School... thus far

I realized I never followed up about Ben's first day of preschool (or Eric's take on Kindergarten, for that matter). So, here is a run-down of what has happened thusfar.

Ben:

Ben has done really well. He loves painting at school, although he refused to paint the first day because he did not want to put on a smock and the teacher was not sure I would be cool with him getting dirty. Told her that is no problem. He brought home his first painting yesterday. Mostly green with a hole rubbed right through the paper. Is there anything better than art by a 2-year-old?

Ben is also excited about the music there and has come home singing some new songs already. I overhead him singing "If you're happy and you know it shout hooray" the other day. Music to my ears.

He has been a real pain in the behind here at home recently. That 2-year-old defiance is rearing it's ugly head in a big way. When I asked Ms. Rola and Ms. Jane about whether he was behaving for them, Ms. Rola replied, "Oh yes, he's great. Well... you know.... he is very quiet. Doesn't run around like some other kids." Umm.... Ben???? MY Ben? Mom always said kids are different in school than at home. I wish he would share some of that quiet boy with me periodically.

Ben is also really good about sharing with me what he has done that day. He will actually report back to me on what he did and what he liked. Getting that info from Eric is, and always has been, like pulling teeth.

Eric:
Eric is loving school. He rides the bus to and from school each day. The buses were just changed all around this week to better deal with the number of kids riding, so Eric switched from bus 25 to bus 66. The other kids at his stop were also switched, so that is good. Poor kid got off his new bus yesterday, seemed fine, but then broke into quiet tears when we hit the driveway. He admitted that he had been scared because the driver was taking a different route home and he did not know where they were going. Oops! Bad mom forgot to explain that part to him.

I think we finally have lunch figured out. The first week was tricky because Eric did not really understand the whole buying milk thing. The second day, he knew he needed to buy milk, but he forgot he had a packed lunch, and so he bought the whole lunch (putting me $.40 in the hole already). The next day, I sent him with a check to put on his lunch account but he did not understand that meant he could buy on "credit" and went without a drink. Like I said, I think we have it down now.

Homework has been another story. Ms. Elliott sends home a sheet each month that looks like a calendar and has an "assignment" for each school day. Eric is supposed to complete 3/week. Then, at the end of the month, I sign the sheet saying he did them and return it. Day ONE we sat down to do his first homework... write your bus number 4 times. Bus 25. Easy, right? No. Eric could not form a perfect 2, so he putzed and fought and even pretended that his ankle hurt him too much to write. 40 minutes later, he had written 25 four times. He is such the perfectionist. Lord give me patience.

I also went last week to school to do volunteer art. You have not LIVED until you have done art with 19 5-year-olds at the end of the day. It was really cool to be in his class and to see the kids he spends his day with, but I was exhausted. God bless teachers.

That's it for now. Ben has decided since school began that he no longer needs a nap (JUST like his big brother did!), so my time is limited.