Day 6: Do you think it was his 100th day or something?

Ok, so I missed a few days, or a week.  I sort of forgot to take in account that we were going out of town for a while during vacation week.  So I'll just pick back up where I left off, there's no use trying to catch up on a whole week's worth of posts.  Now it's Wednesday again, so I can just pretend that the days in between didn't happen.

Here's a photo of Jacob with all the things he came home with on his 100th day of school!  Yippee.  Must they do this to us?  What do we need with all these stupid papers that come home everyday?  But seriously, this is not the kind of academic work I expect Jacob to be doing in school.  Putting 100 stickers on a sheet of paper?  A bookmark, a certificate, special 100 day glasses...I do like the school Jacob is in right now, but I don't think I'll be sad to have him move on at the end of the year.

Day 80: School's In

Jacob started school today. It's the day I've been dreading for a long time. He was so happy and excited, and I know he's going to do fine. It's me I'm worried about. I'm so sad without him, the house is too quiet, and every time Sabine asks for him I have to tell her that he's at school - which feels to me like the 'S' word. Also, I feel like my big dream of homeschooling him is over, like all that planning I did was for nothing. We're just like every other family now.

I cried all day yesterday - when he was getting his Chicken Pox shot, when we were talking about what he wanted in his lunch, when we were tucking him in. In the middle of the night, when we got up this morning, I cried. And then again when we were dropping him off, and on my walk home from the school with Sabine. And each time someone called on the phone to check in and see how I was.

But now it is time to go pick up my baby and I am so excited! I am going to get there early and sit in the parking lot juts waiting.

We're so immature

Dog obedience the other night was actually really good. The lady was a good public speaker and very entertaining. But I do have to admit I was snickering at her in the beginning when she was setting up the microphone and was all, "Testing, testing, one-two." There were 15 other people in the room so I didn't think it was necessary.

Zach was so against going to dog school. He grumbled about it and I had to cause many fights getting him to sign-up for the class (it's through the college, so can you say tuition waiver). And then we went and he thought it was great, and most importantly he thought it was great and got all, "Gee, good thing I made you come with me to this thing." Like it was his idea. So I am making a mental note to add this to my arsenal of I-Told-You-So arguments for future reference.

I think we'll get some good information out of this class. I actually think some of this stuff can be applied to the human children. Bonus! But Zach and I both agree that knowing what to do is one thing, finding the time with which to do it is another matter altogether. Already we've completely forgotten to be practicing the letter we chose for her. This letter, as in one letter of the alphabet, will be her cue that we use in training. We're supposed to be saying it to her all the time, giving her treats when she looks at us when we're saying the letter, or whatever, basically letting her get to know that letter, and to like it.

So what letter did we choose? We went back and forth, how can we just pick one letter when there are 26 to choose from? Should we pick J for Jacob, G for Ginger? What to do, what to do. Finally it came to me in a flash. "F!" I shout-whispered to Zach in the middle of class. And he totally got it right away. It's a word that I shout out loud a lot because I try not to swear in front of kids, so I'm constantly shouting things like "Ef!", "Sugar!", "mother!", "Sonofa....!", and so on. Add to Ginger's F-letter, well, we'll be attempting to train Mango on our own at home, so, naturally, she'll be U.

We're going to have so much fun with this...