We have two school days under our belt. Let me rephrase: we have two school mornings under our belt. I’m pleased with how things have gone though I’m sure that Labor Day will confuse us all, throwing a wrench into my well-oiled morning machine.

I’m not a morning person. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have to wake up most mornings at 7:00, also known as seven-zero-zero in our household. You see, BigBrother is a morning person. I don’t know how and I don’t know why. Everyone says he’s the spitting image of me in looks and personality. For the most part, that’s the truth. He has my eyes and, boy, is he ever loud. But this morning stuff? That’s not from me. Nor is it from FireDad. Every morning, whether he goes to sleep at his normal bedtime (7:00pm) or later due to being out and about, he’s up and ready to go at seven-zero-zero. People told us, “Put him to bed later!” The result? He woke up at the same time only having had less sleep which made for a grumpier BigBrother. I’d rather he be happy than grumpy, wouldn’t you agree?

But when he has his normal amount of sleep, he wakes up with a smile on his face. I mean, who does that? I sure don’t though I sometimes fake it in the morning. Today was no different. He bebopped into my room after using the bathroom, ready for his oatmeal and his school day. I rolled myself out of bed, dragged myself into the kitchen and made his breakfast. And then, of course, my coffee.

Today, different than Wednesday, was our first no-FireDad school morning. He woke up and went to the fire station before any of us were awake this morning. He was a big help on Wednesday. As usual, the life of a fire family messes with our everyday life. We have two different kinds of normal in our home: days with daddy and days without. This morning I had to do it myself. So, as BigBrother ate and my coffee brewed, I got my hair pulled back and found my gym clothes. I heard LittleBrother wake up at this point, so I got him changed into his clothes and up. I made his breakfast at which point BigBrother asked for a bowl of regular cereal. I consumed some coffee during all of these exchanges, slowly beginning to wake up an hour after I had been wakened. Then I got BigBrother dressed for school, gathered my gym bag, the diaper bag and BigBrother’s backpack and got us out the door. On time. Win.

After dropping BigBrother off at school, LittleBrother and I headed to the YMCA. I worked out for about 40 minutes while the childcare worker apparently had no clue on how to calm down a child who hasn’t been in daycare ever. (It’s called redirection and/or interaction. It’s not called “talk on your phone while the kid cries and wonder why.” This is an aggravating post for another time.) We headed home, split a peach and then I took a shower and got dressed. We played for a bit, I drank another cup of coffee, picked up BigBrother and came back home. Lunch, stories and naptime. Here I sit, having retrieved the mail and had some lemonade on our new deck. (More on that later as well.)

I know not all mornings will flow as well. In fact, as LittleBrother nears the age of two, I’m sure he’ll throw some of his own wrenches in the works. Today he slowed us down by refusing to come down the rest of the stairs. He didn’t throw a fit. He just sat down, smiled and said, “Late.” He should prove to be interesting come, oh, January, I bet.

The point of all of this babble is this: I’m not a morning person. But I feel fabulous today. I’m still battling some weird headaches that I should probably have checked out but, really, I feel awesome. I have energy. I could probably use one more cup of coffee. Then again, I could always use one more cup of coffee. I enjoyed my alone time with LittleBrother in the car and at home over our peach. (He, however, was desperate for his brother by the time school was over. More on that, as well, next week.)

I think I might learn to like mornings.

(Also, if you know of a good sale on patio furniture this Labor Day weekend, please leave a comment. We’re looking for a square table and chairs to seat the four of us.)

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[For more Wordless Wednesday, please visit 5 Minutes for Mom. ]

Tomorrow afternoon is our semi-back-to-school day. BigBrother has orientation at his preschool, the one he attended last year with such great success. Due to a scheduling error, LittleBrother will be tagging along. The real first day of school falls on September 2nd, changing our lives yet again.

We have new issues this year, our first real “back-to” school year as last year was the first time BigBrother ever went to school. What are our new issues?

• Mornings. Last year, BigBrother attended school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon. We’d eat lunch, hit the potty and take the short drive to preschool. This year? He has to be delivered to school around 8:40. In the morning. Three days a week. Yikes. Now, I know that’s a lot later (and two days less) than some of you. And, yes, I know that BigBrother wakes up at seven-zero-zero (7:00, people) every single day (and earlier on vacation). So it shouldn’t be an issue, right? We’ll see. I spend most mornings doing work in my pajamas. To actually get up, get both boys fed and dressed and then dress myself might take a little getting used to.
• LittleBrother. Last year, he didn’t ever really notice BigBrother was gone. Late in the year, when I would wake him up from his nap and say that we were going to go get his brother at school, he’d say his name and “cool.” The last few days of school, he demanded that he also wear a backpack to and from school. But, mainly, he napped while his brother was at school. He doesn’t take a morning nap anymore (doesn’t need one with his other amounts of sleep). He’ll be wide awake while brother is gone and likely grumpy about being left out. I will have to combat the grumpies and find new ways to entertain my almost-two-year-old youngest son. Normally BigBrother does the entertaining. I hope I can fill his shoes.

I’m sure other issues will crop up, of course. They always do. Like the Bad Kid who is, of course, in his class yet again. To boot, BigBrother has picked up an attitude over the course of the summer, forgetting to use his manners from time to time. I’m hoping that issue magically fixes itself because I’m so over it.

As for resolutions, I do have a few. Some are for me, some are for the kid going to school and some are for the kid staying home with me.

• Go to the gym! Our YMCA only offers child care in the morning (9-12) and the evening (4-8). The latter offering doesn’t work with our dinner, playtime, bedtime routine. And as I said above, mornings are rough. However, I figure that since I’m up and out of the house, I should be able to hit the gym at least one (or two?) of those three days, right? That way LittleBrother can have some social time and I can feel more human. Right? Someone say this is a good resolution and that I’ll be able to keep up with it.
• Work on skills with LittleBrother. Oh, the poor younger child. As I had all the time in the world to devote to BigBrother, he was a bit more advanced in things like colors, letters and numbers. LittleBrother knows some of them but… it’s hard to get one-on-one time with him because someone always butts in and says, “No! That’s green!” How’s a kid supposed to learn? How’s a Mom supposed to find time? While I think some socialization at the gym will also be good for LittleBrother, I do think he’ll vastly benefit from some one-on-one time with me (and FireDad on days he isn’t working). I’m thinking some coloring, painting, dance parties and walks are in our future. His personality is different from that of his older brother so “teaching” him things will have to happen in a different way. Not quite sure how yet but we’ll figure it out as we go. (Also? Potty training? He’s so near it. Soon?)
• Work on fine motor-skills with BigBrother. He knows his letters and numbers and is basically in the early stages of reading. But scissors? Or gluing small items? Or even really drawing or writing his letters? He’s always in motion so working on those fine motor skills proves to be difficult for him. I don’t ever want to push and pressure and make it the opposite of fun or he simply won’t want to do it and then he won’t ever learn it. As such, I really need to come up with some fun motor skill boosting projects for him. This, once again, is kind of out of my league. I’m not a teacher. I don’t pretend to know what I’m doing over here. But I do recognize that he has a deficiency in this area and I’d feel really guilty if I didn’t do something to help him along. Again, what that is other than cutting something out everyday, I don’t know. Ideas?

So, yes, we have goals for this school year. Also, I will continue working on reading with BigBrother. Every time he learns a new word, he gets very excited and looks for it in everything that we read. This last month and a half of summer have not given us much time to work so I’m hoping the return to a schedule, however early our day starts, provides us with time to devote to those things.

Today, however, we’re starting off the “new year” with a party at my friend’s house. I’ll be honest. It wasn’t my idea. She’s having a “It’s Still Summer” party wherein we plan to celebrate the heat (sadly, it will be 85 today) and use up some of the party stuff from the past year. (Old Halloween crafts, Easter egg hunt and wrapping books we’ll be trading in wrapping paper.) Sometimes it bugs me that my friends are so creative. I am just not. But I’ll mooch off their creativity and have a blast with my kids today.

Speaking of parties, you should head over to School Year’s Eve (which is technically what that is for us today, isn’t it?) and look at the ideas they have for a Back-to-School party for your kids and friends. To boot, you could win $1500 for your local PTA. I’m hoping to get some good shots of the kids today to post for tomorrow (Wordless Wednesday). Then again, I always take my camera to parties for the kids and always forget to pull it out because I’m having too much fun. Hopefully the too much fun someday combines with the thought to utilize the camera. Maybe today?

Next week I do promise to share the gifts that we got for BigBrother for his return to school, the gift we got for LittleBrother to soothe the fact that his brother gets to leave and he’s stuck with Mommy and why I don’t go school clothes shopping until late September. Stay tuned.

(And hey! Are you looking for fire truck backpacks for back-to-school? I just featured three awesome backpacks. Check it out!)

Okay, so, sure it was BigBrother’s first year of preschool. But if you really think about it, this was also my first year of preschool. I never went to preschool! (What? It was the 80’s and we lived in the country. No one went to preschool.) More over, I have learned so much as a mother in the past nine months thanks to his attendance at his preschool.

Sure, sure. He learned things. Lots of things! And, maybe more important to me this year than anything else, he really came out of his shell. He made friends. He also now says “hello” to people when we are out and about. (At this time last year and possibly even up until February of this year, he would hide behind me, ignore them or make his defensive growling sound.) He’s become a social being in the past year and is now able to follow the instructions of someone other than myself or FireDad. All of that’s totally awesome. I have no doubt that we made the right decision to send him a year early.

And he’s grown since that first day!

But me? What have I learned?

1) I’m never going to be that Perfect Mom. I’m not crafty. The other moms give better Halloween (and Valentine’s Day and Christmas and and and) treat bags. I am thankful that I am an involved, caring mother but I am never going to be perfect. Nope. Not going to happen.

2) Book orders are the best thing on the planet. End of discussion.

3) My child is a different child for other people. A well-behaved, well-mannered child at that. I know this should make me feel good; my parenting lessons are sinking into his three and a half year old brain. But, really, would it be so hard for him to use his ears at home? Is that too much to ask? Yes. Shucks.

4) Letting go is difficult. He had an issue with a bully-type child at school. Every time BigBrother told me that he got pushed or hit or punched, I wanted to call the teachers and ask for something to be done. I knew, however, that they were working with the other child and, as such, I just had to tell my (precious) boy that we don’t push or hit back; tell a teacher immediately.

5) The moment we let go and allow our children to mix with other children, they’re going to bring home words that we don’t use. Some of it was adorable. That one time when he told me that it was time to “rock and roll?” I laughed until I cried. Some other words made my head spin a little bit and I had to explain that some words are ugly and can hurt other people’s feelings. In fact, we talked a lot about feelings this year. I figure we’ll be doing that for quite some time.

6) He still needs me. Despite the physical, emotional and independent growth he has experienced this year, the truth remains: he still needs me. He does! I had feared, when he started school, that I was somewhat replaceable, that these teachers would soon replace me as my son’s favorite person to turn to when the going got tough. That’s not the case. In the middle of the night, he calls for me. He still asks me to read him books despite the fact that his teachers read to him as well. He still wants me to play with him, to engage in imagination games and to put together puzzles or play games. I’m still needed. I’m still wanted. And I think that’s an important thing to remember.

I dropped him off awhile ago, snapping pictures: first of him, then of both he and his girlfriend. He was animated but still generally sad that school is “over.” He has also informed me that he is going to college next year where he will have a Buzz Lightyear bed. Also, Yia Yia (Greek for grandmother, meaning my Mom) is going to go to college with him. Why not me? Because I have to take care of LittleBrother, of course. Logic from a three year old. Who knew?

I’ll pick him up in two hours. He’ll tell me all about his day. FireDad and I will make a big deal out of the last day of school, just as we did the first day of school. We’ll have a present ready for him. We’ll make a special meal. We’ll probably run around in the yard afterward (as the thundershowers have been magically postponed). And then, tonight, I’ll put him to bed. He’s not the same little boy I put to bed nine months ago. He’s older. Wiser. And a heck of a lot funnier. But he’s still my little boy. The little boy who still loves school as much as he did on Orientation Day.

Now onto summer… what will we learn together this summer?