First Day of School

Last week was Charlotte’s first day of Grade 1, and Robbie’s first day of Primary. Can you believe that Robbie is in Primary! As I mentioned before we weren’t sure if we should send him. Everywhere I turn, from my family, the TV, parenting magazines, there is all sorts of talk about parents holding their kids back, as well as others who are ‘proof’ that we should hold back a 4 year old. Well, my gut just isn’t sold on the idea and I remember one of the brightest kids in our grade was born Dec 13^th, so I figure there must be equal proof that a 4 year old can be ready for Primary. If you could have seen how excited and ready Robbie was to go to school, you would have made the same choice. 

I loved standing at that bus stop watching Robbie with his buddies, all older than him, all acting the exact same way. Holding mom’s hand, with little bursts of goofiness. Charlotte was off with her friends, comparing back packs and summer holiday adventures. As the bus arrived Robbie lined up with a new boy, who has just moved into the neighborhood. Since all the Primaries are actually new, they all are full of nerves and butterflies. As Jack and Robbie stood in line, they had both let go of their mommy’s hands, and quickly grasped each others. Cute! Then it was time to go on to the bus. Well perhaps we should have explained that they could let go of each other’s hands. They walked hand in hand, with extra large backpacks smacking against each other up the steps of the bus. Super Cute! I admit, I cried as I did my mad dash to school, and got there just as the kids were getting off the bus. Robbie was all smiles!! He had let go of Jack by then and they walked down the steps separately, but they did sit together he tells me. Since it was pouring rain, the parents were allowied inside the school. I helped Robbie and a few other boys find their hooks and cubby holes. Then I went to see Charlotte, she can be so pokey, she was still just putting on her indoor shoes. When I came back past Robbie’s class the teacher was still helping a few straggling kids into the room, so I peeked into the class to take one last look at my boy. I see a bunch of Primaries sitting on the reading mat patiently waiting to be told what to do, and in another part of the room I see Robbie and two buddies standing. It looks to me like they are comparing checked shirts. (Could someone tell me, why do Canadian’s love plaid so much?). Anyway just as I am turning to leave I see one of his buddies is rub his behind up and down a shelf and Robbie and the other boy start laughing hysterically. I turn to leave, and wished the teacher good luck. 

 

Hudson's waiting for the bus.

 

Mae thought waiting for the bus was great. That was until all the kids got on the bus and she did not. Oh, the injustice!

 

Victoria, Katie, Charlotte and Pearce waiting for the bus.

 

Jack, Robbie, Dominic, and Cam waiting for the bus.

 

Jack and Rob about to board.

 

Tight squeeze, but they both fit up the stairs.

 

Here go the girls.

 

Charlotte and her teacher Mrs. Flinn... a familiar face to Charlotte, Mrs. Flinn had a son in Charlotte's class at pre-school.

 

Robbie at his cubby. No photo with his teacher, she is the one in the back ground with the little blonde girl attached to her leg. Poor thing was having a rough time.

 

Rob in class with Alex and Dominic.

 

Here they are, home safe and sound!

I’d spent the rest of the day, organizing an extremely messing storage room. The summer took a big toll on my house and I have to buckle down now to get it put back together. Starting with the storage room. The day flew by, and before I knew it, it was time to get the kids from the bus. They were all smiles, both exclaiming they had great days as we went off to get Mae at the daycare. Robbie walked into his old preschool room half expecting to see some of his friends. Well none of his old classmates were there, for they have all gone to their respective schools. When I looked at Robbie amongst next years primaries, the difference was striking. They were practically babies, still learning to self toilet an put their shoes on. Robbie would have been bored to tears spending another year doing that. It was reconfirmation for me, that Robbie is ready to be where he is.

Summer is over. It is now September. At the end of August, August 31^st  to be exact marks James’s birthday. He would have been nine this year. I’ve found this summer to be a continuous reminder of James. There have been many times, whether at birthday parties, BBQ’s, or at soccer games that I see boys that would not only be James’s age, but most likely they would be his friends. These boys have been the older siblings of either Charlotte or Robbie’s friends. I try not to stare for fear that I may freak out the parents, but I can’t help but wonder. Would James be on that soccer team? Would James be doing cannon balls into the pool right now? So much was lost, when we lost James. Now if I’m completely honest, the pain I carry has just become part of me. Some days it flares up and is a harder load to carry but most times I feel like I carry the pain as best as someone can. Lately though, it brings tears to my eyes when I realize what Robbie has lost, without ever knowing it. Robbie would love to have a big brother to play cars with, ride his bike with. Sandwiched between two girls can’t exactly be easy. All Robbie wants to do is play, and girls well, they bring a lot of drama. Sure you could get philosophical and say we may not have Robbie or Mae if we still had James, or even Charlotte for that matter. Without a doubt loosing James changed the trajectory of our lives and every decision thereafter. However I can’t be philosophical about this, I just miss James, and am sad for all my children that they will never know what it is like to have a big brother.

Back to our summer, and how it is winding down. I has been a good summer, we’ve done nearly everything we’ve wanted to. Our priority was boating and going to the beach, which we managed to do a lot. Both Mike and I took a week off in August and we split the time between home and the South Shore. Ironically the summer has been beautiful, but the week we had off was foggy and raining. We did get to Rissers beach twice while on the South Shore and the photo’s look so strange with the kids in their bathing suits surrounded by mist and fog. But what the picture doesn’t show is that inland, and away from the fog it was hot, sticky and humid. So I was much happier on the cool beach. Rissers beach has waves and the kids got to try body surfing… they LOVED it!!

Also this summer Robbie learned to ride a 2 wheeled bike. In a past post I told you how Robbie didn’t get worked up that he couldn’t ride on two wheels the previous time he tried and simply asked for the training wheels to be put back on. Well one day his buddy Drake was trying to ride a two wheeler. It wasn’t working out too well for Drake, and he was getting mad. Robbie, Mr. Cool struts over and picks up Drake’s bike right in front of him. He jumped on, no falls, no wobbles, and just took off. Drake was so livid! He screamed at Robbie to “get off my bike”. The training wheels are now off Robbie’s bike and he is not only cruising up and down the road, but in and out of the woods, across and over gravel the ditches. All he wants to do is ride his bike. Which is a good thing.

Robbie also go a skate board...

 

... it is pretty difficult (LOL)

Charlotte hasn’t been up to much lately. She plays with Syd next door a lot and has quite a bit of fun at daycare but mostly I think she’ll be happy to get back to school, she is very social and misses her friends. I can’t even believe I’m saying that as it is not at all what I expected. She was so shy this time last year. I remember thinking if she can just get one good friend that is all she needs. Well she is friends with what seems like everyone, well every girl at least (she doesn’t like the boys). This summer she has also seemed to have found a bug for soccer. It may surprise some that up until this summer Charlotte has barely laid eyes more less a foot to a soccer ball. This summer she played under 6 and thrived. She loved it, and definitely stood out. I’m no fool, I know the reason she stood out. She was the oldest female in the group, making her the strongest and fastest. When you are 5 and 6 a few months can make a difference. She is very athletic, and very aggressive, so they moved her to the under 8s. She did really well there too. Soccer was the first activity I ever put her in that she beamed. She has liked other activities. She loved to skate, she enjoyed dace, she likes swimming, but soccer hit that magic button for her. Of course Mike and I want her to do what she loves and if she loves soccer great. If in a few seasons she changes her mind that is fine too. I’m just so happy that I’ve got to watch her have fun and love a game that both Mike and I are passionate about.

Mary-Anne… I really wish I could put this child into words. But I can’t . There are days she smiles at me, with her very expressive blue eyes and my heart melts. Then there are days I’m sure there is literally steam coming out of the top of my head. Like the day I was making burrito’s for supper. Should be an easy task, the meat was already cooked. I literally had to cook some rice, throw in some beans, cheese and assemble. Nice! So I get home and the same thing happens, every day I get home. We should actually walk the dog, but instead Robbie wants to ride his bike on the road. Mary-Anne wants to play in the backyard and Charlotte wants to do neither. I sent Charlotte to Syd’s. This helped both the LaLuene’s and me greatly as the girls occupied each other as we frantically tried to make supper. I make a deal with Robbie that I need to start the rice and then I’ll come out for him to ride his bike. Thinking how much I love easy suppers like burritos. I take Mae inside to put the rice on, however now, Mae no longer wants to be outside, so I drag her out kicking and screaming. After all I made a deal with Robbie, he starts riding his bike and is now happy. Hey 2 out of 3 kids happy at 5pm is a pretty good ratio for me. Mae stomps to the back door (I’d shut the front). I give her a few moments and then go around back to see what she is up to. She is walking back down the ramp drinking from a measuring cup full of creamy white water. She had scooped out a cup of water and rice from the rice cooker. Whatever! I take it from her and dump it out. Now she is happy, she’s done something mischievous and is smiling. We spend the next 20 minutes riding bikes. Joy was short lived as now I have to drag Robbie into the house kicking and screaming so I can finish making supper. When I go to get the rice, I realize Mae had turned the rice cooker off. Crap! I’m no closer to making supper than I was 30 minutes ago. I turn it on, start grading cheese and then Charlotte comes home. I talk to her for a few minutes and she goes into her room. “MOMMMMMM!!!” she yells. Mary-Anne had somehow snuck the bowl off the counter with 3 cups of grated cheese and had thrown it all over the bedroom floor. She then proceeded to lay on the floor and attempt to pick up each piece of cheese with her mouth and eat it. The floor was covered in squished, graded cheese. At which point Mike comes home and literally asks me where supper is. Grrrrr! I recover supper (by the way graded, squished cheese is not easy to sweep). I call everyone to the table to a plate full of burritos sitting in the middle of the table. Mary-Anne then screams “I don’t like it” and slams her hand onto the plate. As I try to grab her hand away, her chubby fingers grab at the burritos throwing meat, rice, beans, cheese...etc everywhere!  I would like to say this was a particularly bad day, but I can’t. Days like this are common, in fact so common I’d say nearly everyday we have an incident between getting home and eating supper, and Mae is usually a key player in said incident.