Back We Go

Well, we made it through the first week of school.  I can't say it was a rousing success, but it wasn't bad.  Carter went back on Wednesday.

I was pretty nervous about how he might adjust to middle school life.  He is so disorganized and absent-minded, and I wasn't sure how he'd do with carrying books and making locker stops and simply finding his classes...or even making it to the right one.  His schedule is insane.  His school does a 10-day rotation, which I think is primarily to do a schedule where electives don't all fall on the same day.  So in any given 10 days, he will have most of his major subjects on eight, and then two will have some sort of other class.  Orchestra pops up in a couple different periods, chorus in one, and study hall pops up opposite Home and Careers.  Art and P.E. do a 6/4 split.  But it means his schedule is all over the place and even I would get confused with that.  Luckily most of his classes are in the same hallway as his locker.  But Home and Careers is a couple left turns away, lunch is a couple right turns, the gym is around a couple corners and down a floor, and orchestra is a couple corners and a long hallway.  But I guess it's better than it could be.  I'm hoping he can keep his locker and his bag organized--no more papers just shoved in.  They don't want them carrying bags because it crowds the hallways and classrooms, so I'm trying to figure out if he needs a pencil pouch for his writing utensils, or what.  He had a pretty resourceful idea to put them in the front (clear) pocket of his homework folder.  I don't know if that will keep working but I guess he can try for now since that goes to every class with him.

He is in almost all the same classes as his best buddy Ben, and he'll have orchestra with another friend of his.  Otherwise he's slowly starting to recognize people from baseball (which started up again this week) and I'm sure he'll make friends beyond that.  Lunches have been a rousing success--much better than elementary school as he bought every day--and he seems content for now aside from the fact it's only 20 minutes and it's around 10:20 in the morning (my first high school lunch was at 10:17 so I can relate).  He did lose his hoodie the first day, which was a bit annoying, and we figured that out at a time that caused him to miss the bus on day two, but he got there in time that day (after I dropped him off) to go looking for it where he thought he left it and he found it.  Speaking of the bus, we were a little confused on day one because we were waiting at the same bus stop as the neighbor, who's also in middle school but at a different school (the one we're zoned for).  They got on the same bus, which seemed weird, but I knew the district had made some changes to bus routes due to driver shortages, so I assumed it was okay.  But it sounds like Carter might have been the only kid to get off at his school, so I think they got stuck and had to add him to that bus and make a stop at his school as part of the route.  Not ideal to be on a bus full of kids from another school, but at least he's getting there.  So, jury's out overall, but he's doing okay so far.

As for Jacob, he didn't have to start until Thursday.  He found out shortly before that he has to wear uniform shirts instead of "spirit wear", which was allowed last year.  That was annoying.  We actually forgot to take a morning picture but I got him right as he got home.  

 

His first day was...less successful.  He's not thrilled about much of anything right now.  A lot of kids he knew left, he has a teacher that is fully remote in the Philippines, and basketball is still a bit of a wildcard.  I would love to get him out of there, to be honest, but we don't have a lot of options.  I think we could probably get a free pass because of the coach leaving to go to a prep school, and/or just based on sketchy academics that were much less effective than we were originally told, but the easy answer would be to go to a Greece school and Jacob refuses.  He thinks it will be worse than it is now, but I am pretty darn sure he's wrong.  For one, larger public schools have a whole assortment of friend groups, and you can find "your people" somewhere in there.  Second, he could take honors classes, which his school now doesn't have, which would point him in the direction of a better group of kids.  But he thinks Carter's school is too big and the basketball situation won't be favorable until next year.  The school we're zoned for wouldn't be a good basketball situation and the caliber of kids might be slightly lower.  The other two are similarly iffy on both the quality and basketball fronts.  The ideal situation would be to figure out how to get him into the district next door, which we're literally two streets away from.  Basketball would be better there and I think the size and assortment of kids would be a good fit.  We have a tiny lead there but a lot would need to fall into place.  But it would be so much better than the cockamamie scenario he and Craig had been trying to figure out for the last couple months, which I think distracted them from finding a real solution, to be honest.  A coach from one of the best districts in the county really wants Jacob, but we certainly can't afford to move there (or anywhere right now, with house prices and mortgage rates).  The idea came up to get an apartment (it could be comparable with private school, I suppose), but you can get in trouble if you don't actually live there and he's definitely not old enough to spend a couple nights like he and Craig were suggesting.  Not to mention that getting him a half hour across town in unpredictable city traffic could be a nightmare.  And he has a hard enough time getting out of bed as it is, and this school would be a lot less tolerable of tardies, so I don't think it's feasible in any form.  We can't live separate either because Craig can't cook.  I'd be a bit more tempted to try that setup with the close district, not just because getting to school would be easier, but because apartments would be a lot cheaper.  I feel like we have to do something, but it would have to get the blessing of Section V so basketball is not at risk.  And for the record, Jacob is insisting he can't transfer next year because colleges won't recruit kids that transfer as a junior.  I think he's wrong, that if he makes an impact in spring travel or is really strong on Varsity, people would have to look at him and hopefully he'd get a chance to explain himself at some point.  But he's still dealing with a lot of stuff with his shin, plus that one cranky lymph node, so that's still a point of frustration.  The rest of the weird viral stuff he's dealt with most of the summer seems better, though.  He's getting a little crazy about treating his shin.  He's been doing this dry needling thing that is like acupuncture but deeper--it's horrible to watch and pretty painful, which he's learning to manage--but it seems to help him so he wants it all the time.  He's tried some other weird stuff, like going between a sauna and cold tub and this thing where they rub the shin vigorously, but at least we know he has one of the best shin doctors out there.  It leaves a lot of question marks with his training, which is already starting to ramp up.  We'll check on the lymph node in a week and a half when the boys go back for their med check...which is also when we might ask for the Celiac test for Carter.  Good medical times over here.  Ugh. 

I have to say our mornings have been a bit better lately.  I will probably curse myself even writing that down, but so far it's been better.  Jacob has been getting up generally on time, Craig has been helping with making his morning eggs, and Carter hasn't taken his lunch yet so I save a few minutes not packing that.  All of those things have been a nice help to more peaceful mornings.  Carter and Jacob have to be out the door within about five minutes of one another every day, which means I can get an early start on work every day and the only variable is if I have to get up and shower early to go into the office (but still have about 15 minutes after the boys are out for anything that doesn't get done) or sleep in a bit and just get ready for a work day at home.  It's been nice and hopefully it sticks.

Otherwise, I still feel like I'm getting caught up on all the house things after being gone for two straight weekends and then putting most of my focus into prepping for the start of school.  I spent all of Friday night cleaning the kitchen floor and the bathroom and vacuuming most of the house.  That helped, although there's still so much that needs to be done.  I need a deep cleaner to come here and get me back to some sort of reasonable baseline, I think.  No one else notices all the things like I do, and my energy only goes so far after a long week of work.  I spent a good chunk of Saturday morning paying the price for neglecting my yard for most of the summer.  Because of all the mosquitoes (and spending most of my outside time trying to help the boys track down lost balls in the woods and ground cover), I rarely made it a point to get outside other than to check on the garden.  Things got way overgrown and I had a lot of work to do to clear out the patio cracks and the stone area where our hose is and the rest of the flower beds.  Two days later I could still barely walk from all of the crouching!  It's not perfect, but it's better.  I'll still have a lot of cleanup to do into the fall and next spring, but it's significantly less messy out there.  My garden is growing through the fencing and being gone for a couple weeks finally gave me enough tomatoes to not have to ration them.  I did end up with a handful of cukes and even a few giant zucchini, so those have been better than last year, which was awful.  The rest was a bit of a failure, but now we wait and see what else might grow before the fungus and frost finish everything off.  So, I got a few things managed but now Jacob needs couple more uniform pants (but is refusing to go try any on for style and sizing), my dining room table is still overrun with school supplies and my birthday cards, and other things that need to be attended to, and I still need to put together my Cedar Point souvenir.  I have one more weekend where I can get some things done before things ramp up again with busy weekends, so we'll see how that goes!  This is also taking up space on my dining room table.  These were my birthday flowers at their peak.  So pretty!

I'm a little sad it's the unofficial start of the fall season already.  I love summer and it seems to be the general consensus--more than usual, I think--that it went far too fast for everyone.  I don't think I had the same bucket list panic that I usually do--well, aside from cramming in two trips right at the end--so I guess in a lot of ways we did pretty good with what we had this summer.  I am appreciating the return to routine and having my house back to myself for working from home, and given that the transition actually went smoother than expected, I guess I can't complain that much.  And oddly, not being gone the entire week before school started (just most of it) felt better this year than any of the previous three.  We've already had some cooler weather, which started adjusting our mindset but is fortunately taking a break right now, but it reminded me I'm just not ready for cold weather yet.  I like my summer wardrobe and could use a little more time with it.  I'm also sad about the earlier sunsets because it makes it harder to get in a walk in the evenings before it's dark.  I might have to start going after work before I cook dinner when I can.  

 

But I know, there are so many great things about fall.  I love my decorations, the leaves are fun to watch, Oktoberfest cameras are already up and running, and sometimes those cozy clothes do feel nice.  But there's a lot of trade-offs and we all know what comes after.  It's not just the cold, though.  I don't know that I'm ready for the wild ride that is the rest of the year...speaking of which, the fact that the year only has three-and-a-half months left is mind-bending enough.  Wasn't it just New Year's?  I scrolled through the pictures on my phone recently, and January felt reasonably far away.  But for some reason, starting with pictures around Carter's birthday in February, including Jacob's basketball season, Carter's student of the month, the eclipse, Craig's 400th game and the Blue Jays game, right through spring flowers, I couldn't believe we're as far removed from that as we are.  It seems like all of that just happened.  The Dominican trip is funny--it's hard to believe it's almost been three months since we left, but at the same time that experience seems so far away, probably because it was so far removed from normal life, and it was also a major turning point--everything we've dealt with since that trip has been a LOT mentally.  I still have photos from that trip as my phone wallpaper and lock screen, almost to remind myself it actually happened, but I think it's just about time to replace them, even if it feels a little sad to "move on" from that moment a bit.  We've had a lot of lovely moments since, and I should honor some of those for a bit.

After all of the struggles of the summer, I am grateful for any return to normalcy we can get because, for moments there, I wasn't sure that was actually going to happen.  So I'm trying to embrace this time and appreciate the (fast) passage of time and the privilege it is to watch my kids grow and hopefully thrive.  We still have a couple things to work through on the "thrive" front, but I appreciate the opportunity to try.  It's hard some days because I feel perpetually overwhelmed and overtired by all that we've been through and all that needs to fit into each day, but right now I feel lucky to be where we are despite the challenges.  So many have it so much worse.  I know fall has some great moments and I look forward to those, even as I feel a little sad about the season we're leaving behind.  It feels oddly like how I feel around New Year's Eve, especially in a year that's been rough--grateful to leave the past behind and hopeful for better days, but tinged with a bit of sadness and regret at any wasted time or lost potential, and just a tiny bit of worry about what the unknown future holds.  Welcome to the mind of an anxious overthinker!

So, onward through week two we go!