Back in the saddle again!

Okay, some of you might get the little tune that accompanies that title running through your head and, annoying as it might be, it's kind of what I was going for! I have no clue what it comes from, so don't ask me for a reference, though.

Well, the first week of school (for me) is over. That would be the reason there has been absolutely no change to my page in over a week. So, I have Yoga, Spanish 201 (I'm re-taking it as a refresher after being out for a year), Earth Sciences (that one will require the most work out of me), Computer Sciences (how to use Word, PowerPoint, and Excel; no-brainer for me), and an Education class that is required before they will allow me to enter the education program here. A total of five classes, 16 credits all together. Not bad. Madison is in the campus daycare center, which makes drop-off and pick-up really easy. She doesn't really like it when I leave her there in the morning, but she has a really good time during the day and the staff are excellent with her. I tend to worry about leaving her with others because she can be such a handful; she's constantly in motion and frequently into trouble somewhere.

So now that the first week is over, my house was a disaster area and everyone got recruited to help with clean-up this morning. After that was done, we pretty much did nothing at all until Madison went down for her nap. Then Steve, Kellen and I played Kellen's Indiana Jones DVD game since Madison wasn't around to grab pieces and get in the way of the game, which is what happened the first time we played it. Someday we will find a game that is age-appropriate for both of our kids to play at the same time... And this evening we are going to take a jaunt up to OMSI to see their Mindbender exhibit, since they're having a members only evening for it. The exhibit is a bunch of puzzles and brain teasers. And, since our membership allows Steve and myself plus four children, Kellen has been allowed to invite a friend to go with us; can't take two because we don't have enough car seats. Kellen and two other boys from our den hang out all the time at school (already nick-named The Three Amigos) so it was actually a hard choice to pick only one. But with the elementary school out for the last three days (parent/teacher conferences) he's been able to spend time playing games and going to the beach with Mickey's family every day while I was at school so he decided to bring Calvin on our trip this evening.

I wasn't able to go to the parent/teacher conference with Steve, but Kellen got a pretty good report from the teacher. The only stumbling block that he has is his tendency to get really upset when he thinks he's in trouble. Mom and Dad will remember that when Kellen was little (3-4 yrs old) if he was publicly chastised for something he would get hugely upset over it, crying and wanting to crawl into his shell. He still does that. Only, at his age, there's really not a place for that. Is there something I should've done differently? It seems that this has happened a few times at school now, and it will take him a 1/2 hour or so to calm down and rejoin the class in whatever they're doing. Steve and I talked to him about it, but this is really something he's going to have to figure out how to handle because we can't follow him around at school telling him not to be worried about what someone has said. And it doesn't seem to bother him if someone pokes fun at him for something, it's only when he feels like he's done something WRONG. Then it gets to him. He doesn't want to know that he's done something he shouldn't have. Anyway, things to work through...

I think that's about it for our update for the week. And, in case anyone suspected differently, I am most likely going to be reduced to once-a-week updates at least until term is over in December. I just don't have the time during school to be on the blog all the time... It's amazing how much I feel like I'm missing in what goes on with everyone after only being off of it for a week.