Beckett's First Day of Preschool

I should have been focused on Beckett's big day, but here is how our morning began:

"I CAN'T BREATHE!" said Phoebe as she entered the bathroom where I was taking a quick early morning shower, before 7 a.m., after having spent the last 25 minutes removing stains from children's clothing and starting a load of wash.

"I CAN'T BREATHE!" she continued.

"I WAS CALLING AND CALLING FOR YOU IN MY BED AND YOU DIDN'T COME. NOW MY MORNING IS RUINED, AND I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL! WHY DIDN'T YOU COME? I WASN'T READY TO GET UP! I came down here expecting you to be nice to me and now you are being rude." (apparently by being in the shower and not at the ready for her needs)

"Why do you always have to be in the shower in the morning? Why can't you take showers at night like the rest of us? You always take showers in the morning when you should be getting us ready. You could be making me breakfast or making my lunch. I want to stay for lunch today and my lunch is not going to be done," she said less forcefully but no less indignant.

And she continued to hold this attitude for almost an hour until I lost my mind--which was, I think, her goal. Phoebe: 1 or 100? (this isn't her first win to be sure), Mommy: 0

If she had ended her tirade after I apologized for not hearing her and acknowledging that it is frustrating when a morning begins differently from how we expect it to, I would have let it go. If she took a moment to apologize for her tone and anger after I reminded her that I was not the cause of her uncomfortable wake-up, I would have let it go. If she had acknowledged that speaking to me or anyone in such a vitriolic way is never acceptable, I would have let it go, but she was not budging. Now she is grounded from her bike, Barbie house, and friends for the rest of the week. (And she is not staying at school for lunch today)

Is it fair of me to post this story about my less than charming child--probably not. I am also not feeling fair at the moment. We all have bad days and ugly moments that we should be able to get past without having someone throw them back at us at a later date, but I think I need to preserve this for her. I will say, we have had many pleasant days as she is maturing, but we still get moments like these more often than we should.

Poor Beckett just wanted breakfast and some happy attention. I wanted to read him a special book and take pictures, but instead he ate a hasty bowl of cereal as did Phoebe while I fixed her hair. And I hurried them out to the car. Today was picture day for Phoebe. I hope she smiles. She was actually much happier when she went off to school.

After I dropped her off, I remembered about the pictures, so I stopped back home and took pictures of Beckett with his school bag in front of the house, but it wasn't quite the same.

I still have to download the pictures (of both of their first days of school) I'll post them soon.

Random events

Mother's Day program at Field Park





Prom at Argo

First Recital

Phoebe had her first piano recital on June 4, 2011. She actually was supposed to have her first one in December--she memorized jingle bells and was ready to play it, but I got the time wrong, so we missed it. This time she played "Party Cat" as a duet with Mrs. Prendergast. She played perfectly and bowed just like she was supposed to. It was great!

Superheros and other disguises

Beckett is into all things super (especially Batman and Buzz Lightyear), so he likes to dress up in capes and run around the house. He also likes to dress up like Phoebe and he loves wearing tutus for dancing! Apparently our family is into disguises these days.

Mother's Day Tea

We had a lovely tea at the Pickwick Society Tea House in Frankfurt for Mother's Day this year.

My mother and my tea sandwiches, etc.

Blizzard 2011 cont.

After we finished digging out the back yard and Brett helped plow the neighbors driveways and sidewalks, Beckett woke up from his nap. I suited him back up and we sledded down the block to the Beaty's (the snowshoers :)) for some back yard sledding. Craig had created a sled run from the top of his deck down his back yard, so we'd step over the railing, sit on the sled, and sail down. That was at least two hours of amusement. I picked Phoebe up from around the block and walked her back to the Beaty's to join the sledding merriment. She was up for it. Unfortunately, the camera battery died after I videoed Brett jumping into the snow pile from the roof in the back yard, so I don't have images of all the sledding. It was great, though. The penguin sled that Beckett got for Christmas was the best one for this particular sled run--it was smooth and fast. I think the adults had the most fun. Finally, I took the kids home and put them to bed. They were exhausted, but we knew that the temperatures were about to plunge, so we stayed out until sundown.

Blizzard 2011 cont.

After a little bit of play in the tunnel it was nap time for the little ones, so I put Beckett and Phoebe in the sled and pulled them around the block to drop Phoebe off at a friends house where she stayed and played for the next four hours. Beckett and I went back home, and while he napped, Brett and I tackled the back yard. I dug out the stairs and the patio and Brett took care of the sidewalk and the flat roof.

Blizzard 2011 cont. Play Time!

Blizzard 2011 cont. Play Time!

Fun in the snow. Phoebe was barely inside all day. Our neighbors from the next block snowshoed their way down with the kids in sleds just in time for mid-morning breakfast. Then we all headed out to see what we could make of the powder. Braydon and Beckett took turns sledding through the front yard while Nicky and I (mostly Nicky) with the help of Maddy and Phoebe dug a tunnel through the yard. Brett was still on clean-up duty.

Blizzard 2011 cont.

More snow details. My poor lilac bush is in there somewhere! The side of the house was buried.

Blizzard 2011 cont.

The next morning while the snow was still falling...

Blizzard 2011

A pictorial post--how we spent our day. We will begin with scenes from the initial snowfall Tuesday February 1.

Team Neurosis returns Pt. 1 (preschool)

I update sporadically with bits about Phoebe and Beckett and especially updated pictures, but Team Neurosis has been working overtime for the past few years and we haven’t really chronicled any of it. It might make us look like loons, but it’s who we are—and someone might benefit from the ridiculous amount of research we put into preschools, kindergartens, and home buying.

Clearly, we have finished all of those processes, but how did we get here…

It all started in the fall of 2007. We knew we had to begin considering preschools because registration happens any time between late November and early January the year before. We talked to our friends and read many online descriptions. We considered Montessori, but it seems that there are a lot of schools that claim to be Montessori, but are not really—so you have to be very discerning and know what you are looking for and realize that it is fairly expensive. We looked into the local neighborhood preschool, but some of our friend who went to the open house said that the teachers talked about wheeling out the television for t.v. time on certain days. Of course, I thought—if she’s going to watch T.V., she can do that at home. I want her to go to preschool to manipulate and play with things that I don’t necessarily have at home because I don’t have a school room full of children or a house with space for a large playroom full of simulated learning environments (that’s what preschools and children’s museums are for!) I also want her to go to preschool to continue to socialize with other children because she already spent two school years at day care where she had a daily routine and many friends and where she did many crafts and projects and spent hours doing free play. I wanted her to continue to have some of that two times a week for a couple of hours so that she wouldn’t lose those social skills and that enjoyment of spending time with friends and teachers outside of her house. I couldn’t wait to have the time at home with her, but I also knew that she would respond well to going to school two days a week because she was used to going five days already. I did not, however want any of those 2.5 hours spent watching T.V.—that seemed like worst idea any early childhood teacher could have considering the limited time they spend with the children. I also did not want them drilling letter memorization or doing worksheets. I wanted structured play time where most of the games also helped the children recognize important concepts. For Phoebe this would merely help her keep the things she knew in her head because she already knew her colors and her letters and many of her numbers. For Beckett, I imagine, preschool will play a larger role here since his language acquisition has been slower.