LaLaGirl – Twinfinite Chaos! Parenting Multiples and Dealing with Autism

I love year round school. Really, I do. I love that my kids don’t get sick of being at home for three months at a stretch in the summertime, and I love having breaks during months where most kids are still at school. It makes for fun outings, when we can go somewhere like the zoo and not trip over a thousand other kids, like the craziness that occurs during spring break or the first couple weeks of summer. But sometimes, the school year really seems to drag on! My kids finally had their kindergarten graduation last Thursday, after what felt like the longest school year in history!

My kids started kindergarten last July, the week after Independence Day (aka the 4th of July!) and finished up on June 17th. Of course, they had lots of “track off” breaks throughout the year, but still – that’s a whole YEAR in school! I really think they went longer than necessary, because we started in another school, on a different track. The track they are on now didn’t begin kindergarten until the end of July, so I think they went for several weeks longer than their classmates. And now that they’re out “for summer,” I keep feeling like we have the whole summer stretching out ahead of us, but that isn’t the case at all. They start 1st grade at the end of July! The break is only five weeks. So, yeah. We’d better get it in gear and head to the pool at once!

I’m sure I’ll be ready for them to go back. Having a pair of 5-year-olds and a pair of 4-year-olds at home is a lot of work. And I am REALLY missing Kayley right now – she went to camp on Saturday for a month, and I spent pretty much the entire weekend trying to keep Pablo out of Paul’s way, while he used power tools. Pablo wants nothing more than to be right beside Paul whenever he’s at home, but right now, Paul is building ….(drumroll, please…) a massive DJ booth that matches the other stuff in our beautifully finished basement. That’s the curse of buying a house with a finished basement full of custom cabinetry. You can’t just throw some shelves up on the wall from Target! It has to blend in, which means Paul is spending lots of quality time in the garage, pretending to be a carpenter. And he can’t really watch Pablo while he’s using a table saw, y’know? Makes it hard for me to get anything done. Glad daddy’s back at work today!

Well. It’s 9:40 already. I guess I’d better get these kids organized if we’re going to do anything fun at all today. Summer’s waiting!

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Mallory counting chalk hearts., originally uploaded by lalagirl.

Yesterday was such a splendid day! Both sets of grandparents came over and spent the day with us. We grilled steaks and sat outside on the patio for hours and hours.

The kids were worn OUT when I took them upstairs for a bath at 9:30 p.m. They were covered in grass stains, chalk dust, food residue, and sunscreen. Mmmmm! They slept pretty good, though, and now it’s a brand new week.

This week marks the beginning of Operation Strict Routine. The big kids start kindergarten NEXT WEEK and we’re still fully in summertime mode. We’re going to start going to bed early, getting up early, and keeping with the regular (read: non-fun, non-summertime) schedule to get them ready for Back to School.

Yeah. Short ass summer break, there! The new school is year round, hence the early start date. Do they even have school supplies in the stores yet? I don’t think they do. I’ll be buying that stuff last minute, I’ll bet, holding out for the cheap Back to School prices!

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