progress reports: preschool and potty

So, there are Thomas and Friends stickers all over our house. Mercifully, they seem to have been manufactured with some kind of temporary-ish glue (theoretically rendering them “reusable”) so that they aren’t leaving permanent marks anywhere (unlike the stickers from the pediatrician which left thick white sludgy squares of adhesive on our living room hardwood floor that won’t come up for love or money).

An aspect of Jonah’s personality to be grateful for: as much as he adores getting the stickers, and sticking them all over himself and the house, he seems to care not a whit when they crumple up, disappear, accumulate dirt and sand, fly away. Okay, he does, a whit. But it’s a short whit. If we had to keep track of and care for all of these little graven images of the holy Thomas clan, I’d be in serious trouble.

Did I mention we’d bought a book of 700 stickers to help us on this journey?

We’ve been pottying like mad for about a week and a half and so far it’s been mostly pretty great. Some days he’s maybe 50/50 on scores and accidents, some days he scores more often.

But we are already in trouble for our rookie “chart” efforts. I should have read a book or something first.

In the spirit of making potty training more fun and enduring, we put up a chart with 30 squares which he gets to fill in for each try – whether a success or not. (He rarely sits without payoff, so that’s not really the issue.)

Rather, the problem is that it took him only a few days to fill the chart and win his beloved “wind-up Lady” and while we were hoping to somehow up the ante on the next chart, like filling in squares on days when he doesn’t have an accident, we’re not sure we can change the rules on him that quickly. Basically, the kid takes himself to the pot several times a day, obliges our requests to do the same several other times, fights us hard on occasion, and forgets to go while absorbed in play a few times a day.

My goal for the chart was to get him excited about going, to experience a record of his progress, and to experience achieving a goal.

The bites-me-in-the-*ss part is that one hour after getting Lady, he announced that for his next chart he would like a “wind-up Thomas.”

You totally saw that one coming, right?

That would mean we’ll be buying a $25 toy about every four days.

So we have some work to do to get control of this one. Suggestions welcome.

+ + +

Leaving the old preschool has been mostly good. Jonah appears to be flourishing with the new temporary nanny. She calls herself the “granny nanny” and she comes with her bucket of bubbles and paints and stickers and seemingly endless energy for playing trains, building Lego towers, and digging in the sandbox, all while engaging him constantly in a light but intellectually-stimulating banter.

Next week will be interesting because he’ll have one day with GN, and one day with our former nanny-share; the awesomely energetic, adorable, not-long-out-of-college nanny whom Jonah adores and the 1-1/2 year old toddler whom he used to hug all the time when they were together.

I hope he likes being with each of them, and that it isn’t confusing or anything. We’d already committed to the nanny share for the summer as I was desperately trying to get one full day of care so I could get work done. And there weren’t openings for adding a day, though that may change. We’ll see.

I went to his school yesterday (without him) to pick up his stuff – extra diapers, changes of clothes. I chatted with his main teacher who suggested we check out parent co-op schools and agreed that waiting another year might be a good idea. And then I ran into one of the part-time teachers – the person whom I will probably miss the most, and who LOVED Jonah. She was aghast about our leaving – the woman who would sing to Jonah when he wouldn’t nap, and teach him Spanish. She said if we ever wanted to come back and try again, to please do.

I barely made it out the gate before I started crying. Our experience there was such a mixed bag. Maybe I can just be grateful for the fact that there were people there who did love him, and that he did have some good experiences, and while it’s hard to leave those parts behind, finding another situation where he’ll consistently get the attention he needs, where his non-napping won’t be an issue, and where I’ll get the communication that I need, will ultimately be better for both of us.

There’s also the chance we might not start school this fall. Did I already blog about the fact that my kid is YOUNG? Apparently I was blinded by his rather blinding verbal abilities and didn’t think through the fact that the rest of him might not be ready for preschool. Even though it was a toddler program we’d put him in (at 2 years, 2 months!) and even though he could pretty much do everything listed on the report card they gave me yesterday before he even started there, he’s still emotionally young.

Now that the State of California might be making the choice for me, it’s likely we have three years before he’ll start kindergarten. I’d been against the idea of “redshirting” because to me it just sounded like privileged people trying to get an edge on everyone else. But now I think, what’s the rush? I also hear that school is much harder on kindergarteners than it used to be due to the no-child-left-behind bill. More sitting, less play. He might be more able to deal with that at almost-6 rather than almost-5.

All that to say, if I don’t feel 100% totally excited and comfortable about the next situation, we’re not jumping into anything.