New Bed

Jake's new bed arrived yesterday, in the middle of a day when he was very sick and had a very high fever. Still, he seemed excited and kept asking if this was the day it was coming, so we decided a) not to cancel delivery and b) not to insist that the crib be removed from the room. If I had a 103 degree fever I wouldn't want to be forced to sleep in a new place either! We figured as long as the bed made it into the room and he accepted this, we'd have made progress.

So, Jake woke up early from his nap, and then shortly after the delivery truck called to ask if they could deliver early. On hearing this news, Jake happily announced they must have known he was excited and that's why they were coming early!

After about 40 minutes of watching them install the bed, he asked that his animals and blanket be put in and started loading his pillows in and jumping around. By bedtime, he was very clear though that sleeping was to be done in the crib, which does still fit in the room with the bed, though just barely. At 5am this morning, he woke with another very high fever and accepted my suggestion that we lie in bed for a few minutes instead of sitting on his chair. It was SO much more comfortable for me with my big belly!

Today, he got some new balloons and he asked to read books in his new bed, with the balloons. He does like it very much! We do too!

Play Doh Family

Jake and I made this last spring, but I realize now it’s quite the nice representation of our soon to be complete family! (Don’t you love my Medusa hair?!)

Some favorite pix

End of the Week Preschool Report

Now by the end of the week, Jake seems to have adjusted to his full mornings. He stopped yawning in the car after pick-up and complained less about being tired. His cold is better and his naps are back to normal length. He brought home a special school bag with some of his work and hopefully sometime over the weekend he'll want to show it to us. He threw the bag down on arriving home and hasn't looked at it since. I peeked while he was napping and it has little envelopes marked "Jake's cuttings" full of tiny pieces of paper, 2 water colored half circles, and one big multi-colored crayon drawing. They also included a packet of his school picture, which was taken on Tues. and Mike was relieved to hear I thought they were pretty awful. I was hoping it would be a group shot, but it's just a portrait. Not only are the expressions bad but the lighting was terrible and they are fuzzy. Clearly, we don't need to purchase those!

Still, it was a good end to a very special week for all of us. Jake and Mike are now used to getting up at 6:30 and getting out of the door by 8. I am loving my quiet time from 8 to 9 am and so look forward to pick-ups at noon, where I see my boy glowing and smiling and he climbs into the car and talks nonstop with excitement all the way home. We LIKE school!

First Day of School

Mike and I were clearly more nervous than Jake for his first day of preschool today. We were both a little stressed last night. We wanted everything to be perfect!

On arrival, he insisted on holding his plastic box of extra clothing himself, and once he started talking to two teachers, he didn't even look back to say good-bye to Daddy. He was too busy telling Amee and Bonny that his slippers were in the box, that he wanted to put the box in his cubby himself, stay for snack and go play in the playground. All at once.

Mike called me to tell me that all went well with Jake's first drop-off and I, of course, 28 weeks full of hormones, burst into tears. My little boy, so ready for school! I hope the next week is as positive. My friend Melissa came by this morning and said that her son had a great time in the first week and started complaining the week after, before adjusting the week after that.

In any case, I will say this: the house is EXTREMELY quiet!!

Follow-up from 1pm:

Apparently the rest of the morning went fabulously well. Mike got to observe behind the one way mirror for about 10 minutes around 10 am and Jake was playing/working very intently on cutting and some other activities by himself and just asking for help from time to time. Mike said it was like he had been in that classroom for months.

They said he was “very atypical” and all agreed he could go for the full 3 hours tomorrow. He announced to Mike that he wanted to go back and play in the playground!

He did come home VERY tired and kept saying he was. I put him down for nap early and he seemed grateful. I think he was more nervous than he had let on!

More from the Zoo

A Day at the Zoo

Feeding the goats, the highlight of the trip!

Jake looked like quite the homie, despite his pink cap and sponge bob sunglasses!

Expressing glee at the giraffes' long tongues.

Making friends with a baby chimp. This chimp flirted with us shamelessly and insisted on showing us all his tricks. He went into his box and jumped up and down inside it, swung on ropes and ran around his entire cage to get our attention. But when we asked him to, he stuck his head out to see what Jake could show him. Jake obliged by doing a hat trick against the fence. Mike pretended to climb a tree. The chimp loved it!

Last but not least, emerging from the gift shop with a new tiger toy.

Jumping Jake