There's a whole new set of staff at the CDC, all of who I'm very relieved to say I really like. One girl who seems to be in more charge than the others, I chatted with on the first day. Katrina happily told her "after I'm done with pre-K, then I'm coming here!" All the staff universally loves the idea of all 3 kids together -- or rather, of Katrina being there, perhaps to defuse the boys.
I told the girl that I highly recommended as much separation of the boys as possible, as they can really get active together. "Don't worry, we can handle it," she assured me. Then they started their usual shoving and messing around, and she laughed and said, "that's fine, we're used to this."
Today when I picked the boys up, the same girl looked traumatized. "This morning...." she started, "Oh my gosh. Your husband was already really mad at them, and they just didn't quit when they got here!" She seemed genuinely rattled. "It's so early in the morning, and they are all over each other, nonstop!" I didn't have the heart to say "yeah sorry....told ya." She gathered herself and continued, "So we just try to keep them apart as much as possible." Uh-huh. I TOTALLY agree.
One glorious moment came when I asked Gabriel about homework in the car on the way home, and he said (oh it gives me such joy to experience this moment again): "I already did it, Mom."
HE ALREADY DID IT!!
That's because there's now "homework time" for the older kids. The 3rd-graders and up spend most of the afternoon in a different building, away from the K-2s. AND, apparently, they get their homework done there. YIPPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! This made a really noticeable difference in our evening, in not having to bug Gabriel. If this keeps up it will be a huge improvement in our lives.
Julian's first assignment is -- get this -- to write a story about himself. His preferences, hobbies, pets, things he did this summer. Parents are supposed to help of course, but this isn't a matter of collecting popsicle sticks. By the very nature of writing, it should be done on your own, or the "help" you get is pretty much doing it. I think this is a pretty advanced assignment for brand-new first graders!
I gave Julian ideas, talked with him about things he did. I pretty much came up with the ideas ("what about T-ball?"), he said the sentence, and then I spelled the words for him while he wrote them down. This took some concentrated time, which was challenging while I was making dinner, nuding Gabriel to get on with his reading, and having to run upstairs to get a dress for Katrina. But we got it done. Seems like these days we get a lot of things done, but just barely.
For now, we're paying for morning CDC care to drop them off at 8am (40 minutes before school starts), so that we can avoid traffic and get a slightly earlier start on our day. Me the firm night person, the morning-hater, is getting to work at 7:50am these days -- and still working on nuding that earlier. Two of my coworkers also get to work that early too -- but after getting up at 5am and exercising first!!! URHGHGHLLLL!!
Traffic has been really bad since school started, so I need to leave work AT 4:30 on the dot, which really means I need to arrive at to work at 7:30 in the morning if I'm to fit in any exercise into my life. (Incredibly I forced myself to go running at lunch, and regretted it until I was done. It was borderline dangerously hot.)
It's a miracle I even get anyone's fingernails trimmed.
8/24/2010
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