First day of First grade for four kids

Thought I'd throw some alliteration at you with that title. If you are scratching your head then you have been out of school too long. Ok, I sent my four babies to school for the first day of first grade and so far the reactions have been mixed, but mostly good.

I have one child in a special ed class strictly for first graders with autism. Love it, love the teacher she's awesome and loves my daughter dearly so that works out perfectly. That's Doodle on the far left of the second picture. Can you tell by looking at her here? I don't think so but the strangest thing has been happening more and more lately and that is that I have to tell people about her autism because she will do bizarre things for a girl her size that she use to get away with as a little thing (like stealing their french fries at McDonalds) but now, people are not so forgiving. If you spent some time observing her you would probably figure it out but from a picture she looks just like the rest of them and in many ways she is but in many ways, she probably never will be. Her sisters are currently obsessed with weddings and princesses and baby dolls. They ask me if Doodle will ever get married and have babies. Sadly, I tell them, I just don't know but my gut tells me this will not be. I hate to think about it. It was probably one of my top five gut-wrenching moments when I considered this for the first time. That said however, I still believe in miracles and I still pray for her recovery as often as I think about it, which is quite often. No, I don't understand why God hasn't answered me yet but I know he must have a reason. Anyway, I still believe in miracles. Onward and upward.

My other three whom I refer to often as The Three Amigos, are in the same class again. I like this for simplicities sake, same homework, same pace, and the fact that two other sets of eyes can tell me what is really going on in the classroom as far as who did what to whom which caused their "BEE" to be moved. Really it's cool in that respect. I love our school, it's in our backyard literally, so we walk to school most days. I love that we can do that. It feels very green to me and that is good considering I don't have time to recycle, ok I don't take the time to recycle but I only have limited brain space to be occupied by concerns outside of my little world. Oh wait, I JUST realized, I recycle grocery bags to hold nasty diapers!! Ok, that's not really doing anyone a favor since the biodegradibility of a diaper is severly debilitated by being surrounded by more plastic but at least I am using them twice right? Whatever.

I have one daughter in resource classes and speech.

I have one son in gifted.

I have one daughter who isn't in anything extra and doesn't understand this. I am hoping she will be my low-maintence child but really the signs all point towards a sensitive mildly dramatic version of myself at that age. She fell and knocked two teeth back in her mouth yesterday but so thoroughly enjoyed the extra attention and care she has gotten that I think she is considering a repeat. She's fine by the way - baby teeth.

I have a baby who is climbing on anything he can get to, and has learned to dismantle the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and stealthfully scale the staircase, only to proudly announce his arrival on the second floor by grabbing the railing on the catwalk and smooshing his face between the bars while yelling "GAA!" Until he sees me looking up at him. He is 17 months, I am a little bit afraid of what he will have figured out by the time he is in first grade.

Its going to be a crazy year but I am looking forward to it. Last year was really fun and I expect this year will be no different. Here's to another year of growing up!