The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round

It seems we have fully stepped onto the childhood wheel of life: the school year.

Noah's school is one of many here in our city which is on a year-round schedule. I wasn't sure I would like it, after growing up with those long, lazy summers, but it seems kind of nice. Instead of having three months off each summer, we have three single months off three times a year. So our summer was only one month long.

We also don't have the brown crispy leaves of autumn to crunch through on the way to school and sweater weather won't start for at least another month (I can't even bring myself to pull on jeans yet!) But there is definitely a "beginning of the year" feeling in the air that January 1st doesn't even bring with it.

Noah seems to be liking first grade well enough, although what with kids being "old enough" now that they don't need to signed out anymore, I feel a bit more detached than I did last year from his teacher, his classroom and his daily life. That's mostly because when the classroom door opens, the flood of children pours out yelling to go home or play on the playground. Last year, the parents entered the classroom and signed out each child, chatted with the teacher, and there was the daily mini-report of how things went.

On another front, I also tried out this interesting pre-preschool for the twins yesterday. It's like preschool except the parents stay there with the toddlers. It's meant to give them chances for socialization, to recognize a classroom setting and methods, while having the comfort of their mama's lap right there whenever they want it. It's even free! I tried out the first class and while it was a chaotic first day with too many people, she assured us that we would fall into a rhythm and that a lot of folks would drop away and we would end up with a manageable group. I even met and clicked with another mom of twins. The "preschool" is twice a week for three hours, and I welcome the adult conversation and the new toys and materials to play with.

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Thanks, by the way, for all the good vibes and advice you all sent me on my last post. I assure you I am not a blubbering, despondent mess. (I know you know this!) I just have hard days. Don't we all? I give thanks to all the wise women I have who gather around me here on this 'ol blog and lift me up when I am down. You guys rock.