I am a huge huge fan of seahorses. I took around fifty shots when we were in the aquarium. Love these things.
This week I’ve been bad about taking photos. It’s been so hectic, so insane that I captured what I thought I wouldn’t want to miss and the rest sort of fell on the floor. I asked David if I could snap some shots of him this morning. I got this one.
And this one. And that about sums up why i don’t take as many photos of him alone anymore.
Little boy woke up with a stuffed up (and leaky) nose. I had a brief moment between dropping off David at the bus stop and having to go to his school to volunteer, so I snapped a shot of the little one.
Then I went to David’s school. I volunteered in his art class and it was amazing. So much fun to watch them and him and be there. I am so glad I did it. And when the class was over, I went back home, worked, fed the little boy, and then went back to David’s school to meet with the teacher for Back to School night stuff since I am the Head Room Parent. And then came back home to my boys. While I was at the school, I noticed David was sitting with a different group of people at the end of school than he should be (he takes the bus but he was sitting with another set of kids, playing.) so when the lady who walks them down to the bus took off, she left him behind. Thankfully I was there so I told her my son was sitting at another table and I went to David and told him he had to pay attention and the bus was going to leave without him. He got sad and started sort of crying and I tried to talk to him but they had to go and so did I. So the lady who walks them over kindly held his hand the whole way there. And I had Jake call me when he got off the bus and all was ok but that was disturbing and sad to see how easy it is for him to be missed like that. I don’t blame anyone, it’s hard hard work to organize this chaos. So I told David that the end of schoolday is one of those times he has to pay super-extra attention to make sure he knows where to go.
It all worked out at the end, of course. When I came home, David was coloring and Nathaniel was cranky (as he’s been most of today.) But David told me to take a photo and he made Nathaniel laugh by making silly faces.
And he laughed and laughed and then came out from under the table.
And gave his brother a hug (even though it looks like a bite here).
And then looked at him up close.
And I just love these photos. I love seeing them together. So much. Makes me so deeply thankful.
And here they are being ordinary. David coloring, Nathaniel snacking and playing with legos. Perfectly ordinary and perfectly wonderful!
Once they went to bed, we went to Back to School night and I got to meet a lot of parents and talk and I love his teacher and I hear she’s awesome so I am very happy for him and I really hope he loves it and thrives and I also hope that I can make some good friends myself even. Let’s see.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got to volunteer in David’s class today. It was wonderful to see him and the whole class.
2. I am grateful to be the Head Room Parent. I am a dive-in kinda gal so I dove with both arms. And I love it so far.
3. I am grateful that tomorrow is relatively quiet. This has been a long long week so I am happy that I get to experience a more “typical day” tomorrow.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. riding the school bus.
2. coloring
3. daddy.
That must have been unnerving to see David almost miss the bus. It is true that the first few days of school are chaos for those who work there. Within a few days the workers will start recognizing the kids and where they belong. The first day I picked Riley up from the daycare after kindergarden they told me he wasn’t there – they couldn’t find him. And then they said he had cried all through lunch, wanting to go home. I freaked out thinking he had left and tried to get home by himself. As it turned out he was there, they just didn’t know who he was in relation to me. But it did make me mistrust the daycare system there and part of me never recovered from that, I use it as little as possible and now Riley wants to come home for lunch on my non-working days so I’m happy about that too.
thank you for this! we haven’t had problems since then but i worry daily until i see him off the bus. it will go away with time i hope 🙂
Hi Karen,
I love hearing about your daily life, and the stress of starting school is especially heartwarming. My grandbaby started Kindergarten last year, and I was SOOOO anxious about the entire thing. It turns out she was much more ready for it than I was. I just really hated knowing that the inevitable changes were at hand. She had her stresses–she gets frustrated when she can’t do things perfectly, and there was one girl in class that actively did not like her (yes, in Kindergarten!) but overall, it was so very good for her, and she really liked it. I know I didn’t stress as much when my own child started Kindergarten, but I don’t think I fully realized at the time what a milestone it is.
Don’t let the almost missing the bus incident un-nerve you, and please try not to freak David out too bad. Yes, he needs to pay attention, but he’s also just 5… Even if he did miss the bus, it would be worked out and he’d get home. It’s hard to accept, but you can’t have as much control over his experiences as you have in the past, he’s now having a lot of experiences without you that are his alone. (That’s the part I just hated with Carmen!) He is a bright little boy though, and he will be fine. So will you, I promise! 🙂 Have a great weekend.
thank you so much and you are so right. it does always work out. i just worry so much. i need to relax. it doesn’t help to worry so I might as well take it one moment at a time.