Some moments made us laugh (Aven's dookie on the floor) and some made us cry (or me rather on Declan's first day of school). So on to the funny stuff. Here's the text exchange between Andy and I mid-week or so (mind you, Andy had all 4 kids solo all week during the day with me working - them all being back from vacation created a very wound up bunch of kids and one tired daddy!) K: I signed Declan up for learn to skate starting this Saturday. A: Cool. Aven just shit on the floor. K: What??? LOL A: yea, she shit on the floor, her diaper was off for a few seconds because Bria fell and I had to go check on her and I came back and there was a pile of turds. Hilarious - honestly, since I didn't have to clean it up, I laughed all day about it.
Now for the crying... So this year Declan is going back to Pre-K. He's a July birthday so he'd either be the old kid in class or the young kid in class. After going back and forth several times, Andy and I decided that it would do him some good to stay in Pre-K for another year and wait on Kindergarten. But we did switch schools for him and he's going to the elementary that he will go to next year for Pre-K. The big thing this year is that he will be taking a bus. I honestly didn't think it would be too big of a deal because he was excited that it was only half a day and he didn't have to take a nap during school (yay for him and the teacher that used to have to move him all the time!). But I had a momentary lapse in remembering who our child was. You see, Declan is pretty much scared of anything the first time when he has to do something on his own.... Swimming, going to school, riding a bus, meeting people for the first time, skating, playing soccer - you name it. But once he does it once, he's golden (hence learning to swim the 3rd week we were in WI and never stopping once he got the hang of it). We've seen this with everything he does. So nonetheless, we talked to him all week about the bus and the new school, he seemed fine, until about 2 hours before he had to leave for school. That's when all hell broke loose. I stayed home this day knowing that we had to juggle the getting the girls down for nap, feeding Declan lunch and getting him on the bus off to school. Well the getting the girls down went just fine. The rest was a challenge. We weren't able to get him to eat lunch between the tears, but we did coerce him to get out of the house by looking for bugs before getting on the bus. To make a long story short, there were a lot of tears, there was some physical restraining of him on the bus and there was 2 parents sprinting off the bus trying to break away from him (me near tears). I just felt so bad that he totally didn't want to go to school. I worried about him for the 4 long hours he was gone. Then we packed the girls up at 4 and walked the 1/2 block down to the end of the road to pick him up. He got off the bus with a smile on his face and said "it wasn't that bad!" Whew!!!!!! Him saying that pretty much meant that he loved it but of course wasn't going to admit that to us (since we told him he would have fun). No idea how he behaved while there, but he seemed in a much better mood! I'm hoping after the weekend he doesn't forget and gets right on the bus for Andy on Monday - but I'm certain it's better Andy than me - I was a wreck! So all these parents that got smiling happy faces of their kids on the first day of school and blasted them all over Facebook - we did not, but we got some pretty good shots of him after school :-)
His sisters waiting for him :-)
Getting off the bus - he was so excited that he forgot his backpack on the bus... How I'm going to handle kindergarten next year and when the 3 girls go is beyond me...
His cool backpack!
There was also some really cool ideas all over facebook to recognize kids first day of school - this was my version - cheaper, easier and able to do at home :-) Yes, he wants to be in the army (at least that day he did) and Jessie is some teenager show on Nick that is likely inappropriate for him, but apparently it's his favorite show :-)
There's the Dec we know and love :-)
Meanwhile, we changed some things in the play room (aka former dining room) and brought in the kitchen set and I found a box of tiaras and other things that a friend of ours got them when they were born. Well they LOVE them... And they won't stop wearing them. This is a picture of Bria with hers on.
And Aven was making it as a necklace...
Stevie (Left) and Bria (Right) happy in their crowns and thrones!
Even Daddy likes to wear one... ha ha ha ha!
And Aven again with her crown necklace... And you can see behind her that we have gotten a lot of use out of our bouncy - So glad we brought that back from WI!
Bria enjoying a little jumping!
All the kids - Stevie (far left) especially loves the slide. The other two girls like laying there and having Declan jump around and bounce them...
Here's to a week with less tears from Declan and less shitting from the girls :-)
