The Countdown

Well fellow parents, we're in the home stretch. The week before school starts, and I know many who are counting down the minutes until those double doors open wide and swallow up our kids for another school year. Normally I am chomping at the bit by this time, but I have to say that this year's start is bittersweet.

Nathan is going into fourth grade and, like the typical fourth grader, is not at all excited. He wants to lie around playing on his iPad in only his athletic shorts all day for a few more months, and who could blame him? The spelling tests, the lining up, the paying attention, all exhausting for the nine year old brain. He just wants to stay home and hang out with mom. That would be sweet, if he weren't such a ball of preteen angst most of the time. I think school is just what the doctor ordered for his moody ass, but I love that he still wants to cuddle with me, so I am also sad to see him trudge back to the trenches.

Sofie, on the other hand, is very excited about starting kindergarten. Unfortunately I can't help but weep silently to myself every time I imagine her climbing onto that bus and coming home hours later, each and every day. What a big girl she is, and man, does that make me feel old. The baby off to kindergarten is so simultaneously awesome and depressing, I don't know where to begin with my emotions.

Carlos is going to be a high school sophomore this year, and everyone is excited about that. No back to school tears for this boy who has spent most of the summer with a camp counselor job and the rest of the summer in his underwear, sleeping the day away. Time to get back and at 'em with the football team and learning stuff, that's enough of you loafing about. Apparently when they're teens they really have angst (huh, you don't say), so out the door you go, keep them busy until nightfall. He agrees wholeheartedly with this plan, and I love that about him.

I am really hoping to enjoy this last week of summer vacation, before the homework rolls in, and everyone needs a ride to the next activity. I'm hoping to spend at least a couple of days lapping up the lazy days of summer with my favorite littles before it all rockets us back into routine and we quickly forget how good summer can be.