Our New Routine

It has taken Cooper about 2 weeks to get used to the new routine of going to school every morning, but he finally seems used to it. He is really enjoying first grade! God has truly answered my prayers and given him a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Cannon. She is so sweet. She asked the parents to write a letter to her telling all the special things about their child, and she wanted a picture of the whole family. He is in a multi-age class with a great group of kids. Cooper ate 3 eggs this morning for lots of protein. He said he wanted to be the best in class today. He wanted to take something nice to give to his teacher this morning, too. His 2 other favorite teachers are his P.E. teacher, Coach G, and the music teacher.

Cooper rode the bus home from school for the first time on Monday. He had wanted to ride the bus all last year, but when I finally told him he could he freaked out. (I needed to get him ready for when I have the baby. Plus, the bus beat us home everyday, because they let buses go before car riders and our stop happens to be the very first stop of the day.) He decided he didn't want to ride the bus, because he was afraid he would forget his bus number. I decided to write his bus number on his hand with a Sharpie, and told him I would go in and talk to his teacher that morning and make sure she knew his bus number also. That calmed him down, although he was still nervous when I left. (He was still afraid I might have given him the wrong bus number.) That afternoon, Shelby, Davis, Cosmo (thanks, Davis, for the idea to bring Cosmo), and I walked down to the end of the street to meet Cooper. I was so relieved to see a big smile on his face as he got off! Our neighbor, Rachel, who is in the third grade and loves to "take care" of Cooper and Shelby, was holding his hand as they walked down the stairs. Cooper asked if we would walk home first and then let Rachel, him and Cosmo walk home by themselves. We did and Cooper did a great job walking home and staying on the side of the road.

Cooper is playing fall ball this year and Scott is his head coach for the first time. Of course, they are the Cubs, and Cooper loves his Dad being the coach. Scott got to pick kids that Cooper knows: Sam and John Edward from church, Justin and Aaron from the neighborhood and school, and Cooper's good buddy he was in Kindergarten with, Spencer. Cooper loves practicing baseball with his buddies.

Cooper also had his first piano lesson yesterday. He loved it! He is taking lessons from a very talented teacher right here in our neighborhood. She specializes in the Suzuki method, which is what I think will be perfect for Cooper's learning style. Shelby wants to take lessons too, but we can't afford it this year. Next year we will let her (the teacher takes students as young as age 4.)

Shelby doesn't start school until the day after Labor Day, and she can't wait! She is also excited about starting ballet on Saturday at the Chattanooga Ballet. She has quite the opposite personality from Cooper. She seems to embrace change, so I don't think her new routine will be as difficult as it was for Cooper.