First Week of Preschool!: September 2, 2014

Guess what!

 

Devon started preschool this week!  Oh yes!  This is not the face of a little boy that shies from change.  This is the face of a little boy that is over the moon to take a special outing with Mommy to Target to pick out a school backpack.

We talk about the important stuff over his favorite one-on-one lunch, Panera.  I eat my soup and salad and he eats his bagel and special cookie, along with about three pats of straight butter that he's supposed to be spreading on his lunch.

Devon: Mommy, why are the Philistines so bad?

Mommy: Well, they didn't listen to God and do what he says.

Devon: And God was angry with them!

Mommy: Yes, Devon.

Devon: And I am angry with them, too!

Mommy: Yes, Devon, but that's not the most important thing.  The most important thing is that the Philistines didn't have Jesus.  God sent Jesus to us because we knew that we get angry and we would need someone special to work in our hearts and help us not to be angry.  God knows that we get angry with people who do bad things, like the Philistines, but he wants us to have love in our hearts instead of anger.  

Devon: Is Spiderman a good guy or a bad guy?

Devon: Well....

Target is easy.  Cars movie with a matching lunchbox.  Hands down the happiest face in the back-to-school aisle, and we picked a day when everybody and their Mommy came to get their school supplies.

This was Devon's last back to school picture!  I always like to say he attended the 2009-2010 school year with me at LCA in Lexington.  Whether he was visibly sticking his foot out the front of my stomach during reading group or making my students worry that I'd go into labor and they'd have to draw straws to deliver him, he was such a presence that marked my last year of classroom teaching.  And he seemed to love school.

Want to know something weeeeeeirrrd?  Devon's attending Landenberg Christian Academy this year.  We officially are getting the full tri-state area experience, as we live in Maryland, Craig works in Delaware, and our church and Devon's school are in Pennsylvania.  It's initials feature prominently in their web address, just like Lexington Christian Academy's did.  I fully remember accidentally stumbling onto their website a few times years ago when I was trying to get online to look up school stuff.  

We are so excited about his school.  I'm blessed that it's only fourteen minutes away and can take him every day.  It's a small, small school and I've never seen a group that is more intentional about making kids feel safe, loved, and happy.  Most of all, I'm so grateful that we can send Devon somewhere that supports and reinforces the Christian values we are trying to teach him at home and can preach the gospel to my child even when we are not around.

Praying friends and family, here are my hopes for Devon's learning this year:

1.  Personal growth.  Call his personality what you want: choleric, strong-willed, spirited, type-A, leader oriented, classic oldest child.  Devon delights in being in charge, calling the shots, and getting the job done.  It's a great way to be: the temperament of statesmen.  Great ones.  Mighty men who do things that need to be done, often ending up rich, famous, and very successful as well.

It's also a tough way to be when you're four.  You delight in control and yet you have very little.  You see no good reason to do things the way other people are constantly telling you to do them.  In fact, you tell them over and over the way they should be done and nobody listens!  It's very frustrating to have the desire to lead and yet not be ready.  A politician waiting to be handed a country, so to speak.  This can also mean that you struggle with respecting and protecting the feelings of others when being kind would conflict with your agenda. 

Please pray for my son's heart, that he would grow in obedience and kindness.  Not because we want him to be well behaved, but rather that we want love and not evil to take root firmly in his life and become a source of joy to him.  We want him to learn the delight of keeping God's rules because they make our lives better and help us learn the way the world works.  We want him to cherish and understand the lives of others more than his own plans.  Also pray that when he messes up he will understand that we all mess up and are incapable of keeping the law of God on our own.  May that realization introduce him to the gospel and the most important relationship he could ever have: Jesus.

2. Positive peer interactions.  We are so glad that Devon is friendly and outgoing and seems to have no trouble making friends.  Being new and isolated has not been easy for him these past few months.  We talk at breakfast about wearing our friendly faces so that people will want to approach us and play.  Devon's intensity can cause him to be aggressively nice, and then easily concerned when a friend is shy or hangs back.  'Hi, we're friends now, let's get some playing done!' he says, not understanding that others may be shy and need encouragement and personal space. 

I think more interaction with peers will be so good for him.  It's hard to be the not-twin in the family.  At preschool he is in good company in this respect, because in a class of fourteen two more kids have twin siblings and there is one set of boy twins in his class.  I'm excited to see him make friends and spend time with other kids, especially other boys!

3.  Accountability for his actions.  The pace of life with three under five is still pretty hectic.  What's more, the house has to be obsessively neat and organized so I don't waste time looking for things or cleaning up "collateral damage" messes from things that should've been put away.  What this has occasionally meant is that I've been focused on doing things quickly--out of necessity-- and missed some teachable moments.  

I work them in whenever I can.  Last week, Devon dumped his milk at dinner just because it was funny.  After dinner, he scrubbed the picnic table with a soap and a brush for a solid half hour.  I am so glad that he will be accountable at school for his behavior, and at home we can continue with his training in this area.

4.  Exercise.  I've never been around a child who needed to move his body more.  Optimal sleep after a minimum of four hours a day of hard physical activity.  I'm so glad he can run around and be active with other kids.

5. Motor skills.  A kindergarten teacher friend observed that Devon's as ambidextrous as they come.  He writes, eats, and cuts easily with both hands.  He clearly prefers his left hand, though, and I've held back on letter formation because I so badly want him to learn the correct way to hold a pencil.  Truth is, I'm feeling a little out of my depth.  I'm so glad to have the support of teachers who have done this lots of times before and can help him get off to a good start.

6.  Safety.  Devon is working on understanding the limitations of the physical world, the "why" behind "don't swing off the monkey bars into the path of that swing".  It's really amazing that we've had no ER visits for serious injuries with this one.  He's just recovered from his first significant injury, a nasty slice to the bottom of his foot that he got at home while climbing on a metal car.  May he grow in grace and good judgment at home and school!

7.  Sitting still (see #4).  He's a boy.  This is normal.  We've seen growth in this area, and there is more to be done.  He also needs to transition at church from the nursery to attending worship with Mommy and Daddy, which means for the first time ever he will have to sit relatively still and participate in a corporate setting for about a half hour without being too disruptive to others. 

8. Table manners.  We've eaten every possible meal outside this summer, taking advantage of the low stress environment and delighting in the easy cleanup as we've officially left sippies behind and all three have learned cup drinking skills.  Now Devon will eat a packed lunch with his class three days a week. 

Now I know what you're thinking.  The picture above shows three models of good taste and decorum.  The only thing missing is the white-gloved waiters offering caviar.  There is a reason for that.  The night before, all three took the offer of a healthy dinner of fish, mashed potatoes, and peas for granted.  They flung mashed potatoes.  They refused to eat their fish.  They spat peas everywhere.  They were NOT well behaved.  Dinner ended abruptly.  All three were made to clean up, and then cleaned up and put early to bed without the nightly ice pop.  And they were made to eat their dinner for breakfast, Mommy muttering "or I am NOT taking you to storytime and special lunch.  No sirree!" the whole time. 

Please just pray in general for Devon, his teachers, and the students in his class.  Fourteen precious little lives: ten boys and four girls.  They are all so excited about learning and growing this year.  I am so excited for him, too!

He'll also be learning soccer skills during the school day.  What a great opportunity for him to learn something he can teach the girls and do at home!

We celebrated the last weekend of summer with a trip to Martin's grocery for the best donuts ever.  Florida friends: Martin's donuts are better than Frostings cupcakes.  No joke!

And just like that, it was Tuesday.  The first day of school was here!

He seemed dwarfed by that huge lunch box, a bit nervous, but mostly very excited.  Craig stayed home with the girls while Devon and I drove by ourselves.

He delighted in finding the D for Devon and hanging his backpack on the hook.  He walked himself into the classroom.  Just like that, we had a school boy!  I walked out of the classroom alone, anticipating a day of spending time with the girls, an afternoon riding bikes with all three, and an evening with extra one-on-one time with a boy I missed in the daytime.  And early bedtime.  Oh! Sweet school week early bedtime!

I didn't shed a tear.