A few weeks ago Benjamin had his first day at a Mother’s Day Out program in our area. Since then, he has been going two days a week and loves it! I enrolled him for Mondays and Wednesdays, mainly so that I could teach my class on those days without making other childcare arrangements. Here’s the scoop on what he’s been up to:
The Schedule
- I walk him in around 8:45 a.m. He is very proud of his Elmo backpack (he struts around saying “Backpack! Backpack!”) and his Cars lunchbox. From the very first day, he’s been very comfortable with me leaving him there. No freaking out, no tears – only a quick “bye, bye!” and off he goes to play with all the fun stuff.
- In the morning they play for awhile, then have a snack (parents take turns providing these snacks for the kids – I’ll be taking fruit roll-ups in a couple of weeks), then either go to an indoor play area or the outdoor playground to run around. On Mondays they go to music class, but I don’t know yet what exactly they do in there. They also do a craft in the mornings. Benjamin’s favorite so far involved using a stamp to put hearts on a piece of paper. He’s crazy for stamping!
- Lunch is around 11:15. I have been packing a Lunchable, milk, and various finger foods for Benjamin. It’s a challenge to come up with healthy options, but we do our best.
- They have a rest time during the noon hour. I wasn’t too thrilled about this, since I would prefer for him to nap when he gets home in the afternoon, but it has worked well so far. Some days, he doesn’t sleep at all at school, and when he does, he wakes up after 30 or 45 minutes. He is worn out enough by all the activity that he always takes a nap after he gets home. I just have to delay it a bit if he’s already slept some there. Actually, school has had a pleasing effect on his daily nap, since he now consistently sleeps over two hours every day.
- After rest time, the kids play some more until it’s time for parents to pick them up. I drive up in the carpool line around 2:15, and Benjamin’s teacher escorts him to the car and puts him in his car seat. He is so cute when he walks out of the building holding her hand. He smiles so big when he sees me and starts running toward the car. It’s nice that he’s excited to see me. While she puts him in his seat, the teacher tells me about his day, which is how I always know how much food he ate and how long he slept.
Odds and Ends
- So far this setup has been fantastic. Benjamin went to school three times before my semester started, which means I had roughly 15 hours all to myself! I used some of that time to prepare for my class, but I also enjoyed napping, watching tv, drinking a second cup of tea, etc. Now that school has started for me, I have one hour before I leave for class, and two hours after I get home, to get things done or relax.
- This week while Benjamin was in school, Brad and I went out on a lunch date to celebrate his birthday. We went to Houlihan’s, which is a great date spot – quiet, cozy, delicious. We split a seared Ahi tuna appetizer (I cheated on my pregnancy diet a little bit), and my entree consisted of grilled shrimp with a salad and French onion soup. Brad had a French dip with fries. Then we shared a banana cream pie for dessert. We look forward to more lunch dates this semester.
- Benjamin’s preschool experience has reinforced what we already knew about him: he is comfortable with new places, as long as there’s some fun stuff to do. I am thankful that he’s never had separation anxiety. He just takes whatever we throw his way and adjusts to it. I think the backpack helped with the transition, because those first few days we talked it up a lot, and he was so focused on carrying in the backpack that he didn’t have time to worry about what else was going on.
- The teacher fills out a daily report of sorts about Benjamin’s day. It tells us how long he slept and how well he ate (nothing, a little bit, almost everything, or everything – his always says “everything”). There are also several adjectives listed, and the teacher circles the ones that describe him for that day (“happy” and “busy” are always circled, and sometimes “good helper.” So far we’ve avoided “sad,” “teary eyed,” and “tired.”) There’s also a space on the sheet for what he had fun doing that day. So far the answers have ranged from “racing with my friends” to “stamping red hearts” to “playing with the vacuum cleaner.”
- Another effect of his time in school, or at least something that has coincided with it, is that he’s becoming more vocal. He is constantly repeating words after us (so far this is a good thing, and very charming), and often points out objects that we didn’t know he knew the word for.
- The only negative so far is that after this taste of freedom and excitement, Benjamin becomes bored more easily at home. As a result, we’ve been dealing with some discipline problems, but we’re working through them. I am encouraging him to be creative when he plays, to learn how to entertain himself with activities like sorting, stacking, building, etc. One of his current favorites is when I give him a stack of boxes of various sizes and tell him to put them inside each other. Last night he worked happily and quietly for several minutes figuring how to fit an empty Ziploc box and another small box inside a cereal box.
Here are some pictures related to his school experience thus far:
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- The first week, Benjamin brought home a yucky stomach virus, but on the plus side, he learned how to eat chicken noodle soup out of a mug, and loved sipping the broth like a big boy!
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- Benjamin is very proud of his Elmo backpack.
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- A sampling of the crafts Benjamin has made at school: the stamped hearts, red squares on a triangle, dot painting on a circle, and some sort of Picasso-ish musical instrument piece
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- On this day, Benjamin’s teacher reported that he ate everything, had fun playing outside, and was happy. This was also the only day so far that he has slept as long as an hour.
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- I love reading the Daily News sheets. On this day he had fun racing with his friends (not sure if that was by foot or toy car), and was a busy and happy helper.
But, as he will soon enough discover, he is going to be a big brother – nearly 2 1/2 years older than his little brother or sister.
He had fever, restless nights, and lethargic days for about three days. We’re not sure what he had, but are thankful that it is gone now! Our original plan for Thanksgiving lunch was to go to Luby’s Cafeteria, but since Benjamin was sick, we picked up a Thanksgiving feast from Boston Market instead. We enjoyed tasty turkey and dressing (with gravy), mashed potatoes, corn bread, and pumpkin pie. It was nice to not slave away in the kitchen, and to not have any dishes to wash afterwards! Plus, we didn’t have many leftovers to pig out on the rest of the weekend.
