A Truck and Preschool

Liam got a present in the mail recently from his Grandma and Grandad in Michigan.  Here are some pics of him opening the box.  It's a "new" truck that Allen had when he was growing up.

 It was heavy and hard to get out of the box.  They don't make 'em like that any more!

 He was very excited.  He said, "Tell them THANKS!"

 Daddy and boy checking out the equipment.

The dumper lifts.  To reveal Daddy's name.

Today was the first day of summer preschool for Liam.  He was very excited about it yesterday.  He said he was going to do the whole day "fast" so that preschool would come sooner.  When I asked him how he would do that he said, "by sleeping."  Since yesterday was "church day" and it wasn't particularly hot outside he soon came up with another plan that involved church, eating out, then all three of us spending time outside together.  Which is actually more or less how the day turned out.  Although when he said that all of us going outside together was what he was planning I said, "You probably shouldn't plan for that.  You can hope for it."  (Since life does sometimes throw curve balls.)  He said, "My plan is to hope for that."  We took the truck out so he could try it out.

This morning I had to wake Liam up from a sound sleep so he could get ready for preschool in time.  Once he got over being too tired to get out of bed (which took about 1/60th the time it takes Allen or I) he started to feel nervous about starting preschool in a new building with kids he didn't know.  I think it was partly because last year when he started preschool there was a cry-er and it wasn't very fun for him.  His tummy hurt and he had to keep his nose from making him cry (I have no further explanation for this phrase - Liam said it.)  But as soon as he saw his regular teacher he said he felt better.  A couple of kids from his old class were there, although it turned out that they were just visiting for the day.  Other than that it seems that all the kids are new to him.  They are not, generally new to the preschool, though, since it has two classes that have been meeting in different locations as well as morning and afternoon sessions.  No crying that I witnessed or Liam mentioned.

He said it was a good day "other than the rain" which kept them from checking out the fun playground.  He also said it was very different from his regular preschool.  During "circle time" they sat in a rectangle!  He doesn't know who his teacher is - college students get experience teaching at this preschool and are generally assigned a student to work with specially to help them meet some of their requirements.  I told him he might now have a "special teacher" this time.  He said he didn't mind that, but he reported that "I don't sit on their laps because I don't know them."

In other news, today we had to have our "new" van towed to a repair shop.  It dumped a bunch of fluid on Friday and we hadn't driven it since (other than to restart it had hear a terrible noise.)  It turns out to be the water pump, with a probable need to also replace the timing belt.  Very expensive and tricky for our summer budget.  Not fun, but we'll figure it out.  Liam missed seeing the van towed, but happened to see another van being towed down our street as we were getting home from the library.  Where we went this afternoon.  Where we were when the electricity went out.  Not a biggy, but it "ruined" the day for Liam because he didn't get to play on the computers.  A brief review of what actually happened during the day (prompted by questions from Allen) revealed that some fun might have been had by him.  But it still wasn't the "perfect" day like the one when he got extra chocolate candy AND chocolate ice cream.