family

(Outside the Kindergarten Wing)

Attend Kindergarten Kick Off

Almost two weeks ago we went to Nolan’s new elementary school for orientation. The purpose was two fold. One for the children to meet the Kindergarten team, spend time in their future classrooms and see the school. The parents simultaneously attended an information meeting. And I do mean an informational meeting. My head was spinning by the time we left (for many reasons though as you can imagine).

At check in we were enthusiastically welcomed by elementary school staff and briefly told about the evening. Nolan was quickly whisked away to the Kindergarten “Pod” as they call it while James and I (and our sidekick Griffin) were ushered into the gym. As James and I walked in the opposite direction as Nolan I found myself noticing the symbolism as to what is to come in three short months.

For almost the next hour the parents heard from the principal, assistant principal and school counselor. We were informed about school policies, carpool lanes, various programs and activities offered through the school and general expectations for the next year. We were reminded that Kindergarten has changed significantly since we started elementary school. Expectations have drastically changed for these five year olds. “They will hit the ground running regarding their learning and what is expected regarding their education,” we were told by the principal. In other words, Kindergarten is serious business. The children will be challenged and the expectations for what they should already know and what they will learn next year is high.

When the school counselor spoke she started by reading a sweet poem/story about a little girl getting onto the school bus on her first day of Kindergarten. The story detailed the fabulous first day of this little girl, but how hard it was for her parents to cope and adjust. Of course I instantly could relate to the story and how I would be feeling. The school counselor, like any good therapist, acknowledged how hard this transition often is for the parents and reflected how we may be feeling. She normalized these feelings and it felt good. (Yes, I teared up several times as she spoke).

She also told us about how the first day of school will work. She invited us to the “Tears and Cheers” breakfast held directly after we settle our children at their desks on the first day. This is a support meeting of sorts, hosted by the school, to soothe the parents and celebrate this momentous first day. I was very touched by this gesture and made me love the school even more. I. AM. NOT. ALONE. Many other parents will struggle, as I will.

When the meeting was over we went to the Kindergarten “Pod” to retrieve Nolan in his designated classroom for the evening. As we were greeted and asked who were to there to pick up, the teacher said and I quote, “Nolan is quite the break dancer. He showed us all his moves.” BACK UP is what I thought in my head. Excuse me? What did you say? Why in the world was Nolan break dancing? I thought.   I am absolutely convinced the teachers were taking mental notes on these future Kindergarteners and Nolan already has a black mark by his name. He ran over to James and I. He was so excited. He told us about everything they had done in that hour. Also in typical Nolan fashion, he told us he already made two friends. He repeatedly asked how many days until Kindergarten starts and his wish that it would start tomorrow. Nolan and I could not be more apart in our wishes.

As much as I am struggling a great deal with this, I am so happy and excited for Nolan. He cannot wait for the school year to start. I am picking up his school spirit shirt tomorrow. He can’t wait to wear it. I truly could not ask for more. I am lucky he is so excited and ready. What if he was dreading it? Now that would be awful. It is just me.

Nolan “graduates” this Thursday from preschool. They will have a formal graduation with a cap and gown. All Nolan has told me is that he is happy that the children will only sing two songs (as opposed to seven apparently at Spring Sing) and that the cap is itchy. Typical.

I teared up as I walked the hallway towards Nolan’s classroom on Monday. We have so many wonderful memories from his school. He has grown and changed so much from the first day I dropped him off at the door to his classroom when he was 2 ½ years old. Where has the time gone? Where has it gone?

I received an email from the mom of Nolan’s best school friend yesterday. She asked how I was “holding up” regarding graduation this week. She said she is basket case and will bawl her eyes out on Thursday. We hope to sit next to each other for moral support. I am not alone. Not alone regarding all the parents who will be sad at graduation and not alone on Nolan’s first day of Kindergarten. This much I know. The rest? Well I am just taking it one step at a time.

Not since Forrest Gump and Jenny saw Lieutenant Dan walking on his “magic” titanium legs have two adults been so happy to see another human being take a few steps. After a long, long wait, Griffin finally started walking last night. We had it so easy with Nolan that Griffin being behind in anything at all probably seems like a much bigger issue than it should. After all, it’s not like either of us expected Griffin would crawl into kindergarten on his first day of school (Although I secretly think Mel really worried about this.). It just feels that way because Nolan was always so far ahead.

Griffin is very different from Nolan in many ways. He’s much more cautious than Nolan in everything he does. For better or worse, he does things in his own time and in his own way. He has technically been able to walk for quite a while, but he would only do so while holding our hands. We weren’t actually holding him up, but if we let go he would drop to the floor instantly. He would walk as long as he felt like he had a grip on something, just like Dumbo thought he could only fly when he had his “magic” feather.

Last night, after weeks of working with him, he decided the time was right on his own. This time, he didn’t fall when I let go of his hand. He looked around for a moment, then started walking like we all knew he could. He’s no Carl Lewis yet, but he gets the job done. (Full disclosure: We were absolutely bribing him with M&Ms to keep him going once he started. Whatever works, right?)

It goes without saying that all of us are relieved (Especially Melanie, who no longer has to worry about being the mother of a crawling kindergartner). That kid weighs over 30 pounds and carrying him around all the time stopped being adorable a long time ago. He’s a giant and now he can walk like one. That’s a huge relief.

The music on this video seems to be hit or miss. Depending on where you watch the video, you may or may not hear it. I’ll try to upload it somewhere that doesn’t strip the music out. Enjoy!

This past Christmas, Nolan finally received a Power Wheels Jeep. He’s been asking for this thing almost as long as he’s been able to talk.

I’m sure you’ll all be shocked that the white-ish Christmas we had didn’t keep Nolan from trying out the Jeep right away.

Here’s some video of the first ride and the first time he took Griffin out with him.

Enjoy! Hopefully YouTube won’t strip the music out of it.

Growing up in the 80′s, in Arkansas no less, it was not unusual for me to spend my afternoons and weekends involved in epic cap gun wars with other kids in my neighborhood. When Nolan arrived, I naturally assumed that one day I would watch him play out the same cowboys & indians, cops & robbers, and army guys vs. the world battles that I did as a kid. It should come as no surprise that Melanie, a therapist, does not share my lackadaisical attitude toward this type of play. I’ve gone along with this since Nolan was born, and until recently it worked out just fine.

However, Nolan has reached that age and has suddenly shown an interest in all of those normal boy things that happen to require a toy gun. Since Nolan lacked the proper equipment, he made do with whatever he had around. Tinkertoys, sticks, curiously shaped chips – somehow these things were just good enough to “shoot at bad guys.” When he couldn’t find a stand-in for a toy gun, he’d simply use his hands. Melanie held off as long as she could, but it’s been clear for a long time that this wasn’t a fight we could win. To his credit, Nolan did try his best to comply with the “no toy gun” rule. He even confessed any time he thought he might have broken this rule by building a toy gun out of Legos or Tinkertoys.

Ironically, the breaking point came when Melanie discovered a box of play therapy toys while we were packing. It took Nolan about 3.5 seconds to notice the two toy guns among the play therapy toys. At that moment, Melanie knew it was pointless to try to keep him from doing what most kids his age do. So at the age of 4, Nolan finally got to play with toy guns without being worried about getting into trouble. Nolan spent about 30 minutes playing with the Dollar Store toy guns from the play therapy kit before both of them were completely wrecked.

Because the dam had broken, we knew it was time to give in and get the boy a decent little cowboy rifle/pistol set. Seems like a simple enough request, right? Surely any toy store will have what we need. Turns out, not so much. The best Target and Toys R’ Us had to offer were aisles filled with Nerf dart guns from $10-$50. Fortunately, I remembered that Wal-Mart still had an aisle in their toy section filled with products not made by Nerf. Nolan’s Mimi was kind enough to brave a visit to Wal-Mart to pick up Nolan’s first cowboy gear. He’s now the proud (and I mean proud) owner of a plastic rifle/pistol set with the finest pleather belt and holster money can buy.

In his own little homage to Ralphie from A Christmas Story*, Nolan was out the door with the rifle before we finished opening the entire package. And despite the fact that our backyard is a swamp due to the biblical amount of rain we’ve had lately, he decided to head out minus his shoes. So in the picture above you see Nolan, in a perfect Ralphie pose, in the full throes of manic, cap gun bliss.

Once we got him calmed down and back inside the house, he disappeared for a little bit before bath time. While he was taking his bath, I went into his room and found this:

I’m sure tonight he’ll be lying in bed dreaming of fighting off Black Bart* with his cold-black-plastic beauty.

*P.S. – A lot of this won’t make sense if you haven’t seen A Christmas Story. And if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and by a copy before the holidays. Thank me later.

Nolan made his second trip to the circus today. He’s been really bored lately because Mel and I have been distracted with all the house buying/selling fun. It was good to have something we could do just for him. He deserved it. He also got to see my side of the family this weekend. A visit from Gran & Poppy always cheers him up. Unfortunately, they always have to go, which usually results in what Mel has named Nolan’s “ugly” cry.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Circus. Right.

In addition to being a spectacle of sights and sounds, the circus is a modern marvel of consumerism. Vegas has nothing on the circus. From the moment you arrive, you are faced with booth after booth after booth of the loudest and brightest merchandise on the planet. The most brilliant thing I saw was a movable booth for selling programs. Rather than set up in a stationary spot, the guy selling programs wheels his booth to wherever the people are and barks at them, carnival style, through his ShamWow! microphone. We were the proud owners of a program and a plastic four-wheeler before we made it to our seats. (It’s worth noting that there are not any four-wheelers in the actual circus, but that fact did not deter Nolan a bit.) He held on to the four-wheeler throughout the circus and all the way home.

When asked what his favorite part of the circus was, Nolan responded, “the four-wheeler.” That being said, he really did have a good time, but started fading — just like his parents — toward the end. For the most part, he was glued to all of the acts. Oddly, the tigers were completely unable to hold his attention. He started reading the program to see what came next. He loved the clowns and the FLYING MOTORCYCLES OF DOOM (I don’t think that’s their official name, but that’s what I like to call them.).

Early in the show, my lifelong, paralyzing fear of clowns was put to the test when one of them appeared out of nowhere in the row in front of us. If Melanie hadn’t pointed him out, I wouldn’t have known he there. Somehow, he had managed to lie down across several seats in the empty row in front of us. Had the clown looked like the one from Stephen King’s IT, I might have died of a heart attack right there in my seat. Fortunately, he looked more like a Disney-fied version of a clown than the old Bozo-style clown, so I was able to keep my cool in front of my four-year old son.Hooray for small victories!

This was the first time all three of us were able to attend an event like this together, and it might be the last time before Griffin is old enough to join us at these things. I’m glad we got one more in with just Nolan.

Click here to see some pictures from the circus.