I Should Hope So

My kids have been on the slow side of normal in the Sleeping Through the Night Dry department. I’m fine with that for the most part. They are older now, so the accidents are at least fewer and farther between. But apparently, we were due for another.

Last night Anya woke me up: “I accidentally wet the bed, Mom.” At 12:30 a.m. all I could think was, “Well, you’re sure lucky it wasn’t on purpose, because I’m not even going to be a little bit nice if you ever tell me that.”

I got up to change pajamas and sheets and mentally kicked myself for being lazy three days ago when she got a new bed and I didn’t put a plastic sheet under the mattress pad. Ugh!

It goes a lot faster when I layer plastic sheet, mattress pad, sheet, plastic sheet, mattress pad, sheet. Just pull off the first set and…ta-da! A perfectly clean and dry bed ready for sleeping. I need to listen to my efficient-mom self more often. I’d get more sleep.

Tags: anya, toilet training

After I Did Everything Right

Last spring, it became clear that we were going to have to figure out a different preschool for Anya. She turned four in January, and by late April, she was reading and doing basic addition and subtraction. This was not expected.  Dylan held out on us and refused to even try to read until 8 weeks before he turned six. Honestly, I really didn’t want her to learn to read, and I’d been stalling it. I know, I know…it makes me a horrible parent to not rejoice at my child’s growth. But we had just finished up an awful experience with my son being ahead of the game in kindergarten. I was loathe to have another uber-prepared child in kindergarten.

So, I started researching options. I was looking for a private kindergarten experience for her, since she would miss the deadline for enrollment in public school. With my hoity-toity college degree and all that research on what “good” early childhood centers are, I have a few opinions on the matter. I made a list of preschools, talked with other parents, assessed for developmentally appropriate curriculum, toured centers, interviewed directors and teachers, and (finally) made a choice that appeared to fit Anya’s needs and our financial constraints. Turns out it’s possible (maybe even probable) that you will to spend more on private kindergarten than your child’s first year of college.

Anyway, the point is: I did everything you’re supposed to do when choosing a preschool for your child. Everything!

Last week was Anya’s first week of kindergarten. It was a little rough at first as parents and kids and teachers figured things out. There were only three kids in her class which was not exactly what I was hoping for when I chose “small class size.” She hates not having enough friends to really play with. I figured we’d make it through the first week and then hopefully things would settle down. But I was wrong, sadly wrong.

On Monday of the second week, we arrived at the school to find (drum roll, please), no teacher there. In fact, nobody was there. Apparently, the kindergarten teacher quit without letting anyone know. For most of this week, Anya’s kindergarten has been combined with the 4-year-old class. Technically, that’s where she belongs age-wise, but it’s definitely not providing the kindergarten experience I had so carefully selected.

The good news is they’ve hired a new teacher that I like a lot more than the old teacher. Things do seem to be resolving and straightening out. Right now there is at least a 50% chance I’ll keep her there…though I did spend several hours this week figuring out what to do if it doesn’t work out.

Moral of the story:
Murphy’s Law still applies even after you do everything right.
Don’t ever assume it’s ok drop off your level of involvement in your kid’s education.

So what did you do perfectly right only to be thwarted by “circumstances”? Make me feel better…tell me your story.

Tags: anya, preschool, reading