So it seems it's all's well that ends well with this preschool business. I talked to the director via email a couple of times about my concerns, but she was pretty much all "We're awesome, what are you talking about?" Yeah. Long story short I got my money back and I never have to set foot in that place again.
On a much more positive note, I am now doing both homeschool preschool with Emmett, as well as a preschool co-op with some friends from church once a week! We'll all take turns teaching, and it will be Emmett and 4 other boys, all pretty close in age. We had a planning meeting this week and I'm really excited about it...these ladies are all fantastic and I love all the little boys that will be in his "class". I think we're going to have a lot of fun!
I'm doing the homeschool thing Monday thru Friday, just for about 10 minutes a day. We're doing things like colours, letters, numbers, nursery rhymes, etc. He pretty well knows all of that stuff, but it's more about having him practice school skills. He really needs to work on his listening (What 3 year old doesn't, right?), and I'm just now introducing crafts to him - definitely his LEAST favorite part of "preschool"! Each week we're doing a theme based on stuff he's interested in - last week was cows and this week we're learning about bees. He's becoming quite the little expert on beehives and honey! On Friday we're going to make a bee that he can play with, so maybe that kind of craft will interest him a little more.
As terrible as this whole preschool experience has been, I think it really increased my confidence as a mom and reminded me how much I've grown as a mother in the past few years. I was updating Seth's baby book this morning and I pulled out Emmett's for comparison. Seth is just starting to crawl, but Emmett was still a couple of months away from crawling (and 4 lbs heavier!) at this point, and I remember being super worried about it. I also remember people telling me it was no big deal, that he would get there, but until he did I couldn't stop myself from worrying. Of course with Seth being my second I'm way more laid back in that area, but even with Emmett I'm loosening up. Emmett has always been behind his peers on most things developmentally. He's proven that it's not a matter of intelligence (this kid has all of his books memorized and practically operates the computer better than me), but a matter of only working on things that are important to Emmett. Singing and reading and computer games are important to Emmett. Taking his own shoes off or using the potty...not so much. It can be frustrating at times, but I KNOW he's going to get there. I'm doing what I can to help him stretch out of his comfort zone and try new things, and I'm not sweating the rest. I can't tell you how much I wish I could go back about 2 years in time and tell myself to chill out. ;)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Alarm Bells
As I mentioned in my last entry, Emmett started preschool last week. After the second day I got pulled in for a "chat" about Em's lack of listening skills and short attention span. This behavior "couldn't go on all year". I was asked to observe the next class to see if I had some suggestions for them.
I spend the whole day crying off and on, thinking I had somehow failed as a parent because my child wasn't falling in line at preschool. I was afraid he was going get kicked out of the program. I spoke to trusted friends and family about it over the weekend and went in there on Tuesday resolved to help my child adjust to preschool and support the teachers any way I could.
As I brought Em into the classroom, he started bawling, which surprised me since he had been fine the first couple of days. Alarm bells started going off in my head when I was consoling him in my lap and one of the teachers came up to him and said (well, more like yelled): "Come on Emmett, there are only 12 minutes left of play time and you CAN'T stay on your mom's lap, you need to get down here and PLAY."
I reacted slowly...things just kept going from bad to worse and something inside me was screaming "Something is NOT right about this". The pinnacle moment came when Emmett refused to draw something on the daily art project and the teacher grabbed his head and forced him to look at the paper while holding his arm and forcing him to draw. I don't know why I didn't slap this woman, I think I was in shock. I could NOT believe was I was seeing.
During this time one other child was crying for his mother - he was shown no compassion whatsoever, was told "You are in SCHOOL now and you should know better than to keep crying!"and was basically just put in a corner to cry. My mom suggested I go back to the school and find this boy's parents and tell them what happened. That's what I did this morning and I am SO glad that I did...alarm bells had been going off for them as well but what I told them convinced them not to put their kid back in that class. The boy's grandmother told me that when they went to pick him up on Tuesday, the teacher said "Oh, is he still in the bathroom?"
They had put him in the bathroom, closed the door and forgot about him. Him mom found him sobbing on the floor. Apparently this child's mother and grandmother also saw Emmett sobbing in a corner on the first day, and they thought it wasn't right.
I can't believe anyone would possibly think treating a child like that is acceptable. I've written a letter to the preschool director letting her know my concerns (and believe me, showing professionalism and restraint while writing it was no easy task) and Emmett will never set foot in that place again.
This was my first experience with the "mommy alarm bells" going off, and needing to advocate for my child. I am so grateful that I was in that class to witness what was going on and that I listened to my gut on this one.
I spend the whole day crying off and on, thinking I had somehow failed as a parent because my child wasn't falling in line at preschool. I was afraid he was going get kicked out of the program. I spoke to trusted friends and family about it over the weekend and went in there on Tuesday resolved to help my child adjust to preschool and support the teachers any way I could.
As I brought Em into the classroom, he started bawling, which surprised me since he had been fine the first couple of days. Alarm bells started going off in my head when I was consoling him in my lap and one of the teachers came up to him and said (well, more like yelled): "Come on Emmett, there are only 12 minutes left of play time and you CAN'T stay on your mom's lap, you need to get down here and PLAY."
I reacted slowly...things just kept going from bad to worse and something inside me was screaming "Something is NOT right about this". The pinnacle moment came when Emmett refused to draw something on the daily art project and the teacher grabbed his head and forced him to look at the paper while holding his arm and forcing him to draw. I don't know why I didn't slap this woman, I think I was in shock. I could NOT believe was I was seeing.
During this time one other child was crying for his mother - he was shown no compassion whatsoever, was told "You are in SCHOOL now and you should know better than to keep crying!"and was basically just put in a corner to cry. My mom suggested I go back to the school and find this boy's parents and tell them what happened. That's what I did this morning and I am SO glad that I did...alarm bells had been going off for them as well but what I told them convinced them not to put their kid back in that class. The boy's grandmother told me that when they went to pick him up on Tuesday, the teacher said "Oh, is he still in the bathroom?"
They had put him in the bathroom, closed the door and forgot about him. Him mom found him sobbing on the floor. Apparently this child's mother and grandmother also saw Emmett sobbing in a corner on the first day, and they thought it wasn't right.
I can't believe anyone would possibly think treating a child like that is acceptable. I've written a letter to the preschool director letting her know my concerns (and believe me, showing professionalism and restraint while writing it was no easy task) and Emmett will never set foot in that place again.
This was my first experience with the "mommy alarm bells" going off, and needing to advocate for my child. I am so grateful that I was in that class to witness what was going on and that I listened to my gut on this one.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Summer Update
It's 4am and I can't sleep, so I might as well check "finally write another blog entry" off my to do list and post a bunch of pictures I've been holding onto for the last couple of months.
We went to Jasper for Canada day...the weather wasn't fantastic but the boys proved to be excellent little travellers and we made the best of it. We had a picnic beside Lake Annette and Emmett was way too busy throwing rocks in the lake to actually eat!
He's having a little trouble adjusting to the structured environment of preschool, but hopefully we'll be able to work with him on that in the coming weeks.
We went to Jasper for Canada day...the weather wasn't fantastic but the boys proved to be excellent little travellers and we made the best of it. We had a picnic beside Lake Annette and Emmett was way too busy throwing rocks in the lake to actually eat!
There's a paved trail around the lake so we were able to take Em and Seth for a little hike after lunch...Emmett walked most of the 2.4 km, which I thought was pretty impressive for someone who's legs are only 10 inches long or so. ;)
A rare shot of James - he's almost always behind the camera!
A rare shot of James - he's almost always behind the camera!
Then the kids figured, hey we drove 4 hours to get here...let's hang out in the car some more!
Em and daddy by the Jasper bear - it's amazing how much these two look alike, their builds are identical!
One of the stores in town had a bubble machine...he was SO MAD when we had to leave it behind!
Not sure why James took this one, probably because he's pinching himself while sleeping...kids are weird.
I turned 28 on the August long weekend...getting older isn't really as fun when you're closer to 30 than 20! I decided to make my own birthday dinner - I saw these french bread mushroom pizzas on Rachael Ray's show years ago, and they looked SO good, but the ingredients were way too expensive to justify making it for a regular dinner. This year I decided I was finally going to make them...they were really good! I turned it into kind of an italian theme with caprese salad and grilled asparagus.
James cleaned the kitchen after, which was also my present. ;)
Emmett started preschool last week...he was very excited to wear his little backpack and seems to be really enjoying it! Here he is on the first day:
He's having a little trouble adjusting to the structured environment of preschool, but hopefully we'll be able to work with him on that in the coming weeks.
We just got back from Lethbridge this weekend - we visited James' Oma and Opa, and hit the Calgary Zoo on the way down as well. (I don't have pics of this yet, as they're on James' phone) It's funny what is important to little folks...we worked hard to get Emmett to notice all of the exotic animals, but he was more excited by things like the flowers and a bunch of sparrows hanging out in the porcupine enclosure. He did really enjoy the giraffes and the monkeys though.
The boys did very well camping and visiting Oma and Opa...it was a lot of time in small spaces not really designed for children and they handled it quite well. (We were hoping to spend some time outdoors but it was wasp central...I got bit myself under my arm, not fun.) The boys were the hit of the assisted living centre where Oma and Opa live - Seth was in full charm mode and Emmett had a great time running around and saying hi to all the residents. Opa even arranged for Emmett to have yogurt for dessert at dinner time...yogurt is his favorite food and he was SO excited! Now that he's talking more it's so fun to get his "take" on things...we got a lot of "Wow!" and "It's so BEAUTIFUL!" this weekend. (The camper was especially "beautiful" ;))
Sethers sure changed a lot this summer...he's sitting up really well now, and is on the verge of crawling. He's adapted a really cute system to get around - a combination of rolling and hand over hand wriggling that looks like he's swimming! He's babbling constantly and we think he's starting to mimic words - this weekend he was saying "oooooooooopa, oooooooooooooopa" a lot. (Probably because big brother was saying Hey Opa, Hi Opa, Opa up, etc constantly the whole trip)
A few random pics:
This is what happens when you go on a formula bender:
The boys did very well camping and visiting Oma and Opa...it was a lot of time in small spaces not really designed for children and they handled it quite well. (We were hoping to spend some time outdoors but it was wasp central...I got bit myself under my arm, not fun.) The boys were the hit of the assisted living centre where Oma and Opa live - Seth was in full charm mode and Emmett had a great time running around and saying hi to all the residents. Opa even arranged for Emmett to have yogurt for dessert at dinner time...yogurt is his favorite food and he was SO excited! Now that he's talking more it's so fun to get his "take" on things...we got a lot of "Wow!" and "It's so BEAUTIFUL!" this weekend. (The camper was especially "beautiful" ;))
Sethers sure changed a lot this summer...he's sitting up really well now, and is on the verge of crawling. He's adapted a really cute system to get around - a combination of rolling and hand over hand wriggling that looks like he's swimming! He's babbling constantly and we think he's starting to mimic words - this weekend he was saying "oooooooooopa, oooooooooooooopa" a lot. (Probably because big brother was saying Hey Opa, Hi Opa, Opa up, etc constantly the whole trip)
A few random pics:
This is what happens when you go on a formula bender:
The tiger and the hawaiian tourist:
So that was our summer...it was fun but I'm glad it's over - bring on the colder temperatures please! (Note: I reserve the right to take this back in February!)
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