Family and Life and Musings

It's a sunny winter day and I've pulled my laptop into a corner of rays during naptime. Lucy is working hard on a Sponge Bob puzzle and Jimmy is snuggled into bed with quite a cold.

After lunch today, Tommy hurried to grab his snow pants and shoes and got himself ready for the school bus. Then, as he does every day, he waited for my kiss before walking out the door to his special kindergarten world. "Have a great afternoon, Mom!" he called, preempting my usual farewell.

There is something so beautiful, joyful, and innocent about Tommy's daily excitement for kindergarten. He is always anticipating the next craft, crossing off the next activity on his school calendar. He isn't worried about failing at school. He seems only to have optimism about what lies ahead for his afternoons.

I am so thankful for the joy in Tommy's heart. It's reassuring to send your kid off to something he loves, someplace that reinforces our belief in Tommy's abilities and goodness. And yet still, a part of me wonders, when or will this blissful anticipation of school end? I'm sure it's not going to happen anytime soon, but I know that tests and challenges and social anxieties can make education more of a chore for kids than a reward.

Is there a way to change that? Is there a way to ensure that my kids will all love learning? I hope so. I hope that, even with bumps in the road and hard assignments and trying teachers, all of our kids will share the love that John and I have for learning new things.

It has been so long since I posted on here, and in that interim, my kids have really been growing up. Jimmy will tell you he's two and a half. He sleeps in a bed and he loves to sing songs. He is wild, running from me at the grocery store and constantly climbing on furniture at home. He is endearing, inviting me to snuggle next to him on the couch and proudly showing me how he has hidden and lined up toothbrushes in a row underneath a step stool.

Lucy is almost four now, and she brings up this point several times an hour. She wants to be involved in everything I do, from baking to cooking to cleaning the bathroom. Yesterday, she put on her "cleaning outfit," having noted that I had changed my own clothes to clean. She hopped right into the shower and scrubbed that thing til it shone. (I plan to have her in total domestic servitude by 6.)

Lucy has wide blue eyes and a contagious smile. She likes to direct others in playing, telling them what lines to say or who should be what role. I am always surprised to see that most of the kids we know (including Tommy and his older friends) do listen to her and play as she directs.

It's very strange for my youngest child to be growing into a boy instead of a baby. I haven't been without a baby in almost 6 years! I find myself lugging Jimmy around on my hip, practically throwing out my back to contain him when he really is quite ready to navigate the world on his own two feet.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about kids' independence and how you know when your kids are ready for the next step.

Come to think of it, how do I know when I'm ready for the next step?