First day of kindergarten!!!

Today was my little boy's first day of school. He was excited, I didn't cry, and I might get some stuff cleaned during nap time if Mackenzie permits it. (Or maybe I'll nap because I tossed and turned all night anxious to make it to school on time)

After we sorted out his supplies he played. I told him I was leaving he said he didn't want me to go. (Sniff sniff) but, I knew I had to leave some time so I told him I would stay until play time was over. Then he gave me 2 hugs and was just fine. And that was our uneventful morning. But hey, onto the pictures!!!

So this was his last day of preschool in June

And today's picture

And this is his thinking face

Walking to school

First day of kindergarten!!!

Today was my little boy's first day of school. He was excited, I didn't cry, and I might get some stuff cleaned during nap time if Mackenzie permits it. (Or maybe I'll nap because I tossed and turned all night anxious to make it to school on time)

After we sorted out his supplies he played. I told him I was leaving he said he didn't want me to go. (Sniff sniff) but, I knew I had to leave some time so I told him I would stay until play time was over. Then he gave me 2 hugs and was just fine. And that was our uneventful morning. But hey, onto the pictures!!!

So this was his last day of preschool in June

And today's picture

And this is his thinking face

Walking to school

School!

That's right. School. WHAT?!?! Ok, sure it's preschool. But still. It's a backpack and learning and out of the house. It's a big deal! Plus if we were in Ontario still he would be starting school this year.

 

So, this year, is a busy freaking year. We enrolled Austin in a preschool. We paid our deposits, yadda yadda. Then, we find out he was accepted to the preschool program through the school down the road. (I mean I can see it out my window it's that close) We didn't get the acceptance to the second school until months after enrolling him with the first school. I didn't even know he was being considered actually. The one hr of play weekly at the school I signed him up for last year put him in the consideration.

 

Now, the pre-school at the public school does accept kids who have delays. I guess in my "perfect kid" mind I didn't even think that he would be accepted because of course he has no delays. (Plus I didn't think he would get into one of the few "non delay" spots they have) However, they did an assesement and thought maybe he had a bit of a speech delay. To say I was in shock when I found out that news is an understatement. I did get over it though and we went for meetings with specialists. He does have a mild speech delay. The specialist told me that he understands everything but he just has a hard time translating that into words.

 

Now that we were in 2 schools I had to figure out what to do. The second school is covered, it's just like he is going to regular junior kindergarten. We only have to pay the school fees. The first school is a pretty hefty monthly bill. I wasn't sold on pulling him out of the first school though. Then, it was like fate intervened for us. His church pre-school ran Tues, Thurs, Friday mornings. We found out the second school ran mon, tues, thurs, fri afternoons. It was going to work out. I am still crazy worried about if it's going to be too much for Austin, but so far I've been up front with both schools, they both know he's enrolled in another, and so far he's been doing ok with adjusting.

 

Without further ado, I present to you the first day of school pics!!!

 

This day took me by surprise. I thought it was just a come in and see your class type of day. Then I got there and it was an actual first day. I had such a hard time NOT crying. The teachers read the kids the book "the Kissing Hand" to try and help them not be sad when their Moms aren't around. I get trying to help the kids, but when Austin gave my hand a kiss I almost started bawling right there. Not cool teachers. lol. We did stay for the whole 45 minutes (ok, so not a true first day since it was only 45 minutes, but I was still not prepared)

 

Having a blast coloring his picture of Chester from the story above.

 

And this picture was from his actual first day at the church pre-school. This was after class. I dropped him off and he just ran off and didn't say goodbye. Let's be honest now. I made it to the car and halfway out of the parking lot before I started crying because he was gone to school and didn't care to say goodbye. When I went to pick him up though he was so excited to see me so it made up for it.

 

These 2 pictures were just before leaving for his first day at the school down the street. I can't believe how big he is! Sigh.

 

 

Almost wordless Wednesday

Today was a mother's day spa at Austin's pre-school. I was a good sport and let him paint both mine and his own hands with nailpolish, get my hair done, and we did a craft.

2nd part of my update.

Alright, so an update on us now.

I'll start with the best. Austin. He's getting smarter and cuter by the day. He now has 5 teeth out, one pre-molar just poked through and another pre-molar getting ready to come through.

He's been in Daycare since December. Last week was the first week we weren't sick! woo hoo! Other than the sickness he has been doing really well. I'm glad he's able to get out and socialize with other kids.

He now seems to be less clumsy. I know he will never *not* be clumsy... after all, he is my son, but he is getting better.

He still isn't talking much. He says Uh oh, mama, occasionally dada. When he's playing with cars he will make a 'room 'room noise. I think he's trying to say elmo. he understands a lot though. When I ask him to put something somewhere or go get his toys he understood. I asked him a few weeks ago if he wanted to put his coat on to go to daycare and play with the kids. He shook his head yes then held out his arms to put his coat on. He loves playing with forks while eating, still hasn't mastered the art of scooping things onto his fork yet though.

Finally, he gets into everything. EVERYTHING. I find myself uttering the most ridiculous statements some days. So far the best has been "Austin, get your balls out of the toilet." Yes that's right, he took the balls from his helecopter and put them in the toilet. He's started to climb. I finally got him to stop playing with the lamps in the living room. Not anymore. He climbs up on our ottoman, then crawls onto the table and plays with the lamps. I have to figure out how to get him to stop again. Some days though I find it so hard to tell him no because he gives me the cutest smile. I still do though, no spoiling here! lol. It's so hard to believe that he will be 15 months old next week. Crazy.


Next, Dave. He's still in Alberta. It has been really hard, but we're managing. We're doing what we need to at this point. We're hoping for him to come home in March, however we will see what happens in March.

That brings me back to my 'chat board'. The group of girls I have bonded with have helped me immensely. Like I said, they have been my saviour. These past almost 7 months have been really hard. I've shut myself off from most of my friends. I realize this and I guess this post is to get myself to open up, let everyone back in. I want to start with I'm sorry. I've dodged a lot of calls and avoided keeping up with friends. Some friends I just can't bear to be around. They remind me too much of the happy times when I had my husband here with me. I know I should embrace that but I haven't been able to. That's why I've not called them, I haven't gone out of my way to make conversation. It just sucks and was too hard to pretend to be happy. I didn't want to go out and be fake all night, but I also didn't want to bring them down and make them worry. To those friends who have wondered where I've been the past few months, I'm sorry. I've been a crappy friend. I've decided though that I need to change that and try to get out of my funk a bit more.

I have made some new friends that I have been hanging out with quite a bit. It's great because I can be happy without any previous memories, but most nights the sadness is still there. I know it's still going to be there until my husband is home with me, but I'm actually trying to make a conscious effort now. When I look back at the past 6 1/2 months I feel like I've been surviving, not living. I don't want to do that anymore. So here I am. I am opening up about everything and getting it out for everyone to read. Makes me a bit more accountable for being absent from my life. Everything has been affected and I'm changing it. I'm taking more notice and care of everything around me.

Just please, don't mention Valentine's day to me. I'm still a little bitter/sad/annoyed at the 'holiday' since Dave and I won't be able to be together.

On to some happier news. I finished my accounting course last semester with a grade of 96. I was so shocked and happy about that! I'm taking accounting 2 this semester. I'm hoping to get a grade just as good. Too bad I didn't figure out that I was good at this math stuff when I was in school and did something about it then.

Well, I'm off to bed. Austin has taken to waking up for a few hours in the middle of the night the past week so I should get some sleep before he gets me up again!