School Days

Starting school went fairly smoothly this year.  No baby born a few days before.  Minimal anxieties.  J worried a little that his second grade teacher might be mean.  But after meeting her, and after telling him about a hundred times that WE thought she was nice, he let that worry go.  Of course, he won't talk to her much, but it IS just the beginning of the year.

  

The other worry that he let stick in his brain was about pencils.  Whether he was supposed to bring his own or get some at school.  This actually caused him more angst than the idea of a mean teacher.  Might seem silly to us, but that's how anxieties sometimes work.  Like a broken record playing an illogical fear.  Over and over again.

  

So he brought some pencils from home AND got some at school.  Now he's good to go.  As long as there's no talking involved.  That fear will take a little longer to conquer.

This girl had no worries.  Just high hopes that she would get a really fun teacher for sixth grade.  A hope that was fulfilled.  Her teacher is great.  He expects a lot from his students but he's funny and exciting.  She loves being in his class.

But apparently, school and band and GATE and lego robotics and sewing club or garden club or whatever club she decides to join this year wasn't challenge enough.  She had to try out for the volleyball team.  She's never really played volleyball.  But she made the team.  The B team.  So she gets to go to all the practices to play against the A team and to all the games.  She only gets to play if the opposing school also has a B team.  She's pretty excited.  And she gives us daily updates on the expected arrival of her uniform.  She comes home every day with a beet red face.  An unfortunate tendency she inherited from me.  107.  In the sun.  Playing volleyball.  We're holding our breath for cooler weather.

If you looked at a picture of K from a year ago, you'd hardly recognize her as the same girl.  Or, at the least, you'd think that several years had passed by.  The expansion of her palate has totally changed her look.  The braces are doing wonders for her teeth.  Her eyebrows have grown in again.  Last year she looked like a kid.  But this year, suddenly, she's a young woman.  Beautiful-- inside and out.

She loves being in eighth grade.  She loves getting A's, so she studies hard.  She loves earning money, so when she was offered a chance to work in the cafeteria, she jumped at it.  8 bucks an hour.  A lot more than I made for my first job.  And I was a lot older than 12.  Maybe she'll take me on a trip with all the dough she'll be rolling in.  80 to 100 dollars a month!  I wish I made that much.

So, three down.  One to go.  For this year, anyway.  R has to wait all the way until September to start preschool.  She can't wait.  Baby B isn't quite ready for school just yet.  Unless it's the school of malcontentment.  Or an academy for screech owls. 

But I think about that day.  The day when ALL of my little ones will be in school.  I have to have a little mind candy to help me through the rough days.