Dinnertime Lessons

Every evening, at the dinner table, we talk about our day.  We circle the table asking what their favourite and least favourite part of their day.  I came up with this when Grace began school and have found it to be enlightening.  Grace doesn't always say very much after school about her day.  She is focussed on the future and chats about what is going to happen.  Alex comes off the bus starving so after his dash to the house to scour our pantry he begins to talk about his day.  Both Grace and Alex don't really answer a lot of my questions about their day but Alex will just spill the beans as the evening progresses.  Jean is still a mystery.  She doesn't really talk about her day until bedtime when we find her role playing or chatting with herself in her room about the day's events.  Therefore dinnertime is my favourite time of the day (once the food is one the table... it is hectic until then) when we can talk about some of the good things and bad things that go into making a school day.  Sometimes we are surprised by their answers.  Sometimes we learn new things about them such as what they are doing at recess.  Today we learned that Alex is playing soccer at recess with his buddies and I'm happy about that.  He loves sports and the start of this school year has been a challenge with some of his friends.  I am so glad he is finding something fun to do at recess.  Jean always wants her turn telling us what she liked and didn't like about her day so that is really the only time we learn anything from her.  In regards to Grace, well, she isn't loving school as much as she used to.  I'm not really sure why but by having these dinnertime discussions, I'm sure we will figure it out.  We are learning that listening to our children is important but getting them to talk is sometimes even more important and can be difficult.  This is one way that works in our household. 
It makes the chaos of putting a meal on the table worthwhile.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The Cure for Craziness... Roadtrip!

P.A. days make me happy... normally.  Today was supposed to be a lovely day reminding us of summertime memories and giving us all a break from routine...

I always look forward to those days "off".  There is no doubt I enjoy school days especially because we have been blessed with children who love school (so far) but I really love a day off from the routine.  The kids haven't really hit the stage of relishing days off school - they love going to school, seeing their friends, teachers and doing the many amazing activites their teachers have planned.  Having a P.A. day really didn't mean a lot to them but I looked forward to it.  I have been on my own in the daytime for the past 3 weeks and despite the fact that I am thoroughly enjoying my time, I miss them.  Well, that thought was about to change...

Today was day 3 of just the kids and I.  Ian had to work at the Farmers' Market both Saturday and Sunday and then began harvesting our soybeans today.  I have always made a point of making sure I could take the kids places on my own.  I travel over 6 hours back to my hometown with them, on my own, I take them on outings, on my own and I shop with them, on my own.  Ian has a very busy job being a farmer and I cannot just sit at home waiting for him to spend time with us.  He spends as much time as he can but I want to make sure that we get out and that the kids have experiences with and without their parents. 
Today I wanted to take the kids out shopping.  We needed some groceries at Costco and I had many boxes to drop off at Value Village.  I thought today was a good day for that because we had spent the whole day at home yesterday.  We spent most of our time inside the house yesterday and the kids were constantly bothering eachother so once I was done "my jobs" we went outside for a hike in our forest.  It was so much fun - we love our forest and Grace and Alex are getting to be very adventurous.  Jean had to be encouraged to walk on her own but we went through the fields, walked through the brush into our beautiful forest and took pictures of some unique things we found.

Well today was a lot more difficult.  I woke up with quite the head cold and had a lot less patience than I normally have.  The kids spent the morning entertaining themselves and getting into a lot of trouble and then we went to Kanata shopping.  I gave them quite the lecture about behaving in the stores, staying with me (I lost Alex recently in Walmart... another story for another time) and just plain being good.  Once we got in the van they were good as gold!  We had a lovely afternoon browsing around Value Village and leaving with almost nothing (quite a feat normally) and then went to Michael's Craft Store (a favourite with us) and then to Costco.  My biggest challenge was making sure they were not in the way of our shopping cart... Jean was hit twice by my cart but she was warned!  I was able to get everything we needed and we left in a very good mood.  Sometimes getting out of the house is the cure for craziness...

Three days on our own is enough.  I think everyone is happy to get back to normal tomorrow... even the twin Snow Whites (although the smaller one might make an appearance in kindergarten tomorrow - we'll see if she makes it out of the house in her plain clothes!).

Trouble Settling In

With mixed emotions, I looked forward to Jean beginning her school career and heading out with her sister and brother on the bus every morning.  I kept very busy the first week of school with volunteering at our local fair and other responsibilities I have but the second week it kindof hit me...
Jean has spent the last two years at home with me - just the two of us every day.  We had to keep busy because she was bored a lot of the time; she has been so fortunate to have siblings but they have always "entertained" her and for the days when they were at school she had to learn to play by herself.  We had a lot of playdates and preschool activities but nothing would be as wonderful for her as going to school along with Grace and Alex.

That day came much too quickly but I tried very hard to look forward to it.  It reminds me of when I went back to work after my maternity leave with our first child.  That year was heavenly with my new baby and going back to my daily job as a teacher was going to be difficult but I felt that I needed to get back to it so I talked myself into going back into the classroom.  The first few months back were not bad (after a very teary first day) but we had a wonderful home daycare to send her off to every day and she loved it there.  A few months into working though, I started to fall apart.  I had a hard time watching parents who could drop their child off at school, who could volunteer in my classroom and who could pick up their child when their child was sick (although, as a teacher, I could have done that... but that wasn't on my mind at that time).  I had talked myself into working again and I just wasn't happy doing it.  Thankfully after we had our second child, we made it manageable so I that I could stay home with our children and be their primary caregiver.  Let's get back to my main topic... sending Jean off to school.

My second week with her gone to school has been a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.  I miss her little chatter and her company.  The other day I went grocery shopping and as soon as I left home I was missing her.  I had no one to talk to (I also had no one to be cross with and give warning after warning to not touch things, keep her hands to herself, to stay with me etc.) and I missed our conversations.  I did finish my shopping in record time and probably spent a little less but despite all of that, I felt sad.  This is going to be a diffifult transition for me.  As with my issues of going back to work and deciding that it just didn't feel right, I am not going to take Jean out of school just so I have her at home with me.  This is a good change - it is time for her to go to school and have new experiences away from her parents.   No doubt she will spend some much needed rest time at home but it will be for her not me.  I am going to try to embrace my new-found freedom but it is going to take some time.  Needless to say, after the bus leaves in the morning the day goes by very quickly but I am so happy to see it arrive back with my little people...

Heaven help me when the kids leave home for good...

My First Day of School

We had a big change in our home today.  Our youngest, Jean, began her school career today as a Junior Kindergarten student.  As they say, time flies, especially when you are having fun and we have been having a lot of fun as a young family.  Jean was nervous this morning, as I am sure the other two were as well, but I was focussed on her the most.  She has been very excited to start school but this morning she was very quiet.  We took Grace and Alex to the bus and she waited patiently for me to take her to school for her appointment time to meet with her teachers.  As she walked into her class and slowly wandered around her new environment she was not herself.  She was nervous but showed me no tears.  As it was time for me to leave she just sat down beside the Principal, who was reading the rest of the children a story.  Her day will be busy, exciting but I'm sure her emotions are all over the place.
I am sad today.  I have been at home with our children for 6 years and it has been wonderful.  It is a big change for me to not have children at home during the day but despite my excitement for my new-found freedom, I am emotional.  I miss Jean today.  I guess it will just take some time to get used to my new life but today I can't wait until they get home.  I can't wait to hear about their classes, teachers and friends.  Mostly I can't wait to see Jean's face as she steps off that big yellow bus.  I hope she has a big, beautiful smile!