"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

Have you seen this Staples commercial?



I LOVE it. It makes me laugh and laugh. For the first time in 8 years, both of my kids will be going to school. Yeah! ALL DAY. YEAH!

In preparation, the kids have new haircuts. Here is Ethan "before":



And here is Anna "before":



Ethan "after":



And, more dramatically, Anna "after":



Yesterday was orientation for Anna. We met her teacher and some of the classmates. There are 3 Anna's in her class!!! When she was born we thought "Hannah" was the hot name and we didn't want her to be one of, say three kids with the same name, so we chose Anna. How original... You know, names are funny things. I had a grandmother I never knew - my Mom's Mom. She died when my Mom was 14, so obviously she was never a part of my life. She was so removed from me, in fact, that I often forgot what her name even was. It turns out her name was Anna! Her husband (a grandfather I also never knew because he died when my Mom was 17) called her Peg, so I guess if I had any name for my grandmother in my head it was Peg. So pretty much without knowing it I named my daughter after my grandmother. That's why I say names are funny - it seems like families gravitate toward certain names over and over throughout the generations and, at least based on my own experience, it is not even intentional! But back to the school stuff...

Anna's teacher is in her first year of teaching. That seems to be the case with MANY of the teachers at this school. I don't know if that is good, bad or indifferent. The teacher seemed sweet and projected a certain air of confidence, despite her lack of experience. My gut feeling is she will turn out to be good.

Anna loved everything. She loved the teacher, she met a new friend (Anna!), she was enthused when looking at the math book (!!!!!!!!!!), she is happy to be going to a "real" school instead of "one in a church". I cannot say I share all of her enthusiasm, but I cannot help but be happy that she is excited.

Ethan's orientation was today. Earlier this year we had attended a kindergarten thing at the school during which we met all of the kindergarten teachers. When we received our letter saying who his teacher would be, I knew he didn't get my first choice because she was a "Mrs." and this was a "Ms." (No one is referred to as "Miss" anymore. Why ever not?) Beyond the marital thing, I couldn't remember who the other teachers were because there are EIGHT kindergarten classes. So I had no clue who he was getting. As we approached his classroom today I saw that the teacher at the door was the one I probably liked least of all. Bummer. She is in her SECOND year of teaching (a seasoned pro compared to most, it seems!) She does not appear confident of anything. She has an assistant who is a "Mrs." and appears to be at least as old as me. I got the impression that this assistant is going to walk all over the poor teacher. So it will be interesting to see how things work out for Ethan. On the plus side, I believe this teacher leaned a little more toward an interest in science; perhaps that will be a good thing for Ethan. Unlike his sister, the experience today did NOT make him excited to start school. I asked. He said no. I can't blame him - I left his classroom feeling very disappointed too.

Nevertheless, I continue to call this "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Soon I will have hours of quiet every day. I can stamp! I can read! I don't have to interrupt what I'm doing to make lunch! I think it will take several weeks for it to sink in.