I can be really slow to learn.
Even though I lived through this very experience, I forgot that last year, when Small Sun started school, he turned into some kind of over-stimulated, over-tired, scary maniac kid, exploding with a complete and colorful meltdown each day.
That's why we didn't do any extracurriculars for the first term. That's why we slowed down our social calendar and focused on family time. I'm starting to remember now.
So we're three days in, and because I'm less intentional about things than I was last year, and because I'm spending some time caring for a friend's children while she is back in the States with a family emergency, my kids are not only overtired from the transition to school, they have also followed the school day with extended play times with friends.
They are shattered*, as the Aussies say.
This morning I had trouble getting them out of bed. It was a rainy day and they preferred to pull the sheets over their heads and keep sleeping. Where was this desire when I wanted to sleep in during the holidays?
Personally, I don't mind the return to school. Sprout has half days for the first week, so I am doing alot of driving, but it isn't as hard as it was last year. I'm waiting for the pattern to settle, and for the real schedule (including playgroups and classroom reading groups, etc) to be established next week. After all the recent changes, I am hanging out for the new normal.
In the meantime, flexibility and patience are key. That and LOTS of cuddles and snacks, and "special times" with all three to help them settle as well. Our carrot dangling in the weekend is Saturday breakfast at a nearby river-front restaurant near a giant playground. Then, if we're lucky, we might all get a nap!
*Shattered=exhausted
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