the clock starts ticking

Even though it may look like we’re still living in England from the posts I’ve been putting up, we are in fact in Boston.  And life is going on in the present.  Boy, is it ever going on in the present. 

The kids started school.  I had mixed feelings after having so little structure for the better part of 8 months.  I was psyched to get some kind of schedule in place, to have a little more time without everyone around to get some stuff on my list tackled.  But I was nervous about that big clock that starts ticking in September and just wont stop until June.  Suddenly it feels like we’re rushing through morning routines of getting up, dressed, ready, out the door. Then rushing through afternoon routines of homework, chores, practicing, putting dinner on the table.  And then it’s a race to beat that darn clock to bed so that we can do it all over again the next day.  Everything feels so “packed” (as Hazel puts it). 

Now that we’re a few months in I think we’ve ironed out the wrinkles, but it really has taken that long to start to feel normal with that tick tock in the background of our lives. 

And I was nervous that I’d miss being covered in these kids all the time.  I do miss it.  I like having my kids around (mostly).  But it feels good to breath a little.

Here the big kids are on their first day of school.  They were pretty stoked.  And a little nervous (can you see all that nervous excitement in their faces?) Charlie was a little bit of a wreck when I left him.  He was hoping that some of his kindergarten friends would be in his class, but he didn’t know a soul.  Thankfully they had their friends close by (not in the same classes, or even the same grades, but it feels good to know they are somewhere in the building).They came home all smiles.  Full of that confidence of doing something hard and scary. 

Emmeline spent the first week of school at home, vying for the day she could start.  She did lots of art work (turning into quite the artist).  Emmeline started school the next week. She is going to a Montessori preschool three afternoons a week.  She loves it.  And I love it.  Peter naps and I actually get some uninterrupted time (though of course not nearly enough).   

Emmeline is happy and something about this new change and this clock ticking structure into our lives is really making her blossom.  A few weeks after starting she was playing family with some of her stuffed animals and she sang to herself, “I love School.  I love school.  I don’t want to have any birthdays.  I want to stay this old – every year and every day.” 

Oh, dear Em, I want you to stay this old too, every year and every day. 

That’s the problem of the ticking clock.  It just keeps going.  There’s no stopping it.   Morning routines turn into evening routines which turn into days and then weeks and then months and then before you know it another long summer is stretched out before you. 

This year I want to figure out a way to slow down the constant ticking and motion.  I want, every once in a while, to just be still together.  Still with the way we are right now before it goes and changes.