Dear Zealand,
You have almost four months of preschool under your belt and we couldn't be more proud. You are slowly but surely becoming part of a small community of three and four year olds who all have distinct personalities and who are all wonderful in their own ways.
The very first week of preschool was tough for you. You had a tough time when I left. We eventually worked out a routine that helps with the separation. Chandra, one of your favorite teachers, will lift you up to the window for our "special goodbye." We blow kisses and then I tap the window a few times. This ritual continues to this day.
You play nicely with all of the kids and try most activities at school. Your favorite is outside time when you can ride bikes and scooters with all of the kids, mostly other boys. You are so adept at the bikes and scooters and have become a bit of a leader on the playground - whooshing this way and that with the greatest of ease. A few weeks ago you mastered a two wheel bike. We added training wheels for a week of riding. You were pretty much riding the bike without training wheels but they gave you confidence while you mastered braking and mounting and dismounting the bike.
You love riding your "two wheel bike without training wheels." And, you love telling people, anyone within earshot, that you can ride a "two wheel bike without training wheels." You also like telling people that you are three and a HALF. That "half" has grown in importance since you started preschool, spent a week with Jordy (a five and a HALF year old) in Tahoe, and started to conceptualize age and school grades. You are very much enamored with a boy Matthew down the street who is in Kindergarten, rides a two wheel bike, and on top of all that plays very well with you considering the age gap. The two of you ride scooters and bikes on the court for hours on end.
Although you are very willful, opinionated, and defiant for good portions of each day, you are also very loving, affectionate, funny, and kind. Your mama continues to learn lessons in patience and parenting from you each and every day. Fortunately you are a very lovable little guy so all of the three year old shenanigans can be forgotten by the end of the day, once you are tucked tightly in bed (ha!).
We have a special ritual at night that has been going on for some time now. We, as you say, "talk about our day." We start by saying, "so, first we woke up" and then we go on to breakfast and recount every thing we did during the day. I can't even remember when it all started but we are both pretty hooked on it.
You still love all of your Thomas the Trains. Trains are still your main thing. You can build the most impressive of tracks, twists and turns of all kinds with raised tracks, bridges, etc. I can see that you have inherited your father's engineering mind.
But, you also have inherited your mother's love of reading and stories as well. You love being read to and can often repeat verbatim entire stories. And, you have quite a range of interests. Train books are usually a hit but often lacking in the story department. You love books on all subjects and with all kinds of characters. Curious George books are a favorite, as are Little Bear stories (still a hit after all of this time!), and basically whatever we drag home from the library.
The other day just you and I went on a special outing. We took the BART train to San Francisco and then rode the F street car up and down Market street. The train rides were the highlight of the trip for you. You were so captivated by the various train stops, the trains on adjacent lines, and the coming and going of different trains. We visited a train museum, got peppermint cocoa (coffee for me) and watched the ferries come and go behind the Ferry Building. We visited a book store and then got lunch together. It was so nice to spend this time with just you. I felt like I could relax and truly enjoy you. So often I am elsewhere with the other tasks of motherhood consuming me - cleaning up, prepping dinner, playing referee to you and Avery, and also minding Avery that the experience of just being and hanging out gets lost a bit.
I intend to do many more one on one outings with you - I think it is important for both of us. And, riding trains and visiting San Francisco together is a perfect outing for the two of us. San Francisco is where you were born and where you first fell in love with trains. It is where I became a mother and where I feel most alive. Visiting these spaces together is worth doing, again and again.
I love you with all my heart,
Mama
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