The Queen's Rambles

Did I tell you that I started Elsa in a parent’s day out program? She had her first session on Tuesday and it was glorious! Four hours. FOUR HOURS!!! Do you know what you can accomplish in four hours when you aren’t dragging along a toddler? Even a happy toddler is still a toddler and. . .well. . . toddles. Toddles is the new dawdles, right? I could run in and out of a store, unencumbered by a child who likes to hide behind every tree, trash can, car, etc. I could listen to the radio. Zoboomafoo and the Kratt Brothers got a much needed break from my DVD player. Glorious, I tell you.

Plus, the school has a car pool lane. I LOVE this thing. I am sure it can be frustrating, but at moment it seems genius. Erik’s preschool didn’t have a car pool lane. You parked and went in, no matter if you had a sleeping baby in the car or not. Now that I don’t have a sleeping baby to worry about it’s not that big of a deal, but it is so nice to just sit there and read a book with my seat heater turned up to the max, instead of parking, getting out of the car, awkwardly standing around, yadda yadda yadda.

Elsa was being a little monster for a couple of weeks, so I started researching my options and found a perfect fit. Of course, now she is back to her generally sweet, happy self so the program is not so necessary but I’ve already paid and I’m not complaining.

She loves it and was really ready for something with a little structure. She came out of her cranky phase with a very clear jump in cognitive abilities (not surprising at all–the cranky phase means something is happening with their little brains). She is doing a great job following directions, standing in line, emulating everything her brother does. She’s such a big girl!

I arrived to pick her up as the kids were coming in from recess. She was happily following along in line, her coat billowing out like a little blue Madeline. I remember when Erik was in his first year of preschool. He was about a year and a half older than she is now and every time I picked him up, the teacher was exhausted and exasperated, sternly telling Erik and another boy to stay in line. He never did.

Speaking of the boy, we had Erik’s parent/teacher conference on Monday. Everything was pretty much as we expected. I was very glad to learn that he has reading group every day. Last year he brought the book home every time he had reading group, but he hasn’t done that this year so I thought he wasn’t having reading group. At this point I don’t know why they are even calling it reading group. The teacher said that all the readers in his group are fluent and are waaaaaaay above grade level, so they are doing second grade reading group work. Second grade reading=a lot of writing. In order to progress they have to show written comprehension skills. They can’t orally answer a question. They have to write three complete sentences to answer questions.

So.

What do you do with a kid who HATES the physical act of writing, even if he can orally answer all the questions with plenty of detail. I never figured this out when I was a teacher and I can’t figure it out as a parent.

Side note: I would be a much better teacher today than I was back in the day when I knew jack squat about kids.

Seriously, these kids are expected to do the type of writing we were doing in seventh grade. They are capable of it, but it is a shock to my old brain.

Yet there is very little challenge with the math. Ugh.

At least this teacher understands Erik and is able to manipulate him like a master. Does that sound terrible? This child requires a lot of manipulation. He is . . . extra. . . as my friend calls him. It’s not that he’s bad. He’s just inquisitive, intelligent, and very, very opinionated. Very opinionated.

I just found out I’m getting a promotion in my MOMS Club volunteer job. Whoo-hoo! More work=/=more money when you’re a volunteer. I really love the volunteer job, though. I get to help chapters become better and help more moms. I know what a different MOMS Club has made for me, so I am more than happy to try to make that happen for other women. Plus? I’m bossy and need something to keep my brain engaged. This is probably one of my favorite volunteer jobs because it is all through e-mail and I can do it at my leisure.