FALLing for Kindergarten

Life has been busy as ever for this mom and family of four! After a summer of ups and downs including birthdays (age 5!), loss (my dear uncle), no school, swimming, and very very hot days, we made it to my oldest's official first day of Kindergarten! I was SO nervous for Kiddo 1, not only because he would be moving from his safe and familiar little preschool to a huge and unpredictable new school, but also because we have spent the past several months learning more about his neurodivergent traits. He officially got his autism diagnosis on the first day of school! Lots of good news all around since this allowed us to meet with his teacher and school officials to craft a 504 plan for accommodations that will help him be as successful as he can be. For example, he's got reading and math concepts down but sometimes has trouble focusing. It's been so fun working with him on his homework assignments together (I know, homework, in Kindergarten??) and watching him shine. Despite the tears of separation on Day 1 and Day 2 of school, Kiddo 1 is actually adapting quite well! He likes his teachers and enjoys going to the "specials" classes--Computers, Art, Music, Spanish, and P.E. depending on the day of the week. He reads the notes Mommy packs in his lunchbox and loves getting his zone number for carline (probably the only person on earth who actually likes carline, which was a huge transition for Mommy and kiddo's grandparents!). He remembers the names of his classmates, and excitedly tells us anecdotes from school that he never shared during preschool. He even got invited to a classmate's birthday party already! So it's definitely been a successful transition so far. While he has been having the occasional tummy troubles, overall his mood has been fantastic, and if he's happy then I'm happy.

I tell my boys over and over that all I want for them is to be happy, healthy, and safe. As we enter the Fall season, while I'm excited for cooler weather and upcoming holidays, I am NOT excited for cold/flu/Covid season. We managed to make it through a whole month of school without any kiddo colds yet though Daddy seemed to catch a small one at the beginning of September. I'm hopeful we can hold out for a little longer though I know fall and winter illness is inevitable with kids. At least things are happy right now!

Mommy celebrated an absolutely perfect birthday weekend with a Chilli-themed birthday (If you're not familiar, Chilli is the mum of Bluey on the Australian cartoon dog show, Bluey, which is clearly not just for kids!). We had a Chilli cake at my parents house, I took the boys around their neighborhood in a wagon I received, and there were lots of comfy clothes as gifts too (the first birthday where all I really wanted was new clothes. I've definitely been needing and using them!). Then that evening, the boys were babysat for the first time by someone who wasn't a family member. But she was someone very well known! Both the boys were excited to see Kiddo 1's former preschool teacher at their house for a few hours while Hubby took me to sushi and shopping at Target! It definitely felt different being away from the boys for a date, but they did so well! They ate McDonalds, showed off their rooms, and watched a little TV. Kiddo 1, who can struggle with separation from Mommy, even told me, "You can go now," as we were getting ready for dinner, ha!

On the Labor Day holiday off Mommy also scheduled a little birthday fun: a quick fall photoshoot! Even though temperatures are still in the high-90s to low 100s right now, this photoshoot was all indoors. I brought the cute outfits and for once we got the best smiles out of both kiddos as we celebrated our favorite things about the coming season. For me: pumpkin spice. For Hubby: football. For the kids: throwing apples? At least they weren't real ones!

Speaking of apples, Kiddo 2 has been spending the month of September eager to go to Big Brother's school. While he's not quite old enough for preschool yet (he won't turn 3 until December), he's been hearing everyone talk about Kiddo 1's school and he knows what school is like from tagging along at preschool! Luckily, there have been Kindergarten events he was able to tag along with this month to satisfy that need--a Back to School night teacher meet-and-greet, and a Grandparents Day where he got to see big brother with ALL the grandparents. It was definitely a successful event! The same week Kiddo 1 also got his first ever Kindergarten school pictures which will be in the yearbook too! I'm not going to lie, I was both excited and relieved that he smiled in one of them! The second image is also such a stylish/sassy pose! I can't wait to print these for the wall and get my magnets for the fridge.

Other motherhood updates--we've started up gymnastics class again for both kids! Kiddo 1 is finally ready to go to the next level class. He took gymnastics when he was 2-3 but wasn't so sure about leaving the Mommy-and-Me class at age 4. He's always loved tumbling and jumping, so he decided to go back now that he's 5 and did so well on his own with the teacher while Mommy did Mommy-and-Me class with baby brother (continuing the tradition).

It's a fun start to the season, with so much more to come! Both Kiddo 1's school and my work are hosting Halloween events, not to mention upcoming October cousin birthdays. We'll be trick-or-treating for the first time in our new neighborhood, and might even stop by my brother's Halloween party at his new house!