Well, unless you're Owen, in which case, its the most torturous time of the year. Yep, school started today and so did the worrying and the "what if"s and the crying. Oh, the crying at drop off. Its just not fun for anyone.
Poor Owen. I know he'll be fine today and more importantly HE knows he'll be fine, but he just can't help freaking himself out about it all. We talked last night at bedtime and I reminded him of all the times he'd been scared of something new and how he would cry at the beginning (which is fine, its our body's way of dealing with stress) but when I go to get him he always says...."That was AWESOME!" It made him smile last night but by this morning he was completely lost to his fears and worries again. It is what it is though, and I know within a few days he wont even hesitate to go in to school. Its just hard when you're standing there with him and he's sobbing his heart out not wanting to go in! But he did and my friend saw him later in the morning and reported back that he was fine and smiling, so there you go. We're on our way to "awesome" already. And of course, Will had no problem going in as usual. He's in a 1-2 split class with his teacher from last year, so he was actually being the big kid comforting the little guys who looked freaked out.
I've tried to do a little something special for boy Will and Owen to let them know I'm thinking about them during the day when they're at school. So I cut some fun school-themed paper to size and wrote a joke to put in their lunch box. Kind of cheesy, but I thought it would be fun for them to share with their friends at lunchtime, something for them to look forward to. If you know any good jokes, let me know. I'm going to have a lot of lunches to cover!
I got them to pose for the annual "first day of school" photo, and Owen even managed a smile.
But he couldn't fake it for this one. The closer we got to the car, the more upset he got.
Elly doesn't start back at school until tomorrow so in the meantime she and I are on kitty duty. Because I went completely insane and adopted two kittens on Friday. Sigh. I know. Insane. Why couldn't I just have left our life the way it was instead of bringing in two furballs into our home? Well, partly because they're adorable and how can you not say yes to kittens? And partly because I really want the kids to have a pet and I couldn't handle a puppy right now.
So let me introduce you to our new little boys Tim and Colin!
Tim is grey and white, a little bit younger than Colin, sometimes shy, but very playful with Colin. Lots of surprise ninja attacks and quick retreats to the litter box when things get scary. He isn't terribly cuddly yet, preferring to sleep somewhere quiet rather than curl up with us. His first reaction to a cuddle is to take a swipe at your hand - but gently. So we give him his space for now and let him come to us. Right now he's sleeping on the sofa a foot away from me, but has swatted my hand away when I've offered to scratch his ears. Oh, now he's come over purring and is trying to eat my watch.
Colin is our cheeky black and white kitten. As I type this, he's sitting behind me on the sofa swatting at my ponytail.
He's very curious and generally likes to hang out close to me or the kids. When I open the door for them in the mornings (they spend the night in the basement bathroom. I don't think Mark would take too kindly to being woken up in the night by a cat on his head), he trips over himself to get to me and say hello.
He's rather inquisitive....
They aren't actually from the same litter - they were rescued a week apart, both weighing 300+ grams - but went to the same foster home and have spent their first month as brothers. Just...brothers from another mother. So you can imagine the fun they have together - the chasing and wrestling and exploring. Its like a fuzzy version of William and Owen. Hilarious!
I'm sure you'll see more photos of these guys as time goes on. The kids are totally smitten and so far, all three of them are being careful and respectful of boundaries. Elly, who has been gradually getting over her fears of our friends' pets, has completely accepted these two new members of our family and shows no fear of them and their claws and teeth whatsoever. Will and Owen just want to get their hands on the red laser pointer I bought to tire Colin and Tim out. Unfortunately/fortunately, the cats were neutered the day before we got them, so we're supposed to limit their activity (snort! how do you limit a kitten's activity?!) for a week. But after that....look out! There's going to be some catrobatics going on, I'm sure.
I also have a ton of photos from our amazing holiday in France to share. I might do that on Thursday afternoon, so stay tuned.
Happy First Day of school to all the parents out there and I hope you and your kids had a good start to the year. And if there were tears, just remember - as I'm telling myself today - it won't be long before you're hearing "AWESOME!".