By the skin of our teeth, let me tell you.
First the good news:
We're all alive! And, I got an A on my first paper! And an A on my first test! Go me. I wouldn't be against a small cheer here, if you wanted to give me one.
Seth had a great first week! Aside from a little hardcore screaming on Thursday when I left, he did great! He kept his ears on and no one has had to talk to me at all. It strikes fear into my bones when a teacher gives me a look and says "I need to talk to you." Argh. Shivering thinking about it. Even more exciting, Seth has been adding words right and left! This week he's said Baby, Puppet, Please, Water, Bubbles, Help Me, and My Turn. And more that I can't remember. Not all these words are new, but he hasn't said them in a while. Even better, he was actually mimicking me today! He has never, never, never done that since he was a tiny baby. This is huge.
And the not so good news:
Turns out I need more hours in a day than currently exist. And I forgot how much I despise packing lunches every night. And Jace is a firecracker.
And, And, And...now that I think of it, Ava is the only one that had a completely smooth first week. She fell right back into school and is loving it. Jace, however, is...well, how can we put this nicely? He is challenging authority. Part of the issue is that his Pre-K room is actually the same room he is in for school, for Sunday School on Sunday's, and for homeschool on Monday and Wednesday. So he is very, very familiar with that room. Which is making it hard for him to understand that when he is there for school, there are different rules than when he is there on Sunday's or for homeschool.
This year, he will be required to do a lot more sitting and listening than he has had to do before, and with a class of eight boys and two girls, the boys are playing off each other a little bit and getting kind of crazy. Boys will be boys, but they still have to listen in school.
And I won't even get into how, on the very first day Jace decided that he was only going to listen to one of his teachers and not the other or how he apparently has no filter and shared some family information at a pretty high volume to his entire class and a new teacher who had no clue what he was talking about. Yes. He does not mince words. Or hold back. Or, apparently, remember what an inside voice is.
I love my oldest son to the moon and back, but man oh man, he challenges me in ways I never thought possible. By the time he is grown I will be the most experienced, bendy parent in the entire universe. Jace, God love him, is delightful, sweet, charming, spirited, and incredibly difficult to parent. I have to walk an extremely fine line with him, holding him accountable and having high expectations without disciplining him to the point that it breaks his spirit. I know it will be worth it and we will both come out of it stronger and wiser, but man, are we ever in the fire right now. Good thing he's worth it!
And good thing my children are kind enough to take turns when they need some extra special attention and devotion. If all four of them ever go through something at the same time it may kill me!
Saturday was the kids first soccer game, and they did great! Seth is completely obsessed with soccer and he now brings his own ball to practice with every time. He's the cutest thing in the entire world, and his physical therapist was thrilled. Ava is so much more into the game this year, which is so fun to watch, while Jace is very much in the same phase she was in last year...wandering around the field, picking grass, and rolling around. He'll get there someday. Right now his favorite part is the snack.
So tomorrow we start it all again. We're officially back in the thick of it. No sleeping in until November! I'm going to put the date of the first free Saturday we'll have on the calendar right now. Official Day to Sleep. Can't wait!
