I’m still woefully behind on videos, but here’s the video for Griffin’s 1st birthday. I’ve run out of new birthday songs for these, so Griffin has to have a hand me down song for his birthday video. Although, it’s still a Beatles song – nothing to sneeze at.
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I think I need that printed on a shirt!
Until I have time to write “It Takes a Village: The Recap” here are a few pictures from the Great Preschool Registration 2010!
Although this is an awful camera phone picture, I wanted to attempt to document the line of people at 11:45 PM, several who had already approached over 12 hours of waiting in line. I was not far behind in that number. I decided I needed this picture for when Griffin is 15 years old and says he hates James and I, that we are awful parents, and we never do anything for him. I can whip out this picture, blow it up, and kindly remind him of the contrary.
Our “accommodations” once we were allowed inside the church at midnight. Although the floor was rock hard, the lights were left completely on all night, and shockingly several people were able to sleep so soundly they snored very. very. loudly, it beat the elements outside (cold and thunderstorms). We all looked sort of homeless.
Don’t let this sort of smile fool you. By 1:00 AM, there was really not a lot of smiling going on!
Seventeen years ago (GULP) this person, my roommate all four years at Texas Tech, and I were taking swigs of $2 Boone’s Strawberry Hill “wine.” Last night, (she was luckily enough to not have to come until 11:00 PM) and I braved the insanity together for our little ones.
It was so bright we had to get creative on how to block out the lights.
At 6:00 AM, preschool staff started processing paperwork to make 8:00 AM registration run more smoothly and faster (if you count waiting 20 hours between James, my mom, and I as fast).
There will be no pictures from this morning. Trust me. I looked like a train wreck. The good news, the hard work paid off. With only a total of 8 openings for Griffin’s age (and on Wednesday/Friday only; not my first choice, but oh well), he is IN!!!!
As I drove Nolan the twenty plus minutes each way to school today, it felt worth it. And saving $5 a day on tolls, does not hurt!
Stay tuned (once I am fully recovered from the last 24 hours) for “It Takes a Village!”
I was ready. I had packed everything I thought I would need for the approximately 18 hour preschool “camp out.” I drove to the school at about 4:00 PM. It was an hour and a half earlier than the earliest arrivals last year. I felt good. I felt like I had a superb shot of getting Griffin into this preschool.
I confidently approached the lines that were forming outside of the entrance to the preschool, carrying a beer. As I reached the lines, I noticed I was met with stares. I wondered why and then realized it was the beer. I scanned the crowd and noticed no one else was drinking. OH MY GOSH! What was I thinking? No one else is drinking. I sheepishly smiled as I hid the beer behind my handbag.
I noticed two lines had already formed. I wondered to myself why were there two lines? Also, why are there SO many people here already? I had planned to be the first. I contemplated for the longest time which line to get in. Getting in the wrong long could be disastrous. It could mean the difference of Griffin getting into preschool and not. No one seemed helpful. The moms just shrugged their shoulders and would not answer me which was the right line. I finally picked one praying I had not made a mistake. I counted the number of moms in line ahead of me. There were SIXTY. I could not believe it. I had prepared. I thought I was early. There was no way there would be an opening by the time I reached the front of the line once registration started. I decided to stay and stick it out. I thought t was worth a shot.
I do not remember much about the events of the actual camp out. I remember that by the time the sun arose I looked exhausted, stressed, and completely disheveled. The line began moving at about 10:00 AM. We all anxiously awaited our turn. When my name was finally called, I approached the desk. The preschool staff person asked, “What class are you wanting to enroll in?” “I quickly answered, “Two year old class, Tuesday/Thursday.” She blankly stared at me. I repeated it again. And then again. She just looked at me and said NOTHING. With each time I repeated my request, my anxiety rose. It rose until I woke up. It was just a dream. I mean, it was just a nightmare.
Two weeks from today, Griffin will know his early education fate. Thirteen days from now my camp out begins. This dream I had last week was most likely precipitated by the fact that the registration process for the “General Public” at Nolan’s school was held last Tuesday. As I dropped Nolan off that morning, I saw the moms pacing the floors, scanning the crowds and “competition” and anxiously waiting for their number to be called and to learn the educational fate of their child. That was me three and a half years ago. I was one of them. I still am one of them. I am just not one of them for that preschool. We have our reserved spot in that program. I paid my hefty registration fee that, ironically, I hope will be wasted. Time will tell.
The good news is that James has decided to camp out the entire time so I do not have to do it! (Everyone can stop laughing now, including myself) Well he may not be camping out, but he will have the boys. My mom has agreed to “tag team” line duty with me part of the time. It will be OK. I just hope the weather cooperates. I am not sure of the “rules” for how this works if the weather is bad. Considering all these parents are in the same boat, I would imagine we could come to some sort of agreement about camping in our cars, etc.
I just need to remember it is not appropriate to bring beer.
When James and I made the decision to move in August, as we looked at houses, I was very clear I wanted to stay close to Nolan’s school. Mainly because he is in school three days a week and we are in the car enough without another long drive, but also because I DID NOT want to start the whole preschool registration process over again. (See here and here for a refresher on my experience with this before and why I am still traumatized). When you have a currently enrolled child in said preschool, you have PRIORITY enrollment for siblings. This is huge! Now you can see why I wanted to stay somewhere in the proximity of his school.
Needless to say our search for the perfect home ended up in the exact area I had repeatedly said was way too far from Nolan’s school. Considering there is not an opening for a preschool anywhere once the school year has started, I have made it work. It has not been that bad of a commute, but it would be nice to be at a school closer to home and not have approximately $40 a month in tolls just going to and from Nolan’s school.
So this brings me to my current dilemma and I do mean a MAJOR situation here folks. I am not sure where to register Griffin for preschool. You may be thinking, but he will only be two? What is the big deal? It is a big deal because the older a child gets, the more competitive it is for available spots in preschool. The preschool you chose for a two year old, maps out their future preschool years typically. I know. It sounds ridiculous, but welcome to North Dallas.. I have several options, but it could all be a gamble and a costly one at that.
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.
