After the transition...back to blogging.

My intention has been to blog about our transition into the fall for a few months now. Obviously, it has been a busy and tiring transition. I haven't felt like blogging for one reason or another. It is now November and the leaves have started to settle on the ground and I feel like we are starting to settle into our new routine and I can now go back to blogging. Whew!

The biggest change in our household is that Brayden has gone off to full day kindergarten. Wow, the house is so much quieter without an active, 5 and a half year old boy here day in and day out. He is doing well. He loves the bus, I am convinced it is his favorite part because that is all he talks about consistently. The first few weeks of school he came home and just sat on the couch and stared. He's a little better now but by Thursday, don't even try to talk to him. He's burnt. I am amazed at the things he has picked up. He has a working knowledge of things like Star Wars, GX racers, Transformers and Bakugan. When I asked him how he knew about this stuff he said, "From the bus" Mind you, he only rides 20 minutes each way! He also is learning how to sound out words. If we prompt him, he can sound out a lot of one syllable words. I have discovered that I have to catch him off guard to find out what is going on at school. He tells me things when I am putting him to bed and not when he gets off the bus. Some days he offers information. One afternoon, he told Norm, "Dad, I wish I could burp anytime I want to! That's so cool." We always find out what kids are getting in trouble too, I am not sure if he is excluding himself from the list or not but it seems that he is trying to play with the kids that are not in trouble, most of the time it is the girls. Our first parent teacher conference is this week so maybe we'll find out more then. I would love to be a fly on the wall in his classroom!

Sophia started preschool this fall too. She goes 2 mornings a week and she loves it! Her teachers make a big deal about her and she loves them! I am so happy about that because I was afraid that she would be too shy. One by product of Brayden being at school all day is that Sophia now talks twice as much or maybe even more! Her sentences seem even more complex and eloquent than Brayden's were at her age. I don't know why I am surprised but I am. She is such a girly girl. She knows just how she wants things and she loves the Disney princesses, lipstick and wants to pick out her own clothes. I have found that if she doesn't like something that I choose for her, she just won't wear it. I have returned very very cute outfits because they would never have gotten worn. Her teacher and I have also noticed that she has a flair for coloring and matching color. She sorts and organizes her colors into matching or complimentary piles and according to her teacher, colors above average for a three year old. Her favorite colors to use are yellow, red and orange. She also prefers lavender to pink. I am sure some psychologist might have some insight as to what that means but it is pretty entertaining to watch her.

So, with everyone being in school, I have had a small amount of free time that I did not have before. I am still trying to figure out what to do with it but one thing that did happen was that I get to work out a little more. I trained for and ran my first 5K in October and my house gets cleaned a little more often than it did before. I think I like this phase of life, now that we are getting used to it. Now to think about the holidays...stay tuned.