Child Neglect! and Life Goes On...

I'm guilty! Rachael fell asleep STANDING UP in her excersaucer today. Truth be told, I was sitting in a chair less than three feet away from her. I noticed she had gotten quiet, but I thought it was because she might have been listening to Blue's Clues (her favorite show), which Seth was watching in the other room. I looked over and doggonit if the girl wasn't asleep standing up! So I snapped a picture before I put her in the bed. She's such a doll!

We haven't found a routine yet. The new school year started a month ago and we're still not into the swing of things. The boys wake up at different times each day, but I dare not wake them before they're ready to get up because they're terribly grumpy when I do that. Occassionally, I have to wake Seth up just to get him dressed and out the door so he can get to school, but we really haven't found a good groove. Part of it has to do with the fact that we're usually right at 10:00 getting home from church on Wednesdays and on Thursdays, I have to wake up and get going for Bible Study which starts at 9:30. But that only accounts for one day out of the five. I can't seem to pull a rhythm together to save my life!

So I've told myself I'm going to start jogging in the mornings and that will get me out of bed at the same time every day. As soon as the blisters on the backs of my ankles heal up a little, I'm going to give it a go and see if it helps with the routine. (I've jogged two days so far and you should see the size of the blisters!)

Seth absolutely hates Pre-K...not in the strictest sense of the word hate, but he puts up a pretty good fit every morning before leaving. He's fine once he gets there. I think it's because he has no use for any of the people there. He wants to hang with older kids and it's just not his cup of tea. He's such a sweet little loner.

I didn't vote for voluntary Pre-K, but I'm sending Seth because of the interpersonal aspect of it since it got voted through without my approval. I think it's a 'nice-to-have' that doesn't merit the millions of dollars that is spent on it. I think that children are institutionalized at far too young an age in America and that they need more time in a familial environment to become individuals before they are required to stifle their nature in a school environment. The only reason I have Seth in Pre-K is because he doesn't relate well to other children his age and, as an involved parent, I can see that it would be a huge problem if we were to start him off with a full day (6+ hours) of Kindergarten next year. Since Pre-K is a half-day, I knew we would have problems (and we are), but I think they're reduced because of the shorter school day. If Kindergarten we only a half-day, I wouldn't have him in Pre-K at all.

Ethan is busy, busy, busy with school, Cub Scouts, and church. Cub Scouts has us all pretty busy. He has an scouting engagement every Saturday this month except one. The good thing about Scouts, though, is that he doesn't have to go to every single thing. But he enjoys what they do, so we go to 98% of them. He got bumped up to third grade math and he's reading on a sixth grade level. Not bad for a second-grader who didn't go to preschool at all.

Must run and get some more laundry done. You wouldn't believe how much dirty laundry a family of five generates. It seems like more than 20% more than a family of four, but it's probably not.

Adieu...