Happy Thanksgiving!

Jackson's daycare had a big Thanksgiving feast on Friday and invited all the parents. Matt worked from home so that he could attend, and I baked a pumpkin pie (and by baked, I mean I opened the box, stuck the frozen pie in the oven, and left it in there for 65-75 minutes). Jackson was super excited about the special day. How cute does he look?
We've always sort of suspected that daycare was telling us tall tales when they marked the little box next to "I ate all my food" on his daily sheet, just because he really doesn't eat all that much at home. It turns out that they don't lie. Matt said that Jackson ate so much that he started to get worried that he would be sick. He was still eating when the rest of the class had gone back to get ready for their naps, and the three year olds started setting up for their feast.

We have many things to be thankful for, and one of them is his awesome daycare. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We Don't Need No Education

Every day when we pick Jackson up from daycare, his folder is full of all kinds of drawings, worksheets, and projects for us to take home. I recently commented to Matt that his art seems to be getting worse and worse, and then we realized that they are probably actually letting him do more and more himself. Seriously, we have received art projects in which we really couldn't discern what part a two year old possibly could have contributed. The intricate cutting? The carefully drawn labels? The perfect glue job? Anyway, we go quite a surprise this Monday when we went to Jackson's folder and found a blank worksheet entitled "Homework". Not only a blank worksheet entitled "Homework", but one involving matching numbers of items that Jackson couldn't possibly be expected to do. We both chuckled over his first homework assignment and I dropped the "Homework" in the recycling bin along with the rest of his "art" and the junk mail.

But the laugh was on us the next day when we came to pick Jackson up. "Did Jackson do his homework?" his teacher asked. At first I panicked. I pasted a big smile on my face and looked at Jackson, "Jackson did you do your homework, honey?" Then I realized how incredibly mean and ridiculous it was for me to blame my parenting failure on Jackson; it sort of felt like telling the teacher that your dog ate your homework. So I confessed, "Um...I guess we didn't get to it last night. We'll do it tonight for sure." I may as well have worn a t-shirt that said, "I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY CHILD'S EDUCATION." I rushed home and dug the wretched worksheet out of the recycling bin. Over dinner, Matt and I tried to explain squirrel math (certainly 3 or even 4 year old work, right?) while Jackson yelled, "I don wan do HOMEWORK!!."

The next day, the three of us proudly turned in Jackson's homework. Matt and I chuckled about the whole thing again, and hoped that was the end of 2 year old homework. That afternoon, we found this waiting for us in Jackson's box:

I don't know what's funnier: the fact that they graded an assignment that he clearly never could have done on his own, or that fact that he got 100/100 as his grade.

VOTE!

When we picked Jackson up at daycare today, we were greeted with a roomful of not-so-subtle reminders to do our civic duty. Even in a state where the election is all but decided before the polls even open, there was a lot of excitement this year. Matt and I waited two hours to vote, but it was worth it since Jackson's daycare teacher demanded we show our "I VOTED!" stickers when we came to pick him up. We're both a little scared of her, so we were relieved that we could comply. Happy election day, everyone!

PS Yes, that IS a bowlful of miniature sherbet scoops. Our little pollster is still demanding daily rewards for potty training and we are more than happy to comply.