Tuesday 8:00 AM. Time to go back to school. William took a day off on Monday because we were at the Great Wolf Lodge Hotel playing in the water park.
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Great Wolf Lodge Resort
Sunday noon 8/19/2018. Seeing William likes water so much so we decided to book 1 night at the Great Wolf Lodge Resort so that he can play in the water park. The water park is only offered to the hotel guests so that’s why we had to book 1 night even though it’s only 10 minutes driving from our house.
From the look of his face I know he really liked it but refused to try on different things like slides or wave pool. At first he kept standing near the water fountains, and then we found this area for toddlers and took him there: he refused to get in, we had to carry him up and put him down in the shallow pool. After a few minutes in the water, he stopped kicking and starting to play with the water.
We let him play for about 2 hours in the pool and then took him to the room; it’s 5:30 and every one was hungry so we drove to the Vietnamese restaurant near by for some fried chicken rice. William had 2 bites of the chicken and felt asleep on my thigh!
He woke up when we carried him out to the car after dinner. There was entertainment for children in the hotel lobby with music so we stayed there a while; William enjoyed his new bubble machine and ran around with it. On the way back to room, he saw the pop corn stand and asked for it. So we bought him 1 bag, the finished the whole bag! Poor little boy, he was hungry because he did not eat at dinner. Then we watched Tarzan on the Tivi; he did not fall asleep until the movie was over.
Bowling: http://william.mtplace.net/wpMain/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_2232.mov
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William’s First Swim Lesson At Australian Swim School
Saturday 10:30 AM. William liked his swim lessons at the daycare so much that I decided to sign him up for swim lessons. After searching and asking around, I signed up at Australian Swim School in Santa Ana, which is 15 minutes driving from our house. It’s 30 minutes per session for every Saturday; the tuition fee is $86/month.
He didn’t want to enter the door so we had to carry him; and when it’s time to get to the pool he kept saying “No, no!”. Anthony, the instructor said he would not mind if William cries, just take him to the pool and hand William to him so I did. William kept saying “I want to to home!” and eventually cried toward the end of the session so we took him out of the pool 10 minutes early. To reward him we took him to Mc. Donald for some chicken nuggets and fries.
Third Day of Kindergarten
Wednesday 7:50 AM. It’s 3rd day; he seems to do fine in class, his daily report says so. But seems like he doesn’t drink/eat much because he’d finish 2 bags of Capri Sun apple juice and still asks for more when I picked him up. I learned that Wednesday is a Modified Day; which means the class time is shorter. Usually the class is over at 2:00 pm but on Wednesday it’s over at 1:00 PM. That’s for other grades; for William he always gets off at 1:00 PM; but the teacher brought that to my attention so that I’d come a bit earlier to find a parking spot because it’d be crowded.
Second Day at School
Tuesday 7:50 AM. He sat on the stroller voluntarily and said “Stroller”, meaning we will take the stroller, no car. And he didn’t cry at all. I took a few pictures of him wearing sunglasses in front of our house before going to school. He put on the sunglasses himself, not sure why! I took him to the classroom and took few more pictures of him and the colorful wall right next to his classroom. We were early!
On the way out, I took few pictures of the school. I think most students are Mexican; the fact is I have not seen any Asian students. In his class, William is the only Vietnamese. It’s just my observation, nothing else.
Transition Kindergarten – First Day 2018
Mon 8/13/2018 8:00 AM
William was born in Nov so he’s not ready to go to Kindergarten yet; they send him to TK instead; and today was his first day at the Lincoln Elementary School. He started to cry when I pushed the stroller pass my car. He pointed his hand toward the car signaling that he wanted to take the car. I told him “The new school is near so we can just walk”. He cried all the way from home to the class room. It was so crowded with students. We stopped by the office first to find out his room number: 54 with Ms. Newman Heather.
It was a surprised to see Ms. Birdie in the classroom too. William stopped crying once we got inside the room but refused to get off his stroller. After a while, he came sit next to me at the breakfast table. Ms. Newman brought in breakfast: juice and mini-donuts and asked if he wanted donuts; he kept saying No but I took one chocolate donut anyway because i know he loves it. After a few times saying No, he reached to the donut and had 1 bite. Then eventually he finished it! I encouraged him to go play, and he ran over to the Legos.
His class is from 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Breakfast is served around 8:00 AM in the classroom (he doesn’t need to go get it like at the Martin school); and lunch is served around 11:30 AM.
He was sent home with homework on the first day of school! (it’s 4 pages of learning about letter A).
Frustration Every Morning!
I set alarm to wake up 7:00 AM every weekday morning. After brushing teeth and washing my face I’d go to kitchen and prepare lunch bags for William and me. For him I’d pack 1 small bag of gummy bears and cookie with a bottle of orange juice. Then 1 small bottle of milk, 1 small cup of orange juice and some chocolate cereal: the bottle of milk I give him around 8:00 AM while he’s still in bed; the orange juice and cereal is for him to eat/drink while I’m driving him to the daycare.
My frustration comes when asking him to go pee and brush his teeth. It takes him a while to leave the bed to go to the restroom; but the hardest part is to make him brush his teeth: he’d just run back to bed, whine or cry and doesn’t want to go back to the bathroom to brush teeth; so I have to persuade him “Do you want to go to they daycare? yes, then you need to brush your teeth.” Next in his morning routine is eye drop for his dry eyes (he’d constantly scratch his eyes); he’d roll around on bed trying to avoid taking eye drops.
After that things get easier: put on diaper, pant, sock and ready to go. Oh wait, his toy box: his favorite now is the playing cards, he put all his cards in a carton box and bring it with him every where. At nite when it’s time to go to bed, he’d pour all the cards on the bed and lie on them! He’d cry if he wakes up and doesn’t see the cards! So every morning I’d need to put the cards back into his box so that he can take it to the day care.
Every morning we spent so much time just to do simple routine. I’m getting tired and tired each day. Not sure what can I do to improve the situation?
Getting Better At The Pool
Wednesday Morning 8:30 AM. Dropped William off at the day care and talked with Mrs. Rose Mary. She said William is doing good at swim lessons. He listened and followed instructions; but it’s hard to get him out of the pool when session ends :). The boy loves water! She sent me a picture and a video of William at the pool.
View Video of William Learning to Swim
Swim Lessons At The Daycare
Tuesday morning. Took a few pictures of the pool where William takes swim lessons every morning at 9:45 for 30 minutes. The first few sessions Mr. Daniel sat him out because he would not listen. On Friday, Thomas from TASKids said he heard the teachers said they had a hard time to get William out of the pool!
The fee is $70 for a 2 weeks session; it’s 30 minutes every day. In the morning, the teacher would change the students clothes and then take them to the pool. Once they’re done with the session, the teacher would take them back to the room. and change their clothes. They hang the wet clothes on the fence so that it’s ready for the next day. On Friday, the teachers send the bag with all the clothes back to us; So on Monday we’d bring the bag with all the necessities back to the teachers.
In the bag, I packed for William: swim suit, towel, sandals and swim diapers.
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Snack At The Daycare
Friday Morning. Dropped off William at the daycare and whiled waited for Mr. Gary to come, I took a few pictures of William. I did not know that they server snack at 9:00 AM. Today it’s pop corn and berry juice.
It took a while for William to come to the table, while as other children came to the table right away when they heard the snack was served. So William sat on the next table. He reached over to get a napkin, unfold it and placed it down in front of him, waiting to be served popcorn. I’m not sure he unfolded the napkin because he heard the teachers said so so he saw other children did that. He ate his portion of popcorn and juice.
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