Wednesday, September 26, 2012

This and That

-Aubrey is doing so great at school! She really loves going, and she comes home talking about all of her new little friends :) She says her favorite part is ballet. She seems to be learning a lot, too! Everyday when I pick her up and ask her how her day went, she says "I never disobeyed, Mommy!" That's always nice to hear ;) David saw Aubrey's teacher the other morning when he was dropping her off, and she told David that Aubrey is doing really well and that she is very bright. Of course that made this Mama happy :) I'm just so relieved that this has been such a smooth transition for us. It really confirms the fact that we made the right decision to not start her last year and wait until this year. Aubrey is the oldest child in her class now, whereas she would have been the youngest if we had started last year. I think that's made a huge difference for her because she really grew up a LOT over the past year. Anyway, we are working on a few things at home, too, and that is going well. I haven't been super structured about homeschooling so far, and I'm torn about whether I want to continue to be laid back about it or try to be more structured. On one hand, I think maybe we should have a set time and "schedule." After all, that's what we'll need to be doing when she's older. On the other hand, though, I feel like she's in preschool. I want her to still have fun at home and be able to play, and I feel like it's perfectly fine to just incorporate learning into our daily routine. We'll see how things go as the year progresses.

-I've already started to think about next school year and what we should do about starting Jude. His birthday is in July, so he'll be old enough to start the 3 year old program next year. That blows my mind right now. He still seems like such a baby in so many ways. I'm actually more worried about him graduating highschool and going off to college super young than I am about starting him in preschool too early, but it's crazy to think that the decisions we make now will determine that. I know we can always hold him back and make him repeat 3 year old preschool or something, but if we're doing that, it seems like we might as well just wait another year to start. But then he'll be SO much older than all the kids in his class. Aubrey has a September birthday, so she was right on the cut-off line, but if we hold Jude back a year, he'll have been 4 for several months before he even starts the 3 year old class. I don't want him to be bored? So, yes, I have no idea what we'll do! Right now, I guess we'll just pray for guidance and wait and see how much he matures in the next year :)

-I'm going on a little trip this weekend with some girls from church. I'm excited about it, but I've also started to get a little nervous because I'm leaving Alaina for the first time. When we first started talking about this trip, that didn't seem like a huge deal (I left Aubrey for 5 days when she was Alaina's age, and she was fine and we picked right back up with nursing when I got home.) but now I'm kind of having second thoughts. It's too late for me to back out now, though! It's just always so hard to leave your baby for the first time, no matter when you do it. I have plenty of breastmilk frozen for her, and I'm going to be pumping while I'm gone. David assures me they'll be fine, and I know they will, but it's still hard to leave. Especially since Alaina is super attached to me now. I can't stand the thought of her being sad while I'm away :( The good news is that with her, it's kind of "out of sight, out of mind" at this stage, so I don't think she'll be too upset about me not being here. I know this trip will be good for me, and I'll only be gone 2 nights. It will be great, it will be worth it, I will be glad I went..... ;)

-I think I'm about to officially become a minivan mom. Haha! I've resisted as long as possible, but I'm afraid the time is drawing nigh ;) I have an SUV with two back rows, so we technically have enough seats, but it's so impractical trying to get everyone loaded up. I literally have to climb through the back hatch to get Jude loaded into the car, and we can't turn him forward facing as it is now because it would be impossible for me to buckle him. It's real fun climbing in and out of the back of the car, especially when I'm wearing a dress ;) Plus, when we add a 4th carseat/bootster seat, it just won't work. So, now seems like the time to start looking at minivans. I know some people love minivans, but I'm just not really a "van person." I would much rather drive an SUV, but at this point, I know I just need to drive whatever is most practical for our family, and it's looking like that's going to be a van. And that's ok. I can totally rock the soccer mom look. Haha! ;)

5 comments:

Sarah Broadus said...

ive been a minivan moma for 1 year and let me tell you-so much easier! We have a honda oddessey touring and love it!

Whitney said...

I am in the same situation with Avery and school with her July birthday. We made the right decision to keep her home this year, but she'll always be either the baby or the oldest. I can tell she's the "baby" in dance and there is quite a difference. No idea what we'll do. We have a Buick Enclave with captain's chairs but it would still be hard to get to the back. I like the Honda Odyssey.

Jennifer said...

Henry will be in the same situation with a July birthday! Oh the decisions that we have to make. I resisted the mini-van too but let me tell you it's changed my life. We have the Odyssey Touring too and LOVE it!!!!! Those sliding doors are awesome because Evie can get herself in the seat while I get Henry in and I love my cool box to keep sippy cups cold. I love the navigation and the ability to move the seats around so much. Once you get a van, you will not believe that you resisted it for so long.

Nathalie said...

Good luck with your trip! Leaving baby is hard -- I hope it goes smoothly for you!

Mary Louis Quinn said...

My oldest has a July bday too and we made the decision this year to move her up tp 3K instead of keep her back. That meant she ended up skipping a class at school, but she's now on track to go to kindergarten when she's 5 and not 6. We figured we could always hold her back if need be. I fretted over the decision, and it felt so weird to be making that huge of a decision when she was TWO, but I have to say that I'm SO glad we decided to move her up! She has done really well, and she really seems to do better being one of the youngest (and learning so much from the older kids) as opposed to being the oldest in her class and being with kids 6-8 months younger that her. A few of her friends who have August bdays moved up with her, and all of us parents have been very glad we made that decision. Just throwing my two cents in there, but I know all situations are so different. :)