Kindergarten and Beyond

It's the end of era, the beginning of a whole new world - for Laura and us.  Yes, it's Kindergarten.  As expected, Laura started Kindergarten this week as if she was born to do so.  She was so excited.  She got to wear a new uniform, get a new backpack and lunch bag, and wear new tennis shoes.  Best of all, Laura, the social butterfly that she is, was excited to meet new friends.  So when we walked her up to the gate near the entrance to the long hall way into her new school, St. Brendan's, we kissed her goodbye, and off she went.  She didn't hesitate or look back.  She was ready for her whole new world.

Me, on the other hand, look at it more like the end of an era, for now anyway.  You see, I just brought her home.  I can see that day as plain as it were yesterday.  Matt and I sat at our kitchen table with her asleep in her carrier on the floor and ate our lunch from Steak N' Shake.  We marveled what had just happened.  We actually had another life to take care of without supervision!  We had no idea what we were doing.  But we were so looking forward to all of the fun of the coming years.  Flash forward five and half years.  All the years as a little one and a toddler are gone.  Our lives are now dictated by a new schedule - school.  And that's how it feels - it flashed right by.

Nevertheless, it's here, and we all survived the first week (or half week; she will normally go five days all day).  After the first day, we asked Laura how it went.  She said her favorite part was lunch.  (Although they only have 20 minutes to eat!) She said that they move quickly from thing to thing.  I think she means from subject to subject.  I asked her what she learned.  She said, "I didn't really learn anything.  We learned lots of rules."  I could tell that she was really tired.  Sure enough, she fell asleep in the car on the way home.  She hasn't done that in years.  The next two days were more of the same.  We have a link that we are supposed to check once a day to see what's going on during her days.  So we are able to ask her questions more pointedly about what she is learning.  Next week we will probably get her first homework.  And off we go, into our new world.  It's amazing the little girl that she has become.  She is so aware of personal relationships now.  For example, she implies that if her friend across the street chooses to play with other girls, that she might now care about Laura as much, and it hurts Laura's feelings.  This morning after breakfast, I was sitting at the table with Laura drinking my coffee, and Laura said, "I just want to sit here and talk, Mom."  She's growing up!

I think this first week of Kindergarten was more of an adjustment for us than her.  I have to make sure that she has uniforms ready and clean each morning.  I have to check her folder each night and empty it.  I have to clean out her lunchbox, plan what she will have the next day for lunch and snack.  And we have started to have Laura shower every night.  She used to this every other night.  It's no big deal, except that she takes FOREVER!  We will have to work on the art of a quick shower.  It doesn't sound like much, but it has been a major adjustment to my schedule.  And because I'm old, I adjust more slowly than Laura ;)

Not to be forgotten, little Hannah started pre-school this week too.  She actually adjusted a little more slowly than Laura.  Her transition week was the week before, and we were on stay cation.  So we just dropped her in her new room on Wednesday.  As usual, it was a little chaotic, so Hannah struggled.  She dropped off OK, but she had an accident (wet her pants) once this week, which is unusual.  I think she was just too scared to ask someone to go.  She'll make it.  I think that she loves that she gets dropped off in the big kid classrooms.  And she is still very much looking forward to field trips.  The first one will be to the pumpkin patch in October.

Seasons pass, years will roll....and we will try to embrace each change in our lives and enjoy our years with our babies, our little girls, and some day our young women.

Staycation

We are on staycation!  It has turned out much better than I imagined it would so far.  I thought that I might get caught up in day-to-day chores, but we have done all kinds of awesome things so far.  Staycation was positioned in the last week before Laura starts Kindergarten.  It started Wednesday, the 14th, and Laura starts school on the 21st.  We did Jungle Jack's Landing on Wednesday.  We did this once at the end of last summer, and the kids enjoyed it.  They had more fun this year.  Plus they got to ride the dinosaur boat ride again, which is Hannah's most favorite activity of the summer.  Laura was so sweet to Hannah on each ride; she would help Hannah get buckled and help her on and off the rides.

Thursday we went school shopping.  I needed to get a few more uniforms for Laura, and she enjoyed picking out her classroom supplies.  She gets to meet her teacher on Monday, and she is very excited.  Hannah got to pick out a few things too.  Shoes was the most challenging, as Laura seems to be in an in-between size.  After scouring through Kohls, we finally found some Sketchers at Meijer.  I think Laura liked picking out her backpack the most.  I was on the phone with Matt, and she talked to the store clerk, who assisted her in narrowing down her selections.  She finally chose an urban, camouflage one that is different colors of pink and black and white.  We did movie night that evening.  We watched a cheesy movie from the eighties about some kids that got lost in a mountain, and the wolf, who was really an indian spirit, protected the kids.  Laura loved it!  The other two fell asleep.

Yesterday we went to the Wilds in Zanesville.  We got to see a ton of animals, and I think the older two really like it.  They got to see rhinos, zebras, giraffes, and an assortment of African deer.  Thankfully, there were two short stops along the tour to relieve the restlessness, since it was 2.5 hours long.  Yesterday evening we went to Drive-In Movie night at the Keith's.  The kids really got to burn off some steam running around there and ingest a ton of sugar!  They had old fashioned cartoons, which to my surprise the kids watched intently.  They loved them!  Then they played The Wizard of Oz.  All three watched the whole thing.  Before the movies started, the older two were running around, and Emma was trying her hardest to keep up with them.  When she runs now, she waves her little elbow like a little chicken leg, just like Hannah used to do.  It's so cute!  She's getting pretty good verbally too.  She will answer fairly consistently "yes or no" when you ask her a question. 

Today we are going to catch up a bit and meet some family for lunch later.  Then I think we will hit one of the local pools tomorrow.  Monday, Laura gets to meet her teacher, and we have a meet and greet at her school.  Tuesday, we will probably rest and enjoy our last day with Laura before we enter the world of school!  Can you tell I don't want it to end?  Matt is nervous for her, mostly about her adjusting socially.  I am not at all nervous about those things.  I am mostly sad - sad that it is all over.  I feel like we brought her home last week, and now she's grown up and going to school.  It went way too fast for me. 

I've been talking a lot about Laura, but Hannah is making a big step too this year.  She moves up to pre-school at our daycare.  She is pretty excited about it, mostly about the field trips.  She has been watching Laura go on field trips for two years, and she is very excited to get go on them this year. Unfortunately, her class is not that fun.  It is mostly boys.  She really only had two friends, Quinn and Charlotte.  Sadly, both of the other girls are likely going to other schools this year.  So Hannah will be pretty sad about that when she realizes it.  I still have hope that the one girl will come back,  but we'll see.  Either way, pre-school will be a whole new world for Hannah, and the teacher in that class is excellent.

As summer draws to a close, I'm thankful for another season of happy memories.  And ready or not, off we go into fall!