Preschool

Sam started Preschool Wednesday (9/5), and he is having a great time! The school invited the kids and their favorite adult to come and visit the classroom the Friday before (8/31), see the classroom, meet the teachers and some of the other kids. It's a great way for the kids to ease into the classroom and learn all the ins and outs before the first day.

The boys had a great time playing in all the different stations. Alex was particularly fascinated by a toad Mrs. S had found living under her porch. (This is one of Mrs. S's talents ... bring in fun living things for the kids to observe and learn about ... typically she has insects (caterpillars, butterflies, etc.) and reptiles (frogs, toads, tadpoles, etc.) He would hold the jar with the toad in it and watch it very carefully. If I'd a let him, he probably would have sat there watching the toad all afternoon.

The other fun thing about his class, is not only does he have the same teachers Becca and Emily had, he's going to school with siblings of kids who were in their classes (okay so this doesn't make his experience any easier, because really, he doesn't remember any of these kids, but at least I recognize and know some of the other parents and that's fun for me) ... So of the 11 other students in his class, three siblings of older children we know, one is also in Sam's primary class at church and one is also on his Soccer team - Mom's the coach! It's a small world after all, even if their numbers say otherwise.



Note: When Sam went to visit his classroom he was given a tote bag for the school year ... to take papers home in, etc. And was told to decorate it however he wanted to. We had lots of talks about what he wanted to put on his tote bag ... Spiderman, Batman, TMNTurtles, cars, rockets ... it took a while but he finally settled on a rocket. I found a simple coloring picture of a rocket online, resized it a couple times in photoshop so he could pick the size he wanted to use, and got my basket of scraps out to find some fun fabrics to make a rocket appliqué. Meanwhile, Sam grabs the ice cream bucket of markers from the art supply cabinet, grabs his tote bag and rocket coloring page and heads to the basement to start his masterpiece with me following behind with "options." Can you see where this is going? I didn't.

Pretty quickly I learn that Sam has no intention of having my fabric rocket on his tote bag ... he's very happy to color the piece of paper I printed for him and put that on the tote bag ... when I explained that that wouldn't work, he said he would color the rocket onto the tote bag ... when I explained that washable markers on a bright red canvas...needs to last you all year... through fall, winter and spring... just wouldn't work ... they are washable.

We got into a pretty embarrassing, yet incredibly heated shouting match with Sam screaming ... I want to color it ... and me screaming ... I don't know how to do that ... I want to color it ... I can't make that work ... I want to color it .... It won't work, you can't color it with washable markers .... I want to color it ... I don't know how to do that ... I want to color it ... you can't! ... I want to color it! ...

I should explain that I was trying to do this with materials I already had in the house, that would be durable on the bag but not leave lasting marks on him or the house, and I'll be honest, wouldn't look disastrous in the end. I don't have fabric markers here ... don't have inkjet iron on transfer paper ... but I do have lots of fabric.

When it was obvious Sam wasn't changing his mind, I asked if he wanted to help me with a sewing project. He likes to run the peddle when I'm sewing, so he quickly said yes. I suggested a rocket fabric, which he thankfully liked, he picked the window fabrics, drew the pattern on the Heat-n-Bond, ironed it to the fabric, picked the fire fabric - he rejected four before we found just the right fabric for the fire - and helped me sew every piece of the rocket to the tote bag guiding the fabric and pressing down on the peddle to make the needle go up and down. He did an awesome job helping me and I'm really proud of him for sticking with me through the whole project.

With Sam's approval, I made a few additions to the inside of his tote bag. He has a loop/harness to carry Spiderman with him to school, if he wants. He also has a nice deep pocket (made from Spiderman fabric) on the inside for him to put other treasures he decides to take. Last year, on most preschool days, Sam would take some kind of toy or treasure with him to school. Typically they were race cars, but sometimes it was a stuffed animal, action figure, or Happy Meal Toy. So I felt a pocket for them to ride in was defiantly a feature he would use and need this year. So far Spiderman and Michelangelo have both spent a day at school with Sam.

The best part of this whole experience is that he is really, really proud of his bag, he participated full in the project, and although we weren't able to color the rocket, the alternative is simple and so very Sam. I'm hoping we can add to it throughout the year with little reminders of activities, field trips and other fun preschool memories.