Thursday, August 12, 2010

We Have a Kindergartener!

The first day of school was upon us today. McGrath Elementary here we come!

Nicholas fairly willingly does his "Mama-needs-to-document-this" duty before school.

Charlotte can't resist getting in on this. Notice the backpack...and empty lunch box that she carried in solidarity.

Daddy went to work late so he could go on the inaugural walk with us. McGrath is about 10 minutes away.

Nicholas has Ms. Opel as his teacher this year. He also has Katie, a Fontbonne University student (seen in the middle of the picture) as well as an aide. Considering there are only 15 children in each of the two Kindergarten classes, we feel pretty happy with that ratio!

Nicholas gave us all a hug goodbye and went right to work!

Charlotte thinks she's ready already!

Charlotte and I went grocery shopping and had the first "girl-lunch" of the year (since Nicholas goes until 3:00 every day). I had been dreading working her nap in before picking him up, but she woke on her own at 2:47, 3 minutes before we needed to leave. Perfect! I popped her in the stroller and headed off. When we picked up Nicholas, he just wasn't himself. Super clingy, a little upset. I was so surprised, since he'd really been looking forward to going to school. I got him home to take a rest on the couch...and realized he had gotten a fever. 103. So apparenly I'm the mom who sends her kid sick to school on the first day to infect the class! Ugh. He was asleep by 6:30 and slept until 7:45 the next morning. We had a quick visit to the doctor for a strep test (surprisingly negative) and we spent the rest of Friday on the couch resting up.
We'll hope for a better school experience on Monday!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Bye-Bye Summer!

With school starting tomorrow, I let Nicholas choose one last activity to round out the summer. He picked the zoo. With projected temps in the high 90s, plus serious humidity, we headed out early.


This melts my heart! Nicholas gets really concerned at the railroad crossings...and wanted to protect his sister!

For the first hour it's open, the sting ray exhibit is free. Nicholas touched tons, and even Charlotte took one tentative little touch. This is a total role reversal since she's my animal lover. I think it's the deep-ish water and her little 2 1/2 year old arms. I do have to basically suspend her right above the water so she can reach...

By 10:30 it was warm enough and we were headed back home. Good choice Nicholas!
Can't believe Nicholas will be in school at this time tomorrow!