Open House

Last night the three of us went to Logan's school's open house. The open house was supposed to have been the night before school started, but the bad storm knocked out the school's power, so they cancelled. Last night, though, we finally got to go!

I was really excited. I am in the school daily, but I do not get to see much. Logan has come home talking about the E-Beam, and I really wanted to know what that was all about. He also started talking about the classroom jobs that they take turns doing, so I wanted to see that system as well. Logan was pretty excited to show us around too. He is a totally different (ahem...better behaved) kid when we are in the school. He is also a lot more shy ;o)

The first thing Logan showed us was his spot out in the hallway. There is an apple with his name, an "About Me" sheet, a handprint picture of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and an elephant. This spot is where they put their coats, bags, and lunchboxes before going into the gym or outside. Then, when they come back in, they bring their stuff into the classroom and hang it up on hooks. When school first started I thought the stuff was going to stay in the hall, and I wasn't thrilled with that!

The "About Me" sheet was pretty much Logan to a T, but there was a question about favorite food and he said apple pie. Matt and I had to laugh at that because we do not think he has ever had apple pie!

Then we went into the room. He showed us the E-Beam. In Logan's words, it's kind of like a TV. It's a projector and they use it for stories and math (and probably other things he has not told me). It looks pretty cool, and I know Logan likes it. Then he showed us the little library in the classroom, and said his favorite book there is a Spongebob one (stupid sponge). He showed us where he sits at carpet time, and we saw his little picture indicating that he was the weather watcher for the day (or week....still unsure how long they do their jobs). He showed us where he sits and the little bag on the back of his chair that holds his supplies. I was pretty happy to see that his crayons are still in one piece. We also got to see the Noise-O-Meter, which moves if they get too loud...and earns them prizes if they are good the entire week.

The highlight of the night was right before we left. A little girl in Logan's class gave the teacher a hug good-bye, then came over to Logan, hugged AND kissed him! It was so funny, and I could tell Logan was embarrassed. Kids are so funny!

Kindergarten: Month One

We survived the first month of Kindergarten! Honestly, that first full week I did not know if either of us would make it, but last week was a big turning point for Logan.

This week has been TEAR FREE! In fact, he's starting to kind of push me out the door! He has all the teachers fooled, because when he says good-bye, it is followed by, "I'll miss you!"  Ha! He is too busy having FUN to miss me ;o) I contribute this big change to 1) "The Kissing Hand" 2) Getting used to a new routine and 3) Tiny dinosaurs in his pocket.  So....I guess that means I'll be buying the new Thomas movie, "Blue Mountain Mystery" soon!

I'm not ashamed to say I'm using the movie as a bribe, because there's been a few big things that L has needed to work on: a pleasant drop-off at school, staying in his own bed, and dealing with noise issues at speech.

Yep. That last one was unexpected. Logan started speech therapy at the elementary school, and the first day we got there early...which was great, except their bell sounds like a fog horn and sent Mr. Sensative Ears into a tizzy. Then, they got on the intercom. It was all downhill from there. Now, three weeks in, Logan HATES going to speech because he "might" hear loud noises. Ugh. His new therapist is WONDERFUL and is very understanding. Her room is tiny, so everything is louder in there anyway. This week we got there late and missed the bell, but he was still worked up. It took some bribery for him to go into her room without me (even though I sit right outside the door).  The therapist even called down to the office before we got there, and asked that if they HAD to use the intercom, to call her first, so she could prepare him. How awesome is that?!?!  Aside from the noise, he's doing really well with her, and he talks her leg off. She's still working thru his paperwork from last year, because some things are not matching up on paper to what she is hearing. Sadly, this makes me question a lot of what he did last year!

Kindergarten itself is going great! He is still bringing home S+'s, though we still have a lot of practicing to do with printing. I'm not sure how much his teacher knows about his preschool experience, but just the mere fact that he is DOING it says a lot. He's picking up pens/pencils/crayons more at home now, and this is huge as well. I had to laugh, though, when he brought home a screening sheet that said he needed help counting to 100. I asked him about this and he told me it was "too many numbers." Yep. I hear that. Can you tell that this is not something I am terribly concerned about?

Much to my delight, he has stayed on green (good behavior) and has brought home a "happy note" each day. Of course, this means he turns into a terror once he gets home ;o)  He tells some pretty funny stories too, but I have no idea if there's any truth to them.

It's going well. I'm adjusting. It's still very strange not having a little person here all day and I have moments were I just don't know what to do with myself because I don't feel like myself. So I am trying to keep myself busy, and fortunately that's going pretty well ;o) I have tackled some BIG house projects....like converting the former scrapbook room into a library and painting the entire dining room. I'm catching up on scrapbooking. I've made some cards (something I would like to do more of...maybe to sell???), I've done some crafty things (note to self...blog projects...). I've cleaned and purged like a madwoman. Since I need background noise while doing these projects, I've watched/heard some movies, mostly ones I saw a long time ago and wanted to see again.

I think we are on the up swing of things....let's hope this trend continues!