·
LETTING
HIM GO. I thought starting preschool
was hard. Then I thought Kindergarten
would be hard. It apparently was nothing
like the emotions I felt for first grade.
The first day of school was fine.
Tyrel was home that day, and it was early out. When he got home I asked how it went, to
which he replied, “It was good. But Mom,
I just barely made it. It’s a good thing
it got over when it did, because I just couldn’t learn anymore!” “Oh no”, I thought, because tomorrow is two
hours longer! That day and all day
during his second day of school, this was one worrying mom! I had no idea I would be like that, but I
was. My Si is kind of a sensitive guy,
and he kind of gets whiney and dramatic.
What was he going to do when the school day got too long for him and I
wasn’t there for him to whine to? Was he
going to eat enough food at lunch? Was
he going to starve waiting for lunch time?
What if he needed to call me and I didn’t hear my phone? I had a real experience that day in learning
to put complete trust in the Lord. This
was out of my hands, I can no longer be with him every second, and I knew
it. But I knew that my Heavenly Father
could be with him. Talk about having a
prayer in my heart all day. That phrase
took on a whole new meaning for me as I was constantly praying for him all
day. And guess what. When I picked him up that day, he said his
day was great! He had no concerns about
it being too long, and he even came home with a Ninja Turtle book from the
library…what could be better? And each
day since has been the same. I know that
Heavenly Father has and is answering my prayers, and his prayers, and it has
been a good teaching experience to let him see that. He even bore his testimony on Sunday and said
that he started first grade and his mom prayed for him all day and that his dad
gave him a blessing. And that he knew
Heavenly Father answered his prayers because he made it through his first day
of First Grade. It was a tender simple
testimony. I love that boy!
·
FOOD. Getting enough food in my kids has ALWAYS
been a struggle. They just can’t seem to
focus on eating. Trying to make sure the
food is healthy and hearty is another battle all together. All summer long I thought and thought on how
I was going to make sure Si was nourished when eating lunch at school, and how
he was not going to get sick of peanut butter and yellow butter
sandwiches. Then a miracle happened. He tried and loved ham and cheese
sandwiches. So far he has taken one each
day in his lunch and has no interest in PB sandwiches anymore. It turns out that they only get about 13 minutes
to eat their lunch!!! Not enough time
for any kid, and especially not Silas!
So I send him with a half a sandwich, an apple sauce, and $.40 to buy a
chocolate milk. Each day he comes home
and I ask how his lunch went. Half the
time he comes home with half of his sandwich left. Baby steps.
For now I try to pump food into him when he’s at home. I think he eats about three string cheeses a
day at this point and I feel fine about it!
Lunch at school is not always the easiest
for a kid. Sometimes he couldn’t get his
milk carton open, sometimes it gets opened funny and he spills down his
shirt. Yesterday he came home and told
us of two problems that made his day not so great. #1. “Mom,
I’m feeling kind of left out at lunch. I’m
like the only kid that doesn’t get a treat in his lunch. And some of the other kids have Oreos. And not just regular Oreos, but those kind
that have the orange filling!”
Noted. Today, guess who got a
treat in his lunch. #2. S: “Some of the girls in my class are always
whispering about me!” M: “Oh, do you know what they’re saying about
you?” S: “Yeah I know what they’re
saying about me! They’re saying that I’m
cute!” Poor kid, it’s hard to be cute as
a first grade boy. Oh how Tyrel and I
would love to be a fly on the wall to watch our little six-year-old experience
going through the world when Mom and Dad aren’t there all the time.
·
FITTING
IT ALL IN. The first week of school is
overwhelming for a Mom, with all the papers that come home to sign and
return. The call for donations and
volunteers for this and that. The need
to remember to send a water bottle, a show and tell on certain days, and dress
nice for picture day! It’s amazing that
we haven’t forgot something yet…and this is only one kid in school right
now!!! Yikes! This Mom is also adjusting to fitting
everything in! It’s crazy how little
time they have to play after being in school all day! By the time we talk about his day and have a
snack, his play time is about an hour. Then
it’s pumping more food into him at dinner, and off to homework. He is required to read 20 minutes EVERY night…including
weekends! That is a switch for us. We never used to do homework on
weekends. In addition, he has a math
sheet each night and reading sheets and sight words. I’m proud of how well he’s handling it after
being in school all day. My brain is getting
a little frazzled trying to get it done and take care of the other two,
especially when Tyrel is at class or at Young Men’s, but we’re making it and
trying to figure out a good schedule.
·
JUST
BEING A KID. Luckily there are still
moments when Si can just be a kid! One
afternoon he had Jake and Josh over to play.
They were trying to figure out what to do and decided they’d like to
play “kissing tag” like they do at school!
Then they realized they didn’t have any of the girls to play it with,
until one friend said, “Well, I know where we can find one! She lives in our neighborhood.” A few seconds later Silas asks if they can
invite Sabrina to come play. (A request
that has never been made previous to this moment.) Finally I realized what was going on. I told Si that they were not allowed to play
kissing tag at our house (I didn’t think Sister Anderson would appreciate
Sabrina coming to my house to play it!)
They still had her over and ended up having a huge neighborhood game of
tag in our yard. I love living in this
neighborhood and yes, I even love that Si has joined the ranks of playing “kissing
tag”!
He’s also been able to just be a kid as he’s
started playing soccer. Friday he had
his first practice and got his uniform.
I realized that he was the only kid on the team who didn’t have
cleats. What? Why do six-year-olds need cleats for
soccer? Then a friend offered to let us
use a pair they had. Now I am on the
lookout every time I go to D.I. for a pair of cleats in every size, because I
will not pay $30 for a pair of six-year-old cleats! On Saturday he had his first game, his team
is The Blue Bombs. He’s kind of a little
guy, and so this is how his uniform fit:
socks up to his thighs, constantly pulling up his shorts so they don’t
fall off, and jersey down to his knees.
Still, he did great and had such a great time. I’m excited to be a soccer Mom and watch my
Si play on a team!
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