Look out world, we are entering Big Boy status.
School has started, and it is all the rage. We love school. We only go 3 hours twice a week, but we have so much fun! As soon as I pick him up, he jibber-jabbers all he can to tell me what he did that day, right up until he falls asleep. After 3 weeks of school (6 class days), he has yet to make it all the way home awake, and that is okay by me! Thankfully, he transfers well to his crib and as long as we have a snack before we head for home he will stay asleep and take a great nap.
Before school started we talked about all the fun things he was going to get to do. The class has a turtle and a hamster the kids can feed in the morning, plus puzzles, games, painting, and toys outside. He was ready and rearing to go.
Here we are with Dad on the first day of school. Mom had a bad back that day and had to call in for reinforcements, so Dad jumped in. With this school, they do something really helpful and the teacher came to visit Grant at the house a few days before school started! It was just for 15 minutes, but it was fun for him to meet her "on his own turf" and show her his toys and say hi. Then on the first day he walked in the classroom like they were old friends.
With Grant, there are no tears. He's happy to hold your hand on the way in to class, but once he sees all the fun stuff to do, it is almost as if he holds up his hands and says, "Peace mom! I'm out. See you later." and walks right in to class without looking back.
With school only 2 days a week and swim lessons on Saturday, I thought how bizarre and confusing it must be for Grant to wake up and wonder where we are going today? We talk about it at night when he goes to bed, letting him know tomorrow is a school day, but what else could we do? A calendar! I grabbed some poster board and post-its and made a make-shift (read - okay if he destroys it) calendar. We read it every morning when we come downstairs, and then before we go to bed we look at what we are doing tomorrow. I am still waiting for my swim stickers to come in the mail, and then we will know on Saturdays we swim.
On a sidenote - when did stickers become so hard to find and so expensive? I remember stickers being sold everywhere for maybe $0.99 a pack, and now that I actually want to buy stickers, I can't find them. I am not paying for those scrapbooking stickers either. Moving on...
Don't know, don't care. He seems to get the idea, and if not now, then maybe in the future he will. Would you rather have someone show you a new idea or concept before you are ready, or have them wait and not tell you until they think you are ready? All I know is that for 3 years in high school Spanish class every morning we had to say "Good morning. Today is Monday, September 14, 2015" (en espanol por favor), and I still remember it to this day. So if nothing else, Grant will learn his months, days of the week, and how to count to 30...between now and 3 years from now.
Another part of being a big boy is that we can climb up on kitchen chairs now. He can climb up on anything now. He like to sit at the table and eat, and originally requested all his meals served at the adult table. However, a negotiation was reached, and the three main meals are served in the high chair, with the after-nap snack served at the adult table. The after-nap snack is usually crackers and cheese with milk, which is the least messy of the meals during the day. Plus, Toby really likes crackers and cheese and is happy to help clean up.
I accidentally bought the best book ever. While strolling through Target I grabbed it for him to read in the cart as I finished up the list. Yes, I know, I was boycotting Target for Amazon Pantry, but that is a blog for another day. We are back at Target with "list only" purchases on a "needs-only" basis. We tend to have a lot of rules...clearly I broke one of them already by buying the best book ever when it wasn't on my list.
After walking through Target and getting my list done at light speed, I realized Grant had not made a peep the whole time. He was mesmerized by this alphabet book. For every letter, it has arrows showing you how to properly print the letter, and as an added bonus, each page has a flap to show you one more word that starts with that letter. He loved it. He uses his fingers to follow the arrows, lifts the flaps up, and when he got to the end, he closed the book, flipped it open to the front and began again. Sold!
Grant's personality emerges more and more each day. He is a funny guy, and loves to smile and giggle and laugh with you. He also has decided lately that he loves hats.We have a real hats around the house, but I also grabbed a few from the $1 bin - important hats like fireman, construction worker and army general.
Oh, and if you are wondering, I looked it up. Darn English.
emerge: to come into existence; develop
immerge: to plunge, as if into a fluid OR to disappear by entering into any medium, as the moon into the shadow of the sun.
New fun for our house also includes a magnet board. Our fridge has wood paneling to match the cabinets (which is way cooler than it sounds) and so we were at a loss to play with magnets on the fridge. A little Google search to see what everyone else is doing, besides paying the $50 some companies wanted for their magnet boards, and I found the best idea ever. This is an old-school oil pan. The kind your grandpa had under his car in the garage that is $11.99 at Ace Hardware. It is perfect. Plus, now he's not in front of the fridge. He loves it, and I love that he can play in the kitchen and be where I can see and hear him.
Another awesome purchase that I was not intending to buy - gigantic flashcards from Costco. They are just the right size for little hands to hold and play with. Stacking them in the box is the best part. They have great pictures and a clean large font to read. I have thrown out some flashcards in the past because the font was so flowery they were not easy to read. We have a ABC set and a First Word set. Love them both. Grant likes to look through the flashcards and find ones that he knows we have the actual object in the house, like ball or apple, and he will get up with the flashcard in hand and walk over to get the item. He also will place the Dog flashcard over by Toby, because, you know, he's a dog. It's amazing to sit and just watch the wheels in his head go to work. With the airplane card, he will grab his ear and point towards the sky because we can usually hear airplanes flying over the house. Any animal card and he makes the sound of the animal. Interestingly, since we have not seen a van (we have an SUV), he would see the van card and I would say VAN, and he pointed up - to the ceiling FAN. Even when he gets it wrong he still gets it right. Thankfully our neighbor now has a van so we can see it in their driveway and talk about it.
My favorite part of every day is just watching him grow, learn, and explore. He is so happy to share his world with us and tell us all about it. You just have to sit and listen.
Until next time, keep exploring!
Love and hugs,
M, K, G&T
