Nursery Schools- First and Last Children Only

I have to explain:  I only raised 2 babies, among all these children because I adopted older children.  Annalisa I gave birth, and Weslee we brought home from the hospital. 
They were born 24 years apart, and the experience was different for me as I was a beginning mother with my first daughter, and then a bit more sure of myself with Weslee after many children, many adoptions, and a bit older.  Nursery school with Annalisa was new, but very different when I took Weslee.

Mother's Day Out at 3 C's,  Annalisa in 1978

With Annalisa it started as "Mother's Day Out",  I could bring her on a Friday, leave for a few hours, know she was well cared for,  have a few hours to myself, and pick her up.  I cried that first time, "separation anxiety", they call it.  Annalisa's friend, Melanie, also went, so Annalisa was happy to leave me.  The girls loved going, and I recall the next year they went several mornings.  Soon thereafter she went to McKie Recreation Center, where we found out she was not ready to go to Kindergarten, because somehow she did not get how to "slide sounds together and make a word" part of reading.  The simplest combinations tricked her.  We read together all the time, and she loved writing simple things, but it was not to be.  She started going to a tutor, stayed with the same Montessori system "read when you are ready",  and with once a week tutoring, we moved ahead slowly, so that by second grade it was advised we transfer from Montessori to a  traditional method of education.  It would be easier for her to process and learn considering the way she was able to  at this point in her life.  We moved her to College Hill Fundamental School, where we met the wonderful teacher, Mrs. King, who was what  I love MOST  in teachers, a combination of nurturing and strict structure, and the wisdom when to do which one.  Her classroom was-  UNCLUTTERED- rare these days- with only alphabet and numbers over the empty boards.  Some other things up, but compared to the over stimulation of today's classrooms, it looked like it was cleaned out for the summer!

2nd Grade-Annalisa last row 4th from left; Bettsy seated, center

You could find the letters, and your eyes COULD see the teacher when she talked to you.  Nothing else there  distracted you.
It was a fruitful year for Annalisa and she met  friends she kept for years.  I met Liz.  At the time she was about 7(?) called Bettsy, a darling little girl that kept stopping by the house while she walked dogs.  She would POP in, dance around the house, and then POP out.
One time I saw her flat on her back on someone's yard, leash in hand with a dog sniffing around her feet, and I think she was making snow angels, but it was the middle of summer.  I think it was a really hot day, and she forgot a drink.

Bettsy, later referred to as Liz!

Annalisa would go on walks with her, our house would be pit stop for a drink before they made a long walk back to her house. It stands to reason I would list her as a daughter on facebook, she has been in the family so long.

When I adopted Weslee 20 years later 3 C's came back to mind as a place to introduce him to preschool.  He started at an early age, as did Annalisa, and we would sing on our way, usually along with John Denver or Jim Croce.  I cried the first time he went to preschool.  Again, I guess I never did get through that "separation anxiety".  He did great, no problems, "Bye Mom, see you later!"  Off he went.   When I came to pick him up he would be singing songs, "He's got the whole world, in his hands..."
He always enjoyed the music.  I felt bad, because I think I was  not a good mom singing Jim Croce with him on the way to this fine Christian environment:
"Cigarettes, whiskey, and wild wild women
They'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane..."

He really loved the song  "Big Wheel"
"Big wheel don't you roll, Big wheel don't you whine..."

I guess I wondered how the influence of John Denver and Jim Croce lyrics and music would taint his growth as an African American child adopted into a white family.  I hoped that his African American friends would not belittle him, or that he would not burst forth at some later date with "I'm just a country boy!" and get into some REAL trouble.  I also found it strange that when I took him and Brianna to a John Denver concert, that not only were they some of the only younger folks in the audience, the only ones of color. Where in the lyrics is there mention or exclusion of any nation or color?  Where does it say that any type of music, be it rock, classical or country ,  that it is exclusive to one nation, race or ethnic group?  It is only when we add into the lyrics, that we start to feel there are any "prejudices".

Pony Ride at Parky's Farm

Weslee went to 3 C's for several years, and at the end of that time it was decided he was not ready for Kindergarten at age 6(where have we heard that before?), but I decided to let him go anyway.  I felt his emotional and social readiness outweighed his reading readiness.  We read a lot and he had great verbal skills besides his wonderful physical gross motor abilities.  Why let his tiny motor skills hold him back?  Kindergarten at the local schools was a half day only, and I felt it would be a great way to start the year.
One the best field trips at 3 C's was to Winton Woods, which happened during the time Uncle Tyll visited.  In another Blog I will write about Tyll and my childhood visits to the parks.  Tyll was excited to also see what the children did at the park, brought his camera and joined in fishing out algae and frogs and putting them in jars to be later inspected under microscopes.  It was a great adventure, seeing Weslee and friends,and his Uncle Tyll together on that day.