Our days fill up so fast. Keeping Zane involved in supplemental activities wipes away the time Vanessa is at school very quickly. I'm so thankful that I'm able to do these things with him and to focus on his moments as each presents. We average one or two days a week where he helps me run errands -- the skills he is developing with helping are amazing. We're very careful to not overschedule ourselves since it can be so easy to do so and some weeks are fuller than we like.
Vanessa wants to sign up for everything. We try to help her balance those choices with remembering that her main responsibility right now is to be schooled. She's already taken the liberty to trade some of her recess time for Book Club and Walking Club. When we pick Vanessa up from school, we head home to eat snacks and go through her backpack, lunchbox and folders. (I really like some Wednesdays when she buys cheese pizza at school -- it gives me 5 or 10 extra minutes in the morning, so we don't feel as rushed.)
(I grabbed this picture from Avery Twitter . The kids are working in the computer lab -- creating narratives to go with pictures from their field trip to Slate Run Historical Farm.)
Monday through Thursday we play a tad before homework. Every so often we squeeze in a visit or playdate with friends -- everything in moderation! Surprisingly it seems she has had more homework in K and 1st grade than some of her friends at different schools. It seems to work for her since it's scheduled and we can anticipate it. I feel bad for those, though, who struggle to finish their class work. (Reading homework on Mondays through Thursdays. And math homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays.) At school she's able to help others, which she finds quite satisfying -- I really enjoyed this when I was little too. She creates books full of illustrations and captions, describing each step of her day.
Zane thrives on being present with her in the evenings. We make and eat dinner, talk with Dad and then bathe before starting it all over again.
(One day when gift shopping, Zane insisted I take a picture of him with the faceless mannequin to show Vanessa and put on the blog. He said something incredibly funny following the snapshot but I can't remember for the life of me what it was! I thought for sure I would. Daggone mommy brain!)
