Nolan's First Day of School

Nolan had his first day of preschool today. I was a little anxious about his adjustment to school, since we had a summer filled with medical appointments which have left Nolan a tad on the wary side when in unfamiliar surroundings.

Nolan's first day was absolutely wonderful. No tears, no lost hearing aids, and a successfully eaten snack. He colored, listened to the story, baked a pretend cake, and played his little heart out. The staff at this preschool is so very caring and careful to make sure Nolan can hear and understand what is going on in the classroom.

Separation was a non-event. I looked at Nolan and told him:

"See you later, Nolan."

He answered, "See later, Mom!" and happily continued playing.

Such a relief!

Today went so well, I am truly looking forward to next week. The parent segment of the program is wonderful, and filled with many friends. We get to discuss family traditions, toilet training, bedtime routines, money saving techniques, and a myriad of other topics of interest to mothers with small children. Thursday may become my favorite day of the week!

Twenty Two Days

We had twenty two days without rain. Twenty two days of sunshine, crisp autumn air, and dancing red leaves on the trees. Red leaves that come tumbling down to make the most wonderful play item known on earth: a leaf pile!

The boys prefer the Tonka Truck method of building leaf piles. This takes both time and energy, which is an extra bonus in the nap department.



After a little assistance with a rake, a decent leaf pile is assembled and ready.

After all that work, there is nothing more satisfying than a flying leap into perfectly crunchy leaves!
An entire afternoon spent frolicking in the leaves, with blue skies, fresh air, and brilliant sun... this is my idea of heaven!

Cupcakes

There was a magazine article on how to make really elegant petit fours. They were tiny cupcakes, with perfectly smooth icing and delicate white lace-like designs. The instructions were so simple, the picture was so pretty, and I was excited to make an adorable snack for my mothers of preschoolers group.

As with everything in life, the reality looks nothing like the magazine picture. Alas, they looked like typical little cupcakes, messy with frosting and bad artistry. Martha Stewart, I am not.

At least they tasted good. And the kids liked them. And they were bright and cheery. Who really wants to eat a magazine picture, anyway? I'll take the delicious, sticky mess of real life over a magazine photo any day!

Matt's First Day of Preschool

Matt had his first day of preschool on Wednesday. The first day that I walked him into the building, kissed his cheek, and watched him go into his classroom. The first day that I turned around and left- without him.



This has caused some separation anxiety, though not on the part of Matthew. Our dear Nolan does not understand why we have left Matthew behind, and cried "Get Matt!" as we drove home. He yelled "GET MATT!" as we waited in the hallway to pick his big brother up from school. And he shrieked "Got Matt!" when our jubilant preschooler left his classroom.

Matt has already found a friend in the class, and they are nearly glued together at the hip. They hold hands on the way into class, chatter about bandaids and basketball and other little boy things that are way out of my league. Nolan, however, is less than thrilled with this new friendship. He ran up and anxiously cried, "Hold my hand, Matt!" Matt was quite busy with his new friend and did not take notice.

Nolan, undaunted, went up to the other little boy. Emphatically, Nolan told him, "That MY Matt." Fortunately, the bigger boys were great sports and both held Nolan's hands as we walked out to the car. We waved good bye to all the other preschoolers and everyone was happy. Nolan cried out one last reminder to the other kids:

"My Matt. That MY Matt!"

I have a feeling there might be a slight adjustment period to this whole "preschool thing."

Getting Spoiled

Grandma Hagan heard about Matt's airplane obsession, so one happy little boy received an "airplane" in the mail. He does accept passengers, but he does charge a baggage fee.

Botanophobia

Nolan has been battling some interesting "quirks" in his toddler years. An example of his "quirks":

• A fear of balloons
• A fear of puppets
  
• A fear of plants

The fear of balloons is a very interesting one- he is fine as long as the balloon doesn't actually move. If a breeze catches his balloon, he assumes that it is both alive and hungry, and possibly wants to consume him. The ensuing panic is something that has to be witnessed to get an idea of his level of terror. This terror is surpassed if the balloon is in the car, in which case it becomes the "floating head of death" and Nolan nearly has a heart attack trying to escape his car seat. As a consequence, we don't often get balloons in this household.

Puppets rate somewhere between balloons and plants- fearsome when inert, but absolutely terrifying if animated by an unassuming adult. We're working on these fears, and making some headway. Nolan actually "pet" a puppet in motion today, so he's gaining some courage in this area. He also held a balloon even when it was moving in the breeze the other day.

The one fear we have not been able to overcome is his fear of plants. I thought it might be called "herbiphobia," but Google claims it is "botanophobia."

Yes, he's blowing the dandelion. But he made me hold it.

Whatever- all I know is the kid freaks out over flowers. And grass. Or any other piece of vegetation which strays in Nolan's path. It is as if every plant is a "Nolan-fly-trap" and he is going to be hurt by it. It used to be a little comical, watching our boy get stopped in his tracks by a single blade of grass. Now we are really working on getting him to do something really brave. You know, like hold a flower.

Nolan's typical reaction to flowers.

We still haven't made much progress on the flower holding front, but Matt has been a big help in showing Nolan that plants are not harmful. Nolan likes to follow Matt into the woods, and inevitably starts screaming, "My STUCK!" because the only way out of the woods involves going past some stray grass and weeds. Matt, being the awesome big brother he is, went in for the rescue this morning.

Thank goodness you're here!

You go first, I'll follow.

We just might survive the asters, this time.

Little Nolan will get a reprieve soon- the snow will kill off all those conniving flowers. Hopefully his fear of plants will disappear before next spring arrives. I don't look forward to tulip desensitization if it doesn't!

Battle of the Business

Every year, our local YMCA puts on a "Battle of the Business" competition in our local area. Because pickle ball isn't funny enough until you have pickle ball played by biochemists and lawyers.

So Team Trinity gathered together, and prepared to do battle. We might not have been the strongest team (playing against all the gym teachers at the local high school seems nigh on unfair), but we had the coolest kids.

While there are many sports played throughout "battle week," the boys and I were only able to attend the softball games at Bergman Park. It was great fun to watch Daddy's team battle against the lawyers and a fire/security company.



The boys were far less interested in the softball game than in the gargantuan dirt pile near the field. If there was one take-away from this game, it was that a little boy's shoe can hold approximately 3 tons of dirt.


Nolan got into the "bay-ball" spirit, as he calls it. He was quite enamored of the catching and batting, so he played along the sidelines during the game. Next year, the other teams won't have a chance!

Project Dome

I receive a parenting magazine with great craft ideas for kids. In the most recent issue, they had a geodesic dome made out of newspaper, tape, and staples. It sounded right up my alley- three ingredients, simple directions, and the kids get what was billed as a "surprisingly sturdy structure."

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. Gather newspapers, unfold and stack them four pages thick, and roll each 4 page section diagonally into a roll. Secure with tape, then staple them together to form triangles.






The triangles are then attached to each other, so a ring can be formed. This is where the plan starts to come apart (in the most literal of senses). I am not sure what size staples Family Fun Magazine used, but I'm starting to think they really used a nail gun to get through so many layers of newspaper!



The "surprisingly sturdy" structure was falling apart in my hands. Dennis had a brilliant idea and ran for the staple gun, pliers, and a piece of plywood. He started securing a few triangles together. This, unfortunately, did not work all that well. Unless sharp objects skewering children was the original intent of the craft's creators.


Since I had packing tape at hand, I decided to secure the triangles together with packing tape. Unfortunately, packing tape does not have the appropriate flexibility and strength for this type of project. So I rummaged in the old toolbox, and stumbled across duct tape.

Of course! I don't know why I hadn't simply started with that in the first place. It took nearly an entire roll of duct tape, but we now have a "surprisingly sturdy" structure to play in.

The real materials list should read:

Newspaper
Tape
More tape
Even more tape
Possibly, rebar and a welding torch

Despite the difficulty in assembling a dome out of newspaper, the boys now have a fun little playhouse and really enjoy it.

Midway State Park

There is a small amusement park about 20 minutes from our house. It used to be privately owned, but the state recently took over the park and will be making $10 million worth of renovations in the next year or so. The work is desperately needed, as some of the rides are rather dilapidated and, shall we say, "squeaky." They are safe, but in desperate need of paint and general maintenance.

Paint, grass, and more than 3 functional cars are needed.

The kids loved it, however, and we were glad to see a lot of smiles and pure joy on the last weekend of summer. The trees are already tinged red and orange, and preschool is less than two weeks away. They rode rockets and helicopters, drove little cars and "Tubs o' Fun" enough times to make me nauseated. How small children can spin so many times and not get ill is a mystery beyond adult comprehension.

Nolan riding the "hor-hwee" (horsie)

Matt is getting rather tall

Matt loved the paddle boat.

These "turtle cars" went rather fast.

This was their favorite ride.

Riding the boats

In which I feel like a giant

Another favorite: Tubs o' Fun

Other than a few instances of inconsolable crying due to height restrictions (no, Nolan, you cannot ride the Brainsucker or the Backwrencher*), we had an excellent afternoon. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and took a three hour nap. An excellent afternoon, indeed!

*I believe the actual names were more benign, like the "Dragon" and "Bumper Cars." I'm prone to hyperbole.

Berries

In late summer, our woods are clothed with thickets of blackberries. I arm our boys with a basket and send them out to collect as many as they can find. Matt has become a champion blackberry-finder, scouring the woods and getting every last ripe berry from among the thorns.

Nolan, however, is wary of plants. Terrified would be a more appropriate word- he won't even hold a flower without a lot of encouragement. He will, however, reach his arm in to devour blackberries by the dozen.

There is a wonderful spirit of sharing where blackberries are concerned. Matt lets Nolan have as many as he wants, and willingly heads back into the briers to gather more.

The boys even share with Pete the Cat, who was rather rude and refused to try the proffered berry. Cats are so stuck up.

Once all of the ripe blackberries had been located and eaten, Nolan found other uses for the basket. It did help to keep all of the pesky gnats from swarming around his head, so perhaps he's on to something.

In a few short weeks, the golden days of summer will be gone. We'll definitely miss them!