First Day of School and Christmas Program

Here it is, the end of the semester already. Since we started shortly before Thanksgiving, I’m not sure we’re quite ready for a break yet!

I wasn’t even sure we’d do school this year; with our chaotic travel schedule I told anyone who asked where the kids went to school that we were on a gap year. But it soon became clear that the kids needed other kids to play with, and other adults to instruct them, and I needed to run errands without helpers for the first time in over two years.

THEY LOVE IT. Not a fuss or whine on the way to preschool. “What are we doing tomorrow?” Isaac asks every evening. When I say preschool, he cheers. Same with swim lessons—all of a sudden our lack of swimming ability seemed borderline negligent. Within two lessons, Isaac was swimming across the pool. Today I jumped up and down when I saw him dive to the bottom of the pool, float on his back, and all kinds of things that seemed worlds away during swim lessons this summer! Worth every penny! And Eloise was so proud of herself after her instructor helped her arch through the water. She voluntarily stuck her face in the water to blow bubbles and everything—all the stuff I’ve admired other people’s kid doing and didn’t know how to teach or encourage my kids to do.

And tonight was our Christmas program. Unbelievable cuteness. Eloise wore her tinsel halo like she meant it, and Isaac told me afterwards, “Did you see us dancing in the back when the three-year-olds were singing? We were running around and the girls were twirling their skirts!” He beamed and sang all his songs. He even knew the words and everything.

That mostly made up for him calling out to me from across the pool today, “Mom! What are you doing? You look all blobby.” Blobby? BLOBBY? The upside of that is I guess my Christmas shopping is done just as soon as I stock up on COAL.