First Day of School!

Last week was the first day of school for Vince.  Brad and I both wanted to take him to school.  I think we were as excited as Vincent.  In order to be at school on time we need to leave the house at 7:35am with all 3 kids fed, dressed and ready to go.  That in and of itself is going to be more difficult once Brad is in the field and he is not home to help me get everyone ready.  When we got to school it was a zoo!  There were cars and people everywhere.  I am told it isn’t usually like that.  Once we got in the school we hung up Vincent’s backpack and he went into his classroom, said hello to the teacher, wrote his name and took off to play with the kids.  I wouldn’t have gotten a hug goodbye if I didn’t grab him and steal one.  He was ready to be at school and didn’t need us.  It makes me happy that he is confident enough just to go off without getting upset, but a little sad at the same time that he didn’t even want to say bye to me.

After school drop off Joel, Cecilia and I headed to Joel’s first speech therapy session.  Joel was excited because we told him he was going to school too.  He liked his “teacher” and did a great job.  Although I think he would have rather stayed in Vincent’s classroom.

First day of school

When we picked Vince up after school he was so excited!  The first thing he said to me when I picked him up was “Mommy I didn’t have any accidents!”  Then he started telling me about everything all at once.   He kept skipping from story to story and I was having trouble keeping up.  He was so excited because the boy in the orange shirt asked him to hold his hand so they could both be first in line.  I asked him if he knew the kid’s name and he said “No, but I told him my name.”  Instead of going home after school we went to the farm to see Brad and eat lunch with him so he could hear all about Vincent’s first day of school as well.

The second day of school for Vince was his first long day where he would eat lunch at school and go home with his cousins.  I was a little nervous about it and really wanted to drop him off but Brad said he wanted to take him.  Vince did really well and loved bringing a lunch and having cousin time after school.  I guess I have nothing to be worried about!

So far Brad has made taking Vince to school his job and I pick Vince up.  It has been great!  Joel, Cecilia and I get some extra quality time together in the mornings and it is really nice.  It won’t last long because harvest will be here soon and I will have to start taking him to school, but until then I will enjoy our new routine.

Nanno visits!

A couple weeks ago my dad decided he was going to drive out and visit us!  We were very excited and it was a nice treat for a Monday morning.  Between our vacation and my dad’s vacation it had been awhile since we had seen him.  It was the Monday before school started and Vince was so excited to show Nanno how he could write his name.  Vince was also really excited when he found out that he and Nanno had the same name!

Joel and his two donuts

Cecilia wishing Nanno would give her a donut

Vince showing Nanno how the slide works

When my dad came he brought some fun treats for the kids: donuts and toys from Spain.  I don’t get the kids donuts very often and if I do they rarely have sprinkles.  Nanno brought 2 donuts for each of the boys and they had sprinkles!  Joel cried when they were gone.  I don’t know what the name of the toy is that Nanno brought and it is really hard to explain.  It looks like a rocket with wings on the top and a blue light on the side.  You use a rubber band to shoot it up into the air and then it floats down and it the dark they look neat.  My dad brought 3 to our house.  I think by the end of the day all 3 had broken wings, but they still worked.  

Playing!

I have no idea what was going on

Nanno trying to make it fly higher than Vince can

Checking out the damage from the fall

Vince caught on quickly on how to work the new toys.  Joel was less interested but did “help” me a couple times.  Vince could send the toys flying higher into the air than my dad or I could and we were trying really hard.  A couple times when he was next to the house shooting them up into the air it went up as high as our attic.  We only got 1 stuck in a tree and by the end of the night it fell out.

Serious discussion about something

Vince getting ready to send the toy flying

Nanno and Cecilia

It was so cute to see Vince trying to show Nanno every possible thing he loves to play with.  We played on the tree house, in the yucky barn, practiced writing “Vincent” and played baseball.  When it was time for my dad to leave Vince was not happy.  He was crying because he didn’t get to race Nanno around the house.  My dad agreed to a race around the house before he left.  When he finally went to leave you could tell Vince was thinking of something else to do so Nanno couldn’t leave.  It was a fun visit and luckily it won’t be that long before we see Nanno again.

Nanno and Cecilia

Joel...yes we left pjs on until lunch time

Big Smiles on Everyone!

Cramming for School

Vince started Preschool on Wed August 22^nd.  When we were checking out the school’s preschool program in the spring I had asked the teacher what kind of stuff Vince needed to know when he came to preschool and if he needed to be able to write his name.  She said no and that they will start off by just tracing their name.  Vince knew how to trace letters and was pretty good at it, so I didn’t think anything of it.

The Friday before school started we went to meet his teacher for the year.  Before we went in I asked Vince what he wanted the teacher to call him and he said “Vincent.”  I had written Vince on all the paperwork thinking that was the name he wanted to go by.  They had completely revamped their preschool program and had all new teachers.  The teacher told us that she was going to have the kids write their name in a book every day and we would see the progress throughout the year.  Sounded great but I panicked a little.  Vince had no idea how to write his name and gets really turned off from an activity if he can’t do something perfectly right away.    The last thing I wanted was for him to have a melt down in the first few minutes of the first day of school.  

From Saturday until Tuesday we crammed for preschool.  I made worksheets with his name on them for him to trace and made him write his name several times a day.  He couldn’t get the “e” perfect the first time and messed up the “V” and he was having a rough time.  I had to explain to him that some things take practice and you can’t be perfect the first time at everything.  As long as you are trying really hard it is ok.  Vincent wanted someone to practice with him.  Brad volunteered and I made him a sheet with his name on it, so he could practice writing.  Brad used his left hand and “messed up” a couple times.  Vince was quick to tell him it was ok and he just needed to keep practicing!

The first time Vincent every wrote his name by himself!

The problem is that Vincent doesn't like to practice anything over and over.  On Monday afternoon he didn't want to practice anymore and I had to start bribing him.  Unfortunately for me he no longer was willing to work for jelly beans.  Being the wonderful (desperate) parent I am I said "if you write your name by yourself you can have a bowl of ice cream."  After I said it I knew I should have said a bit of ice cream or 1 scoop!  A whole bowl, was I crazy??!!  It worked!  He sat down and wrote his name by himself.

All the practice paid off on the first day of school!  Vince wrote his name and was very excited about it.  Now to just get his letters a little bit smaller.  It will all come in time, but we do need to start practicing writing other letters too.

Family Pictures

Every year I like to get photos of the kids close to their birthdays and I also like to get a family photo.  I try to combine the boys birthday pictures and our family picture together just to make things easier.  Last year I was unable to get Brad home for our family pictures, so this year I really wanted to get family pictures.  Plus I just love pictures!

My friend just started up her photography business and I wanted to get some family photos.  She came out to the house and did pictures of each of the kids, the kids together, Brad and I, family pictures, family pictures with the dogs, Brad and the kids and me and the kids.  The kids were all over the place and less than cooperative after the first 10 minutes.  They had other things to do besides stand still and smile.  We actually started bribing them with jelly beans.

  

Cecilia fell asleep as we were about to get set up to take her pictures.  She got a 5 minute snooze and then I set her down and hoped for the best.  I was pretty sure we weren’t going to get any good photos of anyone.  I was wrong!  Jill did an amazing job!  Here are some of what we ended up with.  Check out Jill’s website here.