School is Back in Session!

I've been waiting for this day for YEARS!  It's a bittersweet thing - seeing my babies grow up, but wanting them to stay young longer. I didn't want to wish time away but yet here we are anyways. Most importantly, my baby is in KINDERGARTEN you guys!! We've officially closed the chapter in our lives where little babies and toddlers keep us preoccupied and said farewell to paying for childcare. There's still the occasional camp here and there, but nothing too serious!

We were supposed to start school the last Wednesday in August, but the teachers went on strike. I was okay with a delayed start because a) I had the day off anyways b) we were going on vacation on Thursday and Friday (sorry perfect attendance!) and c) I wasn't mentally prepared for school to start.

Ms. Gail is in a bi-lingual kindergarten class where she'll be taught half the day in English, and half the day in Spanish. I'm already impressed with what she's learned. She came home after a week counting to 10 in Spanish, and the next week to 20. Her Spanish alphabet is almost there, but she's practicing hard! 

On her first day of school, I attempted to dress her up really cute, and have adorable hair but she was having none of it. It was imperative she wore her cat pants, cat socks, and cat shoes. We compromised on the shirt. She needed it to be a cat shirt so her friends would know she liked cats (because the extra backpack, lunchbox, and water bottle weren't telling enough) but I told her she could wear whatever she wants tomorrow, as long as I pick out her top. She reluctantly agreed, but wasn't too happy about it. I could feel the eye rolls as she said, "Oh fine." 

We agreed in the morning I would take her to school so she knew where to go but she decided at the last minute she actually wanted to ride the bus with her brothers. I hadn't gotten my photos of her yet so we quickly snapped a few and hustled to the bus stop. It was early. GO FIGURE. I wanted to take her school anyways. 

I met her at the bus stop after her second day of school and she was SO EXCITED to tell me she found HD's lunchbox (that he forgot at school the day before.) I asked her if she was sure it was his, and she happily replied, "Oh yes! It's his Star Wars one! I saw it sitting by the fence so I asked my teacher if I could go get my brothers lunchbox and he said I could!" Imagine my surprise when it was not his. I had her return it to school the next day and she was afraid the bus driver wouldn't let her on the bus because it had food in it. (Wha??)

Picking out clothes for my boys is clearly coming to an end. I was able to recommend he wear his new green shirt, and suggested shorts to go with, but the shorts were vetoed and replaced with these. I strongly don't like them... But he likes them, so whatever. I can't save you from yourself. JP was a little disappointed to not have any of his friends in class with him but I think still being able to play with them at recess makes it better. He's a quiet guy so I didn't get much out of him. 

Middle child problems right here: He's just a good kid so I don't have much to say about him. I'm not forgetting about him though!

My first born is a 4th grader! Say what?!?! He's wayyy too cool for school now. You can't really tell in the picture, but he's got a nice red ring around his mouth. I'm not sure if he was sucking on something or sucking his lips, but seriously, could he have better timing? Things went as good as expected with him. He came home with a crappy attitude because school is boring. "Recess is the only thing I'll ever like."

As school has progressed, he's taken a strong interest in the Titanic. In fact, I came home from work one afternoon to find him staring at the tv watching the Titanic sink, in real time. It was a computer rendering of the ship sinking, popping up timeline facts along every so often. He was an HOUR in. I let him finish it, but in fast forward. I was not about to have him spend 2 hours and 40 minutes watching that. When I sat down with him on the couch, I asked the obvious mom question, "What are you watching." "The Titanic." My heart stopped for a second. At a quick glance of the screen, I could see the Titanic sinking and immediately thought it was the movie. I casually asked, "Did you happen to see any naked women?" "Mom! I'M WATCHING THE TITANIC SINK! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!" Such relief washed over me as I watched screen for a little longer. Phew! 

Since then, he's finished the book, 'I Survived: The Titanic' and has moved on to a 'Rescuing from the Titanic' series, or something similar. I've never seen him more enthralled with a book before! He thinks it would be a lot of fun to scuba dive down to the Titanic to see it. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news for another career path he can't realistically do because of diabetes. No sense killing his curiosity now. 

Now that school is back in full session, I'm going to be over here relaxing on my days off, but only after I frantically pack lunches in the morning and herd kids around in the morning. WALK FASTER THAN WHAT YOU'RE GOING! GET YOUR SHOES ON! I ALREADY TOLD YOU TO GO BRUSH YOUR TEETH. WHY AREN'T YOUR SHOES ON?! Some day I'll miss this. Some day. Not today though. 

Seriously, where all are the freaking shoes?!