First Day
In about 3 short hours, GS and I are due to report for his first day of first grade at his new school. He liked the school where he did kindergarten, so changing schools isnae his favorite thing about being here. We chose to miss the first 3 days of the local semester in prayer that giving him time to adapt to the move would ease his transition to the new school. Still praying. The two older siblings have been grounding one another admirably, so I thought I'd take little/big sister along for the ride. She is only 3 but, so far, she has been doing her part to make the new school less scary for big brother. No coaching. Just Nature. She isnae fully potty trained yet, but has made enough solid progress that direction that I am hopeful we will soon be looking for her pre-school.
The family court judge wants both of the younger children in day care for "socialization." I can agree with the decision for the 3 year old (4 in January). She is bright and eager to love the world. Friends, or at least classmates, would be good for her. I amnae so sure about the baby. She is only 8 months old. Don't babies mostly ignore one another while competing for the attention of whatever adult is present? Seems like the 2 adult to 1 baby ratio she will have here is the way to go, buttttttaaaaaa. . . We see what grows. For this morning, getting big brother to his first day of first grade is plenty for the day.
I couldn't bear to leave the turkey babies in their brooding pen last night after the grizzly discover of a snake who had squeezed through the 1" hardwire grid of their cage yesterday morning. The GKs and I rounded up the remaining babies and put them in our smallest animal carrier to let them sleep in a corner of the house last night. The turkey mama (Elder GrandDaughter (EGD)) was fully precious in her imitation of my stern warning to snakes everywhere: "You leave my turkey babies alone!" As we gathered up the feather babies, we made a more careful count of the poults. Those energetic little fluff balls are hard to count while they are in motion. 16 poults left. I thought we had lost five poults. Turns out we only lost 4. Only. . . Sigh. . .
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Well at least you won't be saying you're bored any time soon! :/
My mom isn't much older than you and I can't imagine her taking care of kids if I had any, she cusses the cats enough as is.
Do what you gotta do and good luck!
Sounds like you are moving along at a reasonable rate. Prayers for all , even the snakes lol sounds like EGD means mama bear business when it comes to her turkey babies. <3
Best to you on the 'first day' !! So glad 'little missy' is taking over being supportive influence with older brother and still little turkey's! Have to agree with you Totally on baby going into daycare...doesn't make much sense ...maybe exploration if the place is really creative? But you've got all that and More on the farm? And TV baby sitting? Being that John couldn't be around kids,, he bit his last one at 7 years, there was A Lot of kid babysitting tv of pbs kid programs with No Commercials...24/7 child care is hard...one of my therapists said John was like taking care of 10 kids!
Big brother vetoed the notion of little sister riding along on his first day. We respected that and made little sister stay on the farm while the mighty first grader went off to conquer his first day anxiety on his own. Gampy says she pouted in the driveway for most of the time I was gone. She didn't have long to pout. The school tour and class meet up couldn't have gone any smoother.
I definitely believe little sister is ready for preschool. The potty training is all that is holding her back and that has been looking good up here. If she holds steady this week, we may be screening preschools by the end of the week. Prayers in progress.
A big reason I was so open to letting my house be a kid hangout when my middle aged cherubs were still cute is that I find multiple kids much easier to care for than a lonely kid. Lonely kids really are as much work at 10 balanced kids. I really do believe it takes a village to live a healthy life. People are hard-wired to need other people. from birth The more diverse the village, the better, within the boundaries of healthy balance. Healing my strictly personal isolation psychoweirds has convinced me of that to the quietest corners of my broken life.
Cheers for the brave GS. Cheers for your older GD. Might look into other options for 8 m/o. My take, she gets plenty of socialization with the GP's and sibs. Might be someone who watches other babies, and could do it part time at her home. There are also classes for babies that might fill the bill. Sorry about losing 4 of the brood. So far, so good. Hugs.
Awww, this touched my heart Arfie. First school dates, sibling comforts and the baby gobblers.
I’m sorry the nasty snakes found the babies but how sweet your GD is.
I agree with you about GD going to preschool but the baby being too young. Before we moved to Germany my daughters were in Montessori, eldest was 10 and youngest 3. Then I got sick, could no longer work and afford to keep both in Montessori. The fellow parents and teachers banded together and helped keep my eldest in Montessori full time to complete the school year and to let my youngest attend for 1-2 days a week so she could socialize. I was confined to bed rest for nearly 10 months because of my illness but the generosity of the Montessori families was such a blessed gift. That they realized that my youngest would feel left out was amazing, especially since we lived in the city and apartments where there were few children living in the complex and I was too sick to take my youngest to park.
Hugs and love Arfie.