End of Summer Vacation

Summer is winding down and tomorrow is the last day of August.  I'm so glad that we had a week or so of hot weather finally.  We were able to do some final (and first) days at the beach as well as some swimming.  We also spent a long weekend in IA and we able to visit the pool as well as tube in the creek out at the farm.

Today we have plans of a possible park visit, taking lunch to John at work and meeting Katie's new piano teacher.  Yes - Katie starts piano lessons on September 10th.  Hopefully it doesn't create extra battles for practice time, etc.  Will is doing basketball after school once a week, but that doesn't start until October I believe - I better check though. He's pretty darn excited and practices a few times a day....I don't think he'll forgive me if we miss it.

We met the kids' teachers this week too and got their desks/supplies all set up for Tuesday.  Will has a desk and is sitting right by his best friend Ethan.  We'll see how long that lasts.  Will seems pretty casual about the whole thing.  Will takes a test at the end September to see which reading and math class he will be placed in. 

Katie is in a new type of class this year.  Some classes are trying a multi-age approach and mixing some grade levels in the same homeroom.  So Katie has the same teacher she had last year, but will be with 4th AND 3rd graders.  There are 28 kids in her class (I think) and so that makes 14 3rd graders, 14 4th graders and they are evenly split boy/girl ratios as well. The 4th graders that are in her class are ones that she likes and gets along with very well.  Some of her closest friends are in another class, but they are in the muli-age/family track as well, and we are told that those classes will be mixing a lot so she should get to see them regularly.  And then Katie will be pulled out to go to a 5th grade level math class and a 5th grade level reading class. 

We gave papers to the school nurse documenting Will's new allergies and they are going to supply him with a dairy-free lunch everyday.  I was thinking about packing him a lunch everyday, but I'm not that organized so I'm glad that he will have that option.  She gave me a copy of the dairy free menu - there isn't a lot of variety, but I think it will work for now.  If he gets tired of a certain option, that's when we'll take lunches.  I can wrap my head around packing a lunch 1-2 times a week versus 5 days a week, non-stop. 

On the allergy front, Will had some "planned" exposure yesterday.  He had a birthday party to go to and I explained to him that they were serving pizza and cake, both of which would have milk in them.  He peeled his cheese and toppings off the pizza - because that's what he usually does anyway, but ate a whole piece of cake.  He also brought home chocolate coins in his treat bag, and since he'd had milk already, I told him he could have 2 of those as well.  The cake was at about 6, the chocolate at about 7.  At bedtime - no stuffy nose. 

He woke up this morning about 8:00 and holy hell......his nose is so stuffed up he can't blow out of either side, exactly the way it used to be.  So now we know a timeline (sort of), and I'll be looking to see when the stuffiness goes away again.  It's a good learning experiment for him too because his nose has been totally free and clear for about a week, and to suddenly bring it back like it was makes him realize how much he hates the feeling.  So on the next special occasion - he will be able to decide if it's worth it or not. 

Oh, there was the sliding door - someone has already gone out to practice his basketball dribbling.  And it's only 8:30 am.