School Days for Abe

And did we mention that Abe is also in school this year? Well, preschool. After so much hype about Anna's start of kindergarten, I neglected to write about Abe's first days also. Don't let my delay fool you, he was every bit as excited and eager to start preschool.

Rather than the morning program, Abe goes in the afternoon. Three days a week I carpool with another mother and drop him off at FUMPS while the other person takes the "bigs" to kindergarten. Abe LOVES it. Loves it so much that when I ask him how school was he says, "it was so so so so gwayt (great)." Every single day. A giant glowing smile.

Abe knew two kids already and I think that helped. Plus, get this -- there's a kid in his class named Lincoln. Yep. An Abe and a Lincoln. And he and Lincoln are buddies so that makes it even funnier. The teachers there are so loving and sweet. It's exactly the kind of atmosphere he needs. His impulses are still to push or hit when someone angers him and there have been a couple of "rough" days. But the boys in his class seem to be really chill (sooo opposite from Anna's classes) and I'm hoping that mellowness rubs off on him.

I feel like I've gotten a lot of good reports lately and that makes me happy. I do a lot of coaching prior to drop off about what to do when something happens, like talk to a teacher, and move to the other side of the train table, etc. He loves school so much that I don't want him to start feeling negative about himself or what happens there. However, I really do think we're off to a good start. He's starting to understand more and more that HE is responsible for how he acts and being a good friend means acting (or not acting) a certain way.

Mostly I think I am coming to the realization that I love seeing my kids engaged and challenged (not that preschool is exactly a challenge, but you know what I mean). There's only so much energy in a mother and between the cleaning, meals, transportation and errands, it's hard to feel like you have a lot of creativity left in your bones. We're very very lucky to live in a location that allows for close proximity to great schools and plenty of parents who can help share the burdens of watching and transporting these kids to all the various activities. I am so grateful for that.

And despite Abe's boyish and rambunctious nature, I am glad that I still get enough time with him to nurture his softer side. He has a real warm and loving and snuggly side and I will miss that when he enters real school, just like I miss Anna while she is at school. The days just seem to go by so much faster now that Anna is in kindergarten. I don't know why exactly, but there is some sort of racing feeling that starts around 3:00 p.m. and ends when she goes to bed.

But that's life, right? Everyone said that it would move fast once the kids started school and I feel like we're being propelled forward already, even just in kindergarten. These little minds just keep growing and we've gotta up our game to keep up with them :-)