2012_09_06 Thursday

The long awaited photos from this morning. Jonathan was so brave and excited for school. He did tell me last night that he's prefer to go back to KinderGan (his preschool); I think I hyped up school a tad too much at bedtime.

Last night we did the German 'tute,' which is the cone in the pictures; it's filled with school supplies, etc. Typically, you carry it to school, but we did it last night. He colored his school bus on it, with him inside.

He got up without any trouble, ate breakfast quickly, and we even had a little time for TV. Lots of kids were at the bus stop; luckily we've played with them over the summer, so that was super easy. He jumped into the bus without even looking back. I got a little weepy (well, what's it called when the leprechaun clicks his heals together??) on our walk home without him. Then, we met up again on the blacktop at school and walked to his classroom, which happened to be the one we toured in June. He was pretty surprised to see us again, but he didn't cover or stick to us; he stuck by three boy classmates. The teacher is nice but didn't really talk too much. The whole morning was a little chaotic and unorganized, IMHO. The PTA then hosted a coffee/recruiting effort that I volunteered for a few things...like communications!

We picked him up at the end of the day at the bus stop, and all was right in the world. The kid is hilarious. He didn't remember that I had packed a snack, so he didn't have one. And, he only ate 1/2 (at best) of his lunch. He must have been starving through class, but with it all being so new, I don't think he realized how hungry he was. We got very little feedback, which was expected. He's truly mum about his days and always has been. When we ask very targeted questions, we'll get answers, but we sort of have to know what to ask first and even then the answers may be...imaginative. When we went to bed (at 7:30!), he asked if he could ride the bus again tomorrow "because that was pretty cool." And, the best thing about his whole day was "climbing the rock wall" at the playground (which may have been from the test run day, I'm not even sure they had recess!!).

See pix:

2012_09_05 Wednesday

'Twas the night before Kindergarten and all through the house....

Holy Moly!!! Jonathan starts Kindergarten tomorrow!! We've been practicing getting up early (ie 7:20am!!) this week, although I just couldn't manage today (since I was up until 1am working). Jonathan is getting the hang of getting up and getting dressed himself, especially since we lay out his clothes the night before. Then, I can get downstairs and make breakfast, agreed upon the night before, so it's ready when he comes down. We also tested out our walk to the bus stop as well. Elise's monitor does reach, so I don't feel like I need to wake her up so early for such a short period of time. Yeah.

We had our "Wonderful Wednesday" art program today. They made paperbag ladybug puppets (Oriental Trading again), which I think I may fill with snacks for school.

Unfortunately, the school's playdate was cancelled today due to rain. That was a huge bummer. We may swing by later today to find his numbered row anyway.

He's working on coloring his Tute right now. And, he's decorating whoo-whoos, which I also plan on filling with snacks (this was a project in Highlights Mag).

I've been having belly pains for the last few days; I wonder if it's my subconscience stress manifesting. Or, maybe I just pulled a muscle.

2012_08_28 Tuesday

Jonathan got his first professional hair cut today, in anticipation of Kindergarten. He looks so handsome. The tools she used were a little more intense (and loud) than dad's tools, so it took a little getting used to, but he did great. We also got a first day of school outfit too. Counting the days!

2012_08_24 Friday

I went to a mom's group meeting on Wednesday night that really struck me; it was about healthy eating (organic, raw foods, local, etc). I've vowed to myself to really try harder to avoid the garbage food and try to really focus on 'clean eating.' They got a charge out of my egg delivery/pick-up service. I made quinoa with mushrooms and carrots for dinner last night. The kids had fruit smoothies, 10-grain bread with butter/honey, carrots, lunch meat (will work on that one), and cheese slices for lunch. For b'fast, they had a plum and bagel with cream cheese (again, will work on that). I'm thinking seriously about joining a CSA, but since the season ends in November, I may be stuck starting in the spring of 2013. Maybe this will also get my rear in gear with planting our own garden. I can dream.

Anyway, this morning was the last morning Jonathan got to sleep in. Next week, we start practicing for Kindergarten. The bus comes at 8:15. This is going to kill ME! After b'fast (which seems to last forever), we jumped in the car and headed to a nearby arboretum. Elise asked if we were going on an 'addenture,' to which I always say yes. The paths were really nice, although a bit hilly, and no signage made it difficult to plan our walk; we somehow completely missed their nature center. Guess we'll have to go back to explore more. Jonathan got to pick which paths to follow on the way out, and I got to on the way back. I have pictures to upload; stay tuned.

2012_08_14 Tuesday

Elise sat at our kitchen bar having lunch today singing: "bahhh-waaaay, bah-way, I doing bahhh-waaay!" while she balanced on one knee and had the other leg up behind her. I fear that ballet classes aren't too far off.

Jonathan busied himself today with constructing two full Lego sets and 1.5 3D puzzles that he got for his birthday! The house was so quiet, I assumed something was amiss!

2012_08_13 Monday

Jonathan had a really rough start of the day (at 8:30). The kid gets 12 hours on average of night sleep; he shouldn't have any problem having a chipper morning. I am actually getting nervous about his mornings for school. I'm not sure when school actually begins (or when the bus will pick up), but we need some serious practice in getting up pleasantly and early. But, he almost went to the gym in his pjs.

After my yoga class, we stuck around the gym for the pool for maybe an hour. Elise managed to take a header after getting tangled up in rogue flip flops on the concrete side of the pool. Now she's got a bit of road burn on her forehead (or her sorehead as she says it). Since she goes to the day care while Jonathan has his swim class in the PM, the girls were concerned that she got banged up again (reference: her Hitler 'stash from May). Jonathan continued to have a rough day -- parts were better than others -- but he did well at class. It's so cool to see him scoop and swim underwater. He did a killer belly flop at the very end, but it didn't seem to bother him. We only have our coach, Conner, for one more class, and J has one more after that. I decided to cancel class until we have a good handle on school.

Last night, we had a rising Kindergarten happy hour at some friends' house. It was fun to have the kids play and for the grown-ups to mingle. I think all of them (or 99%) will even be at our bus stop!! Sure hope that makes it easier for everyone when Sept 6 rolls around!!

2012_08_11 Saturday

We had a double birthday party for Jonathan and his buddy, Luke, who he went to preschool with. It was great, especially since they had most of school come! We had a bounce house for them, and Elise was in it from start to end. She was awesome. The boys had a blast too. Luke's mom made cupcake ice cream cones  that were a huge hit (and we had a small cake for the family on 8/13). This year wasn't like years' past, where we had an open house along with birthdays, so it was much smaller and more Jonathan/Luke-centric, which is really what a birthday party should be, I suppose.

The day got off to a bumpy start since Dave's flight was canceled the night before, and he didn't get in until 10ish. But, I had our usual babysitter (who knows Luke's family too!) come to help until Oma/Opa arrived. whew.