We were told to not ask the teacher questions while picking up/dropping off our children because it holds up the line. So when Jubilee climbed into the car, I did not ask how she was doing. However, the teacher said…wait for it…
“Jubilee likes preschool now.”
What? Huh? Excuse me? Did you just say what I think you said?
That was about the extent of our conversation so I know nothing more. But again Jubilee said today was a little better.
Hallelujah!
My heart has been so torn up over Jubilee’s response to her first day of school. After shopping at Target, the two of us had lunch together at Quiznos and had a good time sharing a sandwich, chips, and root beer.
As we drove to Challenger, I told her we were driving to preschool. Her countenance changed.
“What are you feeling?” I asked.
“Sad,” Jubilee replied.
“Because you didn’t like preschool?”
“Yeah.”
“Well remember on Blues Clues,” I suggested, “when Steve was trying to learn how to juggle? He kept trying and little by little he got better. Do you remember that?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s the same with preschool,” I continued. “If you try a little bit each time it will get better.”
“Okay.”
We get to Challenger and wait in line for Jubilee’s turn to be escorted. I pray for her and as we continue to wait, she says, “Today will be better.” (She didn’t say exactly that, but that’s the gist of it.)
I do not know what inspired this leap of faith!
Gaun-Gaun helped me out by picking her up from school. When she got home she said, “It was a little better. And the next time it will be even better.”
After waiting in the car line up for 30 minutes…
Jubilee gets in the car. I ask her if she likes Challenger.
“No,” she replies.
“No?! Jubilee, did you like Challenger?” I double-check.
“No,” she undoubtedly replies.
“Why not?” I ask, my head filling with all types of scenarios.
“I like the other pre-school because it’s funner.”
There’s no arguing. her logical reasoning. The whole drive back (a whopping 3 minutes, which is one reason we chose the school), I keep saying “Uh-oh” to myself over and over again.
When we get home, Jubilee sees a new box of snacks that I purchased. So I pour some into a bowl, pour a cup of orange juice, and we sit at her activity table to discuss her day. She told 4 names. She doesn’t remember her teachers’ names yet. She explained the worksheets she brought home. (I’ll just add that they were perfect.)
We’ll see what happens. I’m hesitant to also enroll her into her previous preschool. There’s no time conflict, just a lot of time away from me. But I know she misses those kids and teachers.
Hmmm.
Sunday evening, David finishes assembling our second crib. Forgetting all the rules to keep things the same for a few days, we move Madeleine out of the Pack ‘N Play and into the crib for bedtime.
No problems!
We think one thing that helps is that the crib is in the corner, away from distractions when their bedroom door is open. (Mainly my light when I’m reading in bed.)
The last post talked about the perfection of Saturday’s sleeping.
Then came Sunday. Which really was Saturday night.
At 12:15am, I check all the door locks before going to sleep.
I hear Madeleine stirring. I stand at the doorway and wait.
I hear her rustling in the Pack ‘N Play with her soothing toys. No noise.
I peek my head in.
I think I see eyes!
I walk in and wait.
Still no noise.
I take a closer look.
Definitely open eyes!
I wait some more.
Madeleine rolls to her side away from me.
I walk away.
Waaaaahhhhh!!!!
Now I run away! (Not really.)
She screams off and and on for the next twenty-five minutes.
Ninety minutes later…
Waaaaahhhh!!!! Translation: you think I forgot that you left?
I go to pat her tummy. Doesn’t help. We wait a little more, then David picks her up and sits with her in the rocker for several minutes. She calms down. No more noise.
Pau-Pau thinks I’m a strange mother. She doesn’t understand why Madeleine still sleeps in her car seat.
Then again, Pau-Pau wasn’t there last week when Madeleine screamed for half an hour. (A short amount considering the other times we’ve attempted this. But I digress….)
Madeleine has been sleeping in the car seat, which is in the crib for a couple weeks now. After I tried to remove the car seat and she screamed, I remembered that I couldn’t start retraining her to sleep in the crib that night. We were having guests the following evening and it takes at least a few days to train a child to go to sleep on their own.
Anyway, Pau-Pau was baby-sitting Friday afternoon while I was out with Jubilee. Maddie was getting tired, so she decided to put her down for her afternoon nap.
In the Pack ‘N Play.
Without her beloved pacifier.
Without her pig rattle which I’ve been giving her to help her transition to a crib.
Without a baby wash cloth that I’ve also been using as a soothing item.
No problem!
After I got home, I nursed Angelina and put her to sleep. I was very nervous about putting her in the same room because Madeleine is such a light sleeper. Again, no problem! Pau-Pau felt vindicated.
But I won’t mention that they didn’t nap as long as they usually do. Or that Angelina was unhappy and cried intermittently, and that I can only guess it’s because she wanted to know why she was in the crib instead of they Pack ‘N Play. Really, I won’t do that.
However, I will mention that today, Maddie napped in the Pack ‘N Play and Angelina napped in the crib all today extremely well and without problems. And guess what’ they’re doing right now? Sleeping for the past 2 hours without any problems. We will wait and see if they sleep through the night happily.
The next obstacle is moving Maddie into the second crib. Maybe she simply prefers the Pack ‘N Play? I suppose that’s beneficial for traveling purposes, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
As we were driving yesterday, Jubilee shouted out, “There’s a flag! It’s the flag of our country! And there’s another flag! It’s Old McDonald’s flag of his country.”
We already knew that Jubilee thinks Old McDonald owns the McDonald’s restaurants, but we didn’t know he also had his own country. 
Today we turned on the TV to watch some olympics and it was the diving competition. After a moment of watching, Jubilee asked, “Where’s the other person?”
Thus far, Jubilee had seen only synchronized diving during this Beijing Olympics. She didn’t know that the norm is solo diving.