Getting Into the Swing of Things

We are now three weeks into the new school year and therefore three weeks into our new schedule. Things are starting to more or less fall into place, and all four of us are starting to adjust to the new way of doing things. The Bean, I think, has had it hardest of all, as she has never been to school five days a week before. To add to her stress, she is in not only a new class, but a new room (after months of her not going anywhere, she has been moved up three times over the past five months). She has started telling Dad, who does the drop offs, that she does not want to go to school anymore. We have talked to her teacher, Ms. Hadley, who notes that there is no sign of her being unhappy when she is at school, and she is always in the thick of things when Mom comes to pick her up at 2 pm. Poor Dad is very stressed out by the situation, however.
On a more humorous note, Dad went to pick her up the other day, and could not find her in her classroom. He noticed a group of boys dressed up in the dress up clothes over in the corner -- there were doctors and firemen and police officers. When he drew closer, he noticed that they were gathered around the Bean, who was lying on the floor. She jumped up when she saw him, and said, "I'm the patient, Daddy!!!" Dad immediately called Mom on the cell phone, and told her he was definitely not ready for his daughters to start playing doctor!
The Moo is slowly but surely starting to get more into Kindergarten and all of the fun things that they are doing. She loved making a Jackson Pollack painting last week, and had the paint in her hair and all over her clothes to prove it! This Friday was both her first day of swim team practice, her first day of school sponsored swimming lessons, and her first theory class for her riding certificate (on proper grooming). She did an amazing job on all three. She was required to get on a bus from school to be taken to the swimming pool for swim team -- the school asks that Moms meet the children at the pool. So, she had to get on the bus, get to the pool, get to the locker room, change into her suit, fold and pack her clothes in her pool bag, and get out to the pool all by herself. A big challenge for a five year old, and one that she executed beautifully (the clothes folding needs a little work, but no one's perfect!). She did a great job at swim team, even attempting dives, which she has never been asked to do before. Mom was very concerned that asking her to go to swimming lessons after practice would be asking too much, given how tired she seemed afterward, but she insisted she wanted to go and did a great job (swim team is from 245 until 330, and lessons are from 4 until 430, due to an error in scheduling on Mom's part). She is a wonderful little swimmer! After that, we only had time for a quick bite to eat and handing off the poor Bean to Dad, and then we were off to the stables to learn the proper way to groom a horse! The Moo did great but Mom got reprimanded for answering a phone call from Dad on her cell during the class -- the instructor decided to make an example of Mom to drive in the fact the no one should have their cell phones in the stall area. Mom understands the need too make a point, but wishes that the instructor had not referred back to Mom quite so many times in doing so! Oh well.
The picture above is of the Moo's Fall Fun Fair poster for the poster contest at her school. The fair is coming up and this is the second year she has entered. Her Pre-K poster was covered in lizards, so this year's entry is a little more on topic!! She decided she wanted to use leaves, and she wanted to draw some of the jars from the popular jar game: each family donates two jars filled with whatever treats they want to put in them, and the kids win them in a roulette type game. I think she did an awesome job!
The other wonderful news of the week was finding out that Aunt B and Uncle J are expecting a healthy and perfect little BOY, although Mom is a bit chagrined to see the family shifting from a female dominated to a male dominated unit with the new generation. The Moo and the Bean are tough enough to handle it, though!! Congrats Millers!!!! Although Mom guessed wrong, the Moo knew all along as she insisted that Mom buy a lizard-themed Blue Banana outfit for the baby months ago (we figured we could send it to Cousin S if the baby had ended up being a girl). We can't wait to meet the little guy!
Not much to else to report on the Mom and Dad front, and the natives are getting a but restless, so I guess I will close this out. We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa again on Tuesday, and are keeping our fingers crossed that the third time nominated for team of the year is a charm!