Preschool Class Birthday Party

Wednesday is Robbie's last day of his first year of preschool. At the beginning of the year, I remember the fear and nervousness about dropping off my very first baby with strangers. Sure, they were great teachers at a highly recommended preschool, but they were strangers to me and to my baby. I was so proud of him as he ran right into the classroom, excited to play with all their crafts and toys, but I cried as I pulled out of the driveway. I felt my heartstrings being pulled tighter and tighter with each yard down the school driveway. I knew it was the right time for him, and just hoped for the best.

Well, the best is what we got. This year has been such a wonderful experience for Robbie (and for me). His teachers were perfect. Caring and open. Sensitive to what made Robbie tick and helpful to me in letting me know what was going on in class. I couldn't be happier with our choice of school for him and his placement in this class. Today was just a reminder of all of that.

Although Robbie's 4th birthday isn't until next Friday, they had his class birthday party today. I made some dinosaur cupcakes for the kids to share (my own personal achievement since I'm no great decorator!) and got to go in to read to the class from Robbie's favorite book. We read Dr. Seuss' "The Zax" and "What Was I Scared Of?" (otherwise known as, "The Pants With Nobody Inside Them" according to Robbie and Scottie). Seeing both of my boys sitting there, listening to the stories they hear almost every night really made me feel nostalgic about this school year ending. (Scottie got to come with me to read today and got to sit on his own little carpet square next to his big brother -- he thought he was just so cool sitting with all the big kids!)

I find myself already looking forward to September when Robbie starts in the 4-day 4-year-old program and it's Scottie's turn for his very first days of preschool in the 2-day 2.5-year-old class. What lucky boys to have such fun experiences and what a lucky Mommy to join in the fun!

My Feet Are Sick

A bug has descended on our family, filling the house with coughs, sniffles and complaints. I had to fill an antibiotic prescription for myself yesterday, which prompted the kids to notice and also want some medicine for themselves.

This afternoon, Robbie told me his tummy felt sick today. (This is more from the suggestion I think I planted this morning when I asked him if his tummy felt good or bad after he went to the bathroom.) So when he told me that his tummy felt sick, after polishing off some pretzel sticks and juice with no issues, I was doubtful. But I asked him if he thought he needed to go to the bathroom or if he thought he'd get sick. He said yes, so we went to the bathroom together. Then, while talking about what it means to feel sick and get sick, he started to cry saying that he wanted medicine. Finally seeing what this was really about, I asked him what was wrong. I said, "Are you crying because you want medicine or crying because you need to be sick?" He turned to me with tears in his eyes and said, "How do I do it?"

After stifling my laughter over seeing him ask how to get sick just to get some meds, I told him we'd take his temperature and he could help me read the numbers. We used the temporal lobe thermometer that just swipes across the forehead and that seemed to appease him enough. So he calmed down and came out of the bathroom and joined in normal activity again. But sure enough, later, he was asking again for some medicine. This time for his ear (which again, I had asked about a couple of days ago). He said his ear hurt, so he needed medicine. Another talk about how medicine only works if we're really sick, and how it can be bad for you if you're not sick later, but he's still whining. So I said, "Come here, Robbie. Tell me what's wrong. Show me what part of you feels sick." He paused, walked over and said, "My feet."

So he spent the next ten minutes lying down in bed to rest his sick feet. :) Sorry, kiddo. No meds for sick feet here.