Forgot to upload this earlier. This was Callum on day one. Now he looks lots more frazzled!
Sunday, August 20, 2006
First Day Picture
Forgot to upload this earlier. This was Callum on day one. Now he looks lots more frazzled!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Shock and Awe!
Poor Callum!
He wouldn't talk much last night about school. But he did ask "How long will this thing called school last, anyway?" He was mainly in shock we think. It was a long day for him, 8:15 till 3:15. Lunch was at 12:45. Apparently they mainly did art, except when they did math (like instead of going outside at playtime, but then it was over 100F with a heat advisory).
Pennie and I both went to drop him off. It was chaotic! There are 5 optional first grade classes and 4 regular 1st grade classes. We had to walk through the kindergarteners to get to first grade. We go in the back door - the older kids are round the corner, so we didn't run into them on the first day. Grahamwood goes through to 6th grade (I think) and there are about 1200 students there total.
His teacher is Ms Taylor. She seems very nice and is "firm but fair" we have heard. There are 24 kids slated to be in Cal's class, but only 18 showed up on the first day. Theo, who we have known since he and Cal were two, and Ricky, who is one of Callum's friends from kindergarten, are in Callum's class.
Lunch time in the cafeteria was somewhat traumatic, I think. Callum took his lunch, but one can buy food there too. He said there were "maybe 90 children" in there when he ate, which we take to mean a lot! They have a red light system for when it gets too noisy - if the red light comes on, they have to be absolutely silent. I don't think they used it on the first day.
Pick up was even more chaotic than drop off. We got to the school about 5 minutes before the final bell. There was a long line of cars waiting already, snaking through the parking lot, out onto the street and round the corner. We (Pennie and I, and Sarah, so she could see what the process is, and therefore also Lexie and Belle) sat in this line for a while without it moving. Then Pennie decided to just get out and go get him. The line slowly moved, and Pennie and Callum showed up when we about half way to the door. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights!
When he got home, he went straight to the computer and played some games. We let him just decompress! As I said, he could hardly even talk! We are glad that we held him back, as this might have pushed him over the edge a year ago. We have been hearing stories from some other kids about his age who did go on last year, some of whom had to get transferred part way through the year, and some of whom just cried everyday (along with their parents) until after a semester or so they caught up. Hopefully, in the long run, we have done the right thing.
This morning, we dropped him off again at 8:15. We took him in again (when he gets used to it, he can go in by himself) and to the classroom. Ms Taylor had them line up outside, then they all went in quietly to their seats. She has them trained already...
So there we are. We are now the proud parents of a first grader. And, to answer Callum's question, this lasts for the rest of your life!
He wouldn't talk much last night about school. But he did ask "How long will this thing called school last, anyway?" He was mainly in shock we think. It was a long day for him, 8:15 till 3:15. Lunch was at 12:45. Apparently they mainly did art, except when they did math (like instead of going outside at playtime, but then it was over 100F with a heat advisory).
Pennie and I both went to drop him off. It was chaotic! There are 5 optional first grade classes and 4 regular 1st grade classes. We had to walk through the kindergarteners to get to first grade. We go in the back door - the older kids are round the corner, so we didn't run into them on the first day. Grahamwood goes through to 6th grade (I think) and there are about 1200 students there total.
His teacher is Ms Taylor. She seems very nice and is "firm but fair" we have heard. There are 24 kids slated to be in Cal's class, but only 18 showed up on the first day. Theo, who we have known since he and Cal were two, and Ricky, who is one of Callum's friends from kindergarten, are in Callum's class.
Lunch time in the cafeteria was somewhat traumatic, I think. Callum took his lunch, but one can buy food there too. He said there were "maybe 90 children" in there when he ate, which we take to mean a lot! They have a red light system for when it gets too noisy - if the red light comes on, they have to be absolutely silent. I don't think they used it on the first day.
Pick up was even more chaotic than drop off. We got to the school about 5 minutes before the final bell. There was a long line of cars waiting already, snaking through the parking lot, out onto the street and round the corner. We (Pennie and I, and Sarah, so she could see what the process is, and therefore also Lexie and Belle) sat in this line for a while without it moving. Then Pennie decided to just get out and go get him. The line slowly moved, and Pennie and Callum showed up when we about half way to the door. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights!
When he got home, he went straight to the computer and played some games. We let him just decompress! As I said, he could hardly even talk! We are glad that we held him back, as this might have pushed him over the edge a year ago. We have been hearing stories from some other kids about his age who did go on last year, some of whom had to get transferred part way through the year, and some of whom just cried everyday (along with their parents) until after a semester or so they caught up. Hopefully, in the long run, we have done the right thing.
This morning, we dropped him off again at 8:15. We took him in again (when he gets used to it, he can go in by himself) and to the classroom. Ms Taylor had them line up outside, then they all went in quietly to their seats. She has them trained already...
So there we are. We are now the proud parents of a first grader. And, to answer Callum's question, this lasts for the rest of your life!
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Countdown to first grade!
Callum starts school on Monday! I think Pennie and I are more worried about it than Callum is, but then the poor guy has no idea of what he is getting into! He has to wear a uniform (basically kakhi, black or blue trousers; white or grey shirt with collar but no logo). He has a new book bag (a huge backpack, at least it seems huge to me), plus a ton of supplies (we had to get two reams of copier paper!). He has to be there at 8:15 to 8:30 on Monday... I'll try and get a picture of him all dressed up.
Belle is doing good. Her break is a thing of the past now. She will be going to pre-school 3 days a week, in the 4-year old class. She'll be going back to Highland, not Evergreen where there have been this last year. She still has two more weeks before that starts though.
Lexie is getting so big. She has been potty by herself 4 times today! We had to get a new potty for her, so we can have one upstairs and one down. Belle was trained by the time we moved in here, when she was just over 2. We also got Lexie a toddler bed today. She has been co-sleeping with us, but it is time to start moving her. Anyone big enough to go potty by themself is big enough to go sleep by themself, I say ;-) We put a "Princess" bedding set on it, and told her it is "Lella". She loves Lella (Cinderella). When it is time to get out of the bath she shouts "LELLA!", asking for her Cinderella nightgown. Nothing else will do nowadays. Of course, she is not actually in her bed now (at 10 pm). I'll go up in a minute and try to move her over...
Belle is doing good. Her break is a thing of the past now. She will be going to pre-school 3 days a week, in the 4-year old class. She'll be going back to Highland, not Evergreen where there have been this last year. She still has two more weeks before that starts though.
Lexie is getting so big. She has been potty by herself 4 times today! We had to get a new potty for her, so we can have one upstairs and one down. Belle was trained by the time we moved in here, when she was just over 2. We also got Lexie a toddler bed today. She has been co-sleeping with us, but it is time to start moving her. Anyone big enough to go potty by themself is big enough to go sleep by themself, I say ;-) We put a "Princess" bedding set on it, and told her it is "Lella". She loves Lella (Cinderella). When it is time to get out of the bath she shouts "LELLA!", asking for her Cinderella nightgown. Nothing else will do nowadays. Of course, she is not actually in her bed now (at 10 pm). I'll go up in a minute and try to move her over...
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Ears tubes
Just got back from the Doctor with Lexie and her ear tubes. They had a mix up with scheduling and had us show up at 6:30 am, but the Doc didn't get there til 9. He was very appologetic, but we are exhausted! Lexie woke up at 4 and wouldn't go back to sleep, then the alarm went off at 5:30. Cal and Belle had a sleep over at Gammy's Memphis house. Anyway - they took Lexie back at 9:20 for the surgery, and called us in about 15 minutes later when she was waking up from the general anaesthetic. She was tired and groggy and starving, as she hadn't eaten since the night before. We go home about 10:45 and I put here to bed, where she is right now. Hopefully, when she wakes up she will be fine!
