Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
This week Haley starts Pre-K. She’ll be going all day, every weekday. When it first became clear that full-time school was going to be our best option, I was pretty upset. I couldn’t imagine being away from her for so many hours. But I’m so happy with the way things turned out. Maybe I was slow to admit it, but my little girl is not a baby anymore. She is growing up to be incredibly curious, funny, friendly and confident—and she needs the stimulation of all-day education.

Her first day of school is less than two hours, the next day is a half-day and the third is a full day. I suppose that is the school district’s way of easing the kids into it. The program is new, and to be honest, I think the teachers and administration need an adjustment period as much as the students do! I am eager to find out what the look, feel and culture of the school is and see how we all adjust to the new routine.

Another great benefit is the amount of time I’ll be able to spend with Hudson. His whole life, he’s had a rambunctious older sister to contend with. Now he’s going to get a lot of one-on-one time with Mama, which he deserves as much as Haley did. And don’t forget his daily naps! Will I actually have—gasp—a little time to myself each day? It’s hard to believe. But I will enjoy every second.

Hope everyone’s school year is off to a productive start!

From Friday Mom – Erin:
I’ve focused a lot on Rory’s transitions lately without providing any real updates on Charlotte.  That is due in large part to the fact that she is remaining in the classroom she began in last June.  She’s officially the elder stateswoman of the room at nearly eight months old.  Though, fortunately, the next oldest child is only about a month younger, so they’ll have a reasonable distribution of ages over the year.

Unfortunately, there are also some new very young babies that joined her classroom this week.  Our center begins accepting babies at 3 months old, meaning some of Charlotte’s new classmates are a full five months younger than she is.  What this also means is that many of these little ones are still learning how to nap and are far less consistent in their patterns.  Which, in turn, translates to a lot more crying.

One of the benefits of the timing of when Charlotte started is that most of the other babies in her room were older.  As a result, she was taking her cues from reasonably good nappers.  Now, she is being kept awake or woken up during nearly every nap each day by crying classmates.  Yesterday, upon being woken up, she apparently sat in her crib jabbering at her teachers, as if to say, “could you please ask them to keep it down?!”

Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be affecting her too much.  She has pieced together a series of shorter cat naps each day and is doing reasonably well each evening.  It’s not particularly problematic, but it has caught me by surprise.  Perhaps because things were going so smoothly for her brother, but also because I just didn’t really consider it in advance.  As with everything with parenting, this transition period is a reminder that two children may have very different experiences with seemingly identical circumstances.  I’ll make a note to expect it next year. . .

From Wednesday Mom: Janelle:
Jack and Tate’s sports are gearing up again for the new season. The homework piles are larger, the schedules are expanding, and my brain is doing flips. I knew there would come a time when I felt completely overwhelmed with the amount of activities going on in our lives. With my husband gone for days or weeks at a time, I’m starting to feel the pressure of solo parenting.

I am thrilled my children are involved in sports. They enjoy playing and the interaction with other kids. However, it gets very challenging when two kids have to be somewhere at the same time.  More times than not, those places are at the opposite ends of town, and I also have a parent meeting at their school thrown in for good measure. I always think, “why couldn’t they be on different nights of the week, or at different times?” I know a lot of other parents face these same dilemmas and find a balance.

Although I don’t have family nearby, I do have a great group of friends who volunteer to help me out. Luckily, their kids are involved in the same sports so they can carpool with me and make sure my child gets to where they need to be, and I can return the favor on a day when they are busy. Part of me feels guilty for not being with Jack or Tate for any or part of their game/practice. I know they don’t need me hovering 24/7, but I like to watch them have fun and improve their skills. The other part of me knows that this is how life is going to be when I’m the only parent physically home to transport and carpool. The good news is, I’m happy Jack and Tate get the opportunity to play sports and that makes me a happy mom.  It truly takes a village to raise kids!