Cameron's First Day of Kindergarten!

The day I have been anticipating for quite some time now is finally here....today was Cameron's first day of kindergarten! It was a day of mixed feelings...so happy for him that he will be learning so much, making so many new friends, and opening a new chapter in his life. I can say that managing 3 boys, instead of 4, during the week as Cameron attends his full day kindergarten program will definitely reduce the stress level for me somewhat (though Cole seems to be amping up his efforts to make up for that reduction....that's another whole post!). Cameron needs the mental challenge that the more structured school environment will provide, not to mention he is a very social guy that has had to resort to playing with a bunch of 2 year olds all summer long.

Grandma E. came over this morning to watch the triplets so Anthony and I could take him to school together. The day was very brief...maybe 2 hours long....as the purpose was primarily as an orientation for the parents and a quick test run for the kids. Judging from the comments and stories at entirely inappropriate times, I would say the teacher will have her work cut out for her this year. I guess for her sake, it is good that she is expecting a baby in December and will get a nice few month long hiatus in the middle of the school year. Cameron's teacher seems very nice and he seems to like her so far.

Cameron already knew 2 people in his class...one girl he went to preschool with and another boy that lives across the street from us. Much to my dismay, Cameron spotted another fellow preschool alum on the playground when all 7 kindergarten classes converged on the playground for recess. This would be his potty mouth partner in crime from his pre-K days.....and here I *thought* we might finally move on from that chapter!! But no, the all things potty marathon is to be continued for another year I am afraid!

Enough jibber jabber, here's the pics:


Here's Cam getting ready for the short walk to his first day of kindergarten (too bad it was 100 degrees on that walk home!)

Cameron was the first person to arrive in his new classroom. That's his teacher (Mrs. M for blogging purposes) greeting him at the door and giving him his name tag.

Here's Cam's new home away from home for the next year.

And finally, here it is....the new family away from home for the next year (Cam is sitting just below his teacher)

July 14, 2007

Okay, so I'm a little delayed in posting this, but Ryland was the first of the triplets to become potty trained on July 14th. Although the most reluctant to practice wearing underwear, Ryland totally blindsided me by agreeing to wear underwear three weeks ago and never looked back. He used the potty 6 times that day (mostly on his suggestion) and remained completely dry all day (other naptime/nightime). From that day on, he continued to use the potty with no accidents during his waking hours. The only thing he would not do is poop on the potty, which he requests a diaper for.

I must say other than several interruptions a day to celebrate and do the whole potty dumping/hand washing ritual, Ryland's potty training has been entirely effortless on my part. (Unlike big brother Cameron....kind of glad I didn't have a blog back then to document that laborious task!) Ryland has experienced one potty training relapse so far. We went to Legoland amusement park two weeks ago and after nearly falling into the toilet in the public restroom, we urged Ryland to go ahead and go potty in his pull up. Despite repeated protests on his part, Ryland finally exclaimed "I DID it!!" Well, he did it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN after that....once he knew that was an option to go in his pants, he took the liberty of going that route a few more times.

I am happy to report we seem to be mostly back on track with only a few accidents. In fact, I think his renewed interest may actually have to do with a public restroom obsession (definitely did not get that from his germaphobe parents!)....a recent mini family vacation provided him ample opportunity for him to express his desire to try out every new public facility we entered. Mason would immediately parrot Ryland claiming that he needed to use the (public) restroom too.....unfortunately, he will have to master the at home potty before we let him indulge this fancy!!!

And on a final potty training note, Ryland pooped on the big potty for the first time today....didn't think you'd read a potty training post without a little TMI, did ya?!