a new school year: Perry

Look at this Kindergartener's sweet little face.

He was so excited for the first day of school, especially to ride the bus again.

Perry is in developmental, all-day kindergarten this year. He has a head teacher and two aides in his class and no more than ten students. They are all very, very nice. We got to meet his teachers before school started and take a tour of the school. He was a little nervous at first and clung to me or kept his hand to his mouth. But it was great for him to see his school and to have an idea of what to expect before the first day.

I was nervous about a lot of things this year-- being away all day, eating lunch at school, an earlier start time, etc. But he has done so well. He eats his lunch better at school than he does at home (I know this because I went and had lunch with him one day and he sat so nicely and ate his food. How do I get that to transfer to home?). He is pretty tired at the end of the day. Often times, he falls asleep on the bus on the way home. He is excited about his friends and bringing books home from the library. He is adjusting really well.

On the Sunday night before the second week of school, I explained to him that the bus would come again the next day and he would go to kindergarten again. He told me no and he was "all done kindergarten". I was worried, but the next day he happily went back to school. Thank goodness!

Perry has developed quite the imagination and loves playing with cars and trucks and phones around the house. His favorite show to watch is Fireman Sam. And he plays "fireman sam" all the time--in the car, in his bed, with his trucks. He will happily play and talk (a lot of gibberish with the occasional "call fireman sam" and "get the truck" so I have an idea of what story is running through his head).

Perry loves to play chase and hide and seek with our family. He is becoming more and more engaged with our bedtime stories. He loves his blue bike and playing at the park. He has the biggest sweet tooth. He gives the best hugs and kisses. He still asks everyone where their car is, what color the car is, and who drove the car. He loves playing in the bathtub. He loves juice and smoothies.

He goes to private speech and OT once a week. He loves going to Sister Barnhart's each week to play with her. He is taking swim lessons once a week, too. He loves the water!

He is still a little fireball. He doesn't have as many meltdowns as he did a year ago, and their duration is getting shorter, too. But he still gets super aggressive when boundaries have to be set or it's time to wait. I have a big bite mark on my arm to prove it. He is testing the waters at night and refusing to go to bed sometimes (our dr. encouraged us to try melatonin and that has helped us all). He is reasoning with us better than ever before. He is still mischievous and knows how to get a reaction and what I can't ignore and have to respond to (unbuckling himself and others in the car).

He thought he was pretty funny the other morning. He was going to the bathroom and I left him to go get his clothes for the day. I wasn't fast enough. He locked the door (which I have key to so that alone wouldn't have been a problem), but then he also opened the cabinet drawer next to the door. You see, when that drawer is open, you can not get into the bathroom. At all. The door will open just a crack. Just enough for me to see him turn on the water in the sink and laugh hysterically. I stayed calm for the first 5 minutes and tried all of the coercing and bribing I could think of. Then the next 5 minutes I calmly spent threatening no access to the ipad. After 10 minutes, I lost all rational thinking. The bus would be there any minute and I saw no end in sight. Would he ever open that door? Did I need to call the fire department? Or break down the door (yeah, I might have tried that one and failed)? Just the water left running in the sink was driving me crazy. Thank goodness for a calm husband who answered his phone, even though he was on the bus, and helped crying me settle down and walk away and reminded me that missing the bus isn't the end of the world and that at least he didn't close the drain in the sink so the water wasn't overflowing. I think everyone in our house had been praying and praying (Kyler said he prayed on his school bus because he had to leave in the middle of this fiasco). And then Perry closed the drawer. Just like that. I threw his clothes on him, shoved two bites of food in his mouth, and got him on the bus just in time. And then I removed that drawer from its place so it will never lock me out again.

Perry is clever and sweet. He loves to play and have fun. His smile is contagious. He is mommy's little boy through and through. He does not want to get bigger, he says. He just wants to stay mommy's boy forever and ever. I'm ok with that. I love this cute boy with all of my heart.