Excitement has worn off

No picture-taking the last few days...

School continues each day. Ben says he is 'quitting' school each day (except today!!!) and doesn't want to go back 'tomorrow.' I think the first few days of school are so painful because of all the rules and procedures. Today they got to paint and apparently that was really fun. He is starting to learn other kids' names and for some reason that makes him feel a lot more comfortable. There is a little girl named Leah that was in his preschool class at the local rec center and they have been best buddies. He's had homework each night except for the first day of school. I've finally had to start a reward system at home to get him to do it without a major battle and meltdown. Whew! Each day he comes out of school smiling though and says it was 'good.'

A friend's daughter started kindergarten at another school. The mom asked if Ben comes home to tell me all about his day. Per the previous post, I still have to drag any sort of detail out with probing questions. Her daughter comes home singing the songs and going through step by step each activity during the day and who she sat by, etc. The difference between boys and girls... :)

Kids went for 3 and 5 year checkups today. Both are great! Annie is 75% for both height and weight. Ben is 80% for weight and 85% for height. I think everyone that came into the room (3 children + 1 tiny exam room + 90 minutes = creative entertainment) was interested to see what we were up to - except the poor nurse that came to give the kids the flu mist. Ben is anti-anything around his nose because it is so sensitive and prone to bleeding. Yep - she got kicked...with his cowboy boots. Oops! I wasn't expecting such a strong protest because Annie had just done it and had ZERO problems. Next time we might just do the shot for Ben or just not do it all together... And yes, he did get a nosebleed as soon as it was done. Poor little boy; I know how painful that can be.

First day of Kindergarten!!!

Here is my sweet cowboy ready to go to school! He decided he didn't want everyone going to school with him, so just dad took him. While I was taking his picture he asked if he would cry. I said probably not, but I would! He asked why and I told him I'm just having a hard time with him growing up.

So, Andy took him to school. They walked to the front door and Ben says, "I'll go from here Dad." "No, Ben, I'll walk you to your class to hand you off to Mrs. S." When they got to the door, it was still locked because they were a few minutes early. They chatted with some of the other kids (Andy said Ben was showing everyone his new belt buckle - a real cowboy one - from Nonie!) until they could go in. This little boy asked where to put his backpack, got instructions, hung it up, gave Andy a big hug, said goodbye and went to sit on the rug and look at books like the teacher told him to. He was so excited to be there!!! Andy just waited in the wings for a few minutes and said Ben didn't even look for him! May each day go as smoothly as this one did!

The girls and I picked him up at the end of the day. "So, how was your first day?!" Ben says, "It was good. When is Cyberchase on?" HELLO???? So, I pryed a few more details out of him. He's decided he would like to go to school one day, stay home the next, go to school, stay home, etc. I explained that it didn't really work that way. The one thing he did say was, "We went to the bathroom THREE times!" He doesn't go quite that often at home. :)
So, we trimmed the back of Ben's hair because I forgot to do it before school started. I left out scissors and a comb to trim Annie's hair as well since I already had the vacuum out. I thought she was getting her pajamas on, but it took me a bit longer than I thought to do Emily's. I come back into my room to find the scissors missing from the chair and no Annie. AUGHHH!!! Thankfully she had only cut a few pieces. She wants her hair to be short like Ben's who wants his hair to be short like Uncle Ned's (thanks NED!!). I was planning to take about 2 inches off, but in the heat of the moment I decided to make it match the front more. Of course Annie had to cut the EXACT same place that Ben trimmed to an inch stub last year. The frustrating piece that continues to pop out of pony tails and braids. Somehow I ended up cutting about 6 inches and we now have a lovely bob... Oops. I kind of forgot that hair shrinks when it dries and curly hair shrinks even more. It took Andy a few minutes before he could tell Annie it was cute. Then he asked if I couldn't have waited 2 more weeks until my sister comes. I'll just let her straighten it out a little bit...
A friend did the CUTEST cupcakes for her kids the first day of school. I didn't prepare enough in advance to make them like hers, so we just did letters and names for our FHE treat tonight!
Hope everyone had a great first day of school!!!