First Day of Kindergarten - Homeschool

Yesterday was the first day of Kindergarten, and it was quite a day.

 

No one's behavior warranted a lollipop at Charlie's swim lesson, which was a disappointment--though not unexpected by the troops.  

Some days everything feels like a battle.  It's unfortunate when those are also the days that your throat hurts, you're wheezing, and you have a cracked rib from coughing so much.



I remember sick days before I had kids.  It was amazing.



You could be sick all day long and just do nothing.



I didn't take many of them back when I worked full time, but I sure wish I could have appreciated them more.

But I digress.
 

We visited Daniel at work.  That was a treat because we'd never been to his Fairchild office since they moved to Richardson.




The kids could see all kinds of construction vehicles, cars, and even a train from the kitchen windows.  Quite a treat.



We inherited a hermit crab two days ago.



The kids are very interested in him, though they haven't settled on a name yet.  The girl who gave him to us -- she lives down the street.



I made it clear that I cannot guarantee any great longevity for him, and she said that was fine.




We'll just do our best.  But my track record with plants is not good.



Lucy just informed me, "the bug is asleep."  Time for a little taxonomy lesson.

What We've Been Up To

The days are so slow, but the years are so fast.  That's a saying young moms hear over and over.  And it's true.  The days go by so slowly sometimes.  And then another week is gone.  And then two weeks, and pretty soon another month! 

So here's quick run down of our normal, day-to-day activities that occupy the time. 



Monday and Thursday mornings are race-outside-to-see-the-garbage-truck mornings.  Even when it's freezing cold and wet outside.

Nap time (or rest time) is right after lunch. 



Lucy loves watching videos of herself on Daniel's old phone.  The videos are from when she was a baby, and she adores playing baby. 



Elliot stays in his bed for a good chunk of rest time.  And then he gets out of bed and stands there at the entry of the living room, trying to come up with things to tell me or ask me to delay going back to the bunk room.



Oliver is pretty pleased with his screw driver skills.  He's obsessed with opening and closing the battery compartment on toys.  He can't do it by himself, but he tries.



Aunt Nancy made these adorable hats.  Aren't they cute??



Charlie is more and more engaged these days.  Lots of eye contact, head control, and even the occasional little laugh.  He's an adorable and sweet baby.






I get lots of comments about how pretty his head is.

The end of the day is usually watch-a-show-while-Elliot-gets-a-breathing-treatment time.  Or dance party time. 


When it's dance party time, we like to dance to "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor.  Because it's awesome.



Lucy's sweet freckles are cuter and cuter.  Love them.



She's so proud of herself with regard to Charlie.  She can pick him up and carry him across the room to me all by herself.  She can make him smile and often help him settle down when he's crying.  She believes he also loves Doc Mcstuffins just like her, because he smiles at her when she sings the Doc Mcstuffins song.  These kids are awesome.

Post-Nap Hanging Out

This is a rare picture.  Lucy almost never naps anymore -- only when she's sick, actually.


But the other day she slept hard  (see the lines on her face?) in the middle of the day, and it took both boys messing with her to get her to wake up in the late afternoon.  Maybe she'd developed a sleep deficit from all the early mornings.



Here's a mid-scream picture (below) of Oliver, the screech owl.  I'm not sure what he was frustrated about.  He doesn't seem to need a reason to scream these days.



I love his little toes.



Elliot has been really sweet to Oliver lately.  He randomly volunteers, "Mommy, I wuv Awwver.  He's soo sweet."



Oliver prefers certain types of bottles over others.  Isn't that absurd?  He will actually shake his head if you try to give him one of the "reject" bottles.



This one (pictured above) is always acceptable.



It's exhausting and often infuriating, but the kids are at such fun, cute ages. 

Random Fun Times and Reflections on Quiet

Aunt Heather and Uncle Justin bought Lucy a kit of science experiments (she calls them "science experiences") for her birthday, and Daniel and the kids have been slowly working through them since the summer.  It's so fun how excited the kids get when it's time to do a "science experience."  Oliver hadn't been that into them, until tonight -- he was one of the kids, just taking it all in. 



This was an "underwater color-changing volcano" experiment.  Elliot kept saying afterward, "Me wike that 'cano!" 



All three kids are all into scooters, tricycles, and bikes now.  Elliot loves his tricycle.  It's his favorite. 



Oliver loves Elliot's scooter and rides it about as much as Elliot does, these days.



He needs some help to really go very far, but he's definitely getting there, in terms of balance.

This was the moment Oliver realized Daddy was home.  Happy, happy boy. 



We've all been sick lately.  There are a couple things going around -- ours have been mostly stomach-related, though today Elliot's had fever and runny nose.



I peeked in on Lucy's quiet time today to find her decorating our wall with stickers.  She loves stickers.



The kids continue to wake earlier than we'd like -- sometime between 5:45 and 6:45.  I've decided that as long as they're waking up that early, we might as well benefit from a longer evening -- so some nights we've actually gotten them sleeping in their beds before the sun is down. 



It is an amazing feeling -- let me tell you.  Like you've discovered the secrets of the universe. 



I think--as with each other pregnancy toward the end--I'm beginning to really treasure quiet moments.  I wonder if this is common in other pregnant women.  I find myself grabbing my camera more often when it's quiet, wanting to capture the moment and make it last.  Or retreating to the chair in my room, just to sit in the quiet.  I wonder if there is some part of my pregnant brain that knows the quiet won't last much longer. 


Now that I'm thinking about it, I actually recall telling people toward the end of my pregnancy with Lucy that I was okay being pregnant -- that it was nice to "have her in there and quiet."  And that was back before we had 3 munchkins running around!



Oliver turned into a little dare-devil/adrenaline-junkie this past week.  He loves jumping from the ottoman to the couch, and today's new trick was running from our bedroom doorway to our bed, smacking into the bed repeatedly, with his whole body, yelling the whole time.  Elliot said of this new trick, "Cool, Oliver!" 



Did I tell you how much this kid adores shoes?  If he had to go live on a deserted island and could only bring two things, they would be his bottle and his shoes.