Justin and Julie; Jacob, Joel and Jeremy: Back to School

The only picture I got of Jacob looking happy about going back to school

Now that Jacob is back to school we have picked up a new routine and so far it is working pretty well. Last year when Jacob started school he went in the mornings - the bus picked him up around 8:15am and dropped him off around 12:15pm. Then his teachers found out that he doesn't take naps and they mentioned that maybe he would be in the afternoon class next year.

At first I thought - please, no. But then as I thought about it I started really hoping he would be in the afternoon class. Jacob doesn't get up at a set time every morning, and it isn't abnormal for him to sleep in. I had some school mornings where I was carrying him out of bed at 7:45am, trying to force him to eat quickly, fighting him to get him dressed and running around like crazy trying to get him out the door and on to the bus. Those battles were awful and super stressful.

But I also started thinking about how our scheduling would work out for the day. Last school year the twins were still taking 2 naps and were ready to go down for their first naps around 10:30am. The twins and I would hurry to the gym after Jacob left on the bus, I would work out for about an hour and then I would bring them home, put them down for naps and then take a shower. But now they only take one nap and typically go down between 11:30 and noon. If the bus dropped Jacob off around noon - when would I take a shower? And when would I be able to get anything done around the house during the day without a little helper making messes, etc.?

That was the selfish part of me, but also as far as Jacob is concerned - he enjoys going to the gym and playing while I work out. He looks forward to it in the mornings and get excited when I tell the boys it is time to go bye-bye. And when I try to get things done during the twins' nap, he is bored out of his mind. We also just started private speech therapy for Jacob that is Monday mornings and it is not so easy to get afternoon appointments.

So I started hoping that I would find out Jacob was placed in the afternoon class. When I hadn't heard anything from his teacher a couple weeks before school started, I emailed to find out he had been placed in the morning class. I asked his teacher if there was anyway for him to be in the afternoon and luckily, they were able to get him switched. Yay!!

After a week of being back in school, it seems like the transition has gone pretty smoothly. When we get home from the gym I feed all the kids their lunch (and they all cry that they are starving since they no longer get a snack and milk when we get home). Then I put the twins down for their naps, get Jacob to use the potty and brush his teeth and then after just a few minutes of waiting the bus arrives and Jacob is off to school.

The twins can't agree so far to both take good naps on the same day, but I have been able to be much more productive than I have been in a long, long time (maybe since getting pregnant with twins?).

As far as the first day of school, I wanted to make a sign for Jacob to hold signifying the year or something but I wasn't sure what to put on the sign. This isn't his first year of preschool since he was part of the program half of last year. And he'll be in the program next year too so it isn't his last year. Then I realized that Jacob wouldn't just stand and hold a sign for me anyway, so I should just take his picture standing with his backpack. He definitely wasn't so thrilled about that.