First Day

Well, it started out okay. We got to school and he was checking out his classroom and meeting his classmates. But I think Wolf and I made a few mistakes. One, we both went to drop him off. This was something I wanted us both to do but was probably not a wise choice. Two, we stayed longer than we should have. But I wanted to meet his teacher, see his classroom, meet other kids and parents. But when it was time for us to leave, Mason was having none of it. He kept trying to run away. Wolf even sat with him for awhile and stayed during part of circle time. But he tried to leave, it didn't go over so well. We left with the teacher's assistant have to hold him back from chasing us, and him screaming "mommy, I just want a hug." Broke my heart.

When I got to work I called the office to see if I could check on him and the secretary said that if kids do not calm down and are too upset to stay in the classroom, they are brought to the office. And he wasn't there. So I guess that's something, eh? It is now 1:00 and in 15 minutes class ends and he heads off to aftercare. Another transition. But I think that there are quite a few kids from his class in there with him so it should all be good.

On a side note, he did end up getting in to the bilingual program. The principal left us a message last night saying that one of the kids in the program was moving and there was an opening for Mason. Yeah, persistency pays off! I am just so glad that we were able to settle all of this before he actually started school. And I have heard nothing but great things about his teacher. Sigh..is it 5:00 yet? I miss my baby. Wait, I was corrected last night, he is no longer my baby. I miss my little man.

Many happenings...

Wow, there is so much going on in the Schuster household right now, it's kind of crazy! Let's see, where to begin....

Mason starts kindergarten tomorrow. I am scared and nervous and excited for him all at the same time. He is scared and nervous and excited for himself. We have been waving good morning to his school every morning for months now. We have been talking about what kinds of things he can expect to learn and see. We have been grooming him for his first real steps into his future. We are preparing him as best we can, which is all we can do, I suppose.

I know a lot of parents say this about their kids, but Mason is really freakin' smart. Too smart for his own good, actually. He is learning multiplication and how to count by 10's, he's reading and writing, he's growing and changing. He has a memory like you wouldn't believe and can hear even when he's not listening. My heart aches that he is no longer my baby yet at the same time is excited to watch him develop into his own autonomous being.

We are having some issues with his school at the moment, which I am hoping will get worked out. The reason we chose to stay at our local school, rather than try for an intra/inter district transfer, was because we were pretty positive we would get him into the bilingual program, wherein he would learn spanish. Which, in a school that is 60% hispanic, seemed like a very good thing. Well, he did not get in. Apparently, the information we were given stating that he had a great chance of getting in the sooner we registered was false. It was all random. We are pissed. Not sure where we will go from here, there might be a chance to still get him in, but not until classes have started. Wolf and I both wrote letters to the principal, although I do not think it will do much good. We shall see. All we can now is focus on Mason having the best experience possible.

Then there is Morgan. Man, is he going through some changes. A few months ago he quit cold turkey on his binky. Was just done. And now he is potty training. Two nights ago he woke me up at 3 am to pee but still had his diaper on. Last night he did not wake me up (well, at least not to pee) and he slept in underpants! We are so proud of him. Every time he pees in the potty his face just lights up and he exclaims, "I did it!" Wolf and I have promised to buy him something BIG to celebrate both events. There is a lot of focus on Mason right now and we want to make sure that he does not feel left out, that we celebrate his amazing accomplishments too.

Wolf and I have finally latched on to a date for our 10 year wedding annivesary party. Now we just have to tell everyone and send out invitiations! So for all of you who are reading this, please know we are working on it. And the party will be SEPTEMBER 20TH at STAFFORD LAKE in Novato. More details to follow.

Okay, enough for now. Love to all of you from all of us.

Morgan Musings

Now I may have this wrong as Wolf told me about it while we were in the midst of our morning routine, but an exchange between Wolf and Morgan went something like this:

Wolf was explaining to Morgan that the spots on his face are called freckles.

Morgan looked at Daddy's arms and said, "Are there sparkles on your arms too?"

I will verify the actual comment from Wolf but I wanted to make sure I did not forget to post this.

More Mason Musings

"Mom, did you know that stain remover removes stains?"

"Oh, really? Where did you learn that?"

"The t.v."