September is a busy month for us — there are three family birthdays to celebrate, school to return to, a holiday weekend, and enough good weather to compel you to get outdoors and take advantage of the sunshine while it lasts. The highlights:
- Dad gets another year closer to 40
- Kids go horseback riding at Mona’s
- Kids run 1K race – Luke finished his first 1K!
- Lilah begins taking the bus to school
- We celebrate my sister’s birthday
Lilah
This month Lilah took yet another step toward becoming more independent. She at last agreed to take the bus to school one day a week so that Cathy could take Luke to his weekly speech therapy appointment. This was a big deal for Lilah. Ever since that day in Kindergarten where she decided to take the bus on her own, only to be scared by the loud bus driver, Mr. Washington, she has been adamant about not taking the bus. However, after taking the bus the first day, she decided that it wasn’t as bad as she remembered anymore. In fact it was quite good — so good that she now takes the bus to school every day. As a parent, it’s nice when things work out like that, especially since the roundtrip to school is 14 miles. And at least she’s not so independent that she won’t hold my hand at the bus station or give me a kiss goodbye in front of all the other kids.
Lilah is enjoying her life as a second grader. She likes to read and gets class credit for reading on her own for 15 minutes a day. Seems like her new teacher is very health conscious and gives the student prizes for having healthy choices in their lunch boxes. I hadn’t heard of that before, but I think it’s a good thing as it reinforces healthy eating habits. Her teacher is also a little bit on the unconventional side when it comes to Valentine’s day. As she explained to Cathy, she doesn’t have the kids do a Valentine’s party. Instead the kids get to dress up in costume as a person they like or admire and then do a biography on that person which they share with the class. Hmm, we’ll see how that goes over when the time comes. I can just hear Lilah complaining about how all her other friends (from other classes) exchanged Valentine’s but her teacher didn’t let them.
The highlight of this month for Lilah was getting to ride on Mona’s horse, Manu. The last time we visited Mona she didn’t really get to ride on him for more than a minute because Manu’s leg was bothering him. This time she got to ride him for a good 10-15 minutes and genuinely appeared to enjoy the experience, getting more and more comfortable as she circled around the corral.
In addition to all that fun stuff, Lilah is also back on track with all her other extracurricular activities, including piano, tennis, and Spanish lessons. The Summer break did her some good though, as she now seems interested in everything all over again (although she’s just barely above lukewarm on the piano). The other thing she wants to do again is ballet so that she can perform in the Nutcracker again. Looks like we’ve set ourselves up for another busy year ;-).
Luke
After testing the waters by running the last 50 meters of a 1K last year, Luke actually ran an entire 1K along with Lilah. It was fun running with him because he did the same rookie mistakes kids and adults make — he took off too fast and about halfway he had to stop and drink water. I then told him to slow down and one step at a time he started jogging again and didn’t stop again until the finish line where he got his finisher’s medal. After the race he took off his shirt and donned his medal around his neck like he owned the place. It was nice to see of course.
Like Lilah, Luke also got to ride Manu around the corral. While riding he would get a little too relaxed at times, and start leaning to the left, but little by little he got the hang of it and learned to correct his seating posture without being told. Because if it’s one thing Luke hates, it’s being told what to do. I could tell he was getting irritated with me and Cathy when we would call out to him to move to the center of the saddle, because later when I asked him how he was doing he just gave me this perturbed stare as if to say, “I’m not having any fun at all.” But it was all an act as his occasional smirks would later reveal.
Luke seems to have instantly taken to his new preschool and five-day a week Pre-K program. School doesn’t start until 9:00 AM sharp and they’re serious about the time there. I mean if you get there at 8:58 the door is still closed and the teachers will not open it until it’s 9:00 on the dot. Since Luke is usually up before or shortly after 7:00, he starts getting antsy to go to school at 8:00 o’clock so the last hour he is constantly asking if it’s time to go yet.
At a recent birthday party, one of the moms explained that the boys in Luke’s class all seemed to get along really well. She also mentioned how even tempered they were which made me laugh because of how they were playing in the jolly jump boxing ring area. I mean it was just like watching hyperactive puppies jawing, pushing, and bouncing on each other. It’s such a difference watching boys play together versus the girls.
Speaking of rough play, Luke got into a big time spill on his scooter the evening of my birthday. Apparently he decided to speed down the hill on the street (while my dad and sister watched) and then make a sudden turn up the cement driveway. Well, as soon as his front wheel hit the slightly raised ramp up the driveway, his scooter stopped sending him forward on his cheek and elbow. Luckily, nothing broken, but like I said, you have to watch those boys.
Anyway, more next time.