Monday we went to the 'Playschool' where a couple of Jacob's little friends go. It's a parent-run co-op, so there's a pretty good chance that there's going to be some major aspect of their philosophy which I agree with, I'm hoping to meet some other homeschoolers, and I really like the idea that I get to be there the whole time. Jacob likes that part too. It's not really an option these days to leave him anywhere. He's been really clingy at gymnastics, making me stay right there on the floor in his line of vision even though he knows I'm not going to leave him there. It's weird, I had a dream just before we started back up with gymnastics that I had left Jacob there - I went to do errands and didn't make it back in time for the end of the class (still the dream). It's like I was dreaming out his worst nightmare. Even at bedtime Jacob's been real clingy. He just wants someone to fall asleep with. I really don't think that's too much to ask for a three year old so we try to indulge him as much as we can. I'm pretty confident that this is what we need to be doing for him to boost him confidence for eventual independence. I think forcing him to adjust the hard way will only make this phase worse.
But I digress, as I tend to do. So we went to playschool and Jacob had a great time. We did some activities based on the letter B and the number 2. At the end of it Jacob told me, "Mommy, I had a lot of fun here, but I don't want to come back." How honest. I've been frustrated with that comment up until now, seeing it in writing. How perfect. He expressed himself better than a lot of grown people can. How can I not respect that?
We're still going back at some point though ;-)
Last week when I was mowing the lawn I collected some things that I thought Jacob would find interesting. We made a little lesson out of it - rather, I was going to make a nice little lesson out of it, but then the stuff just ended up sitting there for several days, rotting. I got a big weed with huge roots, oak branches with leave and acorns on them, and a couple different kinds of mushrooms. I pulled out three each of the different kinds of mushrooms (and I was going to look them up to identify them). The big idea was that there was one to break apart and examine, one to observe the decomposition process of, and one to try to plan or whatever it is you'd do with a mushroom to get it to grown - set it in dirt? Well, half a week later the treasures were beginning to get stinky in their little basket, so we pulled them out and talked about them a little as they made their way to the compost bin. At least we got to see the cool spores the mushrooms had dropped. I'd forgotten about that, and now I remember that we did that as an actual science project back in middle school or something.
At some point during the week we knocked off at least half a dozen postcards to friends. We've got so many random postcards laying around that need to be used up, so having Jacob dictate what he wants to say to his friends is a perfect little activity. He loves doing this, and admittedly the messages are sometimes a little weird, but I think it's something that will motivate him to learn to read and write so he can do them on his own someday - not that a child needs motivation for that because they are so naturally motivated anyway. I always save room for Jacob so he can write his name, or what of his name he can write.
Other than that it was mostly backyard week and friend week. With all of Jacob's friends starting pre-school this year I've been feeling the pressure to prove we'll still be able to maintain a great social network, so I had his week packed with friends. And what do you know, for the first time in his life, Jacob was totally into having friends over, going places to meet his friends, playing with them and not hiding in a corner. Even the 'friend' who is actually more like 'sworn enemy' to Jacob was allowed over to our house
for more than three hours, welcomed into the backyard and even encouraged to dig in Jacob's beloved Dirt with him! DO-do-DO-do... Here he is showing her a little Wooly Bear. He did scream the first time he almost touched it, but I have to give him credit for getting back there in the ring and actually picking it up.
And here's some of the sacred backyard work Jacob does with Zach. He's really starting to earn his keep in usefulness as Assistant Laborer around here. Here they are mixing up some cement for the fence post, and below that the boys are unloading some stone from the truck (not our truck 0 in Zach's dreams). Looks like Zach might just get his wish of a father/son landscaping business...
We've also been going to Playschool, a parent-run co-op preschool. After a couple months of trying to work it into our schedule, I've settled on taking him there once a week. And we would have been going for the entire month of December but it got cancelled three Mondays in a row due to heavy snow falls and ice storms. We'll start January with a new commitment to it though.
