My Son.

As I drop one of my children off at school and drive away with the other, he tells me in a matter of fact voice that the principle spoke to him. About what? He doesn't remember. When? A long time ago (he has no sense of time, so a long time ago might have been last week). Why? He doesn't know, but he had to write an apology note to his teacher. I might as well guess why. The more I insist on the answers, the more reluctant and frustrated he is becoming. I make a mental note to speak to the teacher when I drop him off, but then I'm met by a substitute. I'll speak to the teacher next week.

As I leave him at school and say a prayer for a substitute, it all suddenly comes together -- the vice principle and the principle's greeting me by my name and the new reward system that just recently was implemented by David's teacher for a handful of boys in his class.

I drive home and think of Seth's words. "His behavior is not going to get any better until he goes out to college". I feel as though a heavy stone resting on my heart and my tears are welling up.

Then I get home. I walk in the kitchen and suddenly am reminded of dozen love and thank you notes written by him to me and Seth.

I recall how excited and appreciative he was the second he saw my knitted mouse for him. My sad feelings get replaced by happiness. I realize that I might not have the most obedient or calm child, but I have been blessed with the kindest, most appreciative, generous and loving son.

Pre-K Graduation.

Last week was David's pre-k graduation ceremony. You'd think at this point I would have gotten used to seeing him perform, especially since he's been doing it since he was 3 years old, but I don't think I could ever get used to seeing him on "stage" singing with his friends. It's one of those priceless moments which is always so emotional to me. (Just how do the teachers get the entire school of kids - ok, 35 kids in the whole school - aged between 3 and 5, to stand still for an entire performance?)

David gets excited at the start of the first rehearsal and works hard to memorizes all his songs in a week. He had sung two of the songs to me days before the show, but said that the other songs were a secret. The theme of their performance was "I'm an American". Julia seemed as excited, if not more, than David to attend the ceremony. She even picked out a dress first thing in the morning. However, she broke down crying in the middle of the ceremony, and not because her big brother was graduating, but because one of the graduating girls received flowers from her older brother when she was getting her diploma, and Julia wanted flowers as well.

David is headed to receive his diploma.

And this is how much he cherishes his diploma.

Once the ceremony was over, the kids were able to stretch their feet and get nutty.

Initially, I intended to give him a little present (not much, just a new bicycle helmet that he really needed and a pencil case filled with chocolates that I brought back from Geneva and never gave it to him), but then I reconsidered; if I set this precedent now when he's not even in a real school, what will I need to give him by the time he graduates from high school? My 401k?

Instead, we celebrated David's graduation and his wonderful little performance by treating the kids to ice cream at our ice cream shop in town.

So... kindergarten, here we come! I have a feeling that the principal will have my cell number on her speed dial!

Little Things.

This week is a teacher appreciation week and it reminded me yet again of how grateful I am for the teachers in David's life.

As David enters kindergarten next fall, I'm already agonizing over his kindergarten teacher. Will they be a match? Will she recognize and appreciate his creativity, perfectionism and determination to complete the work before proceeding to a next task? Or will she instead label him as difficult? Will she praise him? Will she realize how much those praises lift his spirit and build his confidence?

It took some time for David's current teachers to see his kindness, his generosity and his brightness. Instead of trying to fit him in a classroom, they adjusted their approach to accommodate him. They know how much he loves science, so they have him be a teacher's helper during a science experiment. They write words like "perfect", "good job" and draw stars on his worksheets. These things make the world of difference to David. The teachers make mistakes on purpose to show him that everyone makes them, so he wouldn't be so hard on himself when he makes one. They let him bring his creations to school to show to his friends even though personal things are not allowed in school.

All these little things matter to David so much and, I think, that's the reason he loves his school. Anytime it's closed for a break, David's response is always "Oh, no" (whereas Julia's -- "Yay!").

There are a lot of nice and kind words I have for Julia's teachers as well, but since she prefers to leave her mischief at home, she is not much trouble at school and thus doesn't need as much individual attention as David does.

Both kids made this card for their teachers (they used only their handprints for a flower and turned this door sign project into a card). Since the name of David's school is "Learn and Grow Academy", I thought it was really appropriate for his teachers.

Julia's Pre-School Anticipation.

For the past couple of years, Julia has been accompanying me as I've dropped David off at his pre-school. Although she's enjoyed her time alone with me, she's become increasingly eager to go to school as well. Next week it will be her turn to enter "formal" schooling. Will her first day meet with her fun-filled expectations, or will the realization that she's without Mommy or Daddy for the first time result in tears?

In anticipation of going to school, she's been asking me for months if it's "September already." To give her an idea of how long it was until the start of school, I decided to make a counting-down-to-school art project with her, so she could count the number of days left to her first day of school.

She traced and cut a few shapes out of a contraction paper which once glued became a school.

She matched the foam letters to the ones I wrote on a paper to spell out "Green House" (the name of her school) and glued them to the school.

We attached 9 rings to the bottom of the school. Each morning she cuts one circle and counts the number of rings left, thus the number of days left to her first day of school.

About a week before her school starts, we attended an orientation to get her familiarized with her new teachers and some of her classmates. The best part of attending "The Green House" is that she'll be attending with her best friend, Mina, who is returning there for a second year.

Mina was accompanied by her brother, Jordan, who's is not only going to be attending this school for a third year, but also skipping an entire preschool year to go straight to kindergarten. Hopefully, some of the credit goes to the school (so I won't feel so bad shelling out so much for tuition. )

Julia enjoyed meeting her teachers and her classmates, but she seemed more taken by the secretary who was very kind and patient, even when Julia kept asking her to draw butterflies while the she was in a middle of collecting money.

We read some stories together and I'm in love with their reading corner. (I wonder where they got these small couches!)

Julia stumbled upon a snack area where she grabbed 2 cookies and some juice. After that it was time to play in a school's playground. I'm sure it's going to be her favorite school spot.

Julia enjoyed her visit so much. On the way back, when a director asked her what was her favorite part, she replied "a cookie". It's so her.

Graduation.

Today was David's last day of school. Last night, the kids received their certificates and had a little performance for the parents. Julia thought she was going to perform as well since she was singing along with her brother for weeks. So, of course, she insisted on being dressed up for the occasion.

Once, he saw an entire audience and especially me and Seth, he got very shy and tried to avoid an eye contact with us (he is second from the left). I was praying he wouldn't freak out and run out of "stage". He did really, really well staying still and waiting his turn while the rest of 35 kids announced their names.

They sang 5 songs, thanked their parents and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

At the end, everyone received their certificates and this morning I found David's certificate taped to the wall of our hall.

He's home for a week. Wish us luck!

Three Year Old and His Homework.

It is not a secret that I haven't been in love with David's school. He's been attending this school since he was 20 months old, and I was hoping that his language skills would be a bit better and he'd be reading by now. I realize it isn't fair to the school and that my expectations are unrealistic, but sometimes I forget he is only 3 1/2 years old.

I must say that I've been surprisingly impressed with his new class this year. He comes home with five or so paintings and other crafty projects every day. He is encouraged to write more. The teachers started implementing a reward system for students' good behavior. Every Friday he actually has homework that's due on Monday. Even though it takes a big chunk of our weekend, I like taking a break from the pre-school work books and doing something more creative with him that I myself didn't have to come up with. Since there is so much time a 3 1/2 year old can concentrate on one task, his homework has to be broken up into a few parts. Of course, as always, with a busy weekend schedule, some parts of David's homework are done just before heading to bed Sunday night.
As I was finishing Sunday dinner, Seth and David were working on "I am special" part of the homework where we had David draw himself, write his name (which he can do it well with his eyes closed) and cut out pictures from various magazines that show things that he likes (such as a picture of ice cream, a book, a tennis racket, pic of Wizard of Oz etc.) and then glue it next to the drawing of himself.


After taking a closer look at the pile of magazines they were cutting the clippings from, here's what I discovered!


So, it wasn't so surprising to me that when it came the time to gluing the clippings to a piece of paper, David insisted on a few pieces that were not very appropriate. "It is my favorite!", he'd scream. So, the lesson I learned from one of his homeworks -- Daddy will have to stay out of school work for now.