Parent Orientation

Dave and I went to the parent orientation at Central College preschool yesterday.  It was pretty, well, boring.  It was a group orientation for an hour where they went over the handbook and a couple handouts they like.  Then we went to our kids classrooms to meet the teachers.  Adam's teachers seem very nice.  One is bilingual in Spanish so she will teach them their basic numbers, colors, and random words in Spanish.  The interesting thing was that they had a sheet to sign when we got in that asked if our child was going to be going to kindergarten next year - lots of parents checked "yes" .  Then someone asked if we should put extra clothes in their bags just in case and they said at this age, rarely are there any accidents and there are extra clothes in the office if needed.  They said most of the kids are 4 years old with several turning 5 this year.  What??  Is Adam going to be the youngest in the class??  I will be asking tomorrow when we head back over for him to meet his teachers.  I don't mind because I think he'll keep up academically.  It's just that other kids can make such a big deal out of age.  We'll see...

1st Private Piano Lesson

Today was Adam's first private lesson.  He walked into the Conservatory and saw a couple people standing in the office and said, "TEACHER!!  Ummm, today I am going to have a lesson with just me and the teacher and not with all the other kids!"  Mr. Jones, the office manager, helped out during the Sampler class and scheduled our privates so he understood and asked Adam if he was excited.  Adam said yes and danced around the lobby.  A couple of minutes later, one of the teachers came out and said his name was Mr. Schmidt and that Mr. Naughton who Adam was supposed to have had to go to the other location for the day.  We have never met Mr. Naughton  but Adam knew he was supposed to be his teacher.  Adam got upset and hid behind a chair.  Mr. S. had to go get Ms. Popper who taught the Sampler class and the 2 of us talked Adam into looking at Mr. S's cool room.  Adam tried to sneak out once while Ms. Popper and Mr. Schmidt were trying to have some witty banter.  Then he had to go to the bathroom.  On the way back to the piano room, I told Adam to surprise Mr. S. with much he knew.  He ended up running back to the room and sitting down with Mr. S. and I went back to the lobby.  I tried to listen to Adam from the lobby but there was a mom with her 3 young kids making too much noise.  Half an hour later, he and Mr. S. came out smiling and Mr. S. said he did really well!
Hopefully he won't freak out next week with his "real" teacher.

Last day of camp

Here is a video montage of the last day of camp today.  Sorry it's a little long...but cute!

A little song for my birthday

What a sweet boy!!




**My head isn't cut off in the original but I'm OK with it being cut off here**

Wednesday Water Day

Wednesday at gymnastics camp was "water day".  The kids were told to bring their suits, towel, sunscreen, etc and they have this big blow-up SpongeBob water slide/pool thing the kids got to play in.  I noticed that most of the girls had their suits on when we got there so I asked Mrs. A. if Adam should put his on.  She said there would be time before going out to do it or he could put it on now if he wanted. Adam wanted!  Ha ha!  He started taking off his shirt and running to get his bag that had his suit in it.  I got him to the bathroom and changed then said goodbye.

When I returned for pick-up, Adam and another girl were still out playing in SpongeBob.  They had made a "secret" t-shirt (Adam was very good at not telling us what it was), played inside, then ended the day with the water. After much coaxing and the staff starting to deflate and empty SpongeBob, I finally got Adam out.  We went  inside to pick up his clothes and picture he colored and next thing I know, his bathing suit is down to his knees!! Aaaahhh!!   He wanted to put his dry clothes on but we were in front of all these bleachers and the place is always mobbed with gymnastic girls.  I got his suit pulled back up and ushered him to the bathroom and all was well!  Ha ha!

Gymnastics camp (and piano class, too)!

Today is Day #2 for gymnastics camp at Buckeye Gymnastics and Adam is LOVING it!!  He was ready to go when he woke up this morning.  He sang a little song on the drive there.  "Gymnastics! Bay-buh!!" (as in baby).  He tries to tell me everything they did as we walk out of the building when I pick him up.  One of the other teachers said he was hilarious today and she loved watching him.  There are only 5 kids - 4 girls and him.   I guess I should see about signing him up for classes this Fall.

Yesterday he had gymnastics camp AND piano lessons.  We got stuck in traffic on the way to piano and he was soo worried that he was going to be late and miss something. We got there at 6:02 - not too bad! I thought for sure he would fall asleep on the way home but no such luck.  He's sticking to his 9:30.  Ughh!

Last week at piano, the parents got to go to a meeting with the director of the Conservatory.  I already liked them but some of his points about how they teach sealed it for me.  I asked Adam if he wanted to continue in a Sampler class like he's doing (with about 7 other kids), a smaller class with maybe 2 other kids, or private lessons with just him and a teacher.  He said he wanted just him and the teacher because the other kids get too loud and he can't hear Ms. Popper.  Good choice!!  In order to take lessons, we needed a piano.  On a list of places to get pianos there was someone called Pianoman John.  Sounded interesting so  I checked out his site and was shocked at the prices.  Graves and Henderson were selling used for at least $1500-2000.  Pianoman John  - $295 - $900.  Soooo.....we got a nice used Baldwin Henderson piano today!!   He's going to let it get acclimated and come back next week to tune it.  While John was telling us the best way to clean it, Adam went and got some paper towel and started wiping it all off.   After John left and we had some dinner (and when Adam should have been going to bed) Adam was so excited to have a piano just like class that he got his folder of "music" and went through all his lessons from the past 5 weeks.  So cute!

Week #1 morning Zoo Camp

Sitting in the ladder truck at Touch a Truck last week

Adam had no problems getting up early and heading to the zoo this morning.  We got there a little early so we had to stand outside the gates and wait wherein Adam (as always) found a new friend.  He and Henry played monkey and climbed on a light pole for a little bit and then we headed in.  Same teachers and classroom as last time so Adam walked right on in.  He got a new shirt, too!  (The new blue one is much nicer than the bright orange one from last session.  Ha ha!). 

Today the kids learned about cats.  Here is a picture of the cool art project they did.

When we were about to leave, Adam said he wanted to wait outside for his friend.  A girl came out and he was all, "There she is!! Oh, wait, that's not her!"  Several minutes later a little girl, her big brother, and her mom came out.  "THERE she is!"  and he went running up to her.  She looked, well, clueless.  He asked her name again because he couldn't remember it and the mom said Cathryn.  We said our goodbyes and Adam turned to me and said, "I love her!".  Hmmmm....From what I could gather, they were next to each other on the rope they have to hold on to on their trek to the animal exhibits.  We asked he she talked to him or if they played together and he said no.  I told Dave that the girl looked like a younger 3 and seemed to have no interest in Adam one way or the other.  But, again, Adam told Dave that he loved her.  Stay tuned for next week, I guess...