Happy birthday Peter!

Besides celebrating Max's first day of preschool, we also celebrated Peter's 34th birthday!

Max helped Daddy get the presents out of the bag

Maxwell read the card that he picked out for his dad

There's an "m" and "a" and an "x" on the left side of the card, not all together but if you look hard you can find them (don't look for perfectly formed letters.  Hint - they are on the right side of that side with the X towards the top, M in the middle, and A on the bottom.

Peter got new torch lighters for lighting candles on a cake, some mini m&ms, headphones for when he's running, a grill brush, and some flip flops.

Peter and his kids 

A little love for sister

Smiles all around.  What a cute family!

Oh look, I was there too

Max enjoying the birthday cake before he had to go to bed

Emmalyn was posed and ready to attack the cake if she got a chance

Typical Peter not going to give me a nice picture

Overdoing the smile since I complained

Finally, a nice normal picture

Happy birthday Peter!

Maxwell's first day of preschool

Maxwell started school on Monday August 25 (also Peter's birthday!).  We have signed him up for preschool from 8:30 - 3:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday normally.  However, we worked with the school director to get permission for him switch and to go on Monday instead of Thursday for this first week.  I figured I didn't want him to miss the "first day of school" by having his first day be Tuesday.  Most of the rest of the children would have had their first day on Monday and so there wouldn't be the same celebration/specialness for him if his first day was on Tuesday.  

We were able to pick exactly which days we wanted him to go to school regularly and we picked Tu, W, and Th so that he could be in the routine of going to school without having to skip days (like going M, W, F) and plus most holidays or days off are on M/F and so this would limit the number of days he'd miss and also give us flexibility to take long weekends for vacations or something like that.  

We chose to have him go all day instead of half days because it was recommended by the school.  If he only went half days, since he is in a regular classroom with kids ages 3 - 5, he would miss part of the curriculum for the day.  I figure it's okay for a 3 year to go for that long, especially since part of the day is a mandatory nap time.  Next year we'll have him go full days every day.

Peter and I both took today off work so that we could drop him off at school together and pick him up.  Normally one of us will drop him off (mostly me) and then Brittany will pick him up after she picks up Hayden from Elementary school.

Maxwell's first school lunch

Sliced deli turkey, pretzel chips, string cheese, strawberries, and cucumbers

(I am planning on always packing a lunch.  I'm not interested in spending 3.00/day for him to have lunch provided by the school caterers!)

My handsome boy in his uniform, all ready to go!

Walking into school

Peter is holding the house plant we had to bring (still not sure why).  Boy, was it a hassle finding a houseplant to take that wasn't poisonous, per their instructions.

Maxwell's cubby in Miss Cynthia's room with 2 changes of clothes, and his hook with his nap mat bag and backpack

He walked over and sort of sat by the rug.  (he's the boy without the book)

After we left the classroom, we stayed in the lobby watching the cameras for a LONG time.  I didn't want to stop watching.  (He's sitting with his legs out in front of him in the above picture.)  Poor Peter was ready for us to go but he was kind and let me stay as long as I wanted.  I think I watched for about 30 minutes.  I seriously would have watched all day if I wouldn't have looked crazy.

Since we weren't working, we did some shopping and went to see a movie.  It was fun to hang out together and a good way to celebrate Peter's birthday too.  I had a hard time relaxing though and just kept thinking about Maxwell and hoping he was okay, happy, and having fun.  I tried to get Peter to let us go back halfway through the day and watch Maxwell via the cameras again but he wouldn't go for it.

Even though we were having fun hanging out together, the day dragged on for me.  I just wanted it to be 3:30 so we could go pick Max up and ask him about his first day!

Finally it was time to pick him up!  We got there a little early so I could watch Max on the cameras before we went into his classroom to get him (I know, I'm crazy).  He was so happy to see us.

To celebrate his first day, we went to get snow cones after school.  We let him pick his flavor - he picked "purple".

We quizzed him about his first day.  It was hard to get much out of him!  He said he did puzzles, numbers, and matching.  They had a snack pretzels and carrots.  He doesn't like carrots and said that they were yucky and that he didn't dip them in ranch.  He said he didn't take a nap because he was scared.  And that's about all we got.  He seemed to have liked it.

That night after we did presents, we went back out again to the grocery store to pick up a cake for Peter's birthday.

He started zoning out on the way home...

...then the yawns started

...and his head and eyes started drooping...

...and he's out!

He was fast asleep by the time we got home at around 6:30

He had a long, busy day and pair that with no nap and this sweet boy was exhausted from his first day at school.

The end of freedom...for decades!

This was it.  Our last weekend before Maxwell started preschool.  Once this weekend was over, we would be on the school path and that path wouldn't end for over 20 years.  Did you hear that - - OVER 20 YEARS!?  In a few days we will now have to plan our lives around school.  We won't be able to take a vacation at any time during the year with thought only to missing work.  While I'm excited for Maxwell to have the new experience and be challenged and learn more, it stinks to have to think about "school" already.  :(

Good morning sunshine!

We went to Sonic to use up a coupon he got in the city's summer reading program - Ice Cream Cone! 

Peter is now playing paintball with a bunch of men once a month.  They take it pretty seriously.  This stuff didn't happen back in Utah.  

Kisses from daddy

Serious face

Kisses for daddy

Huh, momma?

Sweet girl is starting to feel better after being congested and having her ears other her.

Maxwell hanging out in his Maxwell sized chair.

Silly daddy

Getting some good sleep the night before school.

My heart broke when I put him down.  I just wanted to hold him and cuddle forever.  I'm not ready to start taking steps like him going to school.  That makes him seem so old.  He's not that old, right?  I snuck back into his room a few hours later to just touch his face (and cry) and wish all the good things I possibly could on my sweet boy.  I'm such a lucky Momma and am so grateful I get to have Maxwell in my life.

Maxwell 3 year old photo shoot

Took some pictures with Maxwell...similar to when he turned one.  My lawn doesn't look as nice as it did back then (stinking water restrictions) and the day was super sunny (stinking shadows).  Oh well.

Maxwell is going to preschool

We did it.  We signed Maxwell up for preschool at a Montessori School.  I really like that he will be with kids aged 3-5 and that he will be able to learn at his own pace and be challenged regardless of what place the other kids are in.  It's been a stressful decision because he is just barely 3.  If he was older, I think I would have stressed a little less.  Plus I stressed over whether to put him in a traditional preschool class or pay the extra tuition for the Montessori.  I think we've made a good choice but as Peter reminds me, we can change our minds at any time.

So we went to the information night with the teacher.  Maxwell did pretty good sitting quietly the whole time but he didn't like when another boy got close to him.  Oh boy, that made me worried about how he'd do in the class.

So I asked all my questions and was okay until I asked about pull-ups during nap time and his teacher said they wouldn't put him in pull ups during nap time. The expectation was that he was potty trained.  I said he was but not at nap time.  I quickly got that there was no arguing this point.  So then I asked if the teachers would wipe him after he poops and again she said that the expectation was that they were potty trained.  And that it may mean that he might come home with little bits of poop on his underwear sometimes.  I was stunned.  So what I walked away with was that they were completely unwilling to help with anything having to do with the potty.  My son needed to do everything on his own. 

Well, crap.  (haha! get it?!)

Maxwell doesn't always stay dry during his naps and we've always wiped him after he poops.  How in the world was I going to teach my barely 3 year old #1 - how much toilet paper to use #2 - which way to wipe #3 - to keep wiping until he's clean etc?!  And in a few days?  (Today was Friday and he was starting on Monday.) Any one of these topics could take many days for him to get and now he's got to get it before Monday?  And he usually poops once a day so that meant I was going to get one shot on Saturday to teach him and one shot on Sunday to solidify it.  That was it.

Seriously, I was stunned.  This wasn't what I was told when I asked on the phone if he could wear pull ups during nap time.  

I almost changed my mind about starting preschool but decided we'd do the best we can and then hope the teacher would be compassionate and help out a little.  They can't expect a BOY who turned 3 a week ago to have this all down.  (Even his pediatrician said it's normal for 3-5 year olds to struggle to stay dry when sleeping).

Maxwell in his classroom

Okay, let's go home.  We've got work to do!

Other things we worked on that weekend...

Using his nap mat

Putting on his backpack

So cute right?  I searched FOREVER for a backpack I didn't hate, let alone liked.

My new life - labeling everything he takes to school.