School days

Samuel on his very first day of kindergarten.

Our family has entered a whole new era. Samuel started kindergarten! August 27th was actually his first day (Thursday? Who starts on a Thursday?). I've fallen behind on just about everything lately, but this it too important to skip.

Every morning we walk Samuel to school, then he rides the bus home. The first couple of weeks, when I asked if he liked school, he said, "No, because we're not learning anything. All we do is sing and play games." When I asked about any friends, he said, "I asked three people to be my friend, and they said yes, but then they didn't play with me." There are people he plays with at recess, so he isn't friendless. This is the same kid who goes to a park and is immediately friends with the kid closest to his age, so I wasn't too concerned.

It's been a bit of an adjustment for all of us. Sometimes some people (I won't name any names) have a hard time waking up. Samuel still turns on movies in the morning, and I have to remind him that he doesn't have time to watch them. I keep forgetting that he has homework. But when I do remember, all the kids like to sit at the table and work or color at the same time. And then Lisy kept packing Samuel's backpack with toys until we bought her her own.

At first, Benjamin kept asking when he will turn 5 so that he can go to school, too. Now he's excited about preschool. We're doing a neighborhood preschool once a week, in which the moms take turns teaching. The first week he clung to me the entire time. Now I can drop him off, and he does fine. He also goes to speech therapy once a week, and his therapist gives him little books to "read" to practice his sounds. He especially likes reading to Samuel. Anyone who heard him at the family reunion will be impressed at how discernible his speech is now.

Not to leave out Dominic, this is a grueling semester of statistics with a demanding professor. He has a plan of attack, and there are ways I can help; together we can get through it. After this, he can get back to the classes he wants to take.