Among the coupon clipping, the “No Gavin, stop that/no touch!”, the housekeeping (or lack thereof), and the deficient staving off of the depression-monster, I’ve also been busy with a certain soon-to-be 3-year-old who has just started preschool.  We are very fortunate that Quentin was approved for developmental preschool. He has successfully transitioned from the state’s Early Intervention Program (EIP) to the local school system.  (You might not be privy to the fact that he was referred by his ped to the EIP over a year ago due to speech delay and had been receiving in-home speech and occupational therapy.)

First week of preschool down… two years to go! *Sigh*. Just the thought can be exasperating, as I’m finding myself up until midnight baking cookies for Halloween parties and struggling through nightly homework with a kid who clearly does not want to “color 2 orange pumpkins and 3 purple pumpkins”, because dammit- he likes BLUE. And yes, I said HOMEWORK. In preschool! Am I the only one surprised by this?  It doesn’t help that the packets they send home are fairly advanced for his current level of ability. I understand that the point of this homework is not entirely about the actual educational content, but also to instill responsibility, discipline and the ability to follow instructions.  However, to me – it’s more like, get your metal armor on because there’s about to be a battle of wills!

We’ve also had a little drama in regards to the bus.  Quentin is still very afraid of riding the bus and I doubt he’s on the bus driver’s “most loved” list.  He’s given them (the bus driver and aide) a run for their money this week in regards to tantrums when being put ON the bus, both in the mornings and after school. The first day, he came off the bus and confessed to me “I scared of da bus. I cry!” at which point I simultaneously shot the bus driver a look of sympathy while inwardly thinking “Sucks to be you!”, because I know all too well what a Quentin-sized meltdown entails.

All joking and bitching aside, I’m so proud and happy for my little guy. It makes me sort of sad though. He’s not my baby anymore! And holy shit did I just like blink my eyes and he went from this little thumb-sucking Gizmo to a full-blown preschoolin’ Gremlin? No kidding, time sure does fly!

Quentin @ 4 mos. old

He was very proud to wear his uniform and “packback” the first day of school…

Quentin's first day of preschool

The teachers said he has done really well at school and that the first week is always the most rough. I’m already being the overbearing Mom with my custom notes/emails to the teacher asking “Am I doing this right?” or “Can you further explain this?…”.  I’m pretty sure I’m not on HER “most loved” list either. I need to lay low for a few weeks before I think of joining the PTA and jumping on any soap boxes. I kid of course. I’m so not the PTA type ;) Oh, and those cookies for the Halloween party? Came out like huge flat pancakes. “Bakery Style” my ass!  I never said I was the Betty Crocker type either…

So hubby and I aren’t sure if we should admit to this one or not. We’re sort of stuck between high-fiving each other and a bit of guilt. We made a slightly “extravagant” purchase for our 2-year-old. However, “extravagant” is a relative term in this case. Let’s just say that after we set it up, we both felt the need to exclaim, “I never had anything this cool when I was a kid!”.

Quentin's TV

Is that a 19″ HD LCD TV and DVD player? In a 2-year-old’s room?! (And dammit, it’s nicer than the one in Mommy & Daddy’s room!) Ok, so before you go pullin’ out the “Spoiled” or “Bad Parent” card, I think we need to explain WHY we wanted to get this for the boys…

It was actually more for us than it was for them. The primary reason is to stop the insanity in the living room. Like it or not, our boys are snack chompin’, crumb droppin’, sippy cup lovin’, juice drippin’ television hounds. I try to limit their TV time because I’m fully aware that it’s a big no-no. But we still let them watch Sesame Street, Curious George, and several of the shows on Noggin (Yo Gabba Gabba especially). They also like to watch a lot of the Pixar/Disney movies (lather, rinse, repeat). So when it comes to TV time, I wanted them to camp out in Q’s room, as it’s more like a playroom. Stains and wear & tear on our poor overused living room can hopefully be minimized. Our house is pretty small (1600 sq. ft.), so I also wanted to get them out of my hair a bit so I can perform necessary evils like unloading the dishwasher or transferring laundry to the dryer without tripping over little munchkin feet.

Now there is a caveat with this set up because we did not hook it up to the cable. It’s strictly for watching DVD’s, hence the need for the DVD player. I’m going to limit the cable TV watching even more, and that will be in the living room so they can be supervised. Also, in our defense (dang I see a pattern here with use of that phrase), the total cost we dropped on this set up was around $225 bucks. So definitely not top of the line. We’re talking Visio and Memorex (but it gets the job done). We purchased the TV on sale at Target ($197) and the DVD player was super economical at only $25. That way if they break the player not so much heartache replacing something that inexpensive. And I fully expect they will break it. After all, I have two little button pushers on my hands.