My New Boy

I brought this book home from work the other day. It's a cute one. I really like to read books to Jacob that encourage a different perspective, and will help him to become a critical thinker. I guess this is part of my homeschooling vision. I have to emphasize that I don't think badly of school in general, I just don't think it is for us. I was talking about this with a friend yesterday, a friend who is a teacher and about to become a parent herself so I didn't want her to think I was in any way trying to convince her my way is the better way. I said that (and this goes for anything parenting that I do) I do the things I do because it works best for our family, but that I am not judgmental of other people because they don't do things the same way. All I care about is that people make choices based on what they know works best for their own lifestyle/family, and not because society tells them to, or because that's the norm.

Anyway, back to the homeschooling: For now it just looks like any other learning that takes place when you have a three year old in the house. I try to take full, conscious advantage of the teaching, or learning, moments that occur during the normal course of the day, and as Jacob gets older I think it will look pretty much the same but with more complex concepts and by the fact that it will be happening at home and not in school. So last week when we were driving home from the mall (a mall trip where Jacob got sized for his tux he's to wear at my sister's wedding in May - sooo cute) I realized it was the first full day of spring and I started explaining it to him. I quizzed Jacob on the other seasons, but every time I would ask, "And then what season comes next?" he would answer, "Season 6!" or, "Season 2!" After a few rounds of this I realized he was referring to the Gilmore Girls. How sad is that? "Season 2, the one where it snows!" My poor child. I explained how a word can mean two different things depending on how it is used. So it goes.

Last week was the end of our current session of music class. Jacob pranced around most of the class, participating, but with his fist pressed to his ear in his 'I'm on my cell phone' mode. He's done this before, usually not for the whole class, and usually in an actual conversation with Bob or one of the machines, but this time he just had his 'phone' to his ear. What is this, some way of signaling his aloofness? Anyway, this is the same program, Music Together, but a different group than we were with the first two years of it so there's a new teacher and we love her. She does a lot of stuff with African drums, and just different stuff like that in general. So in keeping with my quest for anything different, I appraoched the teacher and asked her if she does anything outside of the class because I want to keep up with the music stuff when Jacob ages out of this program soon. She said she'd love to if I got a group together, so that's something to look forward to in the homeschooling department.

And here's the part I've been holding off on writing about because I don't think I want to admit it's happening. Jacob has been sleeping in his own bed. Last week I was washing the bed sheets so I threw in the little sheet that is over the small mattress we refer to as the 'little bed', but which has just been leaning up against the wall for months on end. When I put the sheet back on the mattress I layed it down on the floor, and having recently moved stuff around to create space for the constant spillage from other rooms that are beign renovated, there was a spot for the little bed. I pushed it into place and since Jacob was right there I found myself explaining to him that he could go in there if he wanted to. "What I am doing??" I questioned myself even as the words were still coming out of my mouth. I'm sure Jacob would have asked for the little bed if he felt he needed his own place to sleep, he knew of its existence, but I guess in that moment I felt that if I hadn't said that I would be depriving him. And I also knew it would make him really happy, so I just went on talking about it. And it did, it made him happy. So happy and proud that he decided to take him nap there. And you know what? He fell right asleep.

I should stop here with the talk about how there were no complications to him falling asleep because I suppose I could be creating an argument against co-sleeping, but honestly, I think it was just the novelty of it. The nap part wasn't so bad (he napped there the next day too), but when he chose to go to sleep there three nights in a row, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go in the big bed, it was too empty and lonely feeling. It used to just be the bed, as it was the only one, but since last week it has taken on the new name. I couldn't leave Jacob in his room so far away and with a wall between. I was not liking the little bed situation, but at the same time it was so cute to see him snuggled in there, hugging Baby Tigger (current Little Bear replacement) and with the Boppy I nursed him on as his pillow. All three nights Jacob eventually ended up in our bed and it was just so nice, the moment he came into the room and everything fit back into place. He's been back with us since the initial three nights, and I think that is good for now. He had his little foray into his own bed, a little taste of indepdence, it happened naturally, and now he knows it is there as an option. And I have my new boy back with me, guilt-free.