Off to school!

Unlike this blog which has seen little activity in a while, life in the Little Bear household has been busy and eventful.

We are having a blast with the little fella and are enjoying spending time with him. Occasionally, the Terrible Twos make their appearance and that too with a vegeance. We are dealing with discipline issues, lots of talking back, whining for no apparent reason and the decibel level in the house has suddenly quadrupled. All this, coupled with late bedtimes has left this blog sorely neglected but we are back to report some recent developments.

Last week, Little Bear started preschool at a local Montessori. We have been convinced that our son would thrive in the hands-on, peaceful and pleasant learning environment that a Montessori school provides and were looking forward to this event all summer .

Little Bear had mixed feelings about going to school. He was excited about the prospect of new toys at school but not so excited about other children being there too ...more kids means sharing of toys and we are not a fan of that!

So Monday, August 11th rolled around and we were all scramblng to get him ready for school. Dressed in brand new clothes and shoes, Little Bear posed for pictures with Amma and Appa and then a little reluctantly sat in the car. School begins at 8:45 am and ends at noon. We have a car pool lane to drop and pick him, a feature I was not sure about but one that I have begun to love.

When I picked him at noon that first day, his face bore a tired battered look. I knew he had cried some and was clearly overwhelmed. His teacher informed me that he had spent most of the morning crying and she had held him the whole time. The only 'activity' he had seemed to enjoy was sweeping the garden.

The first week, was a mixed bag of not wanting to go to school and crying. The following week, things were a little better. He had discovered another activity he liked - window washing. And between sweeping the garden, window washing and 'reading' the books, he seemed a content little bear.

The only source of concern for me was that he was not eating his snack at school. The school expected the kids to help themselves to the snack to encourage independence and Little Bear is not used to that. So, I sent him off to school with a gentle reminder everyday to get a snack or ask the teacher for it if he was not sure how to serve himself...But everyday at noon, when I picked him up, he was starving and informed me that I did not get a snack because there was none...Clearly, he was a little intimidated with the idea of getting a snack himself, and needed some help to overcome this fear.

Finally, I used the tried and tested last resort in parenting, one that has a track record of success but is usually frowned upon by idealists. I bribed the boy. The prize would be a new fire engine to add to his fleet of 'whee-oos' and he would get one, if he got a snack at school the next day. Papa bear reminded him about the prize when he dropped him that morning.

When I picked Little Bear at school the next day, the teacher proudly told me that he had had a wonderful day.Also, he ate a snack she announced. My heart swelled with pride and I glanced at the boy,who looked at me gleefully and opened his mouth to remind me about the impending trip to Toys r us. I hastily pulled the car off the car pool and drove home, with Little Bear rattling off the exact specifications of the fire engine he wanted - it had to have a ladder, a bucket, 2 firemen, a hose and should make a sound ...