Back to School

Ah, September. The leaves are starting to turn, the air is crisper and school is back in session. 

Ethan is back in pre-K at Blaine School, and he could not be happier. He’s a big boy in class now, and woe betide the one who forgets that fact. I made the mistake of calling him my “favorite little boy” the other night, and was treated to a lecture about his big boy status.

“I’m a big boy now Mom, not a little boy. And I can help the new kids at school, because I’m a big boy and I know all about what happens at school. And if I see one of the little kids who doesn’t know what to do, I can go help them because I know because I’m a big boy now.”

His first day was only an hour (I have no idea why they feel they need to cut a 2.5 hour day down to just an hour – but that is what they do), and they split the class in half. Ethan and some of his friends from last year went from 8 to 9, and the other kids went from 9:15 to 10:15. This confused Ethan, since we’d spent a lot of time talking about who would be in his class again. 

Fortunately, by Wednesday things were back to normal, and he is happily in his groove. He is very excited about two of the new kids — Gabby and Alex (I think they're twins). On their first day, he played with Gabby all day, and on the second day he played with Alex. We’ve been playing “Gabby and Alex” all week at home too. (This mostly involves Ethan being Gabby, and us having to remember to call him Gabby and ask him if he likes things, then comparing him to Ethan. It gets very confusing some times.)

He has also started soccer again (after a one-week break), and scored three goals in their first mini “game” of the session. He has really taken to soccer, and is doing very good at remembering not to use his hands. He also seems to understand the concept of scoring goals and stealing the ball pretty well. 

Next week we start swimming again, but at the Y rather than through the Park District (Mom didn’t get us registered in time). We plan to keep the swimming going because he seems to really backslide on his water comfort whenever we stop. But the soccer will probably take a vacation over the winter. We don’t need to pack in too many activities — even fun ones.