Today was the Artgarden Montessori field trip to Waller Farm. (Which was a perfect opportunity to change the words to "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" to "Farmer Waller Had a Farm," which I did all day for both Annie and Leia Rose. : ) Anyway, this morning, Leia Rose was all about Maddie. Not sure why. They would hug each other and then fall crashing to the floor again and again (which after the fifth time really started to annoy me). Anyway, she came out of the schoolroom insisting that she was riding to the field trip with Maddie. That was not in the plan, and when Leia Rose found that out, she screamed. The mom actually did have an extra seat in the car (which may have been where the idea came from), . . . but I generally never give my children what they want if they behave in that way. Well, in order for my child not to look like a screaming banshee in front of the other parents, I gave in. Lots of my parental faults are in public. *sigh*
I'll just say this first so that I can get to the fun of the day, . . . . Quite honestly, it wasn't my favorite field trip mostly because of the behavior of my children. Leia Rose, as you could see from the beginning, was disrespectful all morning. Why she chooses to act this way mostly in public, I have yet to determine (except that it may have something to do with me paying attention to other parents/children and not Leia Rose 100%). Here she is freezing her buns off on this cold morning listening to Farmer Waller. When I approached her with a coat, guess what, she screamed. I actually had to pick her up and carry her back to the car and tell her that we were going home if she couldn't improve her behavior right now. Not fun. Plus, I MADE her put her coat on. (She was still freezing.) Well, at least Annie was in a good mood, right? Hmmm, that quickly deteriorated as well. She cried a lot this morning, and I ended up giving her a sticky-sticky lollipop to placate her. In hindsight, even though it would have killed my back, I really should have put Annie in the snuggli. Tough to push a stroller around a farm. Still, at least there was lots of signing of farm animals (mostly by me). Now let's get to the positive aspects of the trip . . .
Farmer Waller led us on a tour of his farm. Here we are passing the vegetable fields and the strawberry patch, where he was explaining the tiny plants would lay happily dormant all winter.
Annie enjoyed seeing the chickens more than any other animal today, I think.
And Leia Rose did too (she was still in Maddie mode), but I yelled at her for trying to poke one with a stick. Luckily, this was the end of her misbehavior of the morning.
Look at how Leia Rose is looking so lovingly at James here. Leia Rose was THRILLED that James and Tanielu came for the field trip today with Mamma (Mrs. Apasai) who was Leia's original Montessori assistant teacher last year. She had a new baby named Parker with her, in a sling. It was nice to see them all. It was interesting that Leia Rose no longer associates the two boys with school anymore, however.
A few things Farmer Waller said made me laugh. He was really intent on talking about how the animals are killed. Ha! Leia Rose knows all this already. (She could answer most of his questions on the subject if asked, I'm sure.) It doesn't bother her. But he did continually talk about chickens getting their "heads whacked off" and pigs being "bacon with their tail chopped off" and cows being "beef and hamburger" and goats being "the newest meat industry." Many parents were a bit disturbed. Sorry, but it just made me laugh. It's a farm, for goodness sake. That's what farmers do. : ) And, um, farmers also aren't historically known for their tact, either. ; )
There was also lots of stand-here-while-Farmer-talks-to-you-for-fifteen-minutes type of stuff, which the littlest kids really couldn't handle, and even Leia Rose balked after a while and ran to the pumpkin patch to play "jump over the pumpkins game" with Jessica. They had a blast!
Annie was pretty much beside herself by this time (and sticky with lollipop). But the one thing that would quiet her was exploring Mrs. McDowell's pumpkins. : ) Mrs. McDowell, by the way, said she had stayed up way too late last night completed her latest knitted creation. This fabulous green hat!!! Wow! I'm just really impressed with her work. Okay, Sarah, now I'm going to have to add a hat like that to my list, . . . to match the gloves, . . . that you may or may not make for me. : ) Hey, maybe you could just teach me how to knit? : ) "Give a man a fish, . . . " You know. : )
Now, this is my favorite picture of the day. : ) Annie and Goat regarding each other. : )
As we were exiting (never mind that Annie was quietly crying in the stroller), there was a great turkey-in-the-straw type of picture-taking opportunity. And Brian says I'm ruled by the camera. Ha! (He's absolutely right.) : )
Today was the Artgarden Montessori field trip to Waller Farm. (Which was a perfect opportunity to change the words to "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" to "Farmer Waller Had a Farm," which I did all day for both Annie and Leia Rose. : ) Anyway, this morning, Leia Rose was all about Maddie. Not sure why. They would hug each other and then fall crashing to the floor again and again (which after the fifth time really started to annoy me). Anyway, she came out of the schoolroom insisting that she was riding to the field trip with Maddie. That was not in the plan, and when Leia Rose found that out, she screamed. The mom actually did have an extra seat in the car (which may have been where the idea came from), . . . but I generally never give my children what they want if they behave in that way. Well, in order for my child not to look like a screaming banshee in front of the other parents, I gave in. Lots of my parental faults are in public. *sigh*
I'll just say this first so that I can get to the fun of the day, . . . . Quite honestly, it wasn't my favorite field trip mostly because of the behavior of my children. Leia Rose, as you could see from the beginning, was disrespectful all morning. Why she chooses to act this way mostly in public, I have yet to determine (except that it may have something to do with me paying attention to other parents/children and not Leia Rose 100%). Here she is freezing her buns off on this cold morning listening to Farmer Waller. When I approached her with a coat, guess what, she screamed. I actually had to pick her up and carry her back to the car and tell her that we were going home if she couldn't improve her behavior right now. Not fun. Plus, I MADE her put her coat on. (She was still freezing.) Well, at least Annie was in a good mood, right? Hmmm, that quickly deteriorated as well. She cried a lot this morning, and I ended up giving her a sticky-sticky lollipop to placate her. In hindsight, even though it would have killed my back, I really should have put Annie in the snuggli. Tough to push a stroller around a farm. Still, at least there was lots of signing of farm animals (mostly by me). Now let's get to the positive aspects of the trip . . .
Farmer Waller led us on a tour of his farm. Here we are passing the vegetable fields and the strawberry patch, where he was explaining the tiny plants would lay happily dormant all winter.
Annie enjoyed seeing the chickens more than any other animal today, I think.
And Leia Rose did too (she was still in Maddie mode), but I yelled at her for trying to poke one with a stick. Luckily, this was the end of her misbehavior of the morning.
Look at how Leia Rose is looking so lovingly at James here. Leia Rose was THRILLED that James and Tanielu came for the field trip today with Mamma (Mrs. Apasai) who was Leia's original Montessori assistant teacher last year. She had a new baby named Parker with her, in a sling. It was nice to see them all. It was interesting that Leia Rose no longer associates the two boys with school anymore, however.
A few things Farmer Waller said made me laugh. He was really intent on talking about how the animals are killed. Ha! Leia Rose knows all this already. (She could answer most of his questions on the subject if asked, I'm sure.) It doesn't bother her. But he did continually talk about chickens getting their "heads whacked off" and pigs being "bacon with their tail chopped off" and cows being "beef and hamburger" and goats being "the newest meat industry." Many parents were a bit disturbed. Sorry, but it just made me laugh. It's a farm, for goodness sake. That's what farmers do. : ) And, um, farmers also aren't historically known for their tact, either. ; )
There was also lots of stand-here-while-Farmer-talks-to-you-for-fifteen-minutes type of stuff, which the littlest kids really couldn't handle, and even Leia Rose balked after a while and ran to the pumpkin patch to play "jump over the pumpkins game" with Jessica. They had a blast!
Annie was pretty much beside herself by this time (and sticky with lollipop). But the one thing that would quiet her was exploring Mrs. McDowell's pumpkins. : ) Mrs. McDowell, by the way, said she had stayed up way too late last night completed her latest knitted creation. This fabulous green hat!!! Wow! I'm just really impressed with her work. Okay, Sarah, now I'm going to have to add a hat like that to my list, . . . to match the gloves, . . . that you may or may not make for me. : ) Hey, maybe you could just teach me how to knit? : ) "Give a man a fish, . . . " You know. : )
Now, this is my favorite picture of the day. : ) Annie and Goat regarding each other. : )
As we were exiting (never mind that Annie was quietly crying in the stroller), there was a great turkey-in-the-straw type of picture-taking opportunity. And Brian says I'm ruled by the camera. Ha! (He's absolutely right.) : )
1 comment:
The girls wore matching outfits? :) Cute!!
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