First Day of School!

Wow! Parents have told me for years that the time just flies when you have kids, and they are absolutely right. It seems just a couple of months ago we became parents, and now our eldest has started school. Oh, that’s right, it was just a couple of months ago we became parents!
We have been telling Nick about school for a few weeks, introducing him to his teacher, Mrs. Nevers, and his principal, Mr. Reinl, at church, at the Festival in the Park our church held on August 28th and at school registration last Wednesday. When we stopped by the school to pick up his registration packet Mr. Reinl even let him see his classroom. He fell in love with the giant stuffed lion and panda immediately. We have also told him he will ride a bus from school back to daycare and for the past two weeks he has identified every city and school bus we see as “Nick’s bus!” Last night we packed up his Nemo backpack with the required school supplies and today was the big day.
I am on call for work, but I didn’t have too many patients to round on in the hospital, so John and I were both able to be present. We stopped at the daycare first to drop off Dennis. Nick became a bit distraught: “No, Nick school!” but quickly regained his excited smile when we assured him that Dennis had to go to daycare, but Mom, Dad and Nick would then go to school. We arrived during the prescribed 7:35 to 7:45 interval, meeting Grandpa John, the crossing guard, en route. In his room we hung up his backpack on the hook with his name – and he was off to the giant lion. He never looked back, and we heard later that we did cry a bit when he realized we weren’t there. John returned to be present for the first school bus ride from school to daycare. He called me at work with the news that “Operation School Bus” had gone off without a hitch. Another “First” for our big boy!




As for the rest of the summer . . . I returned to work on August 5th. I work Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and one out of five weekends. The boys go to a group daycare center in town. It was obvious that Nick had been missing other children. I tried to ease them both through the transition with several visits before leaving them first for a couple of hours, then a bit longer before the first full day. Nick’s teacher, Miss Amy, said he did well right from the start. Although he didn’t say a word his first day, he was happily helping her set up the cots and blankets for the other children for their after lunch nap when I arrived. The second day he did speak and soon when we arrived he would dash off to his room as soon as we entered the building – barely had time to tell him to have a good day! I sometimes make conditions for special activities (“No crying or else no rubber duckies”). I figured he was definitely enjoying himself when one day he announced as we loaded up the van “No crying or no daycare, Mama, da(yes)?.” Another day Miss Amy said they had a tea party and Nick went around to each person and offered them freshly ground pepper on their “food”. She figured this out from his play-acting, since his English isn’t that extensive yet. Now she has told me he has begun to test the limits. Fortunately she is the type of person who is happy to see this behavior since it means he is becoming even more comfortable in the group. She said he does listen when she corrects him. What makes me most jealous is the comment on his daily report sheet that unfailingly is marked “Out like a light” with regard to his nap. If only we had nap-times like that at home!
Dennis is also doing well, although he cries vigorously every time we hand him over to Miss Amanda. She assures us it lasts less than two minutes, and within a week his report sheet listed “Happy” as his general descriptor for the day. Sometimes it also says “Noisy”. I would consider Nick the more rambunctious of the two, but it is Dennis we are getting notes about scratches, bee stings and nose bleeds from a bump. Takes after his mom (me), I guess.
We have made only one trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa together since the adoption. We left on a Sunday and returned on Tuesday evening, allowing John two full days at Frontier. All but about three hours on the way home went very well. Nonetheless we sadly decided to forego the family reunion in Fort Wayne four days later. It was just too far and too soon. Last weekend (Labor Day) we ventured to the Quad Cities (IL/IA) to see my sister’s family. We had a great time – the zoo on Saturday, Brian and Ben performing with the Orion Community Band at an outdoor concert on Sunday, and a Labor Day parade with an insane amount of candy on Monday.
After taking the boys to Lifest, the Christian music festival held here in Oshkosh each July, Nick would frequently suggest “bolshoya musica” (big music) as a possible activity for a given day. My parents and I did take them down to Milwaukee for “bolshoya musica” at Irishfest. We met up with friends and did have a good time, but it poured buckets and we ended up leaving earlier than originally planned. Due to Nick’s love of music I have signed up for a siblings’ “Adventures in Music” class that runs for 30 minutes on Monday mornings. It starts next week.
Bedtimes are still a testing ground, especially with Nick, but at least now when he wakes one to four times later each night we can just tell him to lay down again and don’t have to fight with or even sit with him. We have gone from taking turns sleeping on their floor, to sleeping on a mattress in the hallway, to sleeping in the guestroom across from their room, to sleeping in our own bed again. I’ll admit that sometimes when John takes the Monday nights so I can get rest before my Tuesday on call for work I sleep in the basement so I don’t hear them wake up at all. Dennis began cutting a molar as soon as we arrived back from Ukraine. That one is through and the next one doesn’t seem to be giving him as much trouble. He likes to hold onto my finger as he falls asleep. I enjoy it, but because I won’t always be present at bedtime I’m weaning him off of that, too. And if you want to know a dozen or so theories on how to get children to bed peacefully I can help: I’ve been reading all the material I can find!
Church services are easier for Nick now. He craves lap and holding time and seems to realize he can get a full hour or more of it on Sunday mornings. Dennis has become so comfortable in church he is now quite boisterous and usually needs a “time-out” or two each week.
On the health front, both boys had a vague history of heart malformations. They each successfully and quietly made it through a complete echocardiogram (with the assistance of “Finding Nemo” and “Lilo and Stitch” videos) and have completely normal hearts. They are nearly finished with immunizations and had normal TB and blood test results. Nick had a 102 degree fever for a day and a half, a few weeks later I alone had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (rare in adults), and now all of my guys have a cold, John and Dennis being the most miserable.
If I think of anything else to add, I will try to do so at a later time, perhaps sooner than a month! God’s continued blessings to all!