If it’s possible to catch him at all . . . .

Summer is coming to an end, and this week begins our Reality That is the Preschool Year and All That Comes with It (if this week is any indications, a lot of Kashi bars and string cheese and blue corn chips).  Last spring we received a notice that JJ’s current school would be taking a sabbatical; thus began the great scramble to find some sort of organized education for our little extrovert.  Phone call after phone call of “We’d love to have JJ!  His birthday is what?  Past the cutoff?  Well, we have a junior class.  He’s been spelling for how long?  Oh, well, you have fun finding a place for him!”  It seemed so early to already be miffed at the system that is American education.

Enter Beloved Teacher L who has been teaching for many, many years and has a classroom on her property in the country where the children can have lessons in the orchard and is very classical in her teaching style and has a two . . . or three . . . year waiting list.  Gimme gimme please.  “Oh, but I’m all full:  I only take 12 students.”  Sadness.  “But . . . I’ve been thinking about taking one more . . . .”  Pleaseohplease.  And hurrah!  Her husband, who I used to work with, will be helping her out, and JJ was in!

We’ve been talking up school for quite some time, that it was on the 9th (”in nine months!” somehow was his interpretation), that many of his friends from last year (about 2/3’s of the class) would be there but not all (which is fairly confusing:  “where is JonahBraden?” - inseparable boys in many ways), that it will be three days a week instead of two (”no fanks!” was his polite response), and that we would be shifting from morning to afternoon class (shaking both of our worlds).

Yesterday JJ decided to practice getting dressed for school during his Quiet Time.  First, last year’s soccer shirt is sure to make an impression.  It shows his fun and sporty side:

Oh, but that’s not enough.  For those times when he needs to look a little dressier, a little more suave, his new shirt from Aunt Karla that he got for his upcoming birthday:

Go BSU!  But wait:  what happens if he needs to get his sport back on?  That is his more dominant side.  Oh yes, another soccer shirt:

When asked why one would put on three shirts during Bang Things Alone in Your Room Time, JJ responded, “Because I can, and because it’s coo, and because I wike (like)’em.”  ‘Nuff said.

In the end we (I) decided that we (he) would be too restricted by the multiple layers of fabric, so it was decided to don another outfit.  Here his is lounging with his Memory Book from last year’s preschool, a good little Irishman honoring the old before moving into the new.

Backpack still works:

And still in swinging condition:

While it might take a while to get the new routine down, JJ’s up for the challenge.

So is Abe, although what will he do with all that free time?

Somehow I think he’ll manage.

We managed to arrive ten minutes before the fifteen minutes of arrival time before school starts.  And we were dressed!  And fed!  And hydrated!  But oh, that’s right:  school supplies - even though I stocked up and even bought doubles of most supplies, I left them all nicely packaged in our hall closet.  And so Dren starts off the year with a big black mark on her report card.

Things aren’t so dire, however.  I brought the school supplies when I picked up him, and when I pulled up, he was playing a game running around holding his friend J’s hand - tender!  JJ got a good report when I asked (and in fact she says she doesn’t “tattle” to the parents unless the kids do something *REALLY* naughty.  Hurrah:  I may leave preschool this year holding my head high rather than slinking away in shame for report after report of time out, cause man, my neck was getting achy from drooping so low), and JJ enjoyed “coloring and playing with A and J and D and O and J and D and K and doing red light with the bee!” (Red Light/Green Light with a puppet).   Both JJ and Abe are contained in their approrpriate Quiet Time Places, and I will be restocking the snack bags, water bottles, and getting the Kashi bar out of my hair (man, they’re sticky).

So we end sending well wishes to our beloved friend Ryan who cracked his head open today (who is in Beloved Teacher L’s morning class) which happens to be his birthday:  boo.  My brother did the same thing when he turned two (cracked head on his b-day, not going to school for the first time), and he turned out okay, don’t you think?

Daily Drivel, JJ Jawings