The kids stood in front of the moms as they did their morning routine of the pledge of allegiance, the weather (sung in Spanish), the calendar, and some trivia questions like the name of the President's helicopter and the state reptile. Then the kids sang some special mother's day songs and even recited a poem for us.

I'd been hearing about the poem for weeks as Alice did an in-depth analysis. Alice would say something like, "Mom, in the mother's day poem, it says I have to teach you to play." Or "In the mother's day poem it says moms sometimes get mad, and we had to tell the teacher what our moms got mad at us for and I said you got mad when I laugh if Simon gets hurt."

After all the songs were done, we were invited to partake of the breakfast buffet. I got a bagel and some fruit, while Alice went straight for the pink-frosted chocolate cupcake with a plastic shoe on top. She ate the whole thing, then went back for more food (I forbid her from getting another cupcake). 

When they were done eating, the kids got out some more work to do. I can't praise Montessori education enough for preschool. It seems like such a good fit for kids this age, when implemented well. Alice told me about twenty times how happy she was that I was there in her classroom, but luckily was not upset when it was time for me to leave and go to work.

Alice and Ms. Georgiana

Fashion Alice giving Ms. Georgiana (head of school) her morning hug.

Alice's Art

An owl she drew for Simon.

Alice said this is a picture of the "bomb that killed the dinosaurs." The black line on the left is a dried up river bed. The black splotches are dinosaur footprints. The circle on the right with all the dots inside is the dead dinosaurs.

Check out those toes and teeth!

Filling daddy's shoes

On the way to the kitchen for bedtime snack, Simon got waylayed. He often stands in the foyer to poop, so I figured that's what he was doing until I heard, "clomp, clomp, clomp." He came into the kitchen with the biggest grin on his face and Zac's shoes on his feet.

"Look, I tied my shoes!"

Thank you for not cutting the carrot, Daddy!

So, Zac and I often use the "positive reinforcement" method with our kids. This is where we encourage positive behaviors by giving them very specific praise. For example, we'll say, "Alice, I like how you took your shoes off right when you came in!" or "Simon, I'm so glad you used a napkin instead of wiping your mouth on your shirt!"

Lately, I've been noticing the kids using this same method on us. They probably don't realize what they're doing, of course, but they're just picking up the behavior from us. For example, one evening after supper when Alice was receiving my undivided attention, she said, "Mom, I love it when you play with me instead of doing the dishes."

And today I noticed Simon did it to. He was adamantly refusing all breakfast options, until he finally realized that what he really needed was a carrot. Zac tried to give him a carrot stick that he had already cut up to take in his lunch, but no, Simon needed a long carrot. Simon went to the fridge and showed Zac the drawer where the uncut carrots are kept, and stabbed it with his little finger. "These carrots. I want one of these carrots. Don't cut it!"

When Zac, exasperated, complied with his specific request, Simon said, unprompted, "Thank you for not cutting the carrot, Daddy!"

So for the last two days, Simon has had a carrot for breakfast.

All Hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.

There were severe thunderstorms in the area Monday afternoon, and luckily I managed to time my drive home to be between storms. When I pulled into the neighborhood, I noticed a strong, fragrant smell. I soon realized that lots of leaves and branches were down, and figured that it must have been quite windy here. There was also mist rising everywhere. It wasn't until I got out of the car at home that I realized there had just been a giant hailstorm here. The yard was covered in large hailstones and debris. The kids got home about 45 minutes later and had fun collecting the remains of the hailstones.

Last swim lesson...first swim race?

Alice had her last swim lesson of this session. She's qualified to go to the next level, but I think we'll take a break from the lessons, since we weren't impressed with this teacher at all.

Playdate with Grayson

On Sunday morning, Grayson came over for a playdate, bringing along his new baby sister (who is truly the easiest baby in the world). But first, we had crepes for breakfast. Simon likes to fold his and then bite a hole in it.