Lincoln

Lincoln has been in a great new school for a couple weeks now. He LOVES it and is thriving. Definitely makes for a hppy mommy, too. He was really struggling with the curiculum and staff at the last school. We had chosen that school because it seemed like a good daycare. We didn't want a school because we don't need to have a strict curriculum when we want them playing. We also needed the hours and continuity a day care provides. (Most of the 'schools' for kids this young treat school like school for older kids - 8:30-3 and the same days off as the school district. Camp only for some days in the summer.)
However, when Lincoln would get in trouble for all kinds of stuff, every single day (literally) we knew that we couldn't keep it up at that school. He was actually doing things 'wrong' but it was stuff like not being able to sit still without getting up for 3 curriculum blocks in a row (45 mins+). This is unreasonable and nothing I care about for a year or two more. It's especially unreasonable first thing in the morning. It goes from unreasonable to unacceptable when the school punished him for not wanting to do it and rather than write him up for not following directions they'd write him up for not sitting on the rug or other nonsense. I want him to know how to follow the rules but it was silly and ridiculous.
We did find this new place, which is a day care but also more of a school. I liked the idea of it - it's all about consistency and movement. The kids have the same basic classes/subjects each day (or every other day), every week. Many of these classes are in a different room than their 'homeroom' (my word for descriptive purposes). So, Lincoln has play time and then maybe drama in the gym, then outside time, then Spanish in one room, then art in the 'globe', then science-y stuff, then Spanish. In a few weeks he'll have computer everyday and Mandarin Chinese a few times a week. He's thriving on all the activity and the fun and he's learning much more than with the awful sitting-based curriculum at the day care. We couldn't be happier with the school and with the boys both being happy to go to school each day!
Lincoln is a story teller. We knew he told some nice stories sometimes. But, we just learned how good he is. A couple days ago he came home with some 'owies' on his fingers. (I think it was probably the blisters that looked deep during Hand, Foot, and Mouth a week earlier - finally coming to the surface.) I asked him about them on the way home. He had a story about going after a teacher who had walked away - maybe he told me she went to the kitchen. When Doug asked him later about it, Lincoln had an elaborate story about following the teacher into the kitchen and then falling (?), and after some questions, about breaking something - like a tea pot. The thing is, the 'owies' were just peeling skin. There was nothing red, angry, or bad looking about any of them. I would not have called them owies at all.
So, after many questions and discussions with the teachers, it turns out he made the ENTIRE thing up. Make sme proud that he has a good imagination, but it will be a hcallenge teaching him how to answer truthfully when it's something real.
Lincoln can also now sing the ABCs perfectly (when he's not distracted), tell you what sounds all the letters make, and (as far as I can tell) can tell you a word or two that start with each letter! Super cool and a great step toward reading, which he REALLY wants to do.