First Days of School

Everyone is settling into the school routine in our house, now that they are wrapping up their third full week of school. Emily isn't exhausted when she arrives home at 2pm anymore and Elizabeth and Megan have done very well adapting to their new grades. Thursday afternoons are still hideous in our house but that's been the case for so long that I didn't hold out much hope that would magically change this year. Everyone's level of tiredness by that point in the week means that they take turns having major melt-downs and if Mom is really unlucky, they all do it at the same time. Otherwise, they're adapting well.

Here are a couple moments that made me smile from recent days. Elizabeth made her first trip to the library with her class. Emily saw Elizabeth's library bag as soon as she stepped off the bus and began asking her about the book she chose that week. The girls barely made it into the house when Elizabeth took her book out of the bag to show it to Emily. They sat on the coffee table looking at the book together. Emily: "Elizabeth, can you read your book to me?" Elizabeth: "No, I can't read yet." Elizabeth opened the book and on the first page, she recognized the number "1" printed in the book. Elizabeth said the number, paused and reflected, "Oh, maybe I CAN read!"

Emily's classroom has a full kitchen so they bake or cook something every Friday in class. I absolutely love that she gets to have that experience at school, especially since she enjoys helping me in the kitchen at home. Last Friday she hopped off the bus and announced, "Mommy, we made chocolate goo in class today!" Gosh, I never would have guessed...

Perhaps aprons should be standard issue in Pre-K?

Megan was disappointed at the beginning of the year that her friends Lane and Jordan were in a different  3rd grade class. She can be slow to meet new people so I kept asking her about her classmates, wondering how long it would take for her to make new friends in her class. Last week she arrived home with a smile and said, "I made a new friend in PE today. Her name is Georgia!" I met Georgia's mother at school and look forward to encouraging play dates between the girls. In the meantime, Lane lives just around the corner now so that's been a blessing for Megan to ride the bus with her and have impromptu play dates.

The Dean Darlings are all enjoying school so far!

Early Opening Hours at the Dean Hair Salon