Doubling Up & Syncing Up

Okay, peeps.

Let’s talk about my little dude and how stinking CUTE he was today for a major outing (pic to come$.

And that major outing was...his meet-the-teacher event at his new preschool!

Okay.

A few bits of background info. 

We adored his little church preschool from last year and were so saddened when it decided to close permanently in May, amidst the Covid crisis.

And it was a wee bit difficult to search for a new preschool without being able to tour any of them (again, Covid), and we struck out many times before finding what I hope is another little gem of a church preschool.

I had to just go with my gut and not over analyze.

And I suppose there are a few major bonuses about our preschool needs for Little Man this coming year that help with that not over-analyzing thing:

First, he doesn’t really need preschool for education, which I know is a super funny thing to say, but it’s true. 

Because he’s a smart little bugger, already beginning to sound out words, doing fantastic with number and letter and letter sound recognition, so if he began kindergarten tomorrow, he’d already be golden. 

Perhaps that also has something to do with the fact that he’s going to be turning five at the end of September, so he misses the kindergarten cut off this year but just a month and will be an older K student next year. Which I’ve always heard is a good thing for boys, so I don’t sweat it too much.

Anywho...we basically just want a safe and welcoming environment for him to get a bit of socialization and further practice at being in a classroom environment. 

And that’s it.

Just happy, safe and a bit o’ learning fun.

Thankfully, this afternoon we kicked off things well with a lovely first impression with his two, sweet teachers and his first glimpse at the school building.

After six months completely in the nest and attached at my hip, he was pretty emotional today when I discussed where we were going. He got sad and cried a bit, and was quite clingy as we were walking in—even though I assured him I wasn’t leaving him there today.

So imagine my freaking JOY to see him very easily socializing with anybody he met, and enthusiastically checking out his surroundings. He executed a super fast turnaround, thank heavens. 

When we left, I asked him if he gave the preschool a thumbs up or thumbs down, and he paused (and I got scared), and then he lifted both his feet and both his hands for the quadruple thumbs up (that we utilize in our house for only the best things). 

I mean, if that doesn’t sum up a happy little dude, I don’t know what does.

Of course, I won’t celebrate until the day he actually goes to school and still comes home happy without any renewed adjustment crying (like when he started preschool last year), but still. Baby steps!

Last side note: although his preschool re-opens next week, we’re not actually sending him until the girlies’ elementary school is reopened for in-person learning, as well. We made the household choice to keep everybody on the same learning and germ path. Either all of them are virtual, or all of them are in person. Synced is best for us.

So.

We’ll be home for the foreseeable future.

But it’s nice to hope and pray for an in-person light at the end of the tunnel, amiright???

Meanwhile...

I’ve been so pleasantly relieved to be able to pull Little Man into a lot o’ Chicklet’s learning, now that we’re getting into a better virtual groove.

As a first grader, Chicklet has fewer mandated hours of synchronous, Zoom learning with her teacher than Chica does (because six-year-olds just can’t sit and focus in front of a screen independently that long). 

So I’ve been in the habit of pulling Little Man into the room when we get to some of Chicklet’s independent assignments so that he can participate, get more of my time, and learn anything that’s age-appropriate for him.

Cross-educating, peeps.

We’re trying!

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it’s just a distraction for Chicklet and I have to send him away. But it’s nice to try, and every now and then I hit a jackpot.

Like today, for Chicklet’s math assignment, that was partially a number recognition Bingo game that she and Little Man loved SO much that we played it off and on throughout the entire day, and I had to break up many fights with them because of it, ha.

But I’ll take anything that gets more than one of my babies snuggling up with me and actually learning something in the process.











Love these crazies, and I’m grateful to be feeling the groove settling in further with these juggling act virtual school days. It’s EXHAUSTING, but we’re managing.

On a related, very helpful front: we’ve really started to identify a couple of short windows of opportunity when all three kiddos can sync up for a quick break at the same time.

It’s been so hard for them to be on opposite schedules after being the thickest of thieves for the past six months, so I’m grateful for any small tidbits of time that streamline our schedule.

Chica continues to school like a champ on a nearly all day continuous Zoom with her homeroom teacher, and again, I’m just grateful for the framework our school has in place, and we’ll keep taking it one day, one assignment, one Zoom at a time.

Especially next week, when we’re going to have to conduct standardized testing from home. Oye.

Anywho...

Stay healthy, stay sane, peeps.

Two more days till the weekend!

Over and out. 

P.S. Please enjoy Little Man’s self-portrait (an assignment both girlies had to do for art class that I had him complete, as well). Particularly chuckle over his awesome phonetic spelling of “Hulk smash” on his t-shirt (a replica of a real one he owns and loves). He’s on his scooter in this pic with me walking beside him. I die.