Stuff

This post is just a general update post. It is Friday and B is coming home tonight! yippee! The kids and I can't wait. I will be babysitting for my niece tonight also. She is 3 just like J (J is only 6 weeks older) so they are good buddies. Today we have nothing going on. It is nice after the hectic week. Tues and Thur were very busy as B had school, then we had to leave since I have classes those night and the kids go to my parents. I feel bad making B go from school, right to my parents. I know he'd like to just go home and play with his toys and relax. But, he doesn't complain. Next week is easier because he has school M,W,F and J has preschool T, Th but only in the morning for 2 hours each day. On Tuesday I am supposed to stay there the first day. I know she would be fine with me leaving but I think they expect us all to stay. It is a preschool through the district, so there is more parent involvement. We go once a month to participate with the kids, and to have some parent education. I decided at the last minute to go with this preschool, rather than the one B went to the last 2 years for a couple reasons. One, our finances are not the best right now. The difference in price was $40 a month, a big difference when you add it up over 9 months. Two, J is very young, just turned 3, and I don't think preschool is a total necessity right now. I don't know if it is at all. I never went. I sometimes feel like it is just a society pressure in middle class suburbia, that your kid must attend 2 years of preschool or else they will never succeed. My son was pretty bored by the end of his second year. Yes, he loved seeing his friends and playing, but it didn't really challenge him academically. That is another part of why I didn't send her to the other school. The curriculum isn't a whole lot different in year 1 and year 2, so I think if I just send her there next year she will get almost as much as if she went both years. Back when I was a kid, not many went to preschool. Why the change I wonder??? I guess it is the same as starting kids in sports at age 4 and 5, and having to specialize in a sport. I heard recently that kids can really only excel in one sport, because most sports have year round training (camps, tournements, practices etc). How do you just pick that sport, when the kids are starting at age 5??? I have not, and will not, be pushing my kids that hard to be good in sports. I want them to be able to play many sports, and participate in many activities, to find what they are good at. I don't want to be going to 3 day a week practices at age 5. It's crazy. I am steering far away from hockey, I was in a hockey family and even back then it was pretty hard core. We did soccer with B this year. He did well for his first year. I decided to take this fall off and do something this winter. They both love swimming to maybe we'll just do lessons this winter. And B wants to play basketball, which starts in first grade.

The weather seems to be getting colder now. The mornings are chilly now, and I can already feel summer drifting away. We like fall, with halloween and thanksgiving, but summer is still our favorite around here. The kids are already thinking of their costumes. Right now B wants to be a ninja and J wants to be superman. I'm sure that will change a few times!

Have a great weekend.