Back to school.

Tuesday was the first day of school (halleluah!) The backpacks were packed and lunches were made. Shaylin started second grade and Jared was sent off for his very first day of formal education as the cutest little Pre-K kid you have ever seen. I was so full of mixed emotions when I put my little guy on the bus for the very first time.

I was so proud. He wasn't scared or nervous at all. He has such a strong and outgoing personality that nothing really seems to phase him. When I asked him if he was nervous about going on the bus and starting school he looked at me as if I were crazy. "It's just a bus Mom. Like a big car, all I have to do is sit on it." How could I have been so silly?
I was also a little sad. Watching my youngest and the last child I shall ever bear reaching such a huge milestone nearly brought me to tears. He is growing so fast. Pretty soon he will be in high school. I can see it now. Him with a face full of pimples and a few chin hairs, full of teenage angst and way too cool to have any time for mom. Locked bathroom doors, where he takes 30 min. showers and comes out with his hair still dry, ( I have heard about this from my friends with older boys and I honestly don't know if I can maturely handle that situation without giggling) And him telling me how uncool I am with his funny crackling prepubescent voice change. But I am sure that by then "cool" will no longer be a cool word to say. Only old fogies like myself will still be using that dated slang and that will just be another thing that makes my boy roll his eyes at me and wonder if I am truly his biological mother. It is just around the corner, friends. And it makes me sad.
And I will be completely honest with you and tell you that I was also elated. Summertime wore me out and mommy needs a rest. In my humble opinion, it is well deserved.

Anyway, school is going well and they both enjoy their teachers and classmates. At least for now. But what started out as what I thought was just a patch of dry skin on my princess's nose in the beginning of the week, turned into a HORRIBLE case of poison ivy. The poor child was covered in it. She had it so badly that I had to keep her home on the second day of school. And she didn't even get to wear her very cool Barbie pink studded cowboy boots. Look at how sad and pathetic she looks! Doesn't that get ya, right there?
On the day she stayed home, I launched a full scale treatment attack. She had to lay on the couch watching Spongebob in nothing but her little girl underwear, packed with a paste made from oatmeal and baking soda. Then I alternated warm baths and a topical ointment. (I found a product called Ivarest that seemed to work pretty well. You can look for it at Wal-Mart if you ever have the need.) And kept her all doped up with steady doses of benadryl. After all the torture she awoke the next morning looking remarkably better, and happily went off to school in the cutest little frilly skirt and her rockin cowboy boots.

All in all, I'd have to say that it was a pretty good week.