School begins!

I took these pictures of the kids with their teachers at the Back to School Night, which was the night before school actually started. On the morning of the 1st day of school, Brynlie and Brevan didn't want me to walk them into their classrooms. {sigh} I really hate having my kids grow up. Brynlie's 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Webster, who lives right down the street from us. Brevan's 5th grade teacher is Mrs. Raines. It is his last year at the elementary, which really stresses me out, but that's a post for another day!

And this is my personal tender mercy, Mrs. Haney. She is the Beyond Basics (gifted and talented) teacher, who has made school and life enjoyable for Brevan. She is definitely an answer to my prayers. This year the program changed, so on Mondays Brynlie will go to Hawthorne Elementary for the whole day, to be with the other Beyond Basic 2nd graders, and Brevan will go on Wednesdays to Hawthorne to have Beyond Basics time for the whole day. The other days of the week they will go to their normal elementary, Southview. Brevan is REALLY struggling with the fact that he doesn't have some BB time every day (they used to go for one hour a day), so he is incredibly excited for Wednesdays.

The first day of school was very rainy this year! Brynlie had picked out this outfit at TJMaxx a few days earlier, when I took her shopping. She was so excited to wear it! Brevan got up and asked me what he should wear, because he hasn't done his laundry for so long (he does his own) that he didn't have much that was clean. After some digging through drawers, we found these shorts that were clean, which he threw on while mumbling, "girls are so weird, caring what they look like . . ."

I drop the kids off at school in the morning, but I have them ride the bus home. They both looked pretty depressed when they got off the bus, even though Lindsey was ecstatic to finally have them home (it was a looooooong day for her, without her best friend, Brynlie). When I asked what was wrong, Brevan told me it had been a horrible day and he was excited to see Brynlie at the end of the school day. He walked up to her when she was in a group of her friends, gave her a big hug and asked, "How was your day, sweety?" He is such a great brother, but his sister is trying to become more independent and "didn't like being treated like a baby in front of her friends." {more sighing} It's so hard to explain to Brevan that he needs to give her space, when he still really needs the reassurance of someone who accepts him. He got on the bus and saved her a seat in the back of the bus, but she chose to sit up front, by one of her friends. This really hurt Brevan's feelings, so they were both pretty upset when they got home. Tears were shed, and I had to talk to each child individually to try to get them to understand the other one. Besides this event, Brynlie loved the first school day!

I know that I'm a bit protective of my kids, but it's just my nature. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing them grow up and learn new things. But it's really hard to have a special needs kid who doesn't quite understand the world around him, and feels anxious often. He spent hours holding his stomach in pain on this first day of school. I know that I need to send him out into the world to experience real life and try to learn from his decisions, but when the world is confusing to him, it breaks my heart. Brynlie is opposite from Brevan in many ways, and the reason I miss her is very different! She is my sidekick, the second mom around here. She is so helpful and plays with Lindsey and Logan for hours and hours every day in the summer. She makes my life so much easier, so it's really hard when she is gone all day! Plus, she is so fun that it's like I get to hang out with a funny friend all the time!

So, we are slowly getting back into the school routine. I hate the rushing of the school year. Rush all morning, then rush from the time they get home to the time they go to bed. Homework, chores, piano, scouts, dance, soccer, then rushing to get them in bed at a descent hour. I much enjoy the lazy days of summer when we can have real family time and spend the day together. But, they are growing up whether I like it or not.