More Family Firsts

It's seems like the more you try to hang on to life as it is, the more it changes and slips away from you, like a river current bent on moving downstream. I keep trying to fight it, but walking upstream is hard work and I'm losing ground! Alli is in 1st grade. She takes a lunch to school and rides the bus all on her own. She eats meals without me? How can this be? She even wears glasses now, just like I did in 1st grade. In short, she's growing up, and I can't do a thing about it.
And those aren't the only family firsts. Ever since school started my life keeps dumping itself out and re-arranging, like my toddlers used to do with my purse. I agreed to teach Maddie and four other little girls from a pre-school system called Mother Goose, which takes two hours every Wed and Fri. In a couple of weeks, my turn will be over, and another Mom will take over, but for now, my entire living room is covered with signs and alphabet charts. We can guess the weather while we watch the evening news and wave a color wand whenever we want... My girls have spent hours pretending to play preschool using the visual aides I have tacked up all over, so just for that, it's been worth the effort. I'm mostly glad to spend some extra time with Maddie.

Then there was the "Hullabaloo" over Alli. That's what she called it the other day, so I knew it was time to take the conversation behind closed doors. I had her tested, and the school gave us the option to put her in second grade or leave her with her teacher, which is what she desperately wanted. I can understand why. Her teacher is awesome, and I quite agreed with her that second grade was "scary". After talking myself nearly to death with as many people as I could, I made a decision. Alli would stay in first grade and get some extra lessons at home to fill the gaps. I'm really lucky to have Ms. Oliekan teaching Alli, and I'm glad I didn't have to give that up. So, again, with the rearranged schedule. And I was so happy at the end of the summer with a simpler quieter life... I guess that will be postponed until further notice.


After making all these changes during the past few weeks, I'm thinking I need a nice quiet boring week next week. I'll hunker down and get it done-- forget about any extra anything that might pop into my head. That's the plan, but you know how that river current is. I could end up doing anything next week. The possibilities are endless and endlessly possible.