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First Day of Preschool

Logan had his very first day of Preschool today! He has the same teachers as Burke and Maggie had their first year, so I’m very comfortable with his situation.

I do have to say that because of his age, the owner of the school wanted to put him in the ‘nursery’ room rather than the preschool room…I didn’t want to insult him like that, so I suggested the room he’s in now.

When I dropped him off, he was a little shy…but I told him it was just like speech class: we drop him off, he plays for a bit, and then we always come pick him up.

I picked him up today (Nanny Jessica will probably be doing that in the future though), and asked how he did. The teachers “just want to eat him up!” LOL! I asked if I made the right decision – if he belonged in this class and they said that based on today, he absolutely does (he even used the teeny tiny little potty they have in the bathroom – twice!), but that they’d let me know based on the following few weeks. Good enough. 🙂

First Day of Preschool

"My Backpack is Bigger Than Me!"

Makes My Monday: Preschool Orientation

Logan had his preschool orientation today! I’m going to take it as a good sign that he didn’t want to leave…School starts tomorrow!!

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Head on over to see what else makes people’s Mondays (there are always some really good ones!)

Football at the Pub

Piccadilly Pub…

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Saturday Snapshot: At the Park

When we decided to go to the park this afternoon, it was decidedly windier than when we actually got there. Oops!

Burke Flying His Kite

Burke and Logan Flying Their Kites

Maggie Flying Her Kite

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We ended up playing at the playground 🙂

"Ready, Set, GO!"

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go over and have a look at what others are doing on this beautiful  Saturday.

Fishful Thinking: Dealing with Disrespect

One of the things I’m dealing with right now is back talk from Burke. It’s more than just “talk” … it’s the full gamut of disrespect. I’ll get a foot in the face. I’ll get raspberries when I’m trying to discipline. I’ll get faces made. You get the idea. (Maggie’s not too far behind, but she’s much more subtle about it at this point…)

It’s been really frustrating for me, so I decided to browse around my trusty Fishful Thinking resource to see what I could find. Bingo! Not just one, but two articles: Dealing with Disrespect and How to Handle Back Talk. I won’t copy the entire articles here, but I will give the bullet points for each.

Dealing with Disrespect:

  1. First, calm yourself.
  2. Give clear feedback.
  3. Refocus on your goal.
  4. Resist the temptation to retaliate.
  5. Try to hear your child.
  6. When it’s over, it’s over.

This article goes into each one in more depth (and gives examples of what to do and what not to do).

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How to Handle Back Talk:

  • Don’t attack
  • Don’t belittle
  • Don’t condemn
  • Define what the problem is
  • Define how to rectify it
  • Figure out what can be done to prevent it in the future

This article also includes examples of back talk at each age level – and how to effectively respond.

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These points may seem like common sense, but what a great reminder. It’s so easy to lose yourself when you’re in the moment! And of course, that’s what Burke is looking for … “Let’s see how many of Mommy’s buttons I can push.” Boy does he have my number. But not for long! 🙂 This is what I’ll be working on for the next few weeks…wish me luck!!

Another kick-in-the-teeth reminder I got was a simple status update from a friend on FB: “Trying to remember that the kids have had to be quiet and good all day and need to blow off a little steam.” DUH, Nancy. As much as I’d love for them to be wonderfully good and nice and quiet at home, I’d much rather that they be good at school…so I definitely need to remember to let them be loud and crazy when they get home from a long, quiet day at school.

How do you handle disrespect from your kids? Any good ideas for me?

Updates: School, Doctor

School

Today is day 3 of school for Burke and Maggie. I’m happy to report that they’re still happily getting on the bus in the morning. (My gut feeling is that they’re much happier to do that than get into the van to go…so that’s actually worked out well!) And it totally looked like Burke didn’t want to get off the bus coming home yesterday (although, I suspect he just wasn’t paying attention and had no idea that it was sitting outside our house…)

The first day they got home, I saw that Burke still had a full cup of his snack left…and a note from the teacher saying that it wasn’t labeled so they couldn’t identify it as “safe” (no peanut products are allowed). What?! You can’t identify Goldfish … that’s on your “Okay to bring into school” list?? AND Maggie’s teacher was able to..? Ya. Livid. Burke seemed fine though – he got cheese (or maybe cheese Goldfish??) from the teacher and liked it. I went back and forth as to whether I was going to be THAT mom and send an email in to Burke’s teacher…and decided that I’d send her an email (I had a few other questions anyway), but apologize for not labeling his snack cup. (I was under the impression that if it was on the “Okay” list, you could just send it in…) ANYWAY…I’m glad I didn’t go off on her, she’s just doing her job to keep the kids safe – and she’s super nice. But mama bear definitely needed to cool down first to be rational 😉

We’ve had a few nights of homework already…the same homework assignment for both of them – on different nights. Put 3 – 5 items in the paper lunch bag that tell everyone about you. (Maggie’s teacher suggested they decorate the bag.) Burke’s items: one of his McQueen cars, a pink crayon from his beloved art set, and one of his GameBoy games. Maggie’s items: a Cinderella figurine, a pink marker (because she likes pink AND drawing), her ballet slippers, and a microphone-shaped pen (because she likes singing AND drawing). So far, each time they’ve come home, I’ve asked if they shared their items with the class…and so far, each time they’ve said “nope. maybe tomorrow.” Hmm.

Neither of them can remember any of their classmates’ names. (Poor kids – they get that from me.) So, I can only ask if they’ve played with the kids I know to be in the class…cuz if I ask who they played with I get “I don’t know.” Whoo boy.

The thing I hear the most about? Lunch. LOL!

Doctor

Logan had his 3 year Well Visit yesterday. I’ve written a few times about his doctors being worried about how small he is (here and here). Dr. Doctor told me she was reading the notes from Dr. Endo and thought she had read that if Logan is still not growing when he goes back to Dr. Endo in January, they’ll start talking about doing stuff. (I don’t recall her saying that to me…but decided that I wouldn’t be doing anything different right now even if she had, so it’s all good).

But then Dr. Doctor looked at Logan’s growth since the last time he was with her (6 months ago) and decided that while he’s not THRIVING, he’s not doing too badly either.

The Stats:
Height: 36 inches
Weight: 28 pounds

My little blue book (the one the nurses fill out at appointments) says that this is about 3.5 inches taller and 4 pounds heavier than a year ago. They’re mostly tracking height, so he’s now in the 15th or so percentile…which is higher than 6 months ago (about 9th percentile), but still not so high. Although – I was just comparing it to Burke’s blue book… at Burke’s 3 year appointment, he 36.5 inches tall and 27 pounds. Hm. (I know, I know…kids follow their OWN paths…)

Anyway – Logan got two shots. He was just fine for one of them, but the second one did him in. He’s used to a nurse on either side getting him at the same time…no time to think about the 2nd shot cuz it’s done at the same time as the 1st. Ah well…he got over it. 🙂

Way Back When-esday

Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!

In honor of yesterday’s first day back at school, today’s post is from the twins’ very first day of school from the past two years 🙂

CIMG0316

First Day of Preschool 2009

(Hm. Maggie’s first day clothing is very similar this year. LOL!)

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First Day of Pre-School 2008

First Day of Preschool 2008

First Day of Kindergarten!

Today was Burke and Maggie’s first day of school – Kindergarten! They were so excited this morning…and I was fairly organized and had as much ready last night as I could, so this morning went fairly smoothly. (At least, as far as I know – I’m sure I’ll hear about something I forgot as soon as they get home!)

We decided that they’ll be trying out the hot lunches at school. We’ll see how that goes – but it’s definitely a lot less pressure on me to not have to worry about what they’re eating each day. I’m sure I’ll get a full report on the Chicken Patties that were on the menu today as well 😉

We also decided that they’d be taking the bus (be still my heart), which – I think – was the most looked-forward-to part of the day. The bus showed up just before 8:30 today, but I suspect it will actually be sooner than that going forward…we were warned that the first week or so is quite varied because parents are taking pictures and such. (I know I did!) I thought about following the bus to school…but I just can’t be THAT mom. But I did sneak up the stairs after Maggie got on to see (you can’t even see their heads through the windows outside LOL!)…Burke had taken up a seat right beside another little boy and was deep  in conversation. Yeah!! 🙂

Maggie and Burke - First Day of School

Maggie - waiting for Burke to come outside

Without Sunglasses...

Burke's Finally Outside

Burke Getting on the Bus

Maggie Getting on the Bus

Makes My Monday: Boys and Their Baseball

Logan (with his new baseball glove from Burke) and Burke are playing catch with Daddy on this glorious Monday holiday.

Back yard baseball Makes My Monday.

Birthday Celebrations

Logan turned 3 yesterday, but we celebrated his birthday today with Grandpa, Nana, Aunt Cathy, Chris, and Matthew.

Cake!!

Logan received so many cool presents!! I know I didn’t get pictures of them all, but here are a few in action.

Stomp Rocket

Stomp Rocket

New BIG KID Swing!

Baseball Glove

GameBoy (orange and green!!)

Drilling Pictures