Back to School

Today was Christopher and Joshua's second day back to school. I'm happy to report that the first two days were great! Usually when I ask Joshua how something went he will scowl and say, "Fine". But when I picked him up the last two days he actually smiled and said, "Good"!

I usually get the "nothing" response to all of my after-school questions but this time the boys were really excited and chatty. Joshua went on and on about the kids in his class, old and new friends, how he played soccer at recess and got all sweaty. Christopher was excited to talk about someone new he met and really liked, who just so happens to be the pet lizard named Chip! He likes Chip so much that he prayed for him/her at bedtime last night. That boy loves pets. He's the reason we kept our geckos and got a tarantula, after all.

So I'm a happy mommy knowing that 2/3 boys are liking school. It makes me feel less guilty for having been so eager to send them off!

I'm also happy that life in our home has been running more smoothly since school started. I finally decided that I'm going to give the boys more responsibility and take some of the stress off of myself. I made each of them a chore chart, which I will be laminating, where they can check off each chore as they finish them every day. The list includes: their one specific household chore, homework, Latin, soccer, reading, and making their own snack for school. Plus, they must set out their own clothes for school each night. I also put a battery-operated alarm clock in their room that they have been turning off themselves in the morning. Joshua jumps up and gets in the shower right away and Christopher gets dressed. This means I don't have to yell at them to get up and get dressed. I can just go downstairs and start on breakfast. This frees up time for me to enjoy being with them instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I like it!

Another thing that has made my life much, much easier is telling the boys that if they argue, fight, cry, whine or otherwise give me grief, I will get so tired that I will have to put them to bed early. I didn't make this up myself so I can't take the credit for it, but it sure works. I said it yesterday after Christopher and Nathan were whining after school and they immediately stopped. Plus, Christopher came in and did all of his chores and then some! He was so helpful that I got suspicious. Later he told me, "I've been good, right?". I said yes. Then he said, "So I don't have to go to bed early, do I?". When I said no he gave me a huge hug and told me he loved me. I was so happy and not as tired because I didn't have to clean up after dinner. So I read them a story before bed instead of rushing them. I love it.

*Exhale* I'm starting to feel like a regular, sane human being again. Yay!