Outside their door

Have you ever heard of horses playing soccer? Me neither, but apparently some of the horses at the farm you see above play. Hence, the giant soccer ball. We might need one of our own- what fun! Nara had her recent search and rescue test done at this farm. She passed! At the risk of sounding like a goofy parent - I am proud of her! Can I gush for a moment? I will be the first in our family to say she can drive me up the wall some days with her barking but her loyalty and love makes up for it. We like to joke that our children are 'her sheep'. I have never seen an animal so protective and watchful before. Especially when we are out in public, she watches their every move. There was even one time, back when we lived in Virgina and K was about 3 years old, that Nara really showed us how serious she was about protecting our little ones. We were at the dog park and Nara was inside the fenced in area while K was outside the fence playing. Nara was watching K instead of playing with the other dogs. She saw K go near a pond and literally jumped the fence and put her body between K and the water. That completely blew me away.

With K's school starting back up this week it's time to start reigning my little ones in. Well, I probably should have started sooner but I was rather avoiding it. Our bedtime rhythm pretty much stayed the same this summer except that I allowed the girls to stay up in their room and quietly play or do crafts after I tucked them in. They took full advantage of this, believe me, some nights staying up until 9:00 (our usual bedtime is 6:30). They slept in until 8:30 in the morning so it balanced out enough for me to feel comfortable with it. But now we are about to be waking up at 5:30 in the morning again to get K to school, not to mention that she will become mentally exhausted each day (first grade is so very different from kindergarten, especially in Waldorf schools). We need to get back on track with being tucked in and actually falling right to sleep.

So, since Saturday night I have been camping outside their door with a book and some knitting in hand to pass the time. I admit I am missing my usual nighttime routine and falling behind a bit with computer things but my children need me, and of course they will always come first. When I am downstairs I can't hear them whispering or see that they turned their lights back on, but right outside their door I spy with my little eye. Plus, it comforts them to know I am there which will hopefully help them to fall asleep easier. I am guessing praying that this should only take a week at the most and they'll be back on their usual nighttime rhythm.

Speaking of school, I haven't even begun planning C's homeschooling days yet. I thought maybe C and I could sit down and plan it together. Well, I'll plan and ask her if there is anything she really wants to do for her first year of kindergarten and add it in. I think we'll start our schooling the following week. That should help with any adjustments we encounter with K's school, too - Oh! and the rose ceremony and everything else that happens the first week of school for those in the grades. It's a busy week! Deep breath...

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Outside their door