Afternoon Academy: The early days

At the Afternoon Academy, I sometimes let Cole break the rules. It only makes Dada mad every once in a while....

Most of you know that I am a teacher by trade, but, since my certification and education is in teaching adolescents, I've got my work cut out for me with this early childhood education thing.

Being home with Cole has definitely given me an opportunity to learn more about the way the child's mind works. More importantly, I get to spend some true quality time with him. My time is focused. When I leave work I know I'm done for the day. Because if I'm lucky, after I've put him down, I might have just enough energy to make my lunch for the next day and maybe, just maybe, write a blog post.

We do lots of things together - most organically and only a few pre-arranged or planned things. For instance, I've been trying out some Montessori activities with him (thanks to Randalin for the Montessori inspiration), so that is something I've thought about in advance. Also, I get books from the library every two weeks, so when I bring them home, I'm expecting that he'll want me to read at least one to him. And that one might lead into another, and so on. Those events are what I've planned because I think they will help him with his development in some way or another. That's the "academic" part of Academy. But in Cole's world, academy is still school and school is still cool. (plus, Mama loves alliteration so I couldn't help myself with the name).

The rest I just let happen. This philosophy is very similar to the way Dada operates Home School. Cole and I may sing and dance to Jewel's Twinkle Twinkle (this song seriously never gets old). We may push the shovel around the house like a vacuum. We may feed the cats. We may run from the dishwasher in the kitchen to the alarm clock in the bedroom (well he may run and I may watch) multiple times just because we can or because we think we're being chased. We may play with his Little People toys, or Duplo blocks, or new wooden building blocks. He may color, or paint, or draw on his chalkboard or read a book or two together. We may even watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. And as the days get longer and the weather gets nicer, I imagine we'll be able to play outside after dinner.

Things aren't always easy. I have to constantly be with him because there is no other parent to say, "I got him." Plus, he is still doing the exact opposite of what we tell him to do.

"Don't pull the plug." He pulls the plug.

"Don't dump the plate onto the table." He does it anyway.

"Get down from the couch." He climbs higher.

"The nail clippers are not for your skin." He tries to clip his bare belly.

You get the drift. Sometimes I try to talk in the positive (which can be exhausting because it's the opposite of what I would automatically say), or I try not to say anything at all and just watch him. But if it's dangerous (which it usually is) I have to literally move him from one room to another or give him a new idea or object to play with. Basically, we're still - to use the words of Dada during Cole's colicky phase - "changing the subject."

Even though there are some tough times, I really do treasure this time with just him. As I said before, it used to be Keith and I jockeying for time to "get things done," but now the only thing to get done is to spend time with Cole. We are so glad we made this decision. We talked about it recently and Keith got a little emotional about how happy he is with his new circumstances. Although he gets more time with Cole during the day, I don't feel resentful (as I thought I might) because now I get to know what Cole is doing while I'm working, I know he's having a multitude of enriching experiences, and I get that extra special time with him when I get home. We also get to spend weekends together, where amazingly -we are not as stressed out as we used to be. This is because of several factors: we don't see each other as much anymore so we enjoy the time we have; Keith can go shopping during the week (although this doesn't always happen); and we can spend quality family time on the weekends, and I still get some work done on Sunday mornings. I know it's not always going to be this great and there has been and will be times when it's really stressful (it is, in fact, coming in a week when Keith will do a week-long cookbook shoot for his former employer), but I wanted to share how blessed we feel.

The final thing I want to share is that I've started a One Sentence Journal. I got the idea from Gretchen Rubin's column in Good Housekeeping. It's a composition notebook that I write in just before I drift off to sleep. I write one (sometimes more) sentence about something that was memorable that day. It's usually a funny or sweet memory of Cole or Keith. If I can remember a lot I'll write a whole paragraph. But the fact that I only have to write one sentence is less daunting than having to write a whole page - like I used to do (and long since gave up on). And now I have almost a whole month's worth of happy memories - things that I may have forgotten otherwise. You know how you always say to yourself "I'll remember this" or "There's no way I'll forget this" but then the next day something new happens and you can't remember what it is that was so great the day before? That's what this journal aims to save - those memories that I never think I'll forget, the ones that I know are worth remembering, but that I just can't keep stored inside with everything else that happens on a daily basis. The other reason it is so awesome is because it helps me remember things I want to post about here on this blog. I can go back into the journal and retrieve the memory I captured.

Now for some snapshots of Mama's Afternoon Academy where, as you can see, Cole wears a lot of the same long sleeve shirts over and over (I swear this is not just from a few days - this is over a few weeks!):

Ever since Dada got this newsprint from the art supply store, Cole has been drawing mainly on paper. Hooray for newsprint!

Cole inspects an old digital camera Keith let him use (and later break).

Cole tests out the barley he's supposed to be pouring.

Mama changes the bowls for the barley and Cole starts pouring

This was the box that held his shoes and this is how it ended up a cat and toddler toy for several days after this picture was taken.

Cole gets a ride around the house in the laundry basket (one of those things Dada didn't want Mama to do, but she did anyway.) Hey, when Cranky Cole comes to town, there's only a few distractions that work, and this is one of them.

Cole likes to live life on the edge sometimes.

Cole brushes his teeth before bath

Cole enjoys looking at himself in the mirror as he cleans his face with hand soap

Cole plays with rubber ducky and his bath boat

Pre-bath, post dinner, Cole walks around in Mama's shoes

Cole dances around with his Yo Gabba Gabba friends

Another diversionary tactic I used to get Cole away from pulling the lamp plug