Well, we hit another big milestone in our family. Kinsley started KINDERGARTEN!
Why July? Most of the schools around here do year round schooling, which means she will start now, go 9 weeks and then get a 2.5-3 week break, then go another 9 weeks, and so on, and so forth. Totally foreign to me, but we are learning as we go. Her teacher is on her track, meaning her teacher will break when she breaks, etc., but we didn’t know that the teachers switch classrooms after every break. I can’t imagine moving everything every 9 weeks, but I guess they get used to it.
She has been so looking forward to starting big girl school and loved getting to meet her teacher during the orientation. So, when the first day hit, she was beyond ready. She walked right in her class, found her cubby, hung up her bookbag, and never looked back. Her favorite parts so far are doing centers (where they have different centers to do different things and switch off doing them), having lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids, and riding the school bus.
We had been warned by quite a few people that she will be exhausted and not quite herself the first few months. But, man, talk about DRAMA!?!?! She is naturally dramatic, but we are talking over the top. Tons of discipline things that we thought we mastered years ago have reared their ugly heads. Add on to that Ed being gone and my parents coming and going, and we have been s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g. But, I am hopeful that my child will once again return and things will become more normal once Ed returns.
How has momma handled the transition? I struggled a lot with letting her ride the school bus, mostly because I never did as a child. But, with it beating us home, only picking her up 5 minutes before we leave, and allowing me not to have to wait in car pool line for 45 minutes with a toddler and a baby, we decided it was the best route. Their are quite a few kids in our neighborhood that she knows that ride it, which definitely helps, and it has been one of her favorite parts. Did you know that some schools will tweet out when the bus leaves so you will know better what time it will arrive? Crazy how technology has evolved! I also have struggled with feeling like we aren’t getting much time with her anymore, mostly because she goes to school from 8:45 until 4:30, and then its dinner time, bed time, etc. and we are only get a little bit of time in the evenings and weekends (and trackouts of course). That too has eased a little and days like today, when she is home sick on only her second week, leave me knowing we still have time with her. Only having two kiddos all day is a nice relief, too 🙂
How has Emerson handled the transition? She cried the first day or two when she left, but she loves going to meet the school bus and she, of course, loves the extra attention. We have gotten to do a few fun things with her since Kinsley has been in school, like going shopping and taking her to our town’s new Splash Pad that just opened. And, she has loved extra snuggling with Bruno boy.
Blake has also enjoyed the extra fun activites. Check him out at the new Splash Pad. Yes, he does own a bathing suit, but because their were so many kids at the opening day, they let in 120 kids every 10-15 minutes to play and then rotated in some more. It takes 10 minutes to squeeze his chunky butt into the bathing suit, so we went the naked route 😉
Ed is at our national bi-annual staff conference in Colorado and has been gone 10 days, but we felt it was really important that I stay here with Kinsley for this big event. I have tried to watch sessions online and I have really missed being there, but I haven’t regretted the decision to stay home during this important time in her life. Besides, grandparents shouldn’t have to deal with all that discipline mess, at least not to the extent that I have had to this week.
How have I survived him being gone for 10 days in the midst of all this transition? Besides the Lord empowering me and giving me patience and strength, three other people have been my heroes.
1 – My parents – they came for a few days at the beginning, left to run their restaurant for the weekend, and then my mom came back. I survived for 3.5 days without them, but let me tell you, it’s always better they are here (momma makes all things better). And, not to mention, both Emerson and Kinsley have gotten sick and nights have been ROUGH, so it has been nice to have a extra hand to help this sleep-deprived momma.
2 – My neighbor, Denise – Listen, ya’ll, when you buy a house, make sure you have amazing neighbors. They invited us over for dinner, watched the kids for me to run to a shop, texted repeatedly, and just hung out with us, providing fun for the girls and human interaction for me. She is going to kill me for putting this picture up here, but she even let the girls fix her hair 🙂
