Thursday, August 15, 2013

The first month

Tomorrow is Spencer's 20th day of Kindergarten.  We've made it through 4 weeks.  A whole month.  It's pretty remarkable considering all I did was blink after I wrote his first day of school post and here we are.
 
Things really could not be going better.  Spencer loves his teacher, he is making friends and he is enthusiastic about learning.  I went to a PTO meeting last week and I am really happy with the school as well.  I know we're only 1 month in to what will end up being 11 total years at this school, but I'm feeling confident about our decision. 
 
The new routine is going well too.  Bedtime is between 8 and 8:20 every night.  We are very strict about it, even on weekends.  We get up at 7:00 every morning during the week. If the kids are still sleeping at 7:00 on Saturday or Sunday I will let them "sleep in" until 7:20, but that is our only departure from the schedule.  The sun is up and it is totally bright and shiny at 7:00 when we are getting up, which makes it easier.  We'll see how things go when it is dark at 7:00.
 
It's different being at home all day without Spencer.  I still sometimes think that I've forgotten him somewhere.  If we have errands to run we usually do them right after we drop Spencer off at school.  This depends on the store we need to go to though.  A lot of stores don't open until 10, which is annoying and clearly too late.
 
We're planning on signing Elliott up for 2 Parks and Rec classes that start in September.  One is on Tuesdays that he'll go to with daddy.  One is on Friday that he'll go to with me.  I hope it'll break up that day a little and give us something fun to do.
 
In the meantime, we spend a lot of time reading.
 
And watching Ginger sleep.
At least once a day Elliott picks up a container, turns to look at me, says "bye" and takes off for the front door.  He's not even 2 and he's trying to leave for college.
 
We eat breakfast at 7:30, a tiny morning snack at 9:30/10-ish and lunch at 11:30.
Elliott goes down for a nap between 12 and 12:20.  I work-out and then try to clean, do laundry or read.  Elliott has to be up by 2:35 to leave to go get Spencer.
 
Once we are home we have another little snack and then it is play time.
 
Their favorite activity is when Elliott pushes his old man walker and chases Spencer, who is riding on the train.  They both yell like banshees the whole time.  They do this for hours.
Spencer was sitting on the floor playing with blocks on Tuesday.  Elliott pushed his walker over to him and left it there.  Then he pushed the train over and pushed it into Spencer and yelled, "Go! Go! Go!"
 
That's how to get what you want.
Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up in 2 weeks.  I'm interested to see how he is doing academically.  His teacher has already told me that he is the role model for behavior for her entire class. 
 
That's my little rule follower. 
 
Finally, all that parenting has paid off.

4 comments:

Jeannette said...

Geez, I swear you did just post about his first day! Glad everyone is settling into the schedule so well!

Those boys of yours are too funny with their hollering. By the way, in the 15 minutes Ellie spent with them a few weeks ago, she picked up their Wild Man banshee cry. Can't wait to hear it x2... ;)

Anonymous said...

That's because Spencer and Elliott have great parents.

Sherry said...

I can't believe he has already been in school a month and here I am hating that our summer is over in a week. So glad to hear that he likes school and is doing well. Here's hoping that last a few more years at least! :-)

Cat said...

Okay, silly question, if Spencer goes to school for 13 years (k-12), what two years does he not go to this school? You said he'll be there for 11 years.
I can't believe you are a month in! We started this week.