Higher Daddy!

In Our Midst

It was with great interest that I watched Nicholas pretend to punch in the code that he can barely reach to the daycare classrooms  the other day.  When the door opened, I figured he had caught one of the moments that the thing had not hooked all the way closed.

They rushed in.

Then, when he did it again the next day, I asked.

"Nicholas, how do you know the code?"

"I watch.  I'm like a spy."

But of course.

My Pre-schoolers

Yesterday my boys joined the ranks at daycare of what they call "pre-schoolers." Transition is complete, and they are off and running. There hasn't been a single potty training accident at school since we started wearing big boy pants a month ago, there is handwriting curriculum, and Benjamin exclaims at least once a day now that he is a "big boy." Stop. Did I just say handwriting curriculum? Are you kidding? They are 2! I know, not for long, but technically they are still 2! Yet here they come every day with sheets from school where they have been tracing letters. They purposefully sing the alphabet. They count things. Last night Benjamin was looking at a shark book and explained that the whale shark does not have big teeth. (I'm so proud of my shark lover--he may have got some coaching along the way...)

And then this. As we picked up our mound of papers yesterday (really daycare, we don't need two of every announcement for their class and four of every announcement for the daycare. We just don't.), out fell two envelopes. Our first birthday party invitations. After I finished snickering because the party was for Jack and we were to RSVP to Jill (I take my amusement where I can), I started wondering who in this mass of people was Jack? They've been in this class officially for one day, who is Jack? Was I supposed to learn every one's name that fast? The boys have only recently started referring to their classmates by name and the girls are still "baby."

And then I noticed the date of the party. Oh good, we'll be out of town. My blood pressure over my many opinions on this issue can lower. For now at least.

The Great Negotiator

From My Monthly Update on, you know, what exactly my children should be doing:

An ability to count begins as your child heads toward 3, at least in a primitive way. First a child is able to identify when there is one, and more than one (though not whether it's two or six). By age 2, a child can count to two ("one, two"), and by 3, he can count to three, but if he can make it all the way up to 10, he's probably reciting from rote memory. Kids this age don't yet actually understand, and can't identify, the quantities they're naming.

So when I hand Nicholas 2 crackers and then we go through the following every single time, does it mean he is a genius?

"Here you go."
"No. Five crackers."
"No Nicholas. You can have two crackers."
"No. Five, mommy. Five, crackers."
"No Nicholas. That is two crackers."
"No. I want five crackers."
"Here. You can have three crackers."
"Okay. Three crackers. Okay mommy, three crackers."