3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months, 1 week.

Connor and I are very happy to have discovered the Underhill Playground, which is full of broken toys, just like our beloved LICH park in Cobble Hill.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months, 1 week.

Graham's best new school friend is Lucca.  She and Graham were sitting by each other after school today when Lucca very sweetly pulled up a third chair and said it was for Connor.  There are little red, blue and green berries on the bushes around the edges of the garden at their school which for some reason they call rainbow power.  Graham loves to throw the berries, strike a superhero stance, and shout "rainbow power!"  Connor has done some testing of the berries and we have determined that they are not highly poisonous.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months, 1 week.

When it's 82 degrees and sunny on a Sunday in late September, you go to the beach!

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months.

Graham had a short week of school this week because of the Jewish holidays, which unfortunately also corresponded with torrential rains.  Thank goodness for open play time at the NY Kids Club!

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "our bodies":

Hi mommas and papas,

We began our week reading I Like Me about a pig who loves herself. We took turns having our bodies traced on Monday. Tuesday we used water colors to paint them and Wednesday we added colorful shapes.

This week we opened the water table to the delight of all. People waited patiently and excitedly between turns. They practiced scooping and pouring water over our two water wheels.

We have been practicing using our s l o w walking feet in the classroom. Everyone succeeded in walking s l o w l y to hang their names on the attendance chart. And back to the carpet too. Sometimes school is so exciting everyone wants to run from one activity to the next.

We had an inspection visit from the fire department, talk about exciting. It was a good introduction to talk about our first fire drill which we will do before the month ends.

We had a short but sweet week.

Have a splendid long weekend,
Therese

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months.

Sickie alert.  Connor slept until we had to leave to drop Graham off at preschool and then acted completely dazed when we got back home, so he went down for a 3 hour morning nap.  When he woke up, he wolfed down a banana, barfed it straight back up, and then was fine.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months.

Graham isn't the only artist in the family.  Connor is mostly interested in pulling the caps on and off the markers, which he can (unfortunately) do by himself, but he does make one or two scribbles with each before recapping.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months.

Graham really wanted to sleep with Marlon tonight.  Apparently the feeling was mutual.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 5 months.

Just a couple of bros hanging out after soccer practice.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 4 weeks.

Lily and Graham are great buddies.  They were having so much fun at school that we kept the party going at the park after school.  Graham got a kite up all by himself for the first time!

Summary of the school week from Therese, entitled "hands can":

Hi everyone,

We started our week reading Hands Can and clapping. Round of applause!
Everyone chose a color to have their hands traced. We counted fingers
and sang Where Is Thumbkin? And Open, Shut Them. We also sang The Itsy
Bitsy Spider when we discovered a spider web in the yard. The spider
was not there but had returned when we came back out later. He was not
itsy bitsy. We visited him every day after that. Mostly he was out to
lunch when we stopped by.

We made hand prints using paint and read Hands Are Not For Hitting. We
talked about other things we could do with our hands. One person said,
"I can pick up a tiny roly-poly."

We made a foot print mural by painting with our feet. The next day we
added hand prints and walked around the table "walking" with our hands
through the paint. We asked what can we do with our feet? Walk, run
and one response, "I can kill things with my feet, ants."

We are working on getting to know our routine, learning each others
names, where the Peanut Butter wall is, and listening to each other.
We are also working on using our words to ask for turns and speak up
for ourselves. And waiting patiently for turns. We have been singing
lots of different name songs during circle while putting our name
cards up on the attendance chart. Everyone will be able to recognize
their names and each others. We will add photos too, as soon as we can
get everyone to be still enough long enough to get a perfectly cute
photo.

We are reading and talking about our five senses. We listened to a
plane, smelled a flower, looked at a book, tasted our snacks and felt
different textures with our hands and our bare feet. We walked across
the stage on fur, foam, the sticky side of contact paper, sand paper,
vinyl and burlap. Some people thought walking on sticky paper was
hysterical. Some of us smelled a stick in the yard that smelled like
mint. It did. We also saw a bumble bee walking slowly. We observed him
for many minutes. He observed us as well.

After reading The Soles Of Our Feet we tried to pick up a rubber band
and a pencil with our toes. Not easy but no one was defeated.

Next week we will trace our entire bodies. And paint them.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Therese

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 4 weeks.

Graham showed Connor a huge grasshopper hiding in the flowers at the park this afternoon.  Connor is really interested in bugs and loves to point at the bees on the flowers.  Luckily, he hasn't tried to touch one (yet).

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

Marker drawings from school, described by the artist as captioned on the pictures.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

Connor and I biked to Prospect Park this morning to visit the geese and swans.  Connor is fearless and had to be continuously pulled away from the birds.  He's also looking like a very big boy in a t-shirt and his first pair of real jeans.  

After we picked up Graham from school, Graham took a turn on the tire swing in his hooded sweatshirt, which he loves and insists on wearing daily now that the weather has turned.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

I think these two are discussing how Micah's party was pretty fun but the cupcakes need more icing.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

Graham and Sam tried to figure out what was up with this "mindful triathlon" (5K run, yoga, meditation...?) after soccer practice.

Thanks for the warm-ups, Grammy!  Graham loves them.

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

Climbing mission of the day: the chain link fence at JJ Byrne.

Summary of the week from Therese, entitled "alphabet, but not soup"

Hi you all,

Our first week was alphabetized.

We sang the alphabet and read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! We read more
beginning school books and used alphabet stamps to decorate our art
folders. We played with shaving cream, adding colors the second day to
mix things up. We also mixed blue and yellow at the easel and
discovered a new color. We played Simon Says. He said to walk like a
bear, stand up, hop, crawl like a kitty, drink a saucer of milk,
slither like a snake and get ready to go out and play. After all that
work.

We did the Hokey Pokey too. That's what it's all about.

We used our sense of touch to feel an object in the Feely Box. Guesses
included: a toy, cold, a puzzle piece and I don't know. It was hard
for most to not use their sense of sight and peek in the box. While in
the yard, we took our first tree photo, beginning our documentation of
the seasons. We recalled after returning to the classroom that its
leaves were green. Still summer. We noticed a tree in one of our books
also has green leaves. Everyone got measured on our height chart. We
will measure three times during the year to see our growth.

Quiet time has been sleepy, quiet and full of peace. Wednesday when
everyone slept but one, she looked up from her book and asked, "Why is
everyone asleep?"

Next week we'll sing songs using our hands, read about hands, trace
our hands and make hand prints. Maybe we'll even give some high fives.
And we will make feet prints too.

Hope you've had a hearty weekend,
Therese

3 years, 7 months/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

Graham and Connor spent a couple happy hours playing at Graham's school this afternoon.  Graham pretended to be a stormtrooper with dinosaur feet while Connor practiced setting up figures.  Connor is spending a lot of time doing this sort of thing right now--lining up dinosaurs on the edge of a chair, balancing blocks on the edge of the coffee table, etc.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 3 weeks.

After music class, Batman demonstrated his corkscrew technique at the playground.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks.

Happy birthday Daddy!  We all love you so much!

Quote of the day from Graham: I will never be happy until Halloween.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks.

Happy birthday Nana!  And go birds!  Granny Annie came to visit today.  Hopefully we didn't scare her off from her October trip.  Great to see you, Aunt Mary Ann!

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks.

Happy birthday Grammy!  Graham spent the morning at his very first soccer practice, and the drizzly afternoon watching part of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."  Connor was very interested in the movie and danced to all the songs.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks.

Connor took advantage of having Mama to himself while Graham was at school to practice the big kid swings.  Later, we wrapped up the first (short) week of school with a pool & pizza party at Annika's house.  11 kids + 2 pools + 1 water table + 3 cheese pizzas = a great afternoon.

Graham's preschool teacher Therese sends out weekly summaries of what the kids have been up to over the past week.  Here's her first, entitled "place mats, play dough and play":

Hi Everyone,

Our first two days went swimmingly. Minus the pool. Although we did sing a song about swimming in a pool. We also sang about a crocodile, a boa constrictor and meatballs. We sang and hopped on two feet, one foot, touched our toes, meowed like cats, barked like dogs and slithered like snakes.

What have we been doing you ask? We have been reading books about dogs starting school, pigs starting school and yes, children too. We read about mommies leaving and coming back, about classroom routines and about sharing at school. Everyone colored their place mats which have been laminated (thanks for retrieving our laminator) and will be used for snacks and lunch. We made play dough pancakes, tacos, hot dogs, ice cubes and snakes. In the big room we rode tricycles and took turns driving the car.

Our year begins with an All About Me unit. We will learn about ourselves and each other. How we are alike and different. Before we dive into that, we will be spending our first couple of weeks getting to know the space, each other, our names and the classroom routines and rules. We have been learning each others names in our Good Morning song during circle and during play when asking for a turn. A good part of the day has been spent encouraging and making sure everyone is going to the bathroom, able to get on and off the toilet, pulling up underwear and pants, in that order, washing hands and using one paper towel. It's going well. Lots of potty talk, but constructive appropriate potty talk. Not the other kind.

In the yard, we are working on gross motor skills climbing up and down the jungle gym and on the swings. We are encouraging everyone to swing on their own at whatever level they're capable. For some this means swinging on their bellies working on leg muscles to push themselves, and learning balance. And when they're ready and able to pull themselves up to sitting, using upper body strength and core muscles to lean and move the swing. People are working to climb up the slides using a great deal of upper body strength as well.

These first two days were fun getting to know the new children and welcome back returning families. 

We appreciate all the hard work we know y'all are doing for Old First Nursery School and firmly believe it is worth it. Thank you!

Have a nice weekend and see you in the morning,

Therese

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks.

Happy first day of preschool at Old First Nursery School!  Graham was very excited to go and see his teachers, Therese and Kiera, who came to our house yesterday to meet him, and meet his new school friends.  I think he was feeling a little anxious before school, though--I found him snuggling with his blankets in Connor's closet with the door closed, and he told me that he was already at school and it was a sleep away camp so he was doing his sleeping.  It's a good thing he went with his second outfit choice (might have been harder to make friends in underpants and Daddy's belt).

When I picked him up from school, he seemed to have had an amazing time but was so beat that he had a huge and very out-of-character meltdown over a missing water bottle before he crashed for his nap.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 1 week.

It took us a long time to make the hike to the new splash pad at the LeFrak Center in Prospect Park, but it was worth the wait.

3.5 years/1 year, 4 months, 1 week.

After a little light reading, Graham, Annika, and Klara scarfed down an entire cantaloupe and 1/4 of a watermelon while Connor busily moved a chair from the pool to the ground and back over and over at today's Labor Day BBQ.