Monday, August 27, 2007

First Day of School

Kellan started preschool at the Montessori Children's House yesterday. This was a huge step for us because Kellan has never been in daycare or any situation away from us, and now he will be at school all day, five days a week. Nervous? You bet! And also sad about the end of his at home days, the carefree and innocent times. He will be in school now, with any luck, right through university. And it all started yesterday. That's a lot for a mom to take in!

Drop off went smoothly. He was so excited. I had him come to help me put away his nap items (blanket, pillow, stuffed toy), his spare clothes, his lunch box, the administrative stuff. We went to the mat outside of his classroom and left his "street shoes" there, changing into his new classroom shoes. Crocs shaped like cars with flashing taillights and everything! At this point, I had to say goodbye. Kel was wriggling and trying to get into the classroom as I hugged him tightly, hoping that everything would go well on this first day of a whole new way of life. As I watched from the door, tears in my eyes, he was introduced to another new girl, got started with an activity, and was happily chatting away as I walked back out to the car. Where I promptly lost it. Like I said, its a lot for a mother to take in!

I picked him up at 3pm. He was happy and ready to tell me all about his day. He didn't have any major problems. There was an issue with forgetting to change back into his street shoes when they went to the playground, but the teacher brought him back in to do that. He put his shoes on by himself. Used the bathroom on his own, no problems. Ate plenty of lunch. Had a nap (he said that he was "very tired" and slept "for a loooooooong time" until the teacher woke him up. Not sure how long "loooooooong" is, but I'm glad that he napped if he needed it). He has a "favourite kid" who is a "guhwol" (girl), but couldn't remember her name. He enjoyed playground time. They definitely worked on numbers, telling time, clocks, and so forth, as he was on and on about "how many hours" for this and "what time" we do that all evening.

It sounds lame, but he really was a different kid last night. More independent and sure of himself. Wanting to do everything on his own, really expressing himself, wanting to work on puzzles and number games instead of begging for an episode of Dora. Day one was a definite success. We are so proud of him.







Saturday, August 25, 2007

Lunch practise

Kellan starts school on Monday (yikes!) and will be taking a packed lunch. Because it is a Montessori school, they stress independence and expect children to take care of the basics for themselves -- things like putting on shoes and coats or dealing with your own lunch. Thus, we had a few practise runs with Kellan's lunch this week, making sure that he was comfortable with the process and, most importantly, that he could get into all of the containers without trouble! This was his final run through. I handed him his zipped lunchbox and let him take it from there. As you can see, he did fine. So, he won't starve, but I'm still worried about Monday!






Yeah, he's got it sussed. Wee man with a BIG attitude.

The Children's Museum

Its hard to believe that our midweek ventures to the Children's Museum are at an end. It will be holidays and weekends for us now. How did he grow up so fast?!









Wednesday, August 22, 2007

When I try to take video of Kellan...

And then they were back in Illinois...

Yeah, ok, its not all bad. But there is a whole lot of corn. Today we spent a fun, and hot, morning at the park with Kel's very good buddy, Caden, and his brother, "baby Cole".









Very silly face!!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Time to head back to the midwest -- don't talk to me

Our last day here. We had a lovely long morning at the park on the water in Coronado.










How about this panoramic? Courtesy of my new camera. Hazy day, not very spectacular, but still a cool function.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A Day at Balboa Park

We started our day at the San Diego Zoo. I shall call this series, "Portrait of a Boy on the Skyride". His very favourite. Can you tell?













After the zoo, we visited another of Kel's favourites, the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad. My new camera even managed a photo in the pitch black tunnel.





A walk through the Spanish Village Art Center meant a stop at the fountain for some cooling off. And splashing Mommy!






Didn't get many photos at the science center, but I liked this one. Learning through exploration.

Legoland -- yes, AGAIN













Yeah, Lincoln reminds me of Illinois too. My sentiments exactly.



More weird faces. Learning the capture speed on my new camera. Not quite there yet!




Farewell to Legoland for this visit. We'll be back again in November.