Who Knew?

I took Jack to the eye doctor yesterday. It was the same doctor that Jim and I both go to and we think she is great. Because Jack has just started school and reading and whatnot, I thought why not go and check on his eyes just to make sure everything is alright.

First of all, it was a full-blown eye exam. Jack did somewhat okay with most of the exam except when it came time to look into the camera to take pictures of his eyes. I was on the other end so I could see what the eyes looked like UP CLOSE, which by the way is way cool. But Jack did not want to keep his eyes open wide enough or long enough for her to get very many decent pictures. And I kept having to tell him not to touch the equipment or play with all the knobs on the lens machine. I just could read his mind saying that all the stuff in the exam room was great toys.

Then she had him read the screen across the room and this is where we ran into trouble. Turns out he inherited my astigmatism and the boy's vision is blurry! Who knew? She said that he is seeing about 20/40, which isn't horrible, but not good for his age.

So glasses it is. Jack, of course is so excited to get glasses and I let him pick out his frames, which are adorable on him, I have to say. But I just wonder how long he will be excited about the actual wearing of the glasses day in and day out. And how many pairs will be broken? She said that he doesn't need to wear them to play sports or around the house, but for school and reading they are a must. Poor kid, of course he had to inherit my bad eyes from me, he couldn't get his Dad's good eyes.

Kindergarten is going well. Of course, he doesn't share anything with me about what goes on during his day. I have gathered bits and pieces from the fragmented phrases he does say about his school life. He likes music class and he loves to sing songs, which he sings for me quite a bit when we are in the car. Love to hear that.

He does not like PE, which he has on Tuesdays and Fridays, but he does like his PE uniform that he gets to wear. Oh and he thinks changing in the locker room after PE is really cool because he gets to see what the other boys underwear are like. Sigh.

His best friend seems to be Cameron, who was in his K4 class last year. He doesn't like a kid named Kai because he always pushes him down while on the playground.

On Thursdays the whole school has chapel for an hour and even though he doesn't say much about chapel, he hasn't said he doesn't like it, so I guess that is a good thing. I have noticed that he is able to sit better during church on Sundays so maybe school chapel is teaching him something.

He is starting to read, but doesn't really like to. I know he knows more words than he says because when we are reading bedtime stories, I will ask him what a word is and after persuasion he usually comes up with the right answer.

All in all, he is doing very well. His teacher, Miss Hartwick always tells me he is so well behaved and helpful. I am looking forward to parent teacher conferences to see what he really is up to during the day instead of "I don't remember what we did today."

The Day Is Here...First Day of Kindergarten!

I could not let this day go by without blogging about the boy's first day of kindergarten! This is the day that I have been both looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. I have been excited because now that he is in school all day long, every day, I can now devote some of my time to me. I have plans to start back at working out at the new gym around the corner. I have plans to organize this house (can you ever be truly organized) and do some projects around the house. I am also debating in my mind about going back to work. Just the possibilities are very liberating in knowing that I have the hours of 8 am to 3 pm dedicated to me!

But I have been dreading the day because it means my little boy is not my little boy anymore. I do enjoy Jack's company. He actually is very fun to be around and I treasure our time together. When he was in preschool last year, I would pick him up at noon and it would be Mommy and Jack time and we went to lunch at least once a week. But now he eats his lunch with all his friends at school. He now has his own life that does not involve me for seven hours a day.

He was so excited this morning as Jim and I were driving him to school. He got in the car and yelled out "kindergarten here I come!" I tell you that kid cracks me up all the time by the things he says. We decided to put him in the private christian school that he was going to for preschool. Yes it is a fortune, but for right now, we think it is worth getting that christian foundation and not to mention the better academics than the elementary school that is in our district.

It was so chaotic this morning when dropping him off. He has quite a few friends he made during preschool in his class, so that was a good thing. His teacher is great and the classroom looked like such a fun place to be. It was fun watching all the other parents with cameras in hand sending their kids off to kindergarten, and yes I was one of them!

When we picked him up, he was still all pumped up with excitement. His teacher sent home a note saying that starting next week, the kids will have homework sent home on Monday and they have until Friday to finish it. I think homework consists of one or two worksheets, but it gets them in the homework mode for the future. And Jack is thrilled to have homework to do. We shall see how long that lasts.

I couldn't get much out of him about what they did today, other than he enjoyed lunch and recess. Typical kid.

So that's it. The big day has come and gone and I survived it with very few tears. I know it has been a long time since I have blogged and for all those people who have mentioned it to me, I apologize. The summer was a bit traumatic in the Jackaroo house. But I am back and will be posting again on a regular basis.

Sickies

Jack is home sick today. He woke up at 4:30 this morning yelling out for me. I first thought that he just had allergies because his eyes are all swollen, red, and watery. But he sneezed some pretty ugly green goop, so I figure there is something else going on. And with all the swine flu histeria going on, I guess taking him to school with green goop is not a good thing, even though the last time I checked, Mississippi was one of the few states with no cases of the swine flu.

So anyway, it looks like a day of Disney channel and whatever. The boy is very into drawing and coloring and writing these days, which I like to encourage. He loves to write an assortment of letters down and make me read them. It is fun trying to sound out the word "UIWMEW".

There has been more drama with Brandi and spent the entire day yesterday dealing with said drama. But that is a whole nother post and I am just too weary to even post about it right now.

Start Early These Days

So yesterday Jack came home from school (preschool K4 for those not playing at home) and told me that his friend Tanner has a girlfriend! This is how the conversation went:

Me: that is nice that he has a friend that is a girl

Jack: no Mom he has a girrrlllfriend. You know.

Me: how do you know this?

Jack: he told me and her name is Kara and she is his girrrlllfffrriiieend.

Me: (slightly freaking out) you don't have a girlfriend do you?

Jack: no! girl pooties (his word for cooties)

So there you have it my son's four-year-old friend has a girlfriend! Now this is the child that is in trouble everyday and had so many spankings in the Principal's office last year that his Mom lost count. He is also the kid that more than one mother requested their child NOT to be in the class with him this year. I am kinda rethinking my decision to give the kid a break and let Jack be in the same class.

He is definitely the class leader and the "bad influence" (at FOUR). Jack's teacher talked to me last week about Jack pushing another K3 child on the playground and then laughing about it. That is all Tanner and his teacher told me as much. Mrs. Nix (Jacks teacher from last year) was on the playground at the same time and said she could not believe that Jack did that and it was the influence from Tanner who told him to do it. Of course, we had a long talk about nice boys and playing nice and if I hear he does that again, he will be in time-out with NO toys for a very long time.

Ugh, who knew that Junior High playground antics started in Preschool! Geesh!

In other news, I seem to have caught some super-bug or something. I was down for the count most of the weekend, even on Jim's birthday on Saturday. We ended up doing nothing for his birthday because I was pretty much comatose that day. The super-bug has now travelled down into my chest and this morning, I do believe I coughed up a lung or two. Fun stuff.

Yeah and I can probably blame the preschool for the super-bug also!

First Day of School

It is that time of year again - School!! Today was Jack's first day back at school in K4. It was funny to see all the parents today with their cameras taking their kids into school. I have been hyping today up for the past few days, but in reality Jack acted like it was just another day at school - no big deal. He has a new teacher this year named Miss Wiest and a new classroom. The school is actually having a new building being built and was supposed to be done before today, but they are now saying by Christmas time. It sure is looking nice and I am looking forward to the new classroom.

When I picked him up today, I asked him what they did and what they talked about and his response was the same as always "we did nothing and talked about nothing". Same old same old.

K4 First Day of School - August 14, 2008

And for a comparison, below is the first day of school last year. It is fun to see the changes as he grows older.

Happy Heart Day

I just finished writing out Jack's valentine cards and filling the goody bags for his friends at school and also at church. So much fun. But when did the valentine cards become so incredibly cheap? I remember back in my day when they actually had an envelope and wasn't a cheap piece of card board paper folded in half. Geesh.

His class party is on Friday and I volunteered to bring cookies (which I am thinking of store buying and cheating) and help out with the decorations and the actual party itself. I love doing these things and hopefully this time I will actually remember to bring my camera and be able to show ya'll some pictures.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So Far So Good

Well so far, all of us in the Jackaroo house have not been sick, which is quite amazing to me. I am usually the very first one in the entire county to get whatever bug that might have floated through the area. So to be in the minority of being healthy is quite shocking. I guess all those vitamin c pills really do work? Also I have been remembering to give Jack his Flintstone vitamins, that I normally forget most of the time.

Today I am watching our neighbor's girl, Allison, because she goes to the same school as Jack. I think they are enjoying their day off and right now are relishing the fact that they can watch Little Einsteins while eating breakfast. Later today, I plan on taking them to the Children's museum here in town. It is always a fun place to go and we have season membership and have not been using it that much.

Oh and for some news in my life, I got a job! Yes that is right, I now will be earning a paycheck of some sort. It is only a part-time bookkeeping job for an environmental lab. They are really cool about my crazy schedule and are totally flexible. It will probably be about 15 - 20 hours a week and I can work in the mornings when Jack is at school or when Jim is home and can watch Jack. It will be a huge help in our monthly budget that never seems to be enough these days. And it gets me back out there working, which is good for me, because I have been feeling that I am pretty rusty in the job skills area. Not to mention, I get to talk to adults!

Worse Than I Thought

The flu bug that shut down Jack's school is worse than I had thought. I was under the impression that the school made the decision to shut down, but I guess it was the state department of health who told them to shut down and clean the place, at least that is what the letter said that came home with Jack today. It sounds like they are having crews go in and basically lysol everything down in the school. Guess it is bad. Again, knocking on wood.

Knocking On Wood

So it seems that the flu has struck around here, and most especially Jack's school. His class only had three kids today, compared to nine, because of the flu. And even Mrs. Nix, his teacher was out sick today. So because I guess like 60% of the kids are out with the flu in the school, they are shutting down the school tomorrow and Friday. And let me tell you, I am knocking on wood and taking my vitamin C's so that the dreaded crud does not invade our house.

Oh and the final post about our Disney trip will be forthcoming when I get some time. Now I have to go pick up my child from the virus, germ, and disease infested school.

Too Close To Home

So just to update ya'll on the arrest made the other day at Jack's school. The story goes like so:

It seems that this kid was supposed to be taking an exam and he was goofing off and was disrespectful. He was sent to the principal's office (the same one that Jack went to a few weeks ago, the place sees a lot of action) and was informed that he was suspened for a day and his grade for that exam is a zero. Well he didn't like hearing he was suspended and proceeded to tell the principal that he was going to come back to the school with guns and "shoot the place up"!!!!! Jack's class is right next door to the principal's office!

So needless to say, they did not take that lightly and the cops were called and hauled away to juvenile detention center. I also understand that his parents did not bail him out that night and he stayed in the Juvie for a night. Now I guess the school is not sure whether to let the kid back in school. From what Jim said, there isn't any public school who will touch him and he will end up going to the "alternative" school where the really bad kids are. But in my opinion, that is where he belongs and I do not want that kid anywhere near the school that my child is in.

It just goes to show you, that nobody is sheltered from that type of behavior. Even the small Christian Academy. A bit too close to home.

Bleh

I have not been feeling myself the last few days. Feeling bleh is a good description. I think Jack's week of sick threw me off kilter and I still have not climbed back to being on kilter. Being financially strapped right now does not help one bit, although we did get some news today that should help in that matter. I am hoping to be back on track by the end of the year - hopefully.

I have been walking at our local school track. I was doing it really faithfully before Jack got sick, but yesterday was the first day back to walking in two weeks. Jim and I did two miles together and then this morning I did another 3.5 miles. I do feel better with that.

I am also down to one day a week taking care of Baby Andrew. I told his parents that I just couldn't do the three days a week they were doing earlier. It was killing me. So now the one day a week is much more doable. In fact, he is here today and is napping very nicely.

We had a big and busy weekend. We went to the Spookfest that was held on the Navy base. Our neighbor told us about it and we decided to go. Jack was dressed in his batman costume and it was pretty fun. They had a haunted trail, but the first part was not really that scary (but freaked Jack out enough) and had the option to not do the second really scary part. We opted out of the really scary part. There were about a million kids there running around everywhere.

Another big highlight for me is Jack's first field trip ever! His class is going to the pumpkin patch/corn maze and I am chaperoning! It should be fun and how is it my baby is big enough to be going on field trips? Sigh.

It Should Not Be So Hard!

I never knew that preschool could be so hard. I am really torn up about Jack's preschool issues. You see, we went to the "get acquainted day" and I went in there with a wide open mind about his teacher. I really wanted to give her a chance and boy did she fail miserably. First off, this woman has been to our home only two weeks ago and met me, Jim and Jack. You would think that she would kind of remember who we were when we walked in. But she did not know us and had to ask Jack his name again and then me. So strike one within 30 seconds.

The other strikes came when the teacher just stood off in the corner and did not interact at all with the kids. I mean not once did she go up to them and want to play with them or show the room or anything! She just stood there. And she didn't even talk to us parents unless somebody walked up to her to ask her a question.

The final blow was when I found out that one little boy named Kamden from his class last year was not coming back like I had thought, mainly because of the teacher. And two other little boys, were being dropped also, again because of the teacher. So that meant that Jack would of been in a room with 6 girls and one other boy who was moving away in November. Now, that just don't cut it for me. Jack is all boy and he needs boys to play with. When I brought this observation up with the director, all she told me is "Jack will make friends with the girls", meaning she was not going to change the classes around. But he wasn't making friends that day because he was sitting in the corner by himself and none of the girls would play with him. My very social child was relegated to the corner by himself.

So with all those strikes, we have made a decision to pull Jack out of that school. And believe me it is tearing me up inside. If he had gotten the good teacher with his two good friends Kyle and Seth, I would have been one happy mother, but I am not going to keep him in a school with a teacher who should not be teaching three-year-olds and where he has no friends! I know this is tearing me up more than it should, but I guess it is because I was really looking forward to this school year with the other mothers who are now really great friends and the great teacher I so wanted him to have. But it all blew up and now he isn't even going to that school now.

So Jim and I went and checked out a Christian academy that starts out with PK-3 and can go through high school if we wanted to keep him there. It is more money, but I do feel he will be getting an actual education versus three hours of playing, they are a bit strict, but I think that is good, and they wear uniforms. The uniforms are just polo shirts with either khaki or blue pants. I feel bad because I know Jack is going to miss his old school and his old friends, but I do think he will flourish at the new school, or I hope so. The school for the Pre-K is half day everyday, but as they told me, if I am not ready for the full five days a week, I don't have to take him everyday, but I do have to pay the full money of course :).

I honestly did not know that it would be so hard and that the decision to put him in the new school would upset me so much. Argh! This parenting thing is hard with all these hard decisions. Geesh. Oh and I caught the crud that Jack had for a few days. My sinsuses are about to explode with the pressure and basically feel like total crud right now. Fun times!

Met The Teacher and Other Fun Times

Jack's new teacher, Miss Brianna, came to the house yesterday for the "home visit". She was exactly as I expected, she did not raise my expectations any further. She was cool and reserved, but also friendly. I do think a lot of her problem is that she is shy and doesn't know how to express herself very well. So we are going to give her a chance.

She brought Jack the new t-shirt that he is to wear on Thursdays to chapel, which he thought was really neat. She also brought him a small bible that he also is supposed to take to chapel every week. And the boy absolutely LOVES it. He loves his bible so much, that he had to take it to bed with him last night and fall asleep with it. I asked him whose book is the bible and he answered me "Jesus's book". So I think he understands.

So I am entirely stoked about the upcoming school year and can't wait for it to finally get here. He starts back on September 4th and I already have all the important dates written on the calendar.

In other news, it seems that broken down refrigerator is really completely dead. The freezer side is not working either and while it is still freezing in there, the temp keeps going up daily. And of course, we have to wait until Monday before the repair guy can get here from the land of "no real people" at the GE service center. I have been using my neighbor's refrigerator to keep our milk because they are away on vacation and I have a key to their house to look after things.

The fun times just keep coming here at the Jackaroo house!

School Issues ... Already

I found out yesterday that Jack did not get the teacher that I wanted at his preschool. There are two teachers for the 3-year-old class and one of them is absolutely phenomenal. Miss Jackie is the perfect preschool teacher who is bubbly and energetic and oh-so nice. She and I formed a friendship last year when I would help out with the parties and other things. I absolutely heart her. And I was not shy in letting everybody know, including the director of the preschool, that I wanted Jack in Miss Jackie's class. In fact that is really the one reason why I signed him up to go to this school again this fall, and not try to find a school closer to home. As it is, I do drive 20 miles to this school.

But, alas, Jack got into Miss Brianna's class. Miss Brianna is about as opposite of Miss Jackie as you can get. I have spoken with her a couple of times and there is no energy, no enthusiasm, no life. She is the equivalent of a wet noodle, so to speak. In fact, one of the other mother's said to me that if her son got her this year, she was going to pull him out of that school. But she doesn't have to worry, because she got Miss Jackie. Supposedly, they put the older threes with Miss Jackie and the younger threes with Miss Brianna, with February being the cut off. Jack got shafted being born 5 days into March. I even called Kelsey, Jack's awesome teacher from last year to see what she had to say about Miss Brianna, but she really couldn't say anything. But she told me that I was not the only one who was concerned and she understands my feelings.

So now I am really wondering about the whole thing. Is she really as bad as all that? Will Jack still thrive in her class? His two best friends are going to be in the other classroom, how will he take that? Should I look around at the preschools closer to home? I love the christian-based curriculum they have, but I know there are two other preschools near here that are run by churches.

Miss Brianna is coming tomorrow for the home visit that all teachers do before the school year starts. I am going to see how she is and how Jack reacts to her before I make up my mind. I may just go visit the other preschools today and maybe get on their waiting list, just in case.

Argh, I did not think that school issues would come at the age of three! But I guess they do.

Jack's Preschool

I enrolled Jack into preschool yesterday. It is such a nice preschool with an actual curriculum and his teacher is so nice. It was really quite funny because the director of the school told me that sometimes 2-year-olds just are not ready for preschool and if he had a lot of problems with crying all the time, they would have to remove him because it is just too disruptive to the teacher and other kids. I told her that it would not be a problem with Jack, in fact, when we went into his classroom to meet the teacher, Jack took off to the other side of the room without even a backwards glance to me and started playing with another little boy. I turned to her and said "see he doesn't even care if I am here or not."

I am so impressed with this school. They have a new curriculum every week with topics like sharing, family, and self-esteem and it is all christian based ideals, which I think is very important for kids. They also have music class every Wednesday for 30 minutes where they get to learn how to play different instruments and sing songs. They also asked me to pack an old shirt for painting everyday because they have art classes where according to the teacher, it gets very messy. His teacher is really amazing, because if I had 7 two-year-olds to contend with for 3 hours a day, I would be running out of the building shriekding, but she seemed so calm and really seemed to treat each child with respect and listened to each one of them. My hats off to her.

And I am already looking forward to the little Thanksgiving and Christmas programs they put on for the parents. I am already stocking up on kleenex for the occasions.

Starting Monday, he will go two times a week on Mondays and Wednesdays for 3 hours. Yahoo! Next fall when he is in the three year old class, he will go three times a week. They add a day every year until they get to kindergarten where it is five days a week. I am thinking we will be keeping him in this school all the way through kindergarten.

And Jack's reaction to the whole thing? As we were walking out of the school, I said "I like your school." And he said "me too. I go to school!!!" He is just a bit excited to say the least. And me too. Six hours a week to myself!