Kinder or no Kinder that is the question

Are you going to send Erik to kindergarten or give him a bonus year? I seriously get asked that question about once a day. When you get asked this question as much as I do you really have to think about it constantly. These last two weeks have been worse because Burbank is having their kindergarten information meetings so its on everyone's mind. What is my answer?

Well before our information meeting and a few conversations this week I would say I was leaning towards a bonus year. It was his teacher's recommendation last October and why not give him an extra year to play, that sounds kind of fun. The $750 month bill for Erik and Elliot both in preschool at the same time didn't sound nearly as attractive.

Every person I talk to gives me a different opinion or a different suggestion. Some say definitely give him a bonus year because he is a boy and it is better if you wait a year. Some say, send him to the bonus year program and if he's ready skip him to first grade. Then there are other's who say start him and then transfer in a month if he isn't doing well, or hold him back a year. Others like my mother in law, say he'll be board if you keep him back and he needs to advance. Another opinion, if you hold him back he'll definitely be the oldest kid, almost no one holds back August kids. Then I say to myself, if the cut off was September 1st instead of November 1st I would probably hold him back. In reality this is just a birthday numbers game, what is the difference? Then other say, I was 4 when I went to kindergarten. That is the worse comment of them all because kindergarten is academic and very different than when me or my peers went.

So with all these different points of view it leaves me in the middle. Last month I was leaning more towards bonus year, but after going to the information meeting yesterday I am more towards sending him. Here is the truth. I am signing him up for both and giving him the best shot he has to go to kindergarten next year.

I decided with all these conversations around Erik I had to be honest with him. It was impossible to keep this decision from him. So I told him if he starts practicing his writing, working with glue and scissors and sitting still for projects he can probably go next year. If he isn't interested, then we will give him a bonus year so he can have more time to play. Besides the money, the amount of time he is in school is exactly the same.

Interesting enough putting the power in his hands is a strong motivator for him. He is nowhere near ready, but it doesn't start for another 8 months, and 4 year olds boys are suppose to be bouncing off the walls. Honestly ever since I had this conversation with him, it might be developmental, it might be desire, it might be timing, but he is working more on projects and really putting in the effort.

This morning I decided to stay home with the boys and have more of a learning morning and Erik did stickers for over an hour and then later wrote his name over and over. This is major progress becasue was refusing to write his name even as soon as right before winter break and I can't remember the last time he spent an hour doing anything except watching tv.

When they gave us the list of everything kids need to be doing or practicing by kindergarten I realize Erik was doing everything on the list except sitting for long periods of time. He is even trying to learn how to read right now. So he might not be excelling in writing, but his interest is in other developmental areas.

There are meetings galore until school starts this summer and all Carl and I can do is keep an open mind about our child, make sure he is enrolled in all the programs to keep his options open to make the most educated decision we can come August. For now I am done stressing about it and talking about it. Of course the next time a mom asks me a question about it at the park or in school I can't be rude and say, I refuse to discuss this further. I'll kindly answer the question and try to change the subject.

I do it to myself

One Monday in Elliot's class a mom told us the story of how she gave her 2 year old and 4 year old paint, cardboard and put them on the grass and how they had fun for hours. It sounded like a dream come true to me. My kids never stay occupied for more than 10 minutes at a time these days.

After we built Elliot's bed I had leftover cardboard and tons of paint they never use and decided to give her trick a try. The only thing I didn't think though, Erik hadn't napped that day and it was near the 5 pm crazy hour. See I do these things to myself. I try these creative opportunities for my children and when they go crazy I get upset, but I really have no one to blame. Anytime would have been better than the 5 pm crazy hour on a no nap day.

So it started off simple enough. I took most of our painting supplies outside to see what they were interested in.

I painted a little something myself to show them what to do and get them started.

Then it started off nicely, Erik was trying to stamps and various art supplies.

 

Then I just let him have at it and he started dumping out the paint. I knew this is part of the experiment, and to toddlers and preschoolers more is better.

It worked at first. Erik is really into mixing colors so he was fascinated by the results and what colors he could make. Elliot just kind of followed his lead.

But there is always more and they started to break the few simple rules I gave them, like keeping all the paint supplies only on the cardboard and not the grass.

Then it got even worse and it was Elliot this time, not Erik! Elliot started painting his leg and it was over. I let them have fun and cover themselves. Afterwards I let them run around the yard to let the paint dry and transported them directly to the bath tub. See I always try, but it always deteriorates to this.

 

My baby is growing up

When I was navigating parenthood when Erik was 2 one of the mom's told me she switched her little guy to a toddler bed when he told her he wanted a big boy bed. I thought that was perfect and made it my plan for Erik. Unfortunately Erik had other plans in mind, like climbing out of his bed a 100 times a night and never staying in his room when asked, so we put a crib tent on his bed and then when it broke we converted him to a toddler bed. He didn't transition well, he constantly escaped and I would have loved for him to be in a crib until he was over 3 to be honest.

Last November all four of us were in a hotel and I totally forgot to order a crib. I had the brilliant idea to just have Elliot sleep in a bed with Carl and I share a bed with Erik. It.was.a.complete.disaster. He wasn't ready for any bed other than a crib and eventually that night crawled onto the ground and wedge himself between two chairs so he could feel like he was in a crib. I did tell him after that weekend if he was ready for a big boy bed to just let me know and I will buy him a new one.

Elliot is such a different child too. He has been able to climb out of his crib for 9 months, but rarely does. He usually stays in his room until someone gets him and sometimes crawls out when his brother gets him out of his room. I had a sneaky suspicious the bed switch might go better the second time around.

Then one weekend over the course of several days, Elliot told me and Carl he wanted a big boy bed like his brother. I listened and waited for him to change his mind, he never really did. So on a Monday night we went to Ikea and bought a toddler bed instead of converting his bed. They were cheap and cute and a good difference in size for him. We went there at 5 pm and Carl had the bed built by 8 pm.

Elliot slept in his bed that night, a little afraid to get in at first and a little confused. He went none the less and never made a sound the entire night. In the morning he stayed in bed and screamed at us to come get him. It went pretty much the same way for nap and bedtime the next day and the next day, until here we are 2 weeks later and he is fully transitioned. The only complaint is that he seems to be waking up earlier and earlier everyday, but stays in bed until his clock tells him to get up at 6:30.

So my little baby is now officially out of a crib and into a big boy bed. I can't stand this growing up business and want my babies to stay babies forever.

Nurturing the arts

For ages we have all our kids photobooks sitting on a self along with a book about England and a book about Salvador Dali. Well as you can imagine the Salvador Dali book has tons of pictures and the boys have been captivated by this book reading it everyday, asking us about the pictures and talking about it themselves. Its funny to because when your kid asks you to explain a Salvador Dali picture its a near impossible task. Also I should mention that they dubbed this book, "the scary book," but my 4 year old "LOVES" scary so of course he is obsessed.

Art is a funny thing in our house. Its obviously a big part of our life since I have pictures and prints of my work everywhere and we have art books galore in our house, but there is something natural in there too. I remember a couple years ago sitting at a restaurant with the boys. Erik saw a painting on the wall and had a very emotional reaction to it. At first he HATED it and started screaming about how much he didn't like the painting, but the more we sat there the more he looked at it and started liking it. So from a very young age Erik has noticed and reacted to art.

This is something I definitely want to nurture and something I appreciate in his personality. Since the boys were so obsessed with art Carl remembered that LACMA had a program where the kids could go for free and the parent gets to go with them. I knew today was the day to go, it just made sense.

This program is actually really neat. For free the boys can go to LAMCA and other participating art museums for free until they are 17 year old and are allowed one adult with them. This makes it super easy to go an hour, 20 minutes, 10 minutes or whatever you kids can take before you go crazy. Really its an awesome program to develop early art lovers.

So this morning we decided to take them, maybe not the best idea since Elliot was up at 5:30 and Erik following that much later with a 9 pm bedtime. We all hopped in the car as soon as Erik's gymnastics were over and headed over. In reality we should have checked the time because we got there 20 minutes early, oy!

It didn't go too well to be honest. Erik touched a couple of exhibits and the art we did see was kind of boring even to me. When we finally got to something I like they were too hungry to continue. At least it was free and we can come back another day.

Their favorite was the outside display of hanging tubes. They couldn't get enough of it.

 

They also loved these colorful benches.



My favorite part apparently was the children's art gallery where we got to paint. I think I might have made more painting than the kids.

My favorite story of the day was about The Scream. There was a toy called The Screamer and Erik got obsessed with it and kept talking about it and whined that we wouldn't buy it for him. On the way home I showed him the actual painting and we had a very long discussion about that painting. So the museum might have been too soon for these boys, but we did have some moments of clarity and learning in there.

Oh and I finally got to eat at some food trucks. I have never been to a fancy one since the fad started after I stopped working full-time.

Just Christmas

Oh man, I am weeks behind on posting this blog and there isn't much to say. We had a fun Christmas with lots of family and I took 0 images like always because the lighting was too dark and I am always too busy entertaining and cooking.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve. Glannie hadn't decorated their tree yet so the boys helped them decorate it that evening.

 

Did I mention Erik is a rock star in training?

Then our new Christmas tradition of decorating cookie's at Glannie's house. No other adults help, boo on them, but the boys had fun with it.

We got moving with a little time playing Kinnect. The boys both did pretty well at it.

Waiting for Santa.

Santa is here!!

My new tradition of homemade cinnamon rolls which the boys loved and devoured. I want them to remember and think of these every Christmas honestly.

Erik's favorite costume of the morning. The second image was his official Batman pose.