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| Caleb! |
Oh man, it’s been a week since I posted last! Time has been flying by lately and things have been hectic, so I figured I’d just do a little random life update.
Hmm. Let’s start with this nonsense weather. After an extremely mild winter, we finally started getting some heavy snow over the last couple of weeks. Now that Jerry works on grounds, he’s been getting called in quite a bit, either on weekends or in the middle of the night to plow, salt the walkways, etc. He actually doesn’t mind it much because he gets overtime, but he’s obviously sleepy on those days. He does miss some of the aspects of his old position, but he’s learning a lot of new skills and enjoys being outside and learning all the machinery.
We didn’t get a plowing contract at home this year like usual, but I had to hire someone last week to come and do a one-time plow of our driveway because it snowed that much. Yikes. I like the snow for a couple of days and then I’m over it. Spring can’t come soon enough at this point.
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| Caleb. Photo by my dad: Joe Territo Photography |
Here’s the biggest news lately… my baby going to school.
Caleb switched from remote learning to hybrid learning last week. Where he was 100% remote before, he is now in school twice a week and doing remote learning the other three days. We got the option to switch at the halfway point of the school year, and decided to go for it since infection rates were low in schools, and because Caleb needed the exposure to a school setting. While he was in preschool for two years, the days were very short, things were much more laid back, and his second year ended abruptly in March due to COVID. With all that in mind, we knew this year would be much different than he was used to in pre-k, but I guess we didn’t anticipate HOW different. This is not at all what we expected or wanted our son’s kindergarten year to look like, but unfortunately, it is what it is.
So. Caleb’s first week was… not good. Throwing a kid into a seven-hour school day in a place where he knows no one (while also wearing a mask all day) is probably overwhelming. We got phone calls on both of his first days in school from the teacher and the principal that he wasn’t listening, didn’t want to work, was crying, wanted to come home, etc. It was very, very hard on us, but the principal told me not to pick him up, otherwise he would continue to cry because he’d learn it meant he could leave. It was stressful and upsetting, but the principal is really great and willing to work with us and with Caleb. When he had to remove Caleb from the classroom one day, Caleb thought it was simply that he wanted to take him on a tour of the school because that’s what he told him. Hahaha!
So this week he went back on Tuesday and had a great day. No phone calls, positive emails from his teacher, and he earned candy from the principal. He goes back again tomorrow and I’m hoping for more of the same. One good note from the first week of school though was that his teacher said she could tell he is very advanced and was zipping through all the work, and that she’d have to prepare separate work for him.
Anyway, Caleb transitioning to school has been a big thing for our family lately, and I’m glad that (hopefully, maybe, fingers crossed) he’s getting settled. I’ve been working on a fun night routine with him lately, where he reads one of his new Moonlite stories (really cool projector books) and then we watch some Mo Willems videos on Hoopla (an app my library subscribes to). It’s a good routine that helps him settle down at night and works on his reading skills.
On another happy note, I made it through my first catalog / season change with Pink Zebra! We get a new catalog twice a year and just launched our Spring / Summer catalog on Saturday. This brings all new scents, warmers, and decor, and it was extremely fun, hectic, chaotic, and exciting. It was basically a whole weekend ordeal as I was busy taking bulk orders for locals, answering questions, sharing the new items, etc. I’m already looking forward to our next catalog change for the Fall!
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| Holden |
Not a whole lot new with Holden. He continues to be our mischievous one. Just last night, he wanted the salt shaker (because EVERYTHING IS A TOY), so I took it away and put it far back on the counter. He was fine and went off to play. A few minutes later, he comes running out with the salt shaker and sprinkles it all over his food and Caleb’s. Turns out that during his “quiet playtime” he was really getting a stool and sneaking it into the kitchen to reach the salt. BUT WHY?! He’s TWO! Why does he know to do something like that? HOW? He’s too smart for his own good sometimes. Caleb took a bite of his spaghetti and said it made his lips hurt because Holden put too much salt on it. HA. You just have to laugh sometimes, right?
So that's what's been going on in our world lately! I'll try to pop back in soon.
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