still here…

Very busy, very stressed out… it’s Rosh Hashana yesterday and today, so I’ve been doing a lot of family stuff. Still dealing with the aftermath from losing my grandfather, and the family dramas that go along with that…

Status updates…

– Sam is doing okay at preschool. The second day was much better than the first, but he still seems to be noticably unenthusiastic about going. I’m still conflicted about it, part of me thinks that I should keep sending him, part of me wants to pull him and keep him home safe with me. Obviously, everyone I know keeps reassuring me that it’s wonderful he’s going, so I’d face serious family/friend disapproval if I pulled him – but as anyone who’s read this blog knows – I don’t like sending my kids to school period, and would homeschool in a heartbeat were it not for the nagging suspicion that it’s good for my kids to be out in the world, making friends, dealing with conflicts, and learning how to exist without me. I know for certain that I can teach him all that he needs to know academically at this point at home, but there’s value to him just learning to trust himself and other adults, to know that his whole world is more than my lap. You know what I mean?? So we’re going to keep trying and hope for the best, I guess.

– Jess is thriving in second grade. Seems to be totally happy there. She hates her gym teacher, really hates her music teacher, but loves her homeroom teacher and that’s what matters.

– Jewish holidays – so the kids haven’t been at school very much at all before this break. Sam only went two days, and while this is the second week for Jess, school started on a Wednesday for her, she went all three days, then hit Labor Day and then missed Thursday and Friday. Attending services with a four month old is kind of silly – even if you’ve got the best behaved baby in the entire world (which I do). So we stayed home today, Marc took Jess into the family service, but they should be home soon.

– Julie is AMAZING. Jess was a clingy baby, she didn’t go easily to others but there was a select few that she’s go to without a problem, and Sam was ultra-clingy, in that he didn’t even like to be in the same room as a stranger, let alone let someone other than his mother hold him. So I’m perplexed by Julianna’s willingness to coo and smile at everyone. She lets aunts hold her, grandparents, even the friend of a cousin, I looked around yesterday and some total stranger was holding her at Marc’s aunts family party. She’s relaxed, easy going, and happy. She absolutely knows that who her parents and siblings are, but appears to be delighted to hang with anyone. After Sam, to say I’m not used to this is a massive understatement. Is this what babies are supposed to do? She was super clingy with me last night, wouldn’t let me put her down, and I felt reassured. She’s napping a lot today, because she was up socializing all day yesterday.

– Very busy cleaning and trying to straighten everything out after hosting dinner here on Wednesday night. I was stressed out that day too – and just hummed stuff into my bedroom and shut the door, so now I’ve got to painstakingly sort thru everything, fold oceans of clean laundry and I just finally finished all the dishes.

– Apple picking on Sunday 🙂