Manic Mornings & Pre-K Blues

I wish I was a morning person, up with the lark at 6am and singing a happy tune as I got ready for work. I'd have at least an hour to get organized and see to the animals before waking up the boys and I wouldn't get stressed out. But alas, I am a night-owl and mornings see me drag myself out of bed begrudgingly, wondering if it's possible to shower and see to the animals and get both boys awoken dressed , fed and out the door in 40 minutes (I can do that by the way, but it involves completely ignoring myself in terms of dressing & eating). This morning was particularly manic and I could really have done without cleaning up cat barf as well. I also realized (half-way to work) that I had dropped Danny off at pre-school and forgotten to give him any breakfast. One blessing I suppose is that he isn't a big eater and probably didn't think about it. Maybe he was motivated enough at snack time to wash his hands too, without being coerced by his teachers. Still, it's not a parenting moment that I'm proud of.

Talking of pre-k, we have some decisions to make. Danny hates it with a passion and complains bitterly each morning when he knows he has to go. It's quite strict and even though I am strict myself and want him to get ready for kindergarten, I also want him to have fun. He's three and I think he should be spending his time laughing and having fun. If we put him in a learning environment at this age that's boring and stern I'm fairly sure he's not going to embrace it anytime soon. One of his teachers doesn't even crack a smile and today I tried very hard to remember anything positive that she's said about him and I can't think of one. Not one. Every day it's "he didn't have a great day" or "he wouldn't ..... (fill in the blank)". The second teacher in the room is very smiley and nice by the way.

I know that he's headstrong but he's polite, loving and would never ever hurt another child or do something very naughty. He just likes to do his own thing and not be forced to do something against his will. There are about 12 kids in the class and it's expected that they all sit down and listen, or all sit down and do a craft and he just says "no". So the question is - how does a teacher handle that? As his mum, I can tell you that it takes unwavering discipline, reason and kindness. I also pick my battles and sometimes the red curtain comes down and I turn into Momzilla but that's another story. The easy way out is to ignore him, let him do what he wants and then complain about him. I have an uneasy feeling that's what's happening here, perhaps because they are busy and can't spend too much time just with one little stinker.

For example, on Tuesday when I went to get him he was stood by the loo, holding himself and crying big, real tears. The teacher told me very sternly that he had been putting lots of toilet paper down the toilet. I told her equally sternly that he's never done that at home (probably because I sit with him, you know, seeing as he's just potty training). Danny told me that he needed to use the potty and she said no - he's just putting paper down the loo. Now I don't want to be the kind of mum that questions the teacher (God knows, they have a hard job. I know because I am one) but he's learning to use the loo, he's mischievous and needs watching but there is no need to be unkind and make him cry. Our Jack's pre-school teacher was the kindest woman to walk the earth and I hoped all pre-k teachers would be like that. I'll just have to have a chat with her at the next conference & take it from there.

Welcome Ben!

After work today we took Cody to the dog pound to meet Ben. I know I said we were going to call him Luke because Jack named him after Luke Skywalker (and also his cousin is called Luke and he's all excited to see him this year), but there was a last-minute name change, so Ben it is.

Cody & Ben got on great but then Ben is so scared of everything and Cody is so passive that it would take a big plate of bacon and a smokin' hot poodle to get these two fighting.

Jack wants Ben to be his dog and so far is being a good friend. I got excited about that for about an hour but then Jack turned to his Nintendo DS and lost a bit of interest. Mmm.

Tonight has been great. After a small accident Ben seems to be house-trained and he's as loyal as can be, but just now, when I want to go to bed, he tried to chew the coffee table. I haven't seen those kind of shenanigans since my lads were teething. I have a feeling that this coffee table will be destroyed by March. Cody chewed all of my shoes the first 6 months he lived with us. Must be a dog thing.

Right then. Off to Bedfordshire and let's hope my living room furniture and cat are alive at 7am ....

Danny's 3rd & a New Family Member!

Danny's 3rd birthday weekend went down a treat, even though I have the head cold from hell and sound like Barry White. He really did enjoy himself and loved his presents & Craig made another cake...

And we met some of his friends at a local play place ...

And they ate pizza and drank pink lemonade...

And he had loved his new SuperWhy t-shirt with cape that we got him...

Last night some more friends came over and we all partied and had fun. It was a non-stop day from 8am-10pm. I took a short video of us singing Happy Birthday to him but as you can see, it's like torture for him. Our boy does not like hoopla!

Today we took the boys swimming and then we went to our local dog pound. I've been thinking for about a week about getting another dog as a companion for Cody (he's about 11 now but has the heart of a puppy) and of course we would love another too. But it has to be the right dog for us and not a manic, jumping, escaping, child-hating, cat-chewing mailman-biter! I thought that I would never find a dog as perfect as Cody but we met this little guy today, who's one, and in person he's like Cody's double. The face, the eyes and the beard are all the same and he's about the same size. He also has sad eyes and looks like he has a gentle soul. There were a few dogs in there that you could tell were just waiting to rip your throat out. Anyway, his picture doesn't really look like him in person, but here he is ....

They took him in to see the resident cat at the pound, to see if he's ok with them, and he was frightened of it. It reminded me of when we got Cody ten years ago and there was a wild bird in the area and Cody was afraid of it - he turned into a puddle and tried to crawl into a corner! We spent some alone time with him and the kids loved him (he's a big kisser). In fact Jack wants him to be "his" dog and even picked a name out. Another person had him on hold until the place shut at 5pm so we did a 2nd hold and came home, not feeling too confident that we'd get him.

At 5pm I couldn't stand it any longer & rang and they said that the other person didn't show and that we can get him. So I'm going to take Cody to meet him tomorrow and if they like each other then we will have a new family member! And the name ? Luke, as in Luke Skywalker of course!

Countdown to Three

Today at pre-school they made a big fuss of Danny and sang him Happy Birthday. When I picked him up he was wearing his green paper crown and he's been wearing it all day. He's grasping the fact that it's his time to shine and he's starting to like it. Course he's still telling me that he's going to be five and all he wants is a Mario cake.

It's been a bugger of a week at work so we have nothing done yet. Tomorrow night we'll be making his cake and I found a great Lightning McQueen tent that we can set up in the front room for him on Saturday morning. No party this year but we'll make a bit fuss of him and he's got all kinds of things lined up for Saturday with his friends.

It's been a different scenario for me with Danny. I'm used to Jack, who wants to have fun and be social and get involved. I've had to ease Danny into all of this and hope that he doesn't go ballistic. This morning, when his teacher showed me the special birthday chair equipped with a balloon I thought "oh Lordy, he's going to bolt from that thing and go nuts if they make him sit back down". Turns out I was wrong and he loved it.

Good for you my love.