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... 

Piano sampler week #3

The kids learned "2 black keys fall down to C" yesterday.  Adam even colored his worksheets with the crayons this week!  (Dave had a little talk with him the other day saying he understood that the washable crayons kind of suck but the REAL crayons work great!  Lots more colors than markers and they don't dry up.  Seemed to convince Adam enough.)  When Adam came out of class, he said he had SO much fun!  I asked if he would like to continue taking lessons (we get to talk to the director next week while the kids are at their class) and he said yes.  Sooo...I will ask the director if we can get away with having a keyboard for a while before investing $1500 or more for a piano.  I am so happy that he likes it and would like to get him started while he is still interested.

Zoo camp week #3

It was SOO hot yesterday that I almost kept Adam home from camp..but I like my "free" time.  Ha ha!  As the kids were filing into the classroom, one of the other parents asked if the kids would be going on their weekly trek to one of the exhibits.  Luckily, due to the heat they would be staying in the classroom the whole time.  When we got the handout of what they did/learned for the day, their trek would have been the LONGEST one yet.  They were supposed to walk to the nocturnal building (which is on the other side of the zoo) to check out all the different kinds of ears on the animals there.  Instead they got more play time and more time to work on their craft.

This is how he came out of the classroom - ears upside-down and rubbing sunscreen in his eyes.

That's better!  :)


I asked him if he wanted next week to be the last day of camp or if we should sign up for another session.  They told us at pick-up that August is a new subject/lesson and there's still space available.  He said he wanted more!  I checked the schedule when we got home and there were 2 spots available Friday mornings so we signed up for another 4 weeks in August.  The second week will be a bit hectic since zoo camp is 9-12 and gymnastics camp is 1-4 but that will mean he'll be nice and tired for bedtime.

And here he is with his 2nd summer hair cut and his Tie-fighter and Millenium Falcon sandwiches. He actually ate both!

Zoo camp week #2

This week, Adam ran into the Education Building and down the hall to his classroom yelling "I've been here before!".  Ha ha!  We were a couple minutes early but as soon as the door opened, he went right in...barely a goodbye from him.  This week was about noses and the sense of smell so they walked over to see the elephants and rhinos.  No good stories from Adam about his day.  Just that he had to go poop and he asked his teachers to help him wipe and they told him he had to do it by himself.  I guess we should be working harder on that but we usually help him out because he can get messy by himself.   That will be the goal by the time school starts in September.

We got a bunch of paper work from Central College Preschool yesterday for dates of returning paper work, orientations, and start of school.  I'm wondering what they can possibly talk about for 2 hours at the Orientation the parents are supposed to go to.  (Anyone free August 30th from 6-8 to watch the boy?)  The kids get to go to their classroom for an hour on Sept 1 to get familiar with it before classes start.  Hopefully that will remind Adam that he has been there before and liked it so he won't be clinging to me the first day of school.

Adam has a new phrase he likes to say...."Oh. My. Jesus!"  We don't know where he got it from.  He said Dave says it but I'm pretty sure he doesn't.  Hmmmm.

Piano Sampler

Adam had his first piano sampler.  As always, a group of kids goes in the room and says goodbye while Adam whines for me not to leave.  I left quickly anyway!  The class was an hour long so I brought a book and my iphone to keep me occupied while I waited in the lobby.  (Next time I might go explore the Worthington Mall to see if it's changed any in the past 10 years or so since I've been there last).  We could hear a little bit from the lobby since the classroom was right next to the door.  We heard the kids banging on the piano a couple of times and Miss Popper asking them questions.  At one point I heard, "Adam?Adam?Adam?Adam?Adam?"  (Miss Popper talks VERY fast).   Adam said he was busy looking at the girl sitting next to him and not paying attention.  Ha ha! 

After the hour was up, Miss Popper called us in to the hallway and told us that she was going to take us into the room and tell us what they did today but not to talk to the kids because they were "zipped".  They were not allowed to talk to us until Miss Popper finished talking to us.  It worked pretty well except Adam tried to "mmm mmm mmm!" to me and started banging his folder around a little.  They learned about the black keys on the piano - there are 2 and 3 in a row.  Adam sang a little song about 2 and 3.  They also counted their fingers 1-5 starting at their thumb since that is how they will be taught to play using fingers.   Adam said he had fun but wanted to know if he was going to be allowed to play with the puzzles and toys that were in the room next time.  I don't think so... :)

As an added bonus, I had just strapped Adam in his car sear and was walking around the back of the car when I heard a loud SMASH!  The car in front of us put his car in drive instead of reverse and bumped our car!!  First thing I did was open the door to make sure Adam was OK.  The guy (and wife and kid that was in our class) continued to just sit in his car.  After what felt like forever, he backed up and got out to check for damage.  Luckily the loud smash was his plastic license plate cover getting cracked to pieces and the cars were fine.   Whew!

Zoo camp

Adam had his first day (well, afternoon actually) of zoo kids camp today.  It started at 1:30 and pick-up was at 4:30.  At drop-off, the kids were all given an orange zoo kids t-shirt and a button with their name on it.  Everyone was to wear their shirt to make it easier for the teachers to keep track of them but Adam didn't want to wear it.  After a little coaxing and him seeing ALL the other kids changing into the orange shirts, he decided to wear his too.  But...he wouldn't let me leave.  Anytime I tried to run out the door, he screamed and started crying. Ugghh!  It's not like I've never left him before.  None of the other kids were upset.  Finally, one of the teachers distracted him enough for me to run and then they shut the door so he couldn't run after me.  I waited in the hallway a couple minutes while a some parents were still going in and out and once I didn't hear him crying anymore, I left.

Pick-up time was full of smiles.  The teacher said they got Adam to go look at the spider in the room again and compared it to the spider (man) on his socks.  Then he was fine.  Adam said that the reason he was soo upset at drop-off was because he had never been to that classroom before and he was scared.  He said next week he will be fine.  The lesson today was about eyes - how the can be located on top, on the side, or on the front of the head, how some animals can see really well, etc.  They got to walk around North America and see the eagles, cougars, bears, otters,  and wolves.  Then they got a snack and a visit from a hissing cockroach that they all got to touch.  They also made an owl puppet that they colored and glued to a paper bag.  Adam said his favorite part was coloring.  Ha ha!!

Monday starts his piano sampler class for 6 weeks. Hopefully he won't have a melt-down for that but I believe I have to stay there for that one since it is only an hour long.  Plus, I want to see how they run a group class of preschoolers.  It should be entertaining!  In August he is going to gymnastics camp for a week.  Then school starts!