Ch-Ch-Changes and General Updates

I have a job. I wasn't looking for one, but I had entertained the idea of having one for the past 6-9 months. When I was approached about one at the kids' preschool, I decided to say yes. It's very part-time (11-12 hours/week), but it's still a shift in our schedule, nonetheless. I am an assistant teacher in the 3-year-old's room. Lenore hangs out with me the first 15 minutes, then she goes to her class for 3 hours while I work. She helps me in my room for the last 15-30 minutes, and we head home for lunch, nap, and pick Lewis up at the bus stop. It really couldn't be more ideal. I'm still getting used to the new schedule myself and to teaching/loving/parenting these extra 15 kids three days a week, but I think it will work out well.

Lewis is in Kindergarten and loves it. His bus picks up at 8:24am (ish), and returns at 4:10pm (ish), so we spend quite a lot of time apart Monday-Friday. He still comes home from school SO very tired and SO very hungry. I'm not sure what he is eating while he's at school, but I've heard it can take 6-8 weeks for them to adjust to such a long day. I usually give him 30-45 minutes to chill when we get home from the bus stop, and then he does his homework while I'm making dinner. He has homework Monday-Thursday and gets Fridays/weekends off. He is getting really good marks for behavior every day, and he seems to love and respect his teachers and their rules.

I had hired house cleaners in the spring to help me, and I just let them go at the end of the summer because I thought I could definitely get a grip on things once school started for Lewis. I was supposed to have Wednesday-Friday mornings 'off' or 'free from children' to make doctor's appointments or clean the house. Then I got offered the job, and there goes my grand plans. The dog hair is everywhere, and I constantly feel like I can't get anything completed from start-to-finish. I'm always interrupted, and that just messes with me/my sense of accomplishment. Let me tell you, nothing feels as amazing as coming home to a totally clean house*. (*Which was accomplished with no children present, no mess-makers underfoot, no frustrations on my behalf.) I think I just talked myself into it, so I'm probably going to have to call and hire them back.

Lewis is in swim lessons again. He's taken the Beginner and Intermediate(preschool) levels, which were a tad disappointing. I don't mean to be critical, but I felt like they were too easy on him and didn't make him learn how to struggle through and learn how to *really* swim. Now he's in the Advanced (preschool) class, and it is a bit above his current level, but I think they're going to let him stay in. Just in the span of one class, he was able to swim with his face in the water, take breaths to the side, use a forward stroke, swim on his back, and try to do backstroke. Granted, his instructor was supporting him through most of those things, but he was actually having to work hard and seemed to be clicking more than the other classes did the entire time. 

Lewis is in soccer through the Y for the first time. He'd done a program through his preschool the past two years, but that was more skill-building than actual team play. He's only had one game so far and seemed to be running the wrong way for most of the first half. Kevin told him which goal he should be heading towards, and he got the hang of it more in the second half. :) He's having a lot of fun with it.

Lenore is the same. Bossy and hilarious. She HAS started hitting me in the face, which is not cute. I'm wondering if she picked it up at school and/or is doing it at school. I need to ask her teachers.

Kevin broke his big toe last Friday. He'd volunteered to be in the dunk tank for a work function, and it happened sometime in the course of those 30 minutes. He thinks it might have been from slipping on the ladder to get back on the seat, but he isn't sure. He, of course, proceeded to split firewood with my dad all the next morning before going to Urgent Care for an x-ray. He has to wear a special shoe for a few weeks and will hopefully be fine after that.

The owls are back in our woods. I can't wait to have consistently cool overnights (next week!) so I can sleep with the windows open again. I love our house and neighborhood so much, especially when it's cool enough to leave the windows up. The bugs are deafening, too--I love it.

Ta-ta for now.

Donuts with Dad

This is the 3rd week of Lewis' school, and things are going pretty well so far! Yesterday was the first event of the fall, Donuts with Dad, which Kevin attended. He said they read stories, showed off their place mats (that tell about each student), showed off the classroom toys, and ate donuts, bananas, and strawberries. There were just a few dads and/or grandpas that were able to attend, so I'm glad Kevin was able to go. They're having it again on Friday for those dads who couldn't make it yesterday.

Here are some pictures that Kevin took while he was there:

 Talking colors and balls with Ms. Lauren (the director, whom I love)

She reminds me so much of our former summer camp director/mentor/friend, Joan, and I knew once I met her that we'd have a good fit with this school.

 Playing with 'a girl'

Most of the time when I ask Lewis how his day was, what he did, etc., he says he 'played with a girl.' Maybe this is the girl? I'm not sure, but I guess we'll find out as the year progresses.

 Two basketballs in one hand and trains galore--looks about right! :)

Here is Lew's place mat in action! A couple of the students haven't brought in their photos yet, so they aren't using them at snack time until all of the students have one. (But the dads got a sneak peek.)

 One side

And the other :)

Kevin said they had a good time! Apparently after he left, though, Lewis got really upset. His teacher was telling me about it after school and said she's going to try to push it until later into the semester next year since the kids are still getting used to being away from mom/dad just three weeks in (which makes sense). She said they almost called me to come and get him, he was so upset, but a ride in one of these made it all better:

:)

The 1-year-olds have one for transporting the kids further distances, so they let Lewis hitch a ride, and all was well again. :)

He has had a couple of 'incidents' with another student in his class who keeps biting him. It happened on Monday and Tuesday and once last week to a different student. They are going to bring in an occupational therapist tomorrow to see if they can teach him how to interact more appropriately. The other mom feels terrible about it, and we feel bad that he might get kicked out of school (knowing that he's just 2 and it's just a phase). BUT we also don't want Lewis to be bitten every day. :) His teacher has let the other mom know that the students have to be safe, so if they can't get him to stop, he will have to leave. They thought last week he was fixating on a toy, but this week they felt he might have been fixating on Lewis, specifically. I think both instances involved fighting over a toy (which, again, we feel is normal 2-year-old behavior), sooooo it's to be continued. The occupational therapist will be in tomorrow, and I've heard good things about what can be accomplished, so hopefully it will all end well!

Lewis also started soccer on Tuesday (busy day!)! He will just have practices after school for 10 weeks, learning some of the basics. No games, nothing formal. Since he likes balls of all sorts, we thought it'd be a good place to start (and he can run off some of that extra energy). :) So Mondays he goes 9-12 and Tuesdays 9-2. So far, so good!