Tot School - Preschool, Music and more!

 
TotSchool - Week of 9/14/09 

Turbo is 26 months old, Sweet Pea is 6 weeks old

What an exciting week of new fall activities! While it was very busy, it is nice to start into a routine after the summer and our Sweet Pea addition.  I decided that our new activities were enough structure for this week and our home time was spent playing in our everyday way.

Preschool ~ Monday was Turbo's first day at Mommy & Me Preschool.  In the morning, I told him we were going to do something new, go to Preschool. Oh my goodness, he was over the moon excited.  He jumped up and down saying "excited, excited" "Lets go to preschool".  Heart-melting! (and a bit funny since he didn't know what preschool is!).  This looks to be a great class. The room is nicely organized with many different things for the kids to do. Right by the door is the sensory table with beans. He spent a ton of time there -scooping, pouring, raking and more. He also spent a lot of time between the painting easel and the play-kitchen area. He would play with the food (pretend cutting and eating), wash the dishes, then run back to the easel to continue his "masterpiece in the making".  It was adorable.  He also did some lacing with small beads.  He even sat for circle time!!! Seriously!  Of course I forgot to bring my camera! UGH!! Thankfully we had so many friends in the class that took pictures. Hopefully I'll update the post with some soon.

Music Together ~ We've been in Music Together since Turbo was 7 months old. He has and continues to love it. This spring he started singing the songs while he's playing his drums or other instruments at home, plus he wants to "read" the song books every night.  I have been looking forward to this session all summer!  Turbo was so excited to see his teacher again and had a wonderful time in class. We'll continue to look forward to this every week! (picture is from March '08)

MOPS ~ Mother of Preschoolers. This is at our local church. Ok, so this one is really for me and he goes to childcare - or at least that's the idea anyway. He does really well if I drop him off or have someone watch him. He's always seemed so secure in that way. At MOPS last semester, there were bouts of separation anxiety, but he calmed down quickly and had a great time.  This time, he cried when I was going to leave, I calmed him down and left.  A bit later, they came to get me as he had started crying again and wouldn't stay calmed down.  We went back to his class together ~ where I stayed for the rest of the session. I couldn't be away from his side without him getting anxious or coming over to me. When it was playtime outside, I got him to go with the assurance I would stay in the classroom. He played great for about 15 minutes and then burst into sobs on the playground. Those of you who know Turbo know this is a HUGE change in his personality to be so insecure. It absolutely broke my heart.  Is it because of the baby? Have we been insensitive to him in someway that makes him think I'm not coming back for him? Oh the questions go on and so does the Mommy guilt. We're still going to go to MOPS, although I'll likely spend a lot of time in child care.  I'm going to get him a little heart he can keep with him so he knows Mommy will be back after class. We'll just take it slowly, talk about it and see how it goes. 

Playgroup ~ Turbo's playgroup was loads of fun as usual! The kids are at most 7 months apart. We've been together for over a year and have formed great bonds. I love watching them move from total parallel play towards interactive. They have little discussions with each other, know names and look forward to seeing one another.  It's very special to have these relationships forming at such a young age.

Swim Lessons ~ This is a Daddy and Turbo activity. I didn't go this time as I was exhausted from a busy week and used the opportunity to take a nap with Sweet Pea! (picture from Feb '08)

Other than all those activites, we did a lot of the usual play at home ~ laughing and learning along the way!