Back to School

The summer flew by and so did the last week.  The kids are back to school.  I felt like we weren't quite ready but in just in the nick of time, I packed up all the backpacks and remarkably we had the correct supplies and Grammy took the kids shoe shopping about 4 days before school started.  Good thing every one's foot grew lots and no one could squeeze into their old tennies.  They are all in different classrooms this year.  We've never had that happen yet.  Before it was always 2 in one and 1 in another or all three in the same.  

Addison is in Mrs. Wallace's 1st grade class.  Addison loves school.  She loves to stay busy, quite like her mama.  She is so enthusiastic about 1st grade.  She has been coming with lots of completed work and I had to talk to her about slowing down and making silly mistakes but the next few days I could tell she listened to me and her work was much better.  She has been quite emotional this week in the evenings but I think she is just tired from the routine.  I think she will have a great year.

  Caden is in Miss Patterson's 1st grade room.  Miss Patterson is a new teacher to our district.  She is not new to me, she was in my 3rd grade class when I was teaching.  Caden is super shy at school.  I asked him on Friday after 5 days of school if he had talked to Miss Patterson yet and he said he hadn't.  So we are going to work on that a bit and remember to raise our hand to answer questions and such.  Caden is enjoying 1st grade so far and I think he will do well and hopefully talk to his teacher soon too!

Ethan is repeating Kindergarten this year.  We have known since last January that he would need to go through kindergarten again.  I was not surprised, but it is still hard.  I taught for 10+ years and I've been on the other side of the table telling parents that their child needs to repeat a grade.  It's hard no matter what position you are in this case.  I don't think I would have gave it a second thought if Ethan was not a triplet.  It's hard for everyone to see his brother and sister move on when he isn't.  But it was evident he was ready for 1st grade at all.  We couldn't just move him on just because he's a triplet just as we couldn't hold Caden and Addison back for a year because they are triplets and their brother isn't ready.  Even though they came as a "group" they are individuals with different needs.  It's been hard for him too.  When we first told him that he would be redoing kindergarten at the beginning of the summer, he cried saying that he wanted to go to 1st grade with Caden and Addison. It was hard but he got used to the idea.  He had a hard time getting used to the idea that he switched teachers too.  We loved Mr. Sanberg and he did a great job with Ethan, and we love Mrs. Ray too so we know that this year will be good for him.  He did really well the first week of school, no fits and getting going on his work right away is what Mrs. Ray reported.  But he's still having a hard time understanding the whole situation.  It broke my heart, a few days ago when I said it was time for school and he asked if he was going to 1st grade now and I told him no he'd been doing kindergarten all year.  He said "But Mom, I already did kindergarten."  He wants a puppy in the worst way and a puppy would be good for him so I told him if he worked really hard in kindergarten doing his work and listening and not throwing fits and we get our BIG house to a decent state, he could get a puppy. 

I think it will be a good year overall not without challenges but I think there will be a puppy waiting for us several months down the road.