First few weeks of school/preschool 2013

Whew!  My "morning rush" is over.  I woke up at 6:30 and haven't stopped moving until now (9:04am).  From 6:30-6:50 I'm hurrying to shower and get dressed.  At 6:55 I'm dragging kids out of bed, which wasn't TOO hard this morning because they were all sleeping by 8:00 last night. 

Last night the girls wanted to sleep together in Vanessa's bed which I let them do for about 15 minutes.  They were being too goofy so I had to split them up, Violet went back to the top bunk.  She was crying and upset that I had to separate them and I asked her why, and she said, "Vanessa was putting her arm around my neck (I think in a loving way) and I liked it and I'm sad."  Which made me sad...I love to see the girls loving on each other and connecting.  It was sweet to hear that Violet missed Vanessa's affection.  Vanessa's affection is something Dave and I have been praying for specifically.  She used to be the kid that said, "no!" with a scowl if we asked her for a hug or a kiss.  Now she happily climbs in our arms and snuggles and gives us hugs.  Its pretty amazing. 

Dave is having his first foot surgery to correct his flat feet today, and he has been in MN for his pre-op appointment yesterday and today, and hopefully he will drive home tomorrow.  His procedure doesn't require putting him out, he'll just have a local nerve block and sedation.
So that means I take Violet and Calvin to school and getting all the kids IN the van by 7:40 is a challenge.  Not impossible, however, just requires much more effort than I'm used to exerting so early in the morning.  My priorities are getting Violet and Calvin dressed for school, fed breakfast while I pack their lunches, and they get shoes on and backpacks in the van.  Vanessa is usually out of bed and dressed in something other than pajamas.  I never quite know what she is going to pull out of her closet and put on.  Today she put on her pink shorts with pockets (she loves pockets!) and a tank top.  She rode in the van to take V and C to school with that on and I realize how chilly the morning felt.  So I had her change into warmer clothes - she decided to put on a purple hooded sweatshirt (with a pocket!) and some jeans, which she needed help getting on.  They were 2 inches too short.  Oh well.  Its preschool, and I guess she has to grow up. :)  I gotta get out the 4T pants for my little Vanessa!!!!

So while the older 3 were buckling in the van, I got Eli out of bed and changed his diaper as fast as I could and got him a sippy cup full of milk and got him buckled in the van.  That usually keeps him pretty happy while I'm driving to W'loo and back.  He is so snuggly in the morning, its hard to put him down.  He clings to my chest and sucks on his paci and clutches his favorite blanket.  I put him in his car seat and he stays happy usually.  Calvin is sitting near him in the van and Eli started clapping and smiling when he saw Calvin.

So when I get home from taking V and C to school, I cleaned up the kitchen, ate breakfast (I shared my egg/sausage sandwich with Eli), and made sure Vanessa was ready for preschool.  She absolutely loves going to preschool.  She is excited to go every morning and I can tell she has a great time.

Calvin is having the hardest time adjusting to life in school.  He says he likes lunch and recess the best.  He says time in the classroom is boring and he doesn't like doing so much work.  I asked Miss Smits how Calvin was doing in general last week and she nodded and said, "He's doing quite well! He's very respectful and not a problem at all."  So I was happy to hear that.  I just know he is having a tough time adjusting to the fact that he is not at home as much, gets less time to play legos or whatever else he wants to do, and gets less time to play on my kindle.  This past summer I let the kids each play for 20 or 30 minutes each day if they had their responsibilities done in their room (beds made, shades open, fan off, dressed, pajamas put away, etc). 

Well, I decided to make "kindle time" on weekends only.  My kids are a strong magnet to any screen if its lit up (no matter the show!) playing something and if one kid gets a turn on the kindle, the other two INSIST on watching, and this is usually how fights break out.  Someone bumped someone else making them lose at their game, etc.  Some games require moving the kindle by tipping it to move their character so its touch/bump sensitive.  The reason I decided to eliminate the kindle on weekdays is because the kids all get so little time together after school that if they ALL get a turn, then an hour and a half goes by and they are staring at a screen and not interacting with the family during the only hour and a half we get together after Dave is done working and after supper is over.  They have homework to do, piano to practice, and legos to build.  I was happy to get Calvin's packet of worksheets in his kindergarten folder back, and he scored 100% on every paper he did.  He had some letter T writing homework and he was agreeable and did it cheerfully and asked for markers so he could color in the pictures of the turtles.

Calvin's not a fan of this kindle-on-the-weekends-thing.  He often breaks down crying and says it will be forever until he can play again.  He thinks I'll forget to give him a turn. 

There was no real adjustment for Violet to school.  Its her third year going all day (2nd grade) and she thrives in the classroom, loves her teacher/friends, and does well.  She can be a pill sometimes and say things and interrupt Calvin because she knows exactly what makes him upset, but overall, she's doing great.

Eli is napping so its eerily quiet in this house. I am going to get to work on some Awana things.  I'm the new secretary for this Awana program at BBC and its honestly big, big job.  The record keeping is so laborious, so I'm making a decision to change things and buy a software to make the job easier.  Lots of data entry but it NEEDS to be done.