I have so much I want to write about today. There are so many things going through my head about the holidays, this time of the year, life with middle school boys, work challenges and work/life balance, the tragedies that have happened in the news recently, my to do list. There's too much in my head. It leads to poor sleep. I know I'd feel better if I got it all out, but I just don't have time. Sigh... if only time were unlimited.
Instead of all that stuff I will share with you that Beckett started a new school this week. This is not a decision that we took lightly - and honestly there's still some worry about how this will all work out. As many of you may already know, we have been at Goddard for a very long time. We have been very loyal and we had a great experience there. We have had at least one child there since January of 2008. And most of the time there were multiples. At times there were 4. Loyal indeed...
A few things happened to Beckett over the last few years that kind of bothered us. Nothing major. And if he were our first child to go through the program, we probably wouldn't have even noticed. But we did notice. And once you notice stuff, it's hard not to see it all over the place. This was nothing dangerous or harmful to him. It largely centered around our feeling that he had a bit of a "bad boy" reputation. Either that or overly sensitive teachers. I think it's important to note that if Beck were unhappy or in anyway unsafe, this decision would have been easy and we would have moved on long ago. It was way more subtle than that. It was really just more a case of not being 100% comfortable.
Also the traffic to get to Goddard in the morning is pretty awful. It requires a left hand turn, during rush hour, out of our neighborhood. It was taking Bob more than 20 minutes round trip to travel about 3 miles - total. The new place is a right hand turn and way easier to get to in the morning. While the traffic situation seems small and petty, it contributed to the decision.
So we turned in our notice way back in October and Beck's last day at Goddard was the Friday before Thanksgiving. He started at the new school on Monday. And he's been SO happy this week. As each day passes and we get through another successful drop off/pick up I breathe a little easier. As the fear of the change diminishes, I am starting to see the unexpected benefits that this change could (and in some ways already has) given Beck.
This is HIS school. He's not following any of his brothers. He's not compared to anyone. He's owning it Like a Boss! He's forging his own way and I think this will ultimately be SO good for his self-confidence. (Not that his self-confidence needs any help... that child is fearless.) The change of scenery has allowed him to get away from whatever preconceptions and reputation he had back at the old place.
It's been a good week for him. And I look forward to more good weeks. I'm so pleased with how warmly we have been welcomed into the new school.
Here's a picture of the boys' visit to see Santa. We've seen this Santa couple before. Aren't they cute? I was so pleased with the big boys and their willingness to play along. They each walked up to Santa and told him what they wanted. They cooperated with a nice little family picture. They are pretty awesome. And the little boys... we are smack dab in the middle of Christmas Magic territory with them. I'm soaking in every day because it's SO much fun! I love this time of year with kids. (Even if it does tend to fill my mind up with too much stuff!)
Have a great week everyone!
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