Preschool

Tyler James Wright on his first day of his last year of preschool. It's amazing to me that he's so big already. Just look at that picture - what happened to my little TyTy? Tyler surprises me in so many ways. He learned how to ride his bike this summer, he LOVES his preschool, he is the kindest person I've ever known, and he is incredibly observant. He must have heard me talking about how he's such a mess maker (think "Pigpen" in the Charlie Brown series) and lately he's been trying extra hard to be neat - and then asking us if he's clean while telling us how he's trying to change himself. He is always making sure everybody around him has everything they need and sticking up for them if they don't. He notices if someone says something that might hurt feelings - and then he makes sure to compliment that person. He shares his things without even being asked - and he has since the day he was born. He was the one I always had to watch around Elie when she was an infant because he just wanted to love on her so much I was worried he'd smother her - and he was so protective of her. He remembers everybody's name - first and last - all his preschool friends (and their parents' names), characters in his books and shows, even a friend of Grandma Mac's and where she lived while I was driving by it one day. He is just the right amount between timid and independent.

In short, Tyler is a gem. As he gets bigger, (and he is a SOLID kid - he weighs about the same as his 2 1/2 years older brother) sometimes he starts to wrestle with a temper and it's intense. While Cameron has many short lived outbursts, it would be Tyler that has very few outbursts - but they are impressive. You might have driven by us on Hwy. 26 this summer where we pulled over to give Tyler a time out and we stayed for 20 minutes while Ronny pretty much had to sit on him.

Anyway, back to Tyler's school. I volunteered to be a part of his preschool board this year, so now I'm the vice president of the board... doesn't that sound impressive? I signed up to be Cameron's "room mother" in charge of parties, etc., but I decided to volunteer only every other week in Cameron's class this year since volunteering in Tyler's class is required. When I add up all the volunteering hours, it's close to 8 hours a week - and that's still only 2 in school. I also started working as Ronny's bookkeeper this summer after his old bookkeeper left for a full time job somewhere else. That averages about 20 hours a week (but half of that I can do from home). Add to all that the fact that as of this fall I need to be taking 9 graduate credits every 2 years to keep my teaching license valid and it's going to be an interesting year.