Fall Frenzy- Part 3

Keaton

It seems to be a big jump from 1st to 2nd grade. Kindergarten was a breeze, and 1st grade was easy. Sure, there was some homework, but nothing like 2nd grade. We don't get home until 6:00 and it is a chore to finish homework, dinner, baths, and bedtime. And somewhere try to squeeze in quality family time and give everyone much needed attention. Thankfully the teachers send the homework assignments home on Friday and it is due the following Friday. We have now started doing some of his homework on the weekend. Keaton is a good sport about his homework. He doesn't complain at all about it and works hard to get it done.

At the parent teacher conference we had a wonderful report. I left with a big smile on my face and heart after meeting with both Cort and Keaton's teachers. Keaton currently has 3 A's and 2 B's. We are so proud! Report cards come out every 9 weeks now for our schools. Second grade is the first year that they get number grades and everything is for a grade. This takes some adjusting to for the student and parent. We had to explain to Keaton to do his best on all of his work and even teach him test taking skills already. I believe his best subject is Math and he currently has a B. Mostly due to the math fact tests each week. We didn't know he was being tested each week. We thought we were working on the flash cards to help prep him for the benchmark tests. The math fact test each Friday is a timed test to answer 30 problems in 2 minutes. He made a few F's for a couple of weeks. He has now mastered all 3 levels of the math facts after we taught him to not waste time on erasing and skip over problems he was getting stuck on. Last test he got 29 out of 30 correct. And I am proud to report he made a 95 on his benchmark test. The teacher was over joyed!

Keaton's writing (as in essays not handwriting) was just barely below level. He actually made a 70 on the benchmark, and I enjoyed his essay on a birthday party we attended at Mount Asia. One thing his teacher told us is that there is a gap in his reading skill set, which is well above average, and his writing skill set. She said his writing may suffer now because his vocabulary is more advanced than his spelling and it makes it difficult for him to put thought processes on paper. The gap should start to close this year.

I am amazed again, as I was in Kindergarten, how much he is already learning. I was totally impressed that he learned to read in Kindergarten (as Cort is now too). Now in second grade they have science everyday and social studies. This week they started talking about the Texas Revolution. Really? Did we learn about science or history in 2nd grade?

Keaton started out the year testing his boundaries in regards to his behavior. We received several notes home on his daily blue card. I have seen Keaton act out or misbehave in order to get peers attention. He likes to make people laugh and this doesn't necessarily come naturally for him. He will even do things for shock and awe to see people's reactions. This worries me about what the teenage years may hold. He has shown much improvement in his decision making and again his teacher was pleased with his efforts.

Fall is always a busy season for us. The boys have AWANA on Wednesday nights although I am not volunteering this year. I didn't want to put Gage in childcare after being at daycare all day. This gives me some extra one on one time with him. The boys are also playing soccer. Our practices are Friday night with games on Saturdays.

I am looking forward to the upcoming holidays. I can't believe Halloween is almost here!

Fall Frenzy- Part 2

Gage

As I posted before, Gage started daycare part time. I am truly thankful that the transition has been so easy. He seems to really like being there. It appears he is a people person like his daddy because he loves to watch everyone, kids and teachers. Each morning as I drop him off he just sits on the play mat (and he has begun to sit unassisted by a bobby pillow) and explores the toys in front of him. It makes me smile as I watch on the webcam because he looks so happy. The few times I have seen him topple over, fuss, or cry the teacher has been quick to rescue him.

There are usually only 4 infants in his room and therefore only 1 teacher. I have seen his teacher on the floor with him singing or reading to him and he was laughing. Makes you feel good watching that from work. As you can imagine, four babies can keep you pretty busy, so I am sure Gage could use more one on one time during the day. Each day he has been at daycare (5 days so far) I have gone to the daycare on my lunch hour. I time it so I can feed him and we have our own private room. We have a little 'love fest' first. He wraps his arms around my neck and we snuggle and giggle. He 'eats me up' by kissing me (mouthing my face). I love hearing him laugh as I tickle him. Then after he settles in I feed him in the small room they have set aside for nursing moms. It has a recliner rocking chair, table with a lamp and some children's books, clean burp cloths and a crib in this room. Although they also use it for storage during the day for all the infant car seats.

I love those 30 minutes or so I spend with him. I hope it reassures him that mommy will be back soon. I will continue having lunch with Gage as much as possible as long as he doesn't get upset when I leave. (Hmmm..that sounds familiar)

Although things are going well, after only 4 days of school he got sick. It all started with some coughing and congestion. A few days later, Friday, he started running a fever and Mark took him to the doctor. They gave him a breathing treatment in the office and sent Gage for a chest X-ray. His fever spiked to 103 and of course he didn't want to eat. His breathing was rapid and labored. The X-ray looked fine but we have continued the breathing treatments every 4-5 hours, even throughout the night.


When I called Monday morning to let the daycare know he would not be there because he was ill, I was told there has been a confirmed case of RSV in the infant room. At the follow up appointment we discussed with the doctor and he decided not to go through the trouble of actually testing Gage for RSV. The treatment would remain the same and he was already showing signs of improving.

We are now at day 6. He went back to school today, Wednesday, and is feeling much better. We will probably spread the breathing treatments out to 5-6 hours now. We knew he would get sick as he was exposed to new germs. Up until that point, he had never had a cough or runny nose. I just pray we make it through the winter months (dare I say the 3 letter F word---F-L-U) with minimal sickness in our house.


Although he received a nebulized treatment at the doctor's office, we were sent home with the inhaler 'puff' treatments. This is the mask we had to put over his nose and mouth while he inhaled the medicine with 5 deep breaths.

Yeah, tell that to a 6 month old....a cranky, sick one at that.
Sometimes he did good and other times he fought it.

Update on Keaton to follow soon.

Fall Frenzy-Part 1

I thought it was time to give an update on Team Robo.

CORT

School is in full swing. I would not have expected Cort to have any problems with Kindergarten. He was used to being away from mom and dad during the day since he was in daycare. We talked Kindergarten up since he turned 5 and he was looking forward to going to big kid school like Keaton. The school year started off great, but we started noticing a pattern with Cort each morning. As it was time to get dressed and leave for school he started complaining his stomach hurt. The first time or two Mark gave him Pepto. He then came down with a case of Croup and missed 2 days of school. After returning to school the next week, he continued to complain of his stomach. He convinced us to keep him home another day. I thought he could still be feeling bad from the croup or maybe it had developed into something else. There was a lot of crying and complaining saying he did not want to go to school that Thursday morning. A few hours later at home with Nana and Gage, Cort was feeling fine and asking to go outside and play. Hmmmmmm. So our thoughts turned to maybe Cort was not adjusting to Kindergarten so well after all. We were beginning to think he was experiencing a nervous stomach.

This brings me to look back at a situation that occurred a few weeks earlier. The 4th week of school I went to have lunch with him. He was so excited and we had a great lunch together. When it was time for me to leave, he was stricken with panic and crying so hard he began to choke. (Those of you that know my kids know what's coming next) He let himself get so upset that he threw up as his class was leaving for the playground. I didn't cave and take him home, but walked him to the nurse's office and explained the situation. She cleaned him up and changed his clothes (into a Longhorn t-shirt no less!!!) and walked him to recess. I was pleased she called me a few minutes later to report he was doing fine. I told him I couldn't come back to have lunch with him if he was going to get upset. I told him to tell me when he was ready for me to come back and he said, 'I don't think you can. Maybe not all year or even 1st grade, but maybe when I am in second grade.' He finally said those words to me that Keaton said all the time in Kindergarten. 'I want to be home schooled.'

We are starting to see some progress in the mornings. Keaton is being a great big brother by helping him get to his class. His teacher assured me he is fine throughout the day. I think most of the anxiety came from a couple of mornings the first few weeks of school in which the drop off routine was disturbed and he actually got lost on the way to his class. He said one time he was in the hall crying and a teacher helped him.

At our parent teacher conference, we heard nothing but great things about Cort. Ms. Cleboski said Cort is a leader and helps keep the students at his table on task. He is above where he should be at this point in K and she has no worries about him academically. She said she noticed he needs a lot of praise and can be sensitive. She commented that he is a rambunctious little boy and has to remind him some times to settle. I also remember when I visited him for lunch she told me he already had so many friends. Everyone loves Cort. At curriculum night, a couple of moms walked up to me and asked if I was Cort's mom and told me their daughters talked about him all the time. I guess he has a few girlfriends too.

We are so proud of Cort and his effort in K. He is doing great already learning sight words and sounding out words. We are also proud of his behavior. He has only received one note home on his daily folder. I hope to report soon that the morning anxiety is no more and that I can have lunch again with him very soon.

I will update in parts. I didn't realize it would end up this long. Update on Gage, daycare, and RSV coming soon.

Kid portraits

Daycare Days

Gage has started going to daycare part time. He will go 2-3 days a week until November when he will begin going full time. Ms. Salma is his teacher and she has been with CCY for many years. I have heard only great things about her. This week Gage went to school Tuesday for the first time.

Gage with Ms. Salma

(note his crib in the background) What? You're leaving mom?

Okay, I guess I can stay and playI am pleased to report Gage had a great 1st day as did mommy. I went on my lunch hour to visit and feed him. The day passed by with little anxiety thanks to the webcams. He seemed to have a lot of fun although didn't sleep much. I think there were too many new things going on.

Second day of daycare

I got this mom, no big deal.

Bye mom! Have a great day!

Pictures from the webcam view. This is the wall of cribs. I have to admit, not a big fan of the crib wall. If this was my first child in daycare and I was interviewing infant rooms, I would not pick this daycare. But we already have a history here with relationships built on trust. This picture shows the cribs when closed. This day there were 4 infants. Lucky teacher got them all to sleep at one time. Gage is the bottom middle bunk.

Here is my view during the day when watching Gage.....I mean working. he he! There are two views of the room and I can see Gage no matter where he is in the room unless getting his diaper changed. I really can't see him in his crib, but know he is there when it is closed. I can somewhat see if there is movement in the crib though. (You cannot see well, but notice now his crib has been decorated with the pictures I took this morning. They are family photos.)

Here he is after he woke from his nap.

Now playing with a friend.

Watch out, he's a 'Handsome Devil'.

(the shirt he has on in this picture)

I went to visit and feed him again at lunch today. I am so glad things are going so smoothly. It is definitely helping with the transition. He really seems to like it. I think he likes watching everything and everybody. We can call week 1 a success!