Back To School

There's been lots of excitement about school lately in our household. The Summer has flown by like the wind and CJ just started the second grade last week. Tyler met his three pre-school teachers today to include one intern as they did a nice home visit and he starts next week in the 4 yr. old school district program. Tyler has been talking about going to school for weeks and I can't get over his excitement! It was awesome to see him today try to follow his teachers out the door as if school was starting today!

He was ready to go, wearing his new "Diego" backpack, and ready to be a "BIG BOY" like his older brother. I was really happy to see him so excited! Poor little Madison felt left out and walked up to me and said, "Daddy, I want go school." She had the cutest little pout with her bottom lip hanging out. I gave her a hug and said, "You will go to Daddy's School!" (a quick suggestion offered up by one of the teachers). Meanwhile, I thought this suggestion wasn't going to work at all and was going to lead to some loud tears as if life had just ended.

"Yay," She said exuberantly clapping and jumping up and down as if she had just won the lottery! Much to my surprise, the suggestion worked and I told her that I would take her to the store to pick up some Pre-K things for her and I to work on together. I'm not so sure that she comprehended all of the adult things I had to say in that moment, but nevertheless, she was just happy because she was going to school like her big brother, Tyler! At least, until the reality sets in later.

When school starts back up this time of year, I can almost hear all the "hallelujahs" coming from all the stay at home parents and friends of mine after the action packed summer with kids has finally come to an end. I can't even begin to tell you how many status updates on Facebook I've seen within the last few weeks where parents exclaimed their joy and excitement of having school start back up again. You would think that we're all ready to go to a rock concert or the biggest party of the year from all the hoopla.

I can understand the feeling. Besides, there's only so much nagging, bickering between the kids, and pool parties you can take before you're ready to pull your hair out. The single parenthood is twice as exhausting, so it's very much appreciated whenever I have a friend watch the kids for me just so I can go shopping alone. Trust me, going to Wal-Mart alone is like being on a mini-vacation in itself when you're a single parent. It's sad to say, but so very true!

Where does the time go sometimes? It goes by too fast and I'm already sad at the notion that Tyler is soon going to be out of the little tyke stage. When they're young, you get all the hugs and kisses that you want. When they get older, it's like, "C'mon Dad," as CJ sometimes says to me. Next Monday, I'm taking Tyler to his open house at his school to get a feel for the classroom and then he starts the next day. He will be going for a half a day, five days a week and I can't wait to see how he does. I'm really excited for him as he's been asking me for a long time now when he's finally going to be able to go to school like CJ.

As for Maddie, I think we can pretend pre-school for the time being. As long I draw excitement into it, she'll be fine. She has the best attention span out of all my kids and loves it when I read to her. I think she would love to be a teacher one day because she is always trying to pretend that she is the "Mommy" for CJ and Tyler. She is very caring and nurturing at heart...something I absolutely love about her. I'm so happy that she's not a tomboy in a house full of boys. She matches her clothes, something my boys don't do very well, and loves to change her clothes all the time.

In fact, when I was telling Madison that it wasn't appropriate for her to change her clothes in front of CJ's friends who were playing in our house the other day because she's a girl. Her response was, "But I'm not a girl, I'm Madison." She had her trademark cute little pout going on too, but it didn't work. All I wanted to do was laugh out loud when she said that but I didn't want her to think I was nuts, so I kept my composure. I just smiled and said, "You're not a girl?"

She said, "Yeah, I'm Madison!"

I'll just say that if Bill Cosby ever comes back to host another "Kids Say The Darnedest Things" show, I think my kids would be great prospects! Laughter is never a shortage in my household. Until next time, have fun with back to school!