Bring it on, fall....
Never did I think I would be this ready for summer to end… but ready, I am! Let’s trade in sunny days for cooler and crisp ones. Let’s go from days of randomness to days of planned activities and let’s get back to me forgetting parent-teacher meetings and missing papers that need signing from school.
The girl best known for her loud/chaotic house and failure to plan, is craving some structure, routine and organization! We’ve hit it. We have hit that stage of life where I am going to straight up snap if I don’t start getting a better hold on routines. Juggling our five-person-family has been do-able with unplanned chaos, and frankly we’ll always have a little bit of that… but we’re starting to NEED some structure to keep afloat. So, while I love nothing more than warm summer nights on the porch swing and baby bottom tan lines, I think that I am ready for the school year to start and to bring some better balance into our lives. This will be a learning curve for us all…
This is our first year with a child in school every single day. It is the first year where it’s not just eating our money when we pull a kid out for a couple of days. But, where we actually have a small allotment of “miss” days at school, this is also our first school year that we have two toddlers and one “big” kid to juggle. Ames obviously doesn’t have any extracurricular activities (except joining Welles’ music therapy class). The older two have more school than last year, tumbling and music class for Scar, and extra therapies for Welles.
I did not overbook and leave as much wiggle/free time as possible for the Fall, but the reality is, that from here on out our kids are only going to get older and busier… and we NEED a routine! Which is something I have fought for years. I grew up in chaos. I enjoy flying at the seat of my pants and thrive in last minute planning! But it’s starting to get harder. It’s becoming impossible even. Somehow, being a last-minute-change-of-plans kind of mom, I have had three schedule-craving kids and I’m giving in. I am committing! Ready or not, structure, here I come!
Scarlett has never liked feeling unprepared for the next event of the day. She gets upset when I rush her or change plans. It’s how I’ve always been though… I’ve always made time for last second activities, usually fun ideas… but it’s caused some behavioral issues and squabbles between her and I. The older she gets the more I realize that I need to help her feel secure and prepared for the day, and set expectations. She’s a sensitive little thing and I’m learning to respect that, rather than being frustrated by it.
Welles is definitely the most adaptable child right now. He’s usually very go-with-the-flow… but even he needs more planning-- mainly for food and sleep reasons. He doesn’t do as well without a nap and with his sensory issues, he only eats certain foods. When we’re on the go and grabbing food on the fly, he only likes French fries (and not sweet potato ones!), ice cream and cookies… sometimes soups. Yeah, not great… So to keep him healthy and feeling good, I have to be more prepared for our day with food options. Especially when I know we will be out and about.
Then there is Ames. My baby who has always demanded to be in his own bed when he is sleepy… My child who has forced me into seeking out balance, because when you have three kids, good luck having any kind of order or control while fighting schedules.
So dearest Summer… Thank you for the memories. It has been a good, hard and beautiful Summer. Now, I'm ready for a little less chaos and little less of a trashed house (who am I kidding?!). Bring it on, Fall!
Pics by Angela Ballard 💙
