The Days Are Long…

…but the years are short.

At least, that’s what I keep hearing from all the moms who are graduating their babies. I know it to be true, especially when I look at my thirteen year old daughter and realize that a mere five years from now she’ll be one of those graduates, too. But right now? The days are really long, and school has been out for less than two weeks.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Despite a rocky start with Nathan Runs™, we survived kindergarten. He charmed Miss Allison, but she also knew how to put a thumb on him when needed. I’d love it if she would move up with him to first grade (and I did make the request), but we don’t always get what we want, and if I have to I’ll just be thankful we had her at all.

And then there was Mrs. Tynes, his general education teacher. We knew she would be good, because Sarah Kate had her seven years earlier. She is a 39-year kindergarten veteran, which should tell you just about everything you need to know about her love of children and her capacity for patience. Tell me these aren’t two of the sweetest faces ever!

Mrs. Rhodes, his resource teacher, is also pretty amazing from what I’ve seen, but since I didn’t interact with her near as much (she wasn’t on the field trips or in the class parties or programs), I missed out on seeing her “in action.” I do know that I’m sad we had to leave her – especially since we don’t know who his teacher will be next year, as the existing one isn’t returning.

When school ended, I had dreams of how summer would go.

I envisioned family beach days and paddling trips, lazy mornings at the pool, and getting a lot of purging, writing, and reading done. We have made it to the beach (only once, as I can’t manage both kids and all of our things by myself, so we all have to go) and we paddled the weekend before school was out, but the purging, writing, reading, and swimming?

Not going so well.

Nathan needs structure, and summer at home doesn’t have it. Not yet, at least. Sarah Kate has been charged with a bit of tutoring in math – his weakest subject – and so far he’s enjoyed it. She dubs it “playing school” and he willingly plays along because he gets her undivided attention. They’ve done two chapters in the math book already, and after the first session I set up a dedicated table for them in a corner of the kitchen.

But “playing school” only gets you so far.

We’ve also watched quite a few movies – mostly the eight Harry Potter films, because all three of us can watch them without getting bored, and we even pop popcorn, which turns the dogs into vultures, and that’s a whole other thing (three dogs is too many, in case you were wondering…)

Unfortunately, it can’t all be movies and popcorn, and sometimes I have to do things like call the insurance company to inquire about a claim that was denied (and then get bounced to the doctor’s office who then bounces it back to the insurance company, but I digress). While I was on the phone, Nathan went to the cloffice and emptied the paper shredder.

And sadly, this photo only shows about half the damage.

The key to my sanity is to wear Nathan out every day.

I was hopeful (but doubtful) that he might be able to do swim team this year. He had swim lessons last summer, and again privately before school was out, and while he’s all about jumping in, has absolutely no fear of going under or putting his face in the water, and generally knows what to do, his limbs just aren’t coordinated enough yet to propel him without sinking (or maybe it’s his extremely high weight-to-height ratio…ahem…he’s rather “solid” as I am reminded every time I lift him).

Since swim team is a no-go, taking him swimming myself seemed like the best option for tiring him out. We went once last week, and I took him again yesterday morning. The first time we stayed just under an hour, arriving right after Sarah Kate’s practice when the pool opened at 9:30. On Tuesday, I tried the 9:30 pool opening again. Unfortunately, we were back in the driveway by 9:55 following a Code Brown incident that may or may not have been followed immediately by a clearing of the pool.

Yes, I know the years are short. But right now?

The days are long.