After-school adjustment

Our  family has entered a wonderful, new, exhausting phase of life - school days. Timo has had 5 days of school so far, at Heritage Christian Academy, a small (pretty young) K-8 school 3 miles away that meets at a local Baptist church. After the adrenaline of the first few days wore off, he woke up and announced, "I'm not going to school today. I just want to stay home and read." (Ah, the irony, because we are all so eager for him to actually learn to read on his own! Just think how many more hours he will spend with books then!) But he continues to go, of course, and gradually will adjust and learn the new rhythms, and will make friends and be more eager to go. And he has done really well so far - he gets up and ready by 8 AM, and seems to be properly respectful of the teacher and classroom rules.

We are also all adjusting to a different schedule to our days...getting up and ready to leave the house earlier, having quieter moments (with just 2 boys at home) throughout the day, leaving mid-afternoon to get Timo from school, Hawk taking one nap instead of two, and wondering how to spend the two hours after-school and before supper. I've had my daily routine with preschool/toddler kids for so many years, and it is strange to have to adjust my mentality away from "morning activity to lunch to nap/make dinner to play until Daddy comes home". But one small adjustment at a time - we don't have to have it "all down" the first week. And so far the changes have gone well.

Throw in there the changes brought on by Jim quitting his job at Western so we can raise support for South Africa full-time! He is also in disequilibrium as he gets a rhythm to his days and a sense for what he can accomplish each day and what location is best for various tasks: our basement; the library; church; campus library (he got a "campus minister" parking pass); coffee shop; or a combination.

Yesterday after school Timo requested the sprinkler, so why not?! The hot days of summer seem to have passed already, so we may only have a few more chances for this. Plus, he needs to be outside and running around after spending the day at school! Hawk happily watched from the [very long] grass, and tried to get Timo to roll the giant ball his way.

"I like eggs"

"I like eggs," Mattias commented as he cradled an egg in his hands. "They are very crackable."

Mattias and I have been having fun 're-connecting' one-on-one with each other this week (it feels rare to have that time with three boys in the house), while Timo is at school and Hawk is having his midday nap. Mattias really enjoys participating in the kitchen, and without the bustle of other people around, we've been able to do a few more things together. Tuesday we made blueberry muffins and yesterday was cornbread. Today he cracked the eggs for egg-in-a-hole, and practiced flipping with the spatula.

(please excuse the mess on the counter; I was simultaneously cleaning up our snack from the morning walk, getting out lunch food, and prepping for dinner)

Sick Day

Oh, you gross coxsackie virus! Please go away soon! (*hand, foot and mouth virus. Causes red blisters all over in babies, and sore throats/fever in older children) I hope the two boys recover quickly so Timo doesn't miss any school days, and Mattias can get started on time with his new 2 mornings a week preschool.

I didn't take any close-ups of Hawk because the blisters are really bad on his hands and feet.

Papa Bear is never far away when Mattias is not feeling well.

Timo spent all morning lying in bed, listening to an audiobook. When I went to snap a photo he looked up and smiled, surprisingly. On the wall you can see his "morning routine" poster that he made.

Meanwhile Jim has decided to go baking crazy this weekend with the extra time spent at home (since we couldn't go to church this morning). Saturday was rusks and pumpkin muffins, and Sunday was gingerbread biscotti and granola. Wait a sec, this is actually a normal baking weekend for him... No one is complaining!

Greenway walk

How amazing is this - after dropping Timo at school, we met Sadie (and Guthrie) and Lindsay (and Sunny) for a 2 mile walk on the Greenway! I could get used to this schedule! The mornings are cool in the mountains, so it was perfect for a walk. (And I brought my porridge and banana to eat in the parking lot since I hadn't eaten my breakfast yet...)

the boys

But beware! A copperhead!

Thankfully there were a lot of others on the trail this morning, and we were forewarned about this copperhead right next to the pavement. Mattias had been "off roading" with his bike so he quickly got back onto the sidewalk. Yikes!! We stopped for a few seconds and then wisely continued on. Apparently it's been such a rainy summer and the river level is high, so many of the snakes have had to venture up higher to find new burrows - and there are been a lot of snake sightings. I think I need to go read up on snake bike first-aid.

Timo starts kindergarten

Today was Timo's first day of Kindergarten! He was so enthusiastic, calm and ready to go this morning. What a smooth experience from start to finish the entire day. School is about 3 miles away, and we take the South River Road (winding alongside the Tuckaseegee River) the whole way. I drop him at 8:15 AM and pick him up at 3 PM. The principal, Mr. John, stands outside and ushers the students in/out of the building. This afternoon at pick-up, there was all of 1 car in front of me in line. I think we're going to like this small school!

Earlier in the week he and I cut out pictures from magazines and made a big poster of the steps for his school morning routine. He arranged all the pictures into a timeline and taped it up next to his bed (wake up; reading/quiet time; breakfast; make bed, get dressed, brush teeth; get backpack and lunch box; go to school). This seemed to help me get an idea of the morning and able to do all of those tasks by himself. The real challenge is going to be getting the rest of us ready in time along with him!

We even had 5 minutes to take a few photos this morning. Timo and Mattias decided to say "Gemma!" while they smiled for the photos, and Timo remarked, "Let's send this photo to Gemma to show her." Then he paused and smiled, "Can she see us right now? Can God see us? Well she's not really on earth anymore... she's getting ready for the New Earth!" We miss her a lot on days like these... she would be starting 2nd grade, and I'm sure would be enthusiastic for school and protective of Timo!

Hawk's head looks bigger because of the angle...

Another reason this morning went so smoothly is because of Kindergarten Camp last week, when all the K students spent a half-day at school for orientation. So on the first day, Timo walked right in, hung up his backpack and sat down at his spot to start coloring.

Mrs Abby is the teacher in the flowered dress on the left

Midway through the morning Mrs Aby texted all the parents this photo from recess! She also sent a text at the end of the day to say "today went great!"

Beautiful morning for a first day, and the sun is just coming out through those clouds!

Good exercise for Hawk's hands

It's hard to keep up with all the new things that Hawk is learning these days! He is 2 months post-spica cast, and really start to get more comfortable moving around and exploring, and slowly gaining more range of motion in his left hip. Meanwhile of course we continue to try to encourage him to use his hands in all kinds of ways so that his fingers can open up and gain more 'grip strength'.

Here are a couple of photos from last week - the therapist gave me lots of ideas for helpful activities, like ripping paper, hiding toys in socks and making him pull them out, lifting plastic containers out of the drawer, manipulating Duplos, squeezing balls, smushing play-doh, lifting and pouring cups of water... you get the idea! All sorts of fun for a little boy!

I had to record this moment (below) when all three boys were happily playing together in the upstairs playroom one morning. I think it was one of the first times that Hawk had joined the older two for playtime for an extended period, and I didn't have to monitor him every second. He carefully explored his way around (no easy task with Legos and cars everywhere), crawling or pulling up to stand. I even went back downstairs to do breakfast dishes and make another cup of coffee!

He loves his rusks!