Second Grade Starts Without Incident

Ethan officially started second grade today. Claire started sleeping until 8:30 AM last week...SO NICE!!...Now, I need to start getting up at 7:05 AM to make sure Ethan is dressed, fed, teeth brushed and morning chores done before he needs to head out to catch the bus at 7:30 AM. Mornings are fun too. He gets up groggy, which makes him talk like no one can hear him if he isn't screaming. 'Can I have (insert cereal name here) for breakfast?!' 'Can I wear (insert inappropriate t-shirt/jeans/shorts/socks here) to school today?!'. Claire responds from her crib with a whimper, but falls immediately back to sleep. I remind him several times to whisper while sleepily pouring whatever cereal he's chosen to eat into the bowl.

Today, he came home with a multitude of items from his teacher. She has a VERY regimented classroom schedule, and homework is MUCH different this year than last. She said on Monday's, Ethan will be sent home with a blue slip containing one math problem and a small paragraph with grammatical errors. Wednesday all he brings home is spelling. I'm really not understanding how this is homework. I may sound over zealous or whatever, but shouldn't he have more? He got more homework sent home everyday in kindergarten and first grade. Maybe we'll see more coming in by the time school gets settled and going.

Something new this year that I'm going to L-O-V-E, we can keep track of Ethan's lunch account and grades online. We always have such a hard time keeping tack ourselves of how much Ethan has left in his account, and I'm on a first name basis with the woman in the school office because of it. I'm always calling and checking his account. It's going to come in very handy when the baby comes because we like to put money in his lunch account for hot lunch because we won't have the time to make his lunch. He's actually looking forward to the day the baby is born because he LOVES his hot lunch. He's been known to hide his packed lunch at home before (and sometimes even at) school so he could get a hot lunch. I've never seen a kid go to such lengths to get a lunch at school. Lunch at school for me was never appealing, and I was so happy when I was finally able to leave and go home to eat lunch in high school. Lunch up here must be better than it was in Arizona.

Well, that's all from the small town. More updates abound soon!