I haven’t forgotten that I have this blog! I’ve been successfully keeping things together by focusing on the work that has to get done and putting off other stuff, like blog-writing. (Sorry.) I decided I could spare a little time today to participate in 7 Quick Takes Friday.
1
Peter is doing well in grade 1, academically, behaviorally, and socially. He seems to enjoy being back at the French -language school he went to for junior kindergarten. His comfort in speaking French has definitely improved (I was amazed how much it dropped after a year in French immersion). He’s in the highest reading level in his class, and this after his teacher sent home a permission slip for him to participate in their pull-out remedial reading program after only four days of school. (I suspect because his oral fluency was low, not because they actually assessed his reading skills–he went for three days and they figured out that he didn’t belong there).
2
Our efforts to recruit more Beaver Scouts were successful. Peter’s Beaver Scout colony is up to 12 (possibly 13) Beavers this year, after having only four last year. Don has really gotten into his role as a Beaver Scout leader, particularly in taking on the responsibility of communicating with parents through regular e-mail bulletins and in planning games to play at the weekly meetings (while he makes sure to let the other leaders organize the crafts). Peter is having a fantastic year of Scouting so far, with more great events to come, including a trick-or-treat tomorrow evening and a campfire on Tuesday evening (both for our wider region, not just his colony).
3
Peter is also enjoying hockey so far this season. He’s moved up an age division, to Tykes, where they play full-ice games with officials and keep score on the scoreboard. They also do off-sides at this level, which is new to many/most of the kids and a bit of a challenge for them. The first game they played, I think someone was off-sides about every minute, leading to lots of whistle-blowing and practice in how they’re supposed to line up for a face-off. They have played three games and they are getting better at it. I think the aspect of Tykes that Peter was the most excited about is that the goalies get to wear real goalie equipment. All the kids get a chance to play goalie; Peter hasn’t had a turn yet. Unfortunately, his team has lost all of their games so far and he was a bit discouraged after the last game. I hope they can win a game soon.
4
I’m also having a good school year. I like my schedule this year–it helps that I’m with each kindergarten class twice a week, so I have gotten to know the kids better. I enjoy teaching them gym because it’s easy and a fun class for them (though it’s getting harder to demonstrate things like crab-walking and jumping jacks). With the grade 1 class, I’m only there once a week and not every week (I don’t go when we have our monthly school Mass or if there’s no school on Friday), and I still don’t have the kids’ names down 100%. My French classes are going reasonably well. Overall, I feel like I’m keeping up well and I’m less stressed than I have been in previous school years.
5
Things are also going well with my pregnancy. Everything medical is just fine; I saw my midwife on Tuesday. I’ve been making an effort to eat well and sleep enough, and it has been paying off. I’ve reached the point where getting up and down is more difficult, putting on my socks is a project, and finding a comfortable position for sleeping is often a challenge, and I still have three and a half months to go. I just keep reminding myself that it’s only temporary. It’s much easier to go through pregnancy a second time, knowing that I survived the first time and everything worked out all right.
6
It feels like we’ve finally got things figured out and everything is going so well. At the edges of my mind lurks fear about how it’s going to change early next year. My memories of the first months with Peter are fuzzy from sleep deprivation. How am I going to function as a decent mom to Peter when I have a new baby? How is Peter going to adapt to having a baby in our family? How are we all going to adapt? We will, I know, but it will be another big change for us.
7
Don recently put up coat hooks in our foyer, including three down at kid-level. This is something I had wanted for a long time, so that I don’t have to hang up kids’ coats in the closet every time we come indoors in cold weather (I got tired of doing it for two kids all last winter). So my last take is a thank-you to him for getting that done.
