Archives for September 2005

Establishing our new routine

I went to preschool this past Tuesday and observed class from behind the one way mirror. I must have scribbled at least 2-3 pages of notes so I could describe Katherine’s busy morning to Steve. In a nutshell…I arrived at 9:40AM to find Katherine at the snack table eating pasta on a plate. Her activities were primarily “life sciences” after that since those were among the simplest work projects in the room.

• She transferring blue water from one receptacle to another using a variety of instruments.
• Katherine used different spoons to move small and big marbles around.
• She dropped soap into a big bowl of water to create suds.

When I left she was again at the snack table eating more pasta – not just eating one but two helpings!

I really was impressed with several aspects of her Montessori education: putting work projects away on her own after finishing them, observing the teacher quietly with her hands behind her back, helping herself to water, snacks by herself and cleaning up, navigating other children politely to work on projects. I can see a real difference now in how she puts things away at home and tries to be more self-sufficient than ever.

Now, all that said, I also saw her attention span get shorter and her listening skills deteriorate during the hour I observed class. Her teachers are super patient. They gave her extra attention, working with her to follow the classroom rules even though she seemed utterly exhausted by 11AM. Katherine’s teacher validated this at pickup, noting that she seems really tired by 10:30AM each morning.

Tuesday evening we started our new bedtime routine. Regardless of parental schedules, Katherine eats dinner by 6PM, bathes by 6:45 and is in bed by 7:30 on school nights. I also drop her off at 9:15, rather than 9AM, at preschool. Initial reports are that Katherine is less tired at school. I’ll learn more this Monday after I formally meet with the teacher.

Teething

Allison is starting to assert her will on her environment. Today at lunch, she took Steve’s thumb, stuck it in her mouth and began to chew on it. I guess its time to buy more teethers!

4 Month Checkup – Our long skinny bean

Allison has Steve’s genes for sure. Patty, Katherine and I took her to her 4 month appointment on Friday which confirmed that she is a very skinny, tall kid. Her key stats – 24.75 inches long and 11 and 0.6 ounces. She’s in the 75% for height and 5-10% for weight!

I think we had a newer nurse at the appointment since it took longer in the room to give Allison her three shots. Poor Katherine was trying to be brave but got so unnerved that she finally clung to me and said “no shots!” Allison hadn’t napped very well, was exhausted and didn’t know what to make of the doctor’s office. The only good news is that she isn’t nauseous just as she was after her 2 month shots.

Our doctor decided to refer Allison to an ears, nose, throat specialist at Children’s Hospital to check out the wheezing. It’s continued fairly unabated for the last month or two. So, it’s best to keep tabs on this over time.

Allison is getting so social. She wants to face forward (not backwards now) to see what is going on around her. She really enjoys watching other children and gives big smiles.

We have to be super careful with Allison now. She’s very close to flipping over at will. Just a week or so ago, Katherine was playing with Allison on the mat and was rocking her on her side. Allison flipped right over. We then put her back on her belly to see if she could do it again. Katherine tried to flip Allison over – unfortunately with her arm in the wrong position – which resulted in big howls. :< Now, Allison will arch her back and get onto her side, so close to flipping over.

K for Katherine, A for Allison and B for Bisco

We’ve been working with Katherine on her letters but haven’t found an activity yet that she’ll really engage in for a longer period of time. For instance, she’ll occasionally work on her alphabet puzzle or pull out her flashcards. The kitchen magnets work for a few minutes but don’t stick too well to the fridge. 🙂

Today we tried another approach – cookie cutters! She was very enthusiastic about working on letter cookies, pointing out a cutter when I’d ask her “what letter does Patty start with?” or “Which is P for Patty?” To help make things more manageable, we worked on A (for Allison), B (for Bisco or bush), C (for Christine), D (for Daddy), K (for Katherine), S (for Steve). We had a couple successes. Unprompted she pointed to and identified the Y cutter. She can reliably identify A and K. Tonight she pointed to letters in her Duck in a Truck book, saying “here’s A for Allison” and “K!” and “W” (OK that really was a U, but close…) We’re making slow but steady progress. Next step is to buy plastic, more dull cutters for Playdoh.

Big Girl Bed

We went to a local store on Labor day to purchase Katherine’s twin bed. Unlike our previous experience with her bureau, the store actually had her headboard, footboard and frame in stock! So, we bought it, put it in the minivan, purchased a twin mattress and pink sheets. This sounds very simple, but in reality it wasn’t. 🙂

The night before Labor Day I dug out our pamphlets and vetted our choices on the manufacturer’s web site. Steve and I narrowed our choices down to three. The next morning, Katherine enthusiastically jabbed her finger at a bunk bed saying “I want a bunk bed!” Needless to say that wasn’t on one of her choices. I then explained that the nice white twin frame would come with a trundle that her friends could sleep on. She was so excited. Clutching the pamphlet she informed the store manager that “I want the white bed and my friend Audrey can sleep on the floor!”

Anyway she now has a beautiful white twin bed with quilt and pink sheets and matching bureau. The trundle and nightstand is on order to arrive in 9-11 weeks.

Ballerina Girl

Somehow a switch flipped this week and Katherine is digging the whole ballerina thing. For Audrey’s princess party, what was she? A pink ballerina with a Strawberry Shortcake leotard and pink tutu. What does she want to be for Halloween – a pink princess!! She thumbed thru a leaps and bounds catalog last week and identified the perfect outfit which had not only a pink pointy hat with tuile but a floofy pink dress. Sigh.

You can go to Africa when you’re not snack food

Katherine informed me last Thursday that “tomorrow is Africa day!” I was very surprised to hear this given that their classroom theme is water, but I went with it. “OK Katherine what do you do with Africa day?” She mumbled something about lions, at which point I informed her that Mommy and Daddy went to Africa many years ago before she was born. She told me “I want to go to Africa!” We spent the next hour or so talking about animals and flipping thru our Africa calendar and book. Katherine was enamored with the 2002 calendar that Steve and I created using our slides from our trip. She must have riffled thru it at least 10 times, memorizing the different animals…”this is elephant with tusks, …” and so on.

The next morning Steve mentioned that she could take it to school to share. I told her “Katherine, why don’t you take it to school on Monday?” Oh no, she had to take it today! We scrounged up a plastic bag, labeled it her “temporary sharing bag” and placed the calendar inside. She proudly carted it off to school for sharing and is supposed to bring it home next Friday.

More Preschool News

We’ve made a lot of progress this week. Here is how our week has gone on the way to preschool dropoff:

Day 1: “I want you to come to preschool with me…”
Day 2: “I don’t want to go to preschool…”
Day 3: “I want to go to preschool…See you later!”
Day 4: “Where’s Miss Tammy? I want to go to preschool!” (She was so excited today that she forgot to say goodbye when leaving the car.)

Part of this enthusiasm may be related to the snack table at school. Apparently Katherine is quite the regular at the table (twice on Tuesday morning), helping herself to apples, cheese and crackers provided by the school. I only hope she doesn’t clean them out of food. 🙂

Good socialization is happening already. Yesterday she informed me that someone in school said “Stop it!” and slapped someone’s arm. I asked her whether this is something we do or not, and she said “No. Miss Tammy said we shouldn’t say this.” She also said to me “when you take something out, you have to put it back. Teacher said this at school.” The irony is that we’ve been trying to teach her this all summer!

Katherine decided today to fill her little plastic pitcher with water and pour it into her play glasses in her playroom. We had a fiesty discussion about how we don’t put real drinks or food on her play cups and plates. Upon visiting preschool today, it became very clear that she is trying to transfer many of her “real life” Montessori activities to home. They have a water station with a very nice pitcher and paper cups that the kids can use whenever they want. I’m going to have to figure out what activities should be transferable and how to do so without wreaking havoc at home.

Despite her usual loquatiousness, Katherine is pretty quiet about her preschool experience. She’ll answer direct questions like “Did you have a snack today” or “Did you work on a project?” But, when I asked her to tell me about her day she’ll tell me “I already told you about it…” or just not respond. We’ve probably learned more about her experience tonight at a parent meeting than over the last week. We got to see her project work, how she stores her slippers and hear about a couple older friends who have talked to their mom about Katherine.

Our teacher suggested we meet in another 3 weeks or so to discuss Katherine’s adjustment in the classroom. They also have a focus group type one-way mirror that parents can use to observe Katherine’s classroom. I think I’m going to try this out on Monday. More news then.

Allison’s Development

Allison’s sleep schedule is drifting a bit of course. She’s getting up now around 1AM and then 5AM – which is starting to get kind of tough. My focus this past few days is to get her more sleep during the day. I suspect that her nocturnal activity is related to lack of regular sleep during the day.

Allison loves to see what family members are doing. For instance, today my mom, Katherine, Allison and I were outside doing some gardening. Allison was doing her “ahhh ahhh” cranky sound until my mom turned her around so she could see what I was doing. The same protesting occurred during dinner, until my mom sat her on the dinner table and she could participate in the family dinner. She provided big smiles and she seemed very happy to be in the thick of things.