First! day! of! school!

Don’t you love the hand-in-the-pocket pose? She was SO happy to go back to school and see her friends again. Last year, the “student comment” of her weekly work plan always included some variation on “I liked [doing XYZ task] with my friends.” As in, “I liked doing math with E” or “I like reading with my friends.” So yeah, she was ready. She also has the same teacher and two-thirds of the same classmates, in the same room, so it’s not as if there was much of an adjustment or transition. The classroom did acquire a pet mouse which is sooooo cuuuuuute. Jo checked out a book from the library on “caring for your pet mouse” and carefully brought it to her teacher today. Just in case Mrs. R. didn’t know what she was getting into.

I am almost as happy and excited as she is, although I do have some pangs of regret … summer? Over? I found it very hard to be productive with only 3 days of child care per week. Combined with all of the short trips and other special events of summer, I felt constantly behind and maxed out. Apparently my kids totally snowed me with their ability to keep themselves busy for more than 10 minutes at a time during a few test runs last winter and spring. I thought I’d be able to get in an hour or two of work on my non-child care days this summer. I know you’re shocked to learn that that never happened. But we did spend a lot of time together, just the three of us, doing summery things. I hope we did as good of a job as Frederick the mouse did.