Shannon Phillips

So, as it turns out, one of my kids is having a lot of trouble adjusting to Robin’s new school. And it’s not Robin.

Davy comes with us every morning, in the stroller, as we walk Robin to school. There’s some steps in front of the school so I generally carry Davy while I’m taking Robin in. Once inside Davy looks around wide-eyed, at all the kids, all the toys—the art supplies, the books—all the fun that everybody is already busily having. He watches Robin race off to join in whatever activity catches his eye.

Davy’s at that stage where he’s perfectly capable of making his opinions known on just about any subject, despite the fact that his vocabulary is limited to “hi,” “bye,” “mama,” “dada,” and an all-purpose “DA!” that translates to “I want that!” I hear “DA!” a lot when we’re leaving the school. He’ll be pointing back over my shoulder as we’re walking away, saying “DA! DA!” You don’t understand, mom! I want THAT!

Then when I put him back in the stroller, he starts to howl, arching his back and twisting and fighting. In his mind it is utterly unfair that Robin gets to stay in this glorious children’s wonderland, and he does not. To ease the sting, I’ve starting taking him down to the park after we drop Robin off, giving him a little time on the swings and in the sand. It helps, but it does seem like Davy’s getting madder about this situation each day it’s repeated. He has a pretty keen sense of justice, at least so far as it applies to injustices personally suffered.

Next year he’ll be old enough to go to school two mornings a week. And it won’t come a day too soon for Davy.

After the first week of preschool…everyone in our family is sick. Except for Sam, he’s apparently got a more robust immune system. Probably from riding public transit.

*hack* *cough*

Meanwhile Robin doesn’t yet understand the concept of “weekend,” and is a bit anxious about when he’ll get to go back to school. Today he actually tried to assemble his lunch and get his backpack together. Hopefully we’ll be over our colds by Tuesday…

After we got home from school, Robin sacked out on the sofa. I picked him up and carried him into his room, but when I put him down on the bed he stirred a bit. “Shh, shh,” I said. “It’s okay. You can take a nap.”

“No!” he said, his eyes still closed and his voice thick with sleep. “I not take a nap. I…sit in the blankets.”

“Okay,” I said. “That sounds good too. You do that.”

Then he rolled over and went back to sleep, perfectly satisfied in having gotten his own way. He’s not taking a nap. He’s just—sitting there in the blankets. For a little while.

He was excited about going back today, as you can see!

Robin had a good day but was a little overwhelmed, especially towards the end. When I came to pick him up he kind of stared past me for a minute before he even recognized me. As soon as we got home he crawled into bed for a nap. It’s a high-energy place! Gail, the school administrator, suggested that I come pick him up a little bit early for the first week or so.

Davy really, really wanted to stay and play too. Next year he can start going for a couple of days a week.

More to report after I’ve had my first work day, on Thursday…

Robin: “What does baby Tyrannosaurus Rex eat?”
Me: “Lizards? Small animals, I guess.”
Robin: “No. Baby Tyrannosaurus eats pickles.”
Me: “Is that right, now.”
Robin: “Pickles, and watermelon, and books.”

Tonight as we were unpacking our veggie box (two yellow onions, a big cabbage, two eggplants, about a pound of luscious Early Girl tomatoes, a big cucumber, a small watermelon, three ears of corn, four red and green sweet peppers, a bunch of Chinese broccoli, a few potatoes, a bag of loose arugula, and three nectarines), I turned my back for a moment, and when I looked again I saw Davy had helped himself to a fresh juicy nectarine:

He’s the cutest little fruit thief ever.

Around here, we’re mostly gearing up for Robin’s first day of school, next Tuesday. He’ll be going four days a week (Tuesdays through Friday), from 9 to 12. And since it’s a co-op school, I’ll be working as a teacher on Thursdays, while Sam works from home and keeps an eye on Davy. This has meant filling out a lot of paperwork: today we were scrambling around to get me a TB test. There have also been a lot of school meetings to get us new parents up to speed on how things work at Peter Pan. They seem to have gotten a pretty smooth system worked out (the school has been open since 1947, so they’ve had quite some time to work out the kinks), and their general philosophy of child-led learning is very much in line with my own opinions and values.

Basically each teacher is in charge of a “room” at the school—there’s a “block room” (which is really for all kinds of imaginative play, as it also has dolls and cars and dinosaurs and so forth), an art room, a library, a snack station, and then the outside areas, which are devoted to kinetic and sensory play. For most of the day the kids, ages 2 through 6, all move freely throughout the school: they mingle together, going where they like and using the materials as they please. It’s the parent-teachers’ job to facilitate the kids’ interests in a nurturing and age-appropriate way. The parents jokingly call the kids the “customers,” as each teacher stays in their room and “serves the customers” as they come and go. Towards the end of the morning all the kids are herded together to the park, and then back inside for a group story time.

I’m really looking forward to the start of school, even though I’m a bit nervous about this new part-time job I’ve taken on—in addition to the day of teaching duty every week, we’re also expected to put in maintenance hours keeping the school updated. Last week I went in and cleaned out the fridge. It will be a lot of work, but I want to be deeply involved with Robin’s school, and I’m really looking forward to having a bit more structure in my days. Despite my best intentions, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when I’m alone with both boys, and hard to keep up a good energy level. I think the start of school will be good for everyone.

Anyway, I’ll wrap this up with a bonus picture: bubble bath!