First Day of School

Okay at this point, I'm so far behind that I feel silly doing a first day of school post almost 3 months AFTER school has started.  But I don't care, I need to catch up and I might as well start somewhere.  

School started August 11th.  This year I have all 3 boys in school!  Can I get a "WOOT WOOT!"  It worked out so that I have 3 days of 2 hour time blocks during the week with no children at home.  So I thought to myself, "Yes!  Now I can finally get some projects and deep cleaning done around the house!"  I even made a HUGE to-do list of all I was going to accomplish (I LOVE making lists), and figured it would take a month or two to complete.  Want to know how many things I have crossed off that list?  A BIG FAT ZERO.  Turns out, that time flies by!  As in, I have no idea where it goes.  By the time I sweep the breakfast cereal off the floor, do the dishes, and run an errand or two, my time is up.  It's all very disappointing.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll be more productive in a couple years when all 3 boys are in all day school?  I'm not keeping my hopes up.  

Anyway, all 3 boys are also in 3 different schools.  I opted to put Trey in a half day Kindergarten program, which meant I had to get a boundary exception and put him in a school in the neighboring city.  It also means there's no busing and I have to drive him to and from each day.  But it was definitely the right decision for him.  He is NOT ready to be in school all day.  In fact, I think it's fair to say he is barely ready to be in school even half a day, based on the fact I was called into a meeting with the teacher the first week of school and have since been to two more parent/teacher/school psychologist meetings.  But what can I say?  I'm not surprised.  It was a rocky start, but I feel like he's doing much better now.  And wasn't he just the cutest thing ever on his first day? 

He was VERY excited:

Then started to get a little nervous:

Now here comes the saddest picture I've ever taken:

J.J. had ZERO problems starting school this year.  You might remember the hard time he had last year.  Well, this year it was a completely different story.  Not only did he know what to expect with riding the bus, but he ended up having the same teacher as least year too!  She was a substitute for half the year due to his regular teacher going on maternity leave, and the school ended up hiring her permanently for 1st grade!  I really like this teacher so I was very happy too.  And can I just have a bragging moment for a sec?  J.J.'s teacher called me a couple weeks into school to tell me that during the beginning of the year placement tests, on the math portion he "blew it out of the water" and was "heads and heads" above the rest of the 1st graders!  And that it was "unheard of" for a child to score that well at the beginning of the year!  (sigh)  My little genius...

Now for Samuel.  He qualified for a development preschool this year because of his speech delay.  I felt a little strange having him start school and only being 2 years old.  He's just so little still!  But this is to help him "catch up" on his speech and other delays.  I've heard great things about this school from a neighbor of mine, and was very impressed with the campus and his teacher.  Believe it or not, after only one week of school I swear he started saying more words!  He has definitely progressed and I feel confident he will start Kindergarten in a few years with no problems.  

I love my boys.