Come, Mommy

…but finally posted. I kind of got caught up in the maelstrom of the start of 1st Grade and nursery school and soccer, and then the month got away from me. Anyway.

A few posts ago I was complaining that I couldn’t show you pictures of some needle felting and knitting projects I’d done over the summer because I had lost my camera. Well, I found it again (turns out I left it in the diaper bag, which I stopped using this summer when Kieran learned to use the bathroom), but of course, now that I have time to post, I can’t lay my hands on it. So the pictures will have to wait until next time. In the meantime, I’ll describe September at our house.

Liam started 1st grade, as you saw in the last post, and so far he loves it, although he does have some complaints about the amount of time he needs to sit still. But he’s coming home with stories of golden goblets and knights in shining armor, and outside his classroom are the pictures his class drew to illustrate these stories, so it’s obvious that the 1st grade curriculum is off and running. His teacher did send a note to parents after the first couple of weeks letting us know that much of that time was used simply learning the business of being 1st graders-they have class chores to do, and special subject teachers to get to know. The biggest job of all is learning to work as a team with their class teacher, Miss B., who will be guiding them all the way through 8th Grade, so team building is a lot of what goes on in the first months of 1st Grade. The class took a walk in the woods and across the creek the other day, and happened upon a trail that was overgrown with poison ivy. According to Miss B., this led to much problem-solving discussion amongst the class, which finally ended with her carrying the children, one or two at a time, across the poison ivy to safety. This is an image from this first year of school that I will hold dear forever.

Liam is playing soccer this fall, along with his Saturday piano lessons, so that’s where our weekends have been spent. Having never played before, and finding himself playing on a team of boys who have for the most part all been playing for several years, he’s doing well for himself by keeping up with everyone else. He even came very close to scoring a goal in last week’s game but tripped at the last second. He loves it, though, which is the main thing, and with three wins and one loss, his team is having a good season, too.

Kieran started nursery school with a lovely teacher who is very experienced but new to our school. She herself attended a Waldorf School from Kindergarten through 12th Grade, and her mom is a Kindergarten teacher at that school, so she is perfect for a young nursery class. He has five classmates, which is turning out to be a wonderful class size since the children can all play together and apparently that is what is happening for most of the morning-there is one activity going on at any time with five eager participants. Whether is is vegetable cutting, or bread baking, or piloting a ship from the top of the playset, they are all in it together. So I’m glad that he’s having such a wonderful time with his first year of school.

I’m taking an alumni class through Princeton. It’s a brief version of a popular freshman English class called Princeton University Reads, and it features novels, poetry, and short stories by Princeton authors. We are reading Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee right now, with class discussion taking place on a Google group. The group is moderated by a current Princeton grad student, with the faculty authors popping in from time to time. Soon we will turn our attention to some works by Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, and Paul Muldoon. It really is treat to be able to interact with these noted authors, and the best part is since it is an alumni class, there are no papers, exams, or other deadlines, so there’s no pressure involved either. When the invitation to join the class came through in my e-mail the other week, I had to accept because truly I’d be silly not to join in.

I’ve got a couple of knitting projects on my needles at the moment, a tote and a shawl. They get done bit by bit while I’m watching House and Private Practice episodes that I’ve gotten on the DVR. I’m also playing around with some needle felting, which I learned to to through the Waldorf School, and is a fun and different way to work with wool. More about all this later when I get something completed.

Kevin is doing IT support for the boys’ school-it’s a nice antidote to the current stress-filled company where he works. People at the school are thoughtful and express gratitude for his help, which is not something he gets at work, so it’s therapeutic that way, and is help that the school really needs. Also, a new living green roof was installed on the front of our Early Childhood/Administration building last weekend, and Kevin was one of the many dads who turned out to install the roof last weekend. It really is beautiful, and it also makes a statement to visitors about Waldorf and what sets the school apart from the other educational choices in our area.

So that has been September – a fun month with a lot going on. It always seems this way-the school year starts with a lot of activity, leads right into the holidays with all the attendant craziness there, and then -BOOM- we hit January and wonder “OK, now what do we do?” I’m sure we’ll figure it out by then.