Hello? Is This Thing On??

What happened to me, eh?

Well, life. See, last time I was here, we were hurtling through the first week of school. But the first week was actually the easy one. Only four days, and none of our 'extra' activities.

Last week? FIVE days (the horror!), and we added in swimming class for both kids (almost the same time, but not quite), Kindermusik for the little guy, back to baton for Maggie, and our first attempt (this season) at library story time. On top of that (our new 'regular') I also had a chocolate tasting party, we did a kid swap with friends so had two extra one night (they'll have ours tonight), and topped it all of with a full day of shopping and then chocolate work on Saturday. Whew.

Most of it is fabulous. Maggie is adjusting seamlessly again. Jack...well, this is the season for Jack to adjust to structured activities. Kindermusik is my favorite (I just hope the snotty dad from last week doesn't attend regularly). Library story time? As I said, it was our first attempt. See, if he screams at Kindermusik, we work with him til he gets more comfortable. And he does get more comfortable, less than half way through the class, and enjoys it by the end. But free library story time has a few strikes against it: there are more people (i.e. distractions), the train table play area is too close, and since it's a freebie, the expectation is that you remove an unhappy child ASAP. I'm okay with that, and my goal this fall is to just keep trying.

He's turning two. Every time I say that, someone says, "Oh, the terrible twos." So I tell them, we don't believe in that. They look mystified. But honestly, even while Jack struggles with the beginning (but certainly not the end) of structure in his life, he is not 'terrible'. He is nearly two. He is learning how to interact and react with the world around him. He is learning how to communicate his pleasure or displeasure with the stimulus he's dealing with in an acceptable manner. He's figuring it all out, slowly but surely. And I'm here to help him, and defend him against those who don't have the patience to let him find his way.