Picture this: The graduate

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Bubby "graduates" from pre-K tomorrow, with plans to sing at the event and even bigger plans to attend kindergarten in the fall.

preschool photo
Bubby's pre-K school picture

My biggest question about the whole affair: How in the world can he already be that old?

Today's question:

Who are the graduates in your family this graduation season?

Off to school and home again

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This past week was a big one for Megan, Bubby, and Mac.

First off, Megan and Bubby headed off to school for the new school year. I have no photos of Megan's first day of class—adult children are goofy that way, not sharing first-day photos with their mothers. I do, though, have pictures of Bubby's first day of Pre-K and with his new teacher, stolen borrowed from Megan's Facebook page:  

The smile's a pretty darn good sign things are off to a good start.

That's the "off to school" portion of this post.

The "home again" part? Well, that belongs to Mac. Mac who really did not like going to daycare. Mac who, apparently for most of his time at daycare, looked much like he did when he'd had enough of riding in his carseat on their recent California visit:

And much like he looks when he's just plain had enough of anything and everything:

During his first week at daycare, Mac didn't act happy and Mac didn't look happy. He had given  daycare a try, but he'd had enough. And he had no qualms about letting one and all know things just weren't working for him.

Megan searched high and low for a solution to Mac's daily unhappiness. She checked out other childcare centers, she interviewed several home-based care providers. None felt right.

Then she considered nannies. A nanny for Mac did feel right. Especially when the nanny would be Aunt Katie—Preston's aunt and Mac and Bubby's great aunt. A great aunt not only by virtue of her place on the family tree, but great because she does awesome stuff like this:

That's Bubby flying high on the trampoline, thanks to a boost from Aunt Katie.

So Mac is back home again instead of at a daycare center. And happy. With Aunt Katie playing the role of nanny.

Aunt Katie's first day on the job, Mac didn't cry when Daddy left for work. He didn't cry when Mommy left for work, either. He did cry, though, when Aunt Katie left to go home at the end of the day.

That's a good sign, Megan says. A very good sign.

School bells have officially rung. After a wee bit of tweaking and making the best of the challenges, so far, so good—for the back-to-working-mommy Megan, the Pre-K Bubby, and especially for the happily home again Mac.

Today's question:

How smoothly has the summer-to-school-time transition gone for you and yours?

Losing one's cool

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Megan attended parent-teacher conferences last week, learning all about how Bubby is doing in his three-year-old preschool class. As the teacher went through Bubby's progress report, she pointed out that one of the areas in which Bubby and his classmates are working hard is "problem solving."

The teacher proceeded to tell Megan that she's focusing intently on problem solving with the entire class, teaching them techniques for diffusing situations in which it's easy to lose one's cool. Stepping back and counting to 10 before reacting is one of the many techniques she's stressing with the youngsters.

The other day Megan called me to say that Bubby was in the throes of a "meltdown." Contrary to his ever-cool presence in photos I post on this blog, Bubby does indeed lose that cool occasionally and suffer true meltdowns. As all three-year-olds do. Often. Which is likely why problem solving is a big part of the curriculum in the three-year-old class.

The meltdown was not news and not the reason Megan was calling. Bubby's handling of the meltdown was the news.

Megan reported that she and Bubby had been disagreeing about something or another, when Bubby started acting like, well, a three-year-old. So she sent him upstairs to his room to calm down until he could act more appropriately and make better choices that didn't lead to his irrational behavior. (She likely used more child-friendly terminology, but that's the gist of it.)

Bubby angrily huffed up to his room. Just before Megan called, she said, she couldn't help but laugh out loud at Bubby's reaction to being sent to his room. "I actually LOLed, Mom," she said. Because once Bubby was in his room, Megan could hear him ranting and raving. Then he'd quiet down and all she'd hear is him counting. "1...2...3...". Then he'd YELL again, quickly followed by a return to the counting once more. "1...2...3...".

At the time of the phone call, Bubby still hadn't reached 10, still hadn't resolved his issues, still hadn't solved his problem.

But he was trying. And proving that even at three years old, stepping back and counting before flying off the handle does indeed make a difference.

(Even if that difference is simply instigating actual LOLing from Mommy.)

Today's question:

What problem-solving technique do you use to keep your cool when angry?

The Saturday Post: Baby Girl edition

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Graduation season is nearly over. We have our last graduation party to attend tomorrow, for several nieces and nephews. With so many kiddos celebrating their commencements, the graduations of my own daughters have been heavy on my mind, as has one particular song.

When Megan and Andrea were away at college — they went to the same university — they joked about the following song being their song to Jim and me. Andrea, who used to make me CDs of new music she thought I'd enjoy, added it to one of the CDs despite my typical aversion to country music. I did end up loving it, mostly because it always made me think — and still does — of my baby girls. (Although I'm no dummy: I know the "playing here at the bar tonight" line had a completely different meaning for Megan and Andie than what the lyrics intended.)

Oh, and in case you're wondering — or in case my baby girls are reading — I'm still waiting on that letter announcing they'll send us money now that they're "so rich that it ain't funny." Just sayin'...

Today's question:

What genre of music do you listen to most often?

The Saturday Post: Yo-Yo/Jonze/Buck edition

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Spike Jonze is a talented director with an interesting vision. I enjoy his videos (Weapon of Choice, in particular) and movies (Being John Malkovich) but I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan.

Yo-Yo Ma is an amazingly gifted cellist, but I've never sought out his music, so clearly not a huge fan there, either.

And Lil Buck? Well, I never even heard of the guy before.

That said, after seeing this mesmerizing collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck on "The Dying Swan" in support of art in inner-city schools — presented to the online world by Spike Jonze — I can honestly say I'm now a fan of all three.

Modern. Art.

Today's question:

What do you remember of school art offerings when you were a student?

If I were handing out the grades

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As some of you may recall, I made a Grandma Mail mailbox for Bubby a few months ago. Since then, I've done my best to get one or two pieces of mail off to him each week so he'll have special mail from Gramma to pull from his box. Sometimes it's a Thomas the Tank card, sometimes a page with a sticker activity, sometimes just some stickers solo.

The mail to Bubby, although nothing major, serves as a regular reminder that Gramma loves him, is thinking about him.

From what I hear from Megan, the little love notes from Gramma have had an impact.

Bubby recently completed his school assessment, which for toddlers means he correctly identified colors, he counted to 10, he said his ABCs, he built a tower, and he recognized body parts.

My smart little grandson not only did all those things with flying colors, he also identified shapes. And he got all the shapes correct. Except one.

Out of all the assessment items, there was one little shape Bubby misidentified. And I must admit here that Gramma's partially to blame for the error.

When the teacher pointed to the circle, Bubby said it's a circle. When she pointed to the square, he said "square." And when she pointed to the triangle, the oh-so-smart boy said, "triangle." But when the teacher pointed to the rectangle and asked Bubby what it is, Bubby proudly identified the shape as none other than ... "mail!"

Not necessarily the impact I anticipated my Grandma Mail would have on Bubby, but a heartwarming one just the same. And if you ask me, definitely worth an extra point or two for thinking outside the box. Or the rectangle, as the case may be.

Today's question:

I'm handing out virtual A's for effort today. For what recent effort do you deserve an A?