Kole Goes To School

I'm way behind on this, but Kole has actually had his second week of "school". Really it's just a mothers-day-out on Tuesdays and Thursdays at The Woods United Methodist Church in Grand Prairie, where Kelley is a teacher. We figured we needed the benefits of both - Kathy getting some free time at least twice a week, especially after the baby comes, and Kole needs more socialization with other kids his age along with some regular, basic learning from 9am to 2pm.

He's a sponge for words, which obviously has its goods and bads. He's an absolute parrot and will repeat anything he hears. But, along the way, he'll retain a lot. Just yesterday we were out on the back deck where I have a little serrano pepper plant growing. One nice serrano has gotten big and pretty noticeable and turned red. Kole started touching it and I called it "pepper". He repeated the word a few times in his own dialect: "pe-puh". He then ran around the yard, playing the way he does, then about 10 minutes later returned to the deck and touched the pepper again ... "pe-puh". That's become the norm around here.

So, back at school, he's surly learning a lot. It's hard to get a full grasp of everything he's learning, but he's coming back saying things we don't quite understand but figure it will all click in soon. Kole's class is known as the Frogs, as all the classes are broken up to the age groups and there is a Turtle class, Ducks, etc. I should probably clarify - Kelley is not his teacher, she teaches the next youngest kids in the room nextdoor. But, we met Kole's teachers (two of them) at the Open House, and both appear to be very nice, nurturing gals. Each room has a two-way glass window so you can see in. Yesterday I went to pick him up and was 10 minutes early, so I got a chance to watch him play and interact with the other kids. It's actually pretty fascinating. He does very well with other kids, but still has his lone-wolf tendacies. All the kids will be engaged in something and he'll just wander off and stare at a picture on the wall. When a teacher was cleaning up, he gladly jumped in and put toys in baskets, etc. It's good to be a fly on the wall and watch him in a fairly strange environment and be a helpful good boy and not be a whiney little sh**, even if it was just for 10 minutes.