a little back to school cutie

Otto's first day of school 2013/2014. The hamming is strong with this one.

Awww, my little guy. This will be his 3rd year attending the Montessori preschool and it is brain boggling how much he's grown as a scholar, a good citizen, a silly goof (so important to grow as a goof!), and just as a human who won't stop growing! Otto is popular with the other kids and with the parents. He's sweet and polite but he's also not afraid to challenge anyone to a game of super ninjas and he WILL be the bad guy, you bet on it! And you watch out cuz he saw a REAL badguy once, getting handcuffed across the street one time, so he KNOWS about bad guy stuff first hand... He loves math, writing, games, and puzzles. He is obsessed with the fact that another boy at school told him he can't play chess against himself. We hear that story like every other day and yes, Otto, yes you can you little amazing awesome person! When it comes to puzzles he still prefers taking on challenges he know he will dominate. As in, he'd rather wow you by speed-putting together a 24 piece puzzle versus challenging himself with a 100 piece one. But that's cool, I get it, I do. I'm kinda that way too. He loves being the oldest kid in his class this year. He started out as the youngest, being mentored by the older kids in the 2 1/2 - 5 year old classroom. This year he is basically a "senior" and loves to show the littler kids the ropes. He has a heart of gold, a wild imagination, he's smart as a whip, and I just love this wonderful little guy who is going to rock preschool this year. My super star.

preschool penpals ♥

friday will be Otto's last day at his pre-school. boooooo. we have had such an amazing experience since he first became a part of this school and Otto has grown as a socialite, intellectual, adventurer, artist, and friend.

he just loves it there. and loves his little friends there so much that he even insists on incorporating them into our bedtime routine. at night, every night, we sing the Batman song but instead of "dun nuh nuh nuh bat-maaaan" we sing different names of Otto's friends at school. it's so sweet and funny. and just shows how much Otto's playmates mean to him.

so... one idea i had to help Otto transition as we move several states away was to invite the kids in his class to become pen-pals with Otto. but i wanted to do it in a way that really encouraged them to do so (not just, hey write me a letter) especially as we aren't particularly close to any of the parents of the kiddos in Ot's class. but Otto is so very close to the kids themselves. so i put together these little envelopes, one for each child in Ot's class...

letter co-written by yours truly and the Ottster himself.

see, they're already pre-addressed and stamped! talk about guilt-factor (haha) if at least a few of the kids don't write to us i'll become a huge misanthrope forevermore. anyways, someone better!

so each envelope will have a little letter from Otto paperclipped to it, and will be put in the kids' mailboxes at school on friday. this way, Otto can share stories and pictures of Oregon with his Tucson friends and vice versa, he can keep in touch with his Tucson playmates and their goings-on. i'm really excited about this and hope it works out!

Ot even got in on the action by decorating some of the envelopes. stamp much? :)

he's surely going to miss his preschool here in Tucson a lot. and i know that's just one of a bazillion adjustments we're asking him to make with this move. my job (i feel) is just to make the transition as easy and fun as i can for him. to instill a spirit of adventure and excitement into the move. and this pen-pal idea seemed really fun to me. hopefully we can keep this smile on my kiddo's face throughout the transition to our new city/state. cuz it's such a freakin cute smile...

-lindsey

Full Moon

Tonight Otto was wound up like an 8-day clock. Rob gave me a little shit for saying that earlier. He told Otto (for my benefit), "wow, sometimes your mom really says cool things like she's from the 1800s."

"It's a saying," I defended. And I'm right, it IS a saying. (But I think it might be from the 1800s.)

So here we are at the end of Otto's first week at preschool. Le sigh. But really, let's raise a glass! It's gone well. On Wednesday and Friday he did get stressed and cry a bit as we were dropping him off. His teachers suggested we bring in a photo of our family for him to carry around during the day for reassurance. We did that for today and they said he carried it around alllll day long. There's even a picture of him laying down with it propped up next to him at naptime. (I can't wait til they send me that pic) Very sweet.

I think Ot may have hit max capacity today on the adjusting-to-preschool thing, though. He kind of went apeshit berserk this evening. I took him to the grocery store with me and he was like a wild, yowly little squirrel monkey freakshow. Like a mogwai that ate all kinds of fried chicken after midnight. Not whiney, not even sour, just completely freaking bonkers. He pulled my hair, which I can't even tell you how much I hate that. Mother-effing-ouch! He pulled my hair like six times. Each time I was so dead serious, "let go." And then I'd tell him, "that really hurts." I told him, "pull your hair to see how it hurts" and here's where you know someone snuck your kid crack, he looked at me with this crazy, wide-eyed smiley face, grabbed a chunk of his bangs, and pulled as hard as he could for like 30 seconds, totally smiling the whole time. 

What?!

I was like, "Stop, Wild Thing, I don't want you to hurt mommy or yourself!"

In the parking lot we spotted the full moon up in the sky, and pointed to it, and Otto said, "moooon," and I thought, "well that's probably part of it." Full moon night, plus a tumultuous week with a new schedule, new environment, and new people (without mom and dad there) to adjust to, and add in a teeny pathetic little nap today...

But dinner was peaceful (maybe a little extra goofy) ... and bedtime was by-the-book ... and now he sleeps. And I smile. Goodnight moon.

-Lindsey

Wordless-ish... Otto Starts Preschool and My Heart Bursts (With Love)



Oof, I kept it together until the second I was out of his sight, then lost it. Not just crying but like hyperventilated a little on the car ride home and almost threw up in our driveway. My heart breaks and I panic all over again thinking about taking him back tomorrow. And yet, I know this is going to be such a positive new adventure for him. And he handled it really well. In fact...

I did all kinds of creative photo editing to highlight my gorgeous child and hide the fact that he's sitting on the world's messiest floor completely surrounded by my shoes. But then I realized that's exactly what the picture looks like, haha! Anyways, the point is, look at that face. That's the face of a sweetheart and a survivor and he's going to do great at preschool! Like beyond great! I think it's going to be amazing for him. It is a wonderful school and now my little boy goes to school. Whoa. I kind of want to cry again thinking about it but I'm also so full of pride - he's turning into such an awesome little dude.

-Lindsey