Adjusting to school life again!

First day of first grade. Jake sitting at his new 'real' desk and checking out the goodies his new teacher left him. I love how in the background of this picture you can see the mom giving her kid a good bye kiss. So cute. :)
This year Jake is actually in a 1st/2nd grade combo class. I wasn't too sure how to feel about that. People told me: Oh that's a good thing, that means he's smart! or They would never put him in that class if they thought he couldn't handle some 2nd grade curriculum. While that all would be quite flattering, and it's not that I think he's not smart, (he is) it's just that...well I don't think those are the reasons he was put there. I don't really have an answer though! :D He's actually only 1 of 2 first grade boys in the whole class. It's kind of like they hand picked the best, well behaved kids from the kindergarten class. Anyway, he seems to really be enjoying it after just two days. We'll see what happens when he starts getting homework next week! Yesterday he told me how great his teacher is and how she is sooooo nice, mommy! The brief moments I have talked to her she seemed very outgoing and high energy. I hope she stays that way. It's always easy to be enthusiastic in the beginning of the year for teachers, parents and students!

This picture seems to sum up how Megan is dealing with all this back to school stuff. Which basically means she's going a little crazy trying to adjust. She completely flipped out yesterday morning while we were trying to get out the door. Which I'm pretty sure she did the exact same thing last year too. And then yesterday she kept asking...can we go get my brudder? when is Gake coming home? And today: I miss my brudder! The time difference between just a few hours in kindergarten to 2 and a half extra hours in 1st grade is such a big deal for her. She completely gets that something is just not right. And she and I haven't quite got into a groove yet. Yesterday she went with no nap at all and by the time we picked up Jake this afternoon, she was in total meltdown mode and crying for no particular reason at all. I'm definitely going to have to find some sort of activity for her to do. The pre-school program here is kind of a joke. It's 68 dollars a week for two days for 45 minutes each. It seems ridiculously expensive to me. And what do you learn in 45 minutes? I couldn't even leave her there and do the grocery shopping in that time. As soon as I left I'd have to turn right around and go get her. So I'm thinking of finding a gymnastics class or dance class that, even though the sessions will still only be an hour or so, it's cheaper and she'll still be getting the socialization that she desperately needs and the physical activity too. I can teach her the pre-school stuff myself.
The extra time during the day is strange for me too. Yesterday I didn't quite know what to do with myself either. Today I went out and started doing some yard work. (! I know !) I really do not like yard work. I worked up quite a sweat (which I'm positive I'm allergic to sweat) pretty quickly so I told Megan to go get her swimsuit on and off we went to the pool. It was nice to just be the two of us. She and I had the entire big pool to ourselves so I pushed her in her floaty about 5 or 6 times up and down the length of the pool. I really love swimming. I have zero athletic ability and can't swim better than cat, but I still love it. I think I'll do the same thing again tomorrow. I didn't get half of the yard work done.