Back to School 2012

The kids are back in school and, miraculously, they are getting along SO much better now!  By the end of August Tess and Miles had had enough time together and boy, was it ever apparent in the way they were treating each other.  Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder because they are playing much more nicely now.  Thank goodness!

Tess is in Mrs. Pippin's 2nd Grade at Freedom Elementary.  So far she says that she likes her teacher, and she LOVES not having the big 1st Grade Homework Packets that she had last year.  The only homework she ever has is reading aloud 20 minutes a night.  She is getting to be a really good reader and she gets more confident every day!  I have also started teaching Tess piano lessons.  I was pretty nervous to teach her myself because we tend to, ahem, butt heads from time to time.  We're both stubborn and we both like to be right, so we argue a lot more than we should (I'm certainly guilty too.)  But Bryan & I thought that it was such a waste of 50+ bucks per month to pay someone when I am capable of teaching her, so I decided that I'd give it a go.  On the suggestion of a friend, I've been making a bit of a game about being someone else other than "Mom" during lessons.  I go out through the garage and come and knock on the front door with my bag of piano prizes/rewards, and when Tess first answered I made a big show of introducing myself as Mrs. Terry and I'm the new piano teacher and I'm so pleased to meet her, etc.  I asked her to show me where the piano was, and asked her about herself, completely pretending to not know her at all.  Then, when each lesson is over I leave through the front door and sneak back in through the garage and ask her how the lesson went.  It's pretty silly, and obviously Tess knows that it's me, but it's kind of fun and she seems to like "Mrs. Terry."  (Miles gets a bang out of it too.  He almost seems to believe it!  He asked Tess the other day where Mrs. Terry lives, and when Tess said "it's just Mom!," Miles said "nuh-uh!  It's Mrs. Terry!"  ha, ha!)

 Here's Miles on his first day at Royal Tots Preschool.  It's a preschool at Roy High School, with a head teacher (certified teacher) but she also has several high school girls who take the class for credit, but who also end up taking turns helping to plan and run the preschool.  It's similar to the Child Development Lab that I taught in at USU.  I was very excited about it and thought that Miles would love it.

 But.....then my friend and neighbor mentioned that there was a spot open in the preschool that her son goes to.  Her son, Gabe, is Miles's very best buddy.  They play together nearly every day and they just love each other so much.  Plus, this preschool is much closer (about a 5 minute drive compared to about a 15-20 minute drive to Roy High, depending if I get stopped by a train on the way) and I can carpool with Gabe's mom.  So, I asked Miles if he wanted to switch and he said yes.  He only went to Royal Tots for one day; I feel like a bit of a flake, but, oh well!  Here he is with Gabe on his first day at the new preschool, Wisebird Preschool.  He has loved it there so far and I've been very impressed with his teacher, "Teacher Julie."