Update on School: Guess Who's Got the Tears...

I thought having Daniel in school two days a week would give me more time to blog, but that's simply not the case. I find myself using those hours to run all the errands I can and clean my house. And boy do those 6 hours go by fast! But I am loving the time that I have to get things done. So I just wanted to give an update on how school is going. Let's start with Allison - she is doing great! She still won't admit that she loves school but I haven't heard one complaint. She is happy to go in the morning (even walks into the school by herself - which is a huge improvement over last year!) and just as happy when I pick her up. She still wants me to park and walk her up to the building, (as opposed to pulling up in the drop-off line where she can jump out of the car) but I don't mind that. I guess I should appreciate the fact that she likes me and isn't embarrassed to be seen with her mother. As for the schoolwork, they are learning all sorts of great stuff. She told me all about Thomas Edison the other night when I was putting her to bed and when I was picking her up the other day she told me how all stars are big balls of fire. Jeff and I attended curriculum night last night and I was quite happy with what the kids are going to be learning this year. It definitely sound like a lot more work than kindergarten - it's certainly not going to be easy for her by any means but she really does enjoy the learning process. They've made some big changes to the curriculum this year and I think it's all for the better. Allison has definitely matured a great deal since last year and I'm thrilled that this year has gone so well so far. And then there's Daniel...well, things started out well with him the first week. The second week didn't quite go as well. I first must point out that overall, he is doing great. It's only the drop-off and just before nap time that he loses it. He's been crying every day at drop-off and through his tears, he always says to me "You won't be here." We have the same conversation every morning about how "yes, I won't be there, but I can watch him on the camera and he can always look up and wave to me." I am actually able to reason with him (which is unusual for a 3-year old). When Allison used to cry at preschool she wouldn't listen to a word that I would say while trying to comfort her. Daniel listens and I am often able to get him to stop crying and start playing. And as soon as I leave and get home (which is a 30 second drive) he is just fine. His teacher was even telling me today how talkative and social he is at school. I was SOOO happy to hear that. That was my main goal for him this year. This makes me realize that he feels very comfortable being there, because when he's not comfortable, he doesn't talk. He managed to tell his teacher and class all about his Aunt Ruth and how she "lives not too far, like not in Baltimore, but in Florida and we can drive to her house but it's kind of a long drive and she makes good food on the Jewish holidays." I couldn't believe the details he had told Ms Maggie and the rest of the class - all this during show and tell (he brought in a monkey that he thought Aunt Ruth had given him which is how the whole conversation started). So then the whole class started talking about Aunt Ruth. Very cute. So needless to say, he is much more outgoing than I thought he would be at this point. The only other time he usually cries during the day is when he goes down for nap and his teacher takes her lunch break. He is sad when she leaves, even though she talks to him about it and tells him she'll be right back. I don't think Daniel wants to cry at these moments, but he just can't control it. So I'm okay with it and I expect it to continue for awhile, if not the whole year. Since he only goes to school twice a week, it makes it harder because there is a lot of mommy time in between. So overall, I am very happy with how things have been going and I hope they continue to go well!