The School Days

The season is changing yet again, both literally and figuratively… Gone are the days of summer and we have now made it through almost one full month of our school days. What a change! John and I now have a second grader and three kindergarteners… There were times I never thought this moment would come, but of course the world was right- it was simply one blink away all along. All in all, it feels pretty amazing. School is going well for everyone and, now that we’ve made it through these first few weeks, the glazed look in the boys’ eyes is starting to lift. We are all getting into our routine, and everyone seems happy with it. Sure, there are times that, if the right country song comes on the radio about how fast life goes, I find myself tearing up a bit as I’m driving down the road…but then I park at the grocery store and leisurely walk in and shop in peaceful solitude and all is alright again. Of course, I still end up buying the kids random, ridiculous snacks they don’t need just because I’m thinking of them, and I can’t wait to see them smile once they get home… 

The most common thing that people ask me now is if I’m planning on going back to work. I simply tell them no. I’m kidding… I laugh and THEN I tell them no…I’m planning on going out to lunch. Now, trust me, I’ve learned in life that my plans don’t matter much so who knows what will happen. In truth, I’m not ready to go back to the stress of managing a patient caseload while wondering which child the school nurse will call me about that day. I know we most likely have a lot of sick days in our future this year so I’m going to try to keep my life simple. For now, I’m content managing my little ducklings back and forth from school. I think people are a bit shocked now, wondering what I am doing with all my “new-found time.” I will tell you that it’s nothing glamorous. I am still doing most of the same things- cleaning house, laundry, dishes, keeping up with the kids’ every need and occasional want… I now just get to do it with less interruption and less “mom guilt.” Every now and then, I do just sit down with my Keurig cup of coffee to think and that’s really nice, too. In those moments, I like to whisper to myself, “you’re worth it…” The coming and going of four backpacks can keep you busier than one would think. 

The other common question I get is about whether I separated the boys into different classrooms. Get ready for it- I did not. I’m not trying to be controversial, I just felt that it was the right thing to do for them as they started school. I’m going to preface this by saying every child has individual needs and every parent makes their own decisions based on those needs. There is no right or wrong, no one-size-fits-all. I’ve never written this blog as a “how to tutorial,” I have merely told OUR story. I did not send the boys to preschool, instead we spent the last year working on things at home. Again, I felt that was the right thing for them and it allowed them to enjoy the simplicity of their childhood for as long as possible. I knew that would make their transition into a full day of kindergarten a bit of a challenge and so I decided to let them tackle that TOGETHER. They have spent most every moment of their last 5+ years together, and I didn’t want to take away everything they knew all at the same time and risk the idea of “going to school” becoming something scary. 

And so, on the first day of school, they walked in the doors together and they were excited to be there. They had their big sister Kylie by their side, along with a trove of her little girlfriends that were only too happy to be part of the whole process of delivering the boys to their classroom. The first day was the hardest-the waiting patiently to hear how it all went. I picked them up in the pick-up line and, as all four of them piled into the van with their backpacks flying every which way, they were all talking simultaneously about their day. It was hard to keep straight, but Jack was going on about what he had for lunch that day, Kylie was most likely reporting back on some rule that someone had inadvertently broken, and Colton was in the back seat carrying on about some kid that was mean to him and almost had to go to the principal’s office. My focus was on navigating through the traffic and pedestrians safely so I couldn’t piece together much of their stories until we arrived home. Once everyone was sitting at the table enjoying their afternoon snack, I went back to Colton first. He had been carrying on and on about this “mean kid” and I was a bit concerned to get to the bottom of that story. I asked him again, “who was the kid who was being mean to you?” There could not have been a more perfect moment in life that represents the boys as individuals than the one that happened next… Colton, with an over dramatic pout on his face, straightened his arm out to point directly at Myles next to him, who was innocently eating his snack. The fact that Jack, without looking up from taking a bite, also tossed a thumb over his shoulder pointing at Myles from the other side left no question that the “mean kid” was, in fact, Myles. This was all followed by Myles adamantly denying the entire idea with an indignant, “noooooo” bursting from his mouth as only Myles can do. Little does Myles know, that always confirms his guilt even though it never fails to make me smile. Myles had kicked Colton in the hallway after some sort of confusion of cutting in line. It helped to know the threat of the principal was coming from Colton rather than the teacher herself. We got to the bottom of that little tiff, reviewed the rules of keeping our hands (and feet in this situation) to ourselves at school, and then I sent up another prayer for their kindergarten teacher. 

The days that followed were a little less dramatic. The boys came home excited each day and happy to report they were SO well behaved. And yes, they always put an emphasis on SO. Whether I believe them or not is a different story. There were a few minor calls from the school nurse- Jack for a false alarm sore throat and for Colton when he hit his head and scraped his knee falling off the monkey bars. Myles so far has avoided the nurse’s office but seems to be keeping his injuries small enough he’s just cleaning the teacher out of her supply of classroom bandaids. I’m sure I will owe her a donation soon enough. The boys love their teacher and are happy to go see her each day. In turn, they’re convinced she loves and misses them each night as well. As for Kylie, I’m so thankful she has the school routine down now and she takes pride in watching over her brothers and helping them through the process. 

It has been fun overall working into this new “season” of our school days. I enjoy the quiet of the day but still look forward to picking the kids up from school and hearing their stories. The moments we are all together at home in the afternoons and evenings still bring the most peace to my heart. I know life will only get busier from here so I’m doing all the things-trying to soak it up, not blink, and just enjoying where we are at now. If only I could get my kids to figure out how to enter and exit the minivan in a calm and orderly fashion, I’d really have it made…