A day at the beach

Life this week has been anything but a day at the beach.  Caitlyn has been crying at school every day. She loved the first three days and then she started crying in school.  She says it is too long and she misses me.  She told me that if I took her to school (usually her friend's mom takes her to school and I pick them up) she would be fine.  I knew this would make it worse, but I told her I would try it anyway.  She was sobbing when I left her.  So Wednesday afternoon I called her teacher.  She is wonderful. She told me that Caitlyn calms down quickly and that she comforts her and then gets her distracted by keeping her busy with a project.  She told me not to worry and I was amazed at how well she knew Caitlyn and her personality.  I felt so much better after that conversation.  Thursday came and Caitlyn was all pumped up and ready to go to school.  Her ride came and she started screaming and I ended up outside in my pajamas forcing my screaming child into the car.  Rough morning for all of us!  My friend said she calmed down quickly and she came home with a note from her teacher yesterday that said, "No tears at school today, Awesome!"  I guess she got it all out in the car. Today she said she would be fine because it was a short day and there was no crying.  Hopefully things will keep getting better.  I thought I would have a really hard time sending Caitlyn to school and I did, but I adjusted quickly when I knew she was enjoying it (for those three days!) Sending her off to school crying is so hard.  I want to fix all of her problems, but I can't fix this one, she has to work through this one on her own.  I spend my days worrying about how she is doing and hoping she will come out of school smiling.  Caitlyn has always been a clingy, shy, emotional and sensitive little girl.  All of this is right in line with her personality, but it still makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong as a mother.  Someone told me that you have to have really good self esteem before you become a mother and I'm understanding that more all the time.  I've been tempted to go talk to the principal and see if we can have her moved to her friend's class, but I don't think that would be the best thing for her.  I think she has to work through this and learn some coping skills that she will need to get through life.  As you can see my blog is becoming more of my personal journal and scrapbook.  Writing is therapeutic, but it also helps me when I can look back at things and remember things I have forgotten.

I did take the boys for a fun day at the beach to brighten up the week! We met up with great friends and played for a few hours.  Jonah loved it.  These are the times I wish Caitlyn wasn't in school.  She would have loved it, but I guess we all have to grow up, right?  It is weird to enter this new phase of life.  I have had my kids with me all the time up until last year and that was only a few hours that Caitlyn was gone.  Now she is gone all day and we have sports, schedules and homework.  I'm glad I have been able to enjoy the time with my kids while they are home.  Wow, it goes by fast. 

I will admit that it is nice that Jonah and Caitlyn aren't fighting all day.  They are either best friends or bugging each other like crazy.  I thought Jonah would have a hard time with Caitlyn gone, but he seems fine.  I think he likes the time with me and he keeps busy playing with kids in the neighborhood.  It is nice to have some one-on-one time with him while Wyatt is sleeping. He is such a fun boy.

He told me to watch him stick his head in the water!

After that he dived in and was swimming all over. 

Wyatt liked watching Jonah.  Give Wyatt his own chair and he is usually pretty happy.

He has been carrying shovels around for a few days now.  He got them for his birthday and he has been playing with them in the pool and the bath.  He had fun using them in the sand too.

He was pretty content to play in the sand and only tried to eat it a few times.

Jonah kept telling me that he was going to find shells at the beach.  I tried to tell him that there probably wouldn't be any shells at a man made beach, but he didn't listen, shocker!

He was digging for a while and then said,"mom I found lots of shells."  He ran over to show me and I had a good laugh.  He was so proud of his shells and they were shells alright, peanut shells.  He didn't understand why I was laughing.  Once I told them what they were he dumped them out and ran off to play in the water.

He had fun playing with Kiara.  I'm pretty sure Katie already has the wedding planned.

It was fun to get out and doing something different.  I think we will have to go back when Keith and Caitlyn can come.