the three musketeers

Last weekend, Luke and I enjoyed a wonderful day in the Oakland sunshine with our friend, Sandrine, and her two children, River and Yuba. Yuba (girl) is 4 years old, and River (boy) is the same age as Luke, born just 3 weeks before Luke was. Luke and River are very good buddies, with a mutual love of trains, Thomas, and all things train-related. We played together at Fairyland, which is a somewhat odd spot with 1960s era children's rides and displays. The kids adored it -- from the "alphabet" train [so named by Luke], the children's sized carousel, and running in the grass. Here are some pics of our three musketeers -- Luke, River, and Yuba! Please note the big fat "mmmwwwwahhhhh" kiss from Luke!

dreams

I think Luke has started to remember his dreams. A few days ago, when he woke up in the morning, he told me that, "Luke was a baby, and Luke was in his house, but not our house, another house, without Mama and Dada. Then Luke was a big boy and he was in his house." And, a few days before that, he had woken up in the middle of the night, very distressed, saying "Where's Ziggy?" (his Schleich puppy figure). When I told him that Ziggy was just fine, and, see, there he is, Luke was OK and went back to sleep. I now realize that these are Luke's dreams! Pretty neat, huh?

favorites

I "interviewed" Luke last night and asked him to contribute a list of favorites to the blog. My boy is consistent, but there are also some surprises in the Luke report:

favorite color: black
favorite toy: trains
favorite t-shirt: Thomas t-shirt
favorite game to play at school: trains
favorite drink: water
favorite animal: sheep
favorite song: Treehouse (by Charity Kahn)
favorite friend: Dada
favorite room in the house: Luke's room
favorite fruit: blueberries

my favorite singer

riding the tricycle by the bay

lucky no. 7

Ever since I reduced my work hours to a 4-day a week schedule when Luke was 6 months old, Mondays have been Mama and Luke days. Yesterday, the little man and I went to Berkeley's Tilden Park to ride the Lucky Number 7 steam train. It was a gorgeous day: warm and sunny. The train ride was a beautiful 10-minute ride through the redwood trees and around the hills, with views over the Bay. We rode Lucky Number 7 three times, and Luke pronounced that Lucky Number 7 may be his [new] favorite train. Here's one of Luke's favorite You Tube videos about the making of Lucky Number 7, who was built by Engineer Ray: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I_TAdvFMG4.

the may report

May was a month of preschool angst. The catalyst for our angst was that we had a "year-end" parent/teacher conference at Luke's school, Crayon Box. Some of the things that astounded, confounded, and made me sad:

• As developmental guidance, Luke's teacher advised us that we could help Luke develop his vocabulary by reading more to him at home.
• She told us that Luke's favorite thing to say in class was, "My Dada's coming to pick me up at 3:30."
• She asked us to tell Luke not to lay on the floor, because he sometimes laid on the floor during the day and stared at the clock, and the other kids made a game of jumping over him. To be fair, other kids then laid on the floor and became the object to jump over, so they weren't picking on Luke.
• She wanted Luke to make more friends in school, and not just play with Sophia.

It makes me both angry and sad even now to write about this. First, anyone who has spent any time with Luke knows that his vocabulary is amazing for his age. This is a child who uses three-syllable words in everyday conversation. On the day that Luke's teacher advised us to help him build his vocabulary, Luke had said to me (while baking): "These are the wet ingredients and these are the dry ingredients. Now we'll mix them together!" I worry about many, many things as a mother (too many, but that's another story). Luke's language development isn't one of them. I worry that he might be going to college in diapers, but not that he'll be stammering out one-syllable words. The boy loves talking, he loves reading, and he already knows all his letters and can spell his name (and several other names, to boot). At age 2 years, 7 months!

Also, my view is that it's a positive that Luke has a really good buddy -- Sophia -- not a negative. He's still young for interactive play, and he is developing a lovely friendship with Sophia. He doesn't have to play with everyone. His ability to make a friend is something to be celebrated, not seen as a deficiency.

What this exchange with Luke's teacher told me is that Luke isn't happy there. He isn't talking, and he isn't his usual exuberant self. The thought of my poor little guy laying on the floor, bored, and staring at the clock just broke my heart.

So, during the month of May and after receiving the skinny letter from Glenridge, Mama kicked into high gear on the preschool search. I toured three or four new schools, with no luck. The school I liked had a mile-long waiting list, and the others just weren't a good fit. Then, in a wonderful stroke of luck, Sophia's mama found a wonderful school that had room for both Luke and Sophia! We toured, signed them both up, and they started together the first week of June.

Luke's new school is a lab school at San Francisco State University: Children's Campus. It's a brand new facility and program, and fully affiliated with and supported by the University. The head teacher has a masters in child development, and the teachers have bachelors degrees. The purpose of a lab school is to provide college students majoring in child development with an opportunity to gain practical experience and observe children. For parents, it means that the program is designed by top-notch teachers and researchers, with the latest views on how to optimally support child development. There is so much wonderful research on child development, and amazing consensus about what young children need. It's not a highly structured, teacher-led program, but rather play-based with a gentle rhythm to the day, regular routines, and highly responsive teachers that get to know each child as an individual. That's exactly what I've seen at Children's Campus.

There's also this super-cool observation room, where you can watch the kids and see what's happening in the classroom without them seeing you! It's my favorite spot, because after I say goodbye to Luke in the morning, I rush into the observation room and see how his transition is going. His teacher, Teacher Antoinette, is very responsive to Luke and also encourages and supports his independence. She'll hold his hand, read to him, and stay with him as long as he needs her, and then she'll get his agreement that he's ready to play and she'll interest him in an activity.

And the room! Oh my! It's a gorgeous, brand new space with so many activities and fun things to do. I would love to spend the day there, and I'm only a 3-year old at heart. The outside space is also beautiful, with plenty of toys, tricycles and a tricycle path, giant sand area with construction toys and a water spigot for making wet sand, chalk, bubbles .... and on sunny days, Teacher Antoinette will bring the easels outside for painting "plein air." It really is a spectactular program, and feels like a great fit for Luke -- and our family. We'll be there for 2, possibly 3, years until Luke goes to kindergarten.

Luke's transition has been pretty easy. He cried on the first day, but (thanks to the observation room) I know that he adjusted within 5 minutes and started playing. Now, after a month, he still gets anxious on school days, but he holds it together well and seems to have a good time at school. I've spied on him at school during the day (did I tell you how much I love the observation room?) and he's engaged and interested. He's not as exuberant at school as he is at home, but he is still young for preschool in general (he's the youngest in the class). I'm confident that this is just where he needs to be, and that this is the right place to both challenge and support him.

guest post from dada: a little window into chateau vally

1:00 p.m. at our house. Dada is working downstairs, and Nounou (Luke's nanny), Luke and his buddy Sophia are upstairs.

Nounou: Luke, it’s time to have your nap

Luke: I don’t want to take a nap

Nounou: But you have to take a nap

Luke: I don’t want to

Nounou: Do you want me to get Dada?

Luke: Yes

Nounou comes downstairs to talk to Dad, and let him know that his presence is needed upstairs

Dada: Luke, what is going on?

Luke: I don’t want to take a nap

Dada: Really? Tell me more

Dada and Luke walk to the living room, Dada sits on the chair, Luke joins him

Luke: I don’t want to nap

Dada: How come? Aren’t you tired?

Luke: No, I am not tired, and I don’t need a nap

Dada: I understand. You know, if you don’t take a nap, you will be very very tired in the afternoon. In fact, you’ll be so tired that you won’t be able to play at all. So it’s better to have a nap.

Luke: hum…

Dada: Do you feel like you want to play some more, and you are not ready for a nap?

Luke: YEAH!!!!!!

Dada: Okay, I’ll tell you what. How about you play for a little longer, and then you can go for a nap. If you don’t want to sleep, that’s all right, but you have to stay in your room, in the dark, and be quiet. You can do anything you want, like talk to Momo, or Etoile, or tell a story, or sing a song…

Luke: But quiet!!!!

Dada: Yes, of course, very quiet.

Luke: Okay.

Dada: How much time do you think you need before you are ready for the nap?

Luke: 15 minutes

Dada: Let me set the timer…

the april report

The past few months have been a blur of travel, illness, and (as always) lots of joy and napping. Some of the highlights from April, which now seems so long ago:

Two work trips for Mama -- San Luis Obispo and Imperial Valley/San Diego. This second trip shows how my work takes me to *all* the hot spots in California. Er, not so much.

One work trip for Dada -- four days in Cary, which makes it official that Jean-Max sees my Dad more than I do.

One major illness for Luke -- five days (count 'em FIVE) of a 104 degree fever. Some other numbers that might interest you.

• 1: number of consecutive hours that Luke slept at night (i.e., he woke up every hour all night long for nearly five days).
• 1: number of parents in the house when Luke was sick (of course, this all happened when Jean-Max was traveling!).
• 2: number of doctor visits in a four day period.
• 2: number of hours it would take for the Children's Motrin to start working (i.e., I would give my cranky feverish boy a dose of medicine, and it would take two bleeping hours for it to help him feel better).
• 2: number of pounds Luke lost that week, while he was so sick and not eating.
• 3: number of times each day that I called Dada to report on how Luke and I were doing.
• 102: the lowest that Luke's fever was during this five day stretch.

The doc never got a great look at Luke's throat, but we're pretty sure he had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Sounds horrible, and it was. Poor Luke was sooo sick. But then, on Day 6, he woke up like nothing had ever happened, and was back to his normal, happy, active self. It was cah-razy.

Pretend play -- One morning in April, Luke woke up and all of a sudden, he started telling stories. Long, elaborate, complex stories. And, he started "pretending." Like, let's pretend this is an apple and eat it. Let's pretend this is a cookie and have a tea party. Let's pretend this train is Little Puffer! With a sudden leap in cognitive ability, Luke jumped feet first into being a preschooler.

guitar hero

Luke's rendition of "No Woman No Cry." Impossibly adorable.

the time when mama almost burned down the house

Last night was quite the adventure at Chateau Vally. Jean-Max and Luke were settling into the night-night routine, and I was putting some lamb chops on the grill for an adults-only dinner. After 5 minutes, I went back outside to turn the chops over, and the grill was on fire! Not just a few flames gently licking at the chops, but fierce fire, entire tray underneath with roaring flames and huge plumes of white smoke. I turned the burners off, and then went upstairs, trying not to panic, and said, "Hey baby, the grill's on fire. I think you should come see." Jean-Max was completely faked out by the fake calm in my voice, and said, "Oh, just turn the burners off. It'll stop by itself."

I went back to check, and by now, the grill was pouring black smoke! Mama completely freaked out. Black smoke! Near my baby! Near the house! Near a tank of propane gas! I ran back up stairs and said (in my best fake-not-panicking voice, but trying to impart a sense of urgency), "I really think you ought to look at this!"

While Jean-Max tended to the now roaring fire, I answered the usual questions from Luke (who was safely stuck in his crib, aka jail), "What happened?" "Wanna check!" I also called 911.

In the end, Jean-Max put the fire out, the firemen arrived, checked things out and pronounced the fire, indeed, out. All in all, Luke was very interested in the whole thing -- firetrucks arriving at the house, sirens blaring, firefighters coming into and through the house to the backyard. Luke even shook one of the fireman's hands as a thank you.

So, no lamb chops, just a pizza delivery. And I'm still trying to recover from the adrenaline overload.

PS - I am seriously behind on sharing our news. There's lots of it -- really neat developments from Luke with more complex play, telling stories, singing songs, and transitioning to a new (!) preschool. And, some illness in there (his, mine, others), and new craft projects (knitted fruit!). I pledge to get caught up this week.