Hello everyone, I’m back! Sorry for the long silence. Labor day weekend Caleb decided he’d had enough of being a good night sleeper and we spent the entire month of September trying to figure out what the problem was. Good news is, he’s done better the past few nights and I’m hopeful that I’ll be getting more sleep again.

Bad news is, the sleep deprivation pushed me into survival mode and a lot of things got left by the wayside including cleaning my house and blogging. I have so much I should write about including Caleb’s growth, fall activities, a family reunion, and of course, Alethea starting Kindergarten!

So rewind back to the beginning of September. Alethea got her hair cut! But it wasn’t your typical because everyone gets a back-to-school haircut sort of thing. It was an emergency, “well I guess you have bangs now because you cut your own hair” sort of thing. Two days before school started Alethea took scissors to her hair. Fortunately she left us something to work with, and also fortunately my neighbor is a hair stylist and was able to make them look mostly on purpose, if a bit short.

The first day of school arrived and Alethea completed her fresh look with an outfit that she picked out herself at Target and her new pink backpack. I had hopes for a fun first morning of kindergarten photoshoot, but Alethea said she was too nervous to smile so we settled for a few quick photos on the front porch.

Fortunately, things got better from there. And now she’s really loving school. We carpool with some neighbors in the morning and then Alethea rides the bus back in the afternoon, which she thinks is about the coolest thing ever. Her school highlights include getting to use her My Little Pony lunchbox, her new best friend Emme, recess on the playground, and playtime in the classroom.

She doesn’t so much like having to wear tennis shoes every day, even after I ordered her some that were sparkly pink and light up when you walk (not pictured), but now after a month of school she is finally putting them on each morning without complaint. The worst tales that she has brought home are one girl pulling another girls hair, someone being told by the teacher not to use potty words, and the horrific tale that one boy in the class actually claimed he doesn’t like the movie Frozen, which she related to an astonished Lydia in tones of disbelief. She seemed convinced that he was either lying or something was seriously wrong with him.

Alethea and Lydia continue to be close friends, although I do feel a shift in their relationship that has resulted from Alethea’s being gone during the day. Lydia now follows me around the house asking “What fun thing can I do?” and if we do an activity, the second we’re done, she said, “Now what fun thing can I do?” The absence of the activities director is being keenly felt.

Truth be told, Lydia isn’t the only one who misses Alethea during the day. It’s almost enough to make me rethink our decision not to homeschool, except that I see how much Alethea is learning and growing and it’s hard to second-guess that. She’s definitely matured over the last month and is acting more and more like a big kid, in good ways. Somewhere along the line she even found out that it’s cool to pose for the camera….

So that’s the update on my suddenly grown-up kindergartener. Hard to believe that she’s five and a half and off taking on the world, but it’s so great to see her being self-confident and independent. She’s making her Mama proud!