Preschool days

Brady is loving preschool! I'm so glad. It has been really interesting to watch him and listen to him talk about it...although it usually takes me awhile to get him to talk about his day. He is definitely boy!

It takes us about 10 minutes to drive to "his" school...and on the way I try to reinforce the idea of him being the best "obeyer" at school. :) And I try to talk up the things he might get to do so he starts to get excited, and hopefully not clingy! So far it is working. Luke has fallen asleep on the way several times which works out nicely. I take Brady into his class, he finds his name on his cubby (he can recognize it now!) and hangs up his stuff. Then I get a kiss and hug (yeah! In front of everyone too! :) and he heads off to find out what they are doing first. Piece of cake! When I pick him up, (if he is done) he runs over to me and I get a big hug...and sometimes an added, "I love you mom!" If he isn't quite finished yet, he usually stays put and smiles and waves. What a sweetie :)

I had a chance to observe him in action last week...I pulled up about 5 minutes early and the class was walking across the park back to the classroom. I sat and watched...I am SOOOO curious about what he does when I'm not there...I SO wish I could be a fly on the wall! So the kids were walking in a somewhat single file line in between the two teachers. Brady, however, was somewhere in the middle of the line...I noticed because that is where the line fell apart! He and a little girl were running around, messing around...generally not behaving. I watched and wondered who that little girl was that was making my son misbehave (haha). After preschool I told Brady I saw him disobeying. His eyes got real big and he said, "You saw me from way over there?!" We talked a little about respecting his teacher and obeying, but it didn't go over well. He was very frustrated and finally said, "But Mom! I wanted to be by that girl! She is nice."

Oh heaven help me! Not already!!!!! :) I smiled at him, and let the matter drop...deciding to figure out my best attack and wait for a non-conflict moment to finish the conversation (per our Growing Kids God's Way class :).

So, the next day, before preschool, we talked again. I explained that he could obey his teacher and help his friend obey too...suggesting that if he wanted to be by her, he could ask her to walk in line by him...solving both issues. We also talked about the "why" of it...I explained that Jesus wants us to respect authority. Of course he had no clue what "authority" meant...but I explained it was an adult, such as mommy or daddy, or his teacher. So Brady can respect his teacher by obeying, and help his friend by showing her how to obey too. Brady really got excited about this now...He is soooo much into asking "why" that when we do really explain things so he understands, he really is satisfied. I also told him he needed to respect his friend and his teacher by asking their names and remembering them.

Okay, so off to preschool for another day. I was anxious to hear the report at the end of the day. I was so glad to hear that Brady followed through! He informed me of his friend's name, his teacher's name, and that nobody disobeyed that day and he showed respect. Whew! I know that won't be the case everyday, but I'm so glad the lesson sunk in!

A few other things about Brady...it is hard for him to remember what he did during the day and actually articulate that back to me. So we play a little game. Instead of drilling him on every last minute of his day (like I want to do!), I ask him what his favorite thing was, and what was the thing that he didn't like to do during the day. (We try to do this with each of us, so we all play) Somehow putting it in game form helps him remember and I get a few precious details! Yesterday his favorite thing (and he even said it was better than the playground!) was holding the door for everyone when they went outside, and helping his teacher stack the chairs! I was so proud...my sweet little helper...if only that were the same at home! :) I could tell he was proud to have some responsibility...which got me thinking I might try some of the same concepts at home.