Buy One Get Two Free!: Preschool

Sammy, Danny, and Elsie started preschool on October 1st. They are attending Smith Mills preschool in Dartmouth on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9-12. Here is a picture of the first day.

The first day went great. No one looked back or said goodbye and ran into the room. The second day at drop off was disastrous. Everyone was crying knowing I was leaving. After about a week, Danny and Elsie were good, but Sammy was still struggling. At the end of the second week we decided we would let him bring his little security 'snuggy' with him into class. I also started putting some essential oils on before we go into school. It seems to be helping, We are 4 weeks in and he is starting to adjust. Danny surprising loves school, which is great since I was expecting him to have the hardest transition. And Elsie is working her way up to be the preschool director by mid-November. Ay yi yi. The funniest thing to report is that after the first week of crying drop offs, I played the Daniel Tiger episode that teaches kids not to worry because 'grown ups come back'. So I told them over the weekend, don't worry, mommy comes back. So now when I walk in to pick them up every time, the three of them yell 'Mommy! You came back!'. Every time. I laugh and think inside the other parents must think I leave them places since my trio is so utterly shocked that I've returned to pick them up everyday. Sigh.

Mommy is LOVING preschool. I am in full organizing mode, purging all our old clothes and cleaning out closets. There have been several times this month when I think to myself this is like when I was single with no kids. Amazing the things you can get done without three 3 year olds calling your name every 7 seconds. I'm also loving it because the kids are doing lots of artsy projects that were just not feasible at home. Here are some of their paintings from this week:

They come home all excited about different letters they are learning and all the things that start with those letters. Danny's language has improved 10 fold in a month. It's amazing how far he has come since starting school. Full sentences with all syllables enunciated. He loves chocolate covered raisins, and until recently has called them 'ray cov'. Now it is clear as day. And he loves that everyone can understand him now, and reinforces that by using his new phrase 'I know'. Every time he says something and you continue the conversation he comes back with 'I know' with a huge grin.

Danny: 'Elsie come in my bed last night'

Mommy: 'Oh yea, did she want to snuggle you?'

Danny: 'I know'.

Danny: 'Sam cried (at preschool)'

Mommy: 'because he missed mommy?'

Danny: 'I know'.

Every answer is I know with this little jolly expression. He also is all about the eye doctor. Sammy still goes every 3 months for eye exams and so 1 day last month when I left with Sam, he asked all about it and I explained that Sam has to go to the eye doctor to get better. Ok now whenever anyone gets a scrape, or bruise, or coughs, Danny says they have to go to the eye doctor to get better. I've been trying to explain there are different doctors, but he isn't buying it. He's got his eye doctor thing going and that's that.

Sammy is also showing marked improvement in his language skills. His favorite word is all right. He sounds like Matthew McConaughey...all right, all right, all right. Anything you ask him, he thinks about it and says 'all right'. I don't know who's kid this is because he is so laid back. Miguel and I have zero laid back qualities. I can say he gets super motivated for his favorite things though. If I tell him he needs to clean up before he can use the tablet, or go for a ride in the car, he is the fastest toy picker upper out there.

Elsie is still all about Elsie. She needs to know everything, say everything, and do everything at all times. She has only child syndrome, except she's a triplet. I use the term 'worry about yourself' at least a dozen times a day with her. She likes to tease her brothers, and then be sweet to them. She loves to set Danny off during the day by messing with all his organized toys, and then climbs into his bed to snuggle every night. She is tough that one. When filling out her preschool profile, they ask you to describe each child. When it came to Elsie, I kept coming back to the word relentless. Determination and perseverance just don't cut it for adjectives. She must tell me no 30 times a day. And she means it. And if it's not no, it's I do it, or I don't need help. At least I can claim this one as mine, it's like looking in a mirror.

All the kids went to the dentist for the first time this month. The goal was just to get them comfortable with the idea. Sammy absolutely loved it. He sat there with his mouth wide open and they did an entire exam, metal in his mouth, electric toothbrush, floss, he loved it. Danny and Elsie were cautious. They let her put her hands in and check their teeth and use a manual toothbrush and that was it. They all got to pick from a little toy bin when it was done, and Elsie picked a fairy. She loves this fairy. She has named it Penny. She takes it with her everywhere. The phrase 'where's my fairy???' is common around the house now. To the point that if Danny sees it on the floor somewhere, he picks it up and ~~gives~~ throws it at her.

In other great news, Sammy is pooping in the potty. He is so proud of himself. This now means we are 2 down and 1 to go with potty training. Elsie doesn't wear a pull up at all anymore, except for overnight. We can go out and she can hold it long enough to tell me and get to a potty. Sammy is still in pull ups going out of the house because he has a shorter reaction time (like when it's happening), but I feel he is almost there because he has been peeing on cue when we go to the bathroom. Danny wants nothing to do with the potty. It scares him. He will fight me to sit on it, but then laughs and giggles and sits there a while playing on his tablet. He takes a while to warm up to change, and I haven't pushed it, but now that the other 2 are good to go, I'm gonna focus on him.

We are now eating at a big kid table. Last week we said goodbye to our triplet table, our high chairs, and our travel high chairs, passing them on to a triplet mom with 3 little girls that are 6 mo old. A little bittersweet, but great to get some clutter gone.

We visited Edaville Railroad last week on a free promotion. This was a perfect afternoon visit, the temps were great and the kids loved the halloween decor and Thomas the train.

The kids are graduating to the next level in swim class. This means Mommy, Daddy, and Grammy don't have to get into the pool with them anymore! I'll miss swimming with my babies, but will look forward to doing it in the summer in the pool or at the beach instead. Love seeing them do things independently. So proud of them.

We went to a birthday party at Carousel roller skating this month. Danny had a meltdown when we got there with the crowd, and the music, and the lights, but warmed up after 15 min and by 30 min in he was having lots of fun. By the end of the party he was dancing and laughing. He never warmed up to trying to roller skate, but liked the carts and the music. Sammy and Elsie were all about the whole shebang, trying to skate and the carts.

I love this video. I hate to really push him out of his comfort zone, but I want him to learn new things can be fun. After the first 15 min of him panicking and hysterically crying we thought about leaving. I'm glad we stayed.

The kids had a fun Halloween. Preschool did a trunk or treat and I themed our van like pirates to match our costumes. They liked learning pirate phrases like Aaargh!, You'll never get my treasure! and Ahoy Matey! And of course they love the candy.

We also attended the Fall show at Bristol Aggie this weekend. What a great day. Nice and warm and tons of animals for the kids to see. They got to pet cows and bunnies, and feed the sheep.

This past 2 weeks Elsie has made her stand sleeping with Danny. She has decided she won't wait for him to fall asleep, she will run over to her bed as soon as we turn out the lights and shut the door. She will crowd him, snuggle him, roll all over him, and he will like it. He actually has stopped crying about it and allows her to do all of this. I hope she realizes how much he loves her.

As you can see we had a busy month. Here are a few more pics and videos :)

The kids love the sleeping bags and pillows Auntie Cathy got them for their birthday. We gave up naps in September, but they still like to rest and watch a movie.

and snuggle on the couch

and sleep in the car

Sammy likes to sneak off and grab a 10 min nap

or pass out standing up by the couch

we bought the kids a teepee for their birthday. It's pretty cool.

I think this picture accurately describes fall in New England. She seems confused that she is wearing her hat one day and shorts and crocs the next

look Mommy I'm an Indian!

The kids have kindle tablets. They love them. They only get to use them on the potty, but this past week I've let them have them in the living room for an hour a day. Elsie likes the puzzle app that has you draw the letter and then make puzzles of animals or items that start with that letter. It's amazing how quickly she started recognizing letters and their sounds now.

Danny is still more interested in playing with his toys, but occasionally likes a video on the tablet.

This is why I only allow an hour in the room. Zombies.

Danny likes it when Elsie (the tablet pro) loads a video and he can just watch with her.

She was outside playing and decided she had to go. This potty has been outside since the summer, but she didn't care. It was there, she had to go. Problem solved.