Countdown to school

Toby has yet to realize the concept of time. For example, if I tell him we're in a hurry and we have somewhere to be with only a short amount of time to get there, he assumes that's a great time to empty the bookshelf. So, something we started to do a while ago to help him understand how time passes (and its value) was to do a countdown.

Now we do countdowns for practically everything.

Okay, I lied, not everything. But, a countdown to vacation, a countdown to Thomas the Train, a countdown to Camp, etc. So, of course we did a countdown to school. With a few added bonuses.

Now, let me premise this by saying two things: 1. I know there are, inevitably, some people who won't agree with what we did. That's cool. Scroll on by; don't stop to rest here. 2. You have to understand that we DO NOT frivolously buy our kid anything whenever he asks. (I usually just anticipate his every need and get him things based on that. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Kind of.) Seriously though, I can count on ONE hand how many times we've left a store with a new toy that he asked for in the spur of the moment. ONE hand in THREE years. I/we do not spoil him with "things." Experiences? Yes. Clothing? Yes. Things? No. Not usually.

So, each night of the countdown, we gave him a gift.

One way we've found Toby understands time is by relating them to how many "sleeps" between points of time. So, 5 days before school started, I made him a countdown. I chose to do it as a countdown to school, versus a countdown to the end of summer (like many people do) because I wanted him to concentrate on a new beginning versus the end of something. I anticipated the transition to school would be tough (and it was/is-- but more on that later) so I really wanted to pump him up to understand that while things were changing and he would lose some things (Nanny, the routine/ease of being home, etc) he would be gaining quite a bit too.

So, here it is.

A few days before we started the countdown, I made him the picture we'll use every year for his countdown. I had it laminated so it won't get ruined over the course of his school career.

5 Sleeps:
 His gift that day was a "Curious George Goes to School" DVD.

4 Sleeps:

His new planetbox. This was what we considered his "big gift." We wanted to give it to him ahead of time so he could practice using it before school started.

We just love it. We got him the planetbox "Rover" with two sets of magnets, the water bottle, carry case, two ice packs, the extra pods and the dinnerware. I love it so much (and so does he.) I was very worried about how well he would eat during his day at school, so this box was just what I needed to challenge me enough to make his lunches "fun." He has always been a grazer, so the thought of him sitting down for 30 minutes to eat versus having access to food all day long gave me so much anxiety. He loves to eat out of this box and asks for "fun lunches" every day.

This was his first day of school lunch. See what I mean? How fun! (I kind of want one!) His Nana even made him little reusable napkins.



3 Sleeps:
I found this super cute book at Barnes & Noble. He's obsessed with the story of "The Gingerbread Man." Now we read this one almost every night.

2 Sleeps:

Often when Toby is driving in the car with one of us, he'll ask for a particular song and many times we can't accommodate his request because the song he wants is on a CD in the other parent's car. So, I burned copies of ALL OF HIS CD's. Every single song. I bought two cases and put one in each of our cars. So now we don't have to say "Oh, I'm sorry that disc is in (Mama or Dada's) car." This was Toby's favorite gift. He showed so much appreciation for it. He said, "Thank you, Mama and Dada. This is just so sweet."

1 sleep (School tomorrow):
Anyone who spends any amount of time with my kid knows he is OBSESSED with two things: Geography and the Presidents of the United States. Obsessed to the point that, at three-years-old, he can probably name about 25 of the presidents and identify an equal number of the states in the U.S. by sight. So naturally, I stocked up on his favorite Dick and Jane crackers. They come in... you guessed it... the Presidents and the United States. Aaron picked him up a puzzle and I snagged two finger puppets at the local toy store. He was so happy!

He also recieved a first day of school card with stickers from my sister-- his Iya! He loves getting mail and this made his night!

 

 

Just before bed he put the puzzle together almost entirely by himself!

First day of School:
Sequence for kids (board game)
Just for good measure (wink wink) we gave him a little something after his first day of school.

So, maybe it was indulgent but as the day loomed closer late this summer, Toby got less excited and more anxious about starting school. This countdown really worked for him to get him excited for school (and it was really fun for us to do, too!)