Balch Family Blog

Camden had a great day! I was so nervous about it I was sick to my stomach today. He did great with drop off. Carsten’s sitter (Ms. Angela) took him today and said he did great! Then music was awesome! He sat next to his teacher and sang. Great pick up too! I love good days!

We all had dinner with my mom tonight at Oregano’s. It was yummy!

No more complaints of not feeling well. Things are good!

…That is the question. Camden went to a play date on Sat and got hit on the nose. It bled for a few minutes and we didn’t think about it again until Sunday afternoon when he complained of dizziness and he was uneasy on his feet. We took him to the ER where they said he had a concussion but all labs and scan were clear. They sent us home. Mon morning he still wasn’t steady on his feet so I scheduled an appointment for him to see his pediatrician. She isn’t 100% sure but feels it might be more of a virus and the bonk on the nose was a coincidence. He stayed home yesterday and by the evening he was flying his Lego ship around the house on missions.

We sent him to school today. It was a very difficult drop off. He screamed and cried for me. It really broke my heart to have to leave. It is so hard to make him do something he doesn’t like, and he has 13 years of this!

I did have a friend at the school peek in on him and he was sitting at his table coloring and chatting with a friend so everything seems to be alright now. I dread drop off time!

I thought of many ways to title this post but I felt the above summed it up well. Kindergarten has been a huge change for all 4 of us! Camden having to go and deal with everything, Mom and Dad hurting for their little boy who is not happy about going and Carsten missing his big brother. I am so thankful Saturday is here and I dread Monday!

Monday and Tuesday were good days for Camden. He would get really sad when it was time to line up to go inside in the morning, but do well once inside. As a parent it is so hard to watch your child so sad.

Wednesday was a very difficult day. He was supposed to line up for his music special (the first one they went to this week) and he didn’t want to go. After finally making it (all the way on the other side of a very big school) he wouldn’t sit with the class and he got a time out. Then when returning to the classroom he refused to listen and follow his teacher’s directions and he had a temper tantrum on the floor. That night when he came home he told us little pieces about his day. He was upset and the rest of the night was pretty rough. His teacher is really sweet and chalks it all up to learning the new routine of school.

That night during prayers we talked about how God is always with him even when mommy is not. And if he is feeling scared all he has to do is remember that God is right there with him and protecting him always.

Thursday and Friday were both good days at school from what I can tell. He chose to buy hot lunch on Thurs and he loved the pizza! His favorite part of the week (Friday) was Discovery Science where Mr. Wyatt showed the class how to stick a needle in the balloon without popping it. There was also something with pipes and colored water but that was all I could decode.

Mark and I were sad on Tuesday morning without Camden. It felt like our family day wasn’t complete. I am so sad and I just want him to be happy and enjoy school. Carsten misses him, but also is enjoying the time alone with mom and dad. Mom and Dad are enjoying Carsten too! I take him to a RollyPollies class on Fridays.

When I asked Camden last night he said that he does like school. We all just need time for adjusting. To celebrate we are having a “We Survived the First Few Weeks of Kindergarten” Party! This will be after 3 weeks of school. I have heard several times that if you do something 21 times it becomes habit! So we are going to give it a shot!

Camden did AMAZING! He blew me away with what a big boy he was! He was nervous at times before school but walked in with his class like such a big kid. I am so proud of him! WOW!

I had my spies (friends who teach at San Tan) peak in on him and he was doing just great all day. I am so thrilled with how well he did!

Here are a few pictures of his morning! In some you can see he is a little uneasy but he really did fantastic!

Camden met his Kindergarten teacher this evening. Mrs. Roberts will be teaching him this year. She has been at the school for a long time and has lots of teaching experience. I am so excited for him!

He got to write his name on a name tag and he picked where he was going to sit on Monday morning. He came right in his room and got to work and was quite the big boy! He has a “Special” everyday and 2 on Thursday. They include the basics (music, art, library, PE) but two others that sound quite cool (math investigations and discovery science). I think Friday will be his favorite day because that is Discovery Science day.

My only complaint is that they eat lunch at 10:20 in the morning just 90 min after arriving at school. To compensate they have a planned snack everyday at 1:45. I hope it will be ok for him. He will adjust I am sure!

The boys are going to Pine with their Gran and Granpa. One last getaway before school!

He wasn’t missing for very long, but it doesn’t take very long to do this:

It could have been worse!

I returned to work today. It was a chaotic morning. I am scheduled to work on Mon, Wed and Thurs (1/2 day). I had to go in today because it was our start date on our contract. Time went by so quickly that I had to leave my desk a mess in order to get home in enough time for Mark to go to work. I have all day tomorrow without any meetings scheduled, so that should be good.

Carsten went to see the audiologist today as a follow up from his visit in April. Today he was able to complete tasks that he couldn’t do 3 months ago. He did great with everything! I also thought I would mention that the 2 word combinations are emerging more often! It is exciting to see him progress!

Whew! What a busy day! We tried to go to Tempe Beach Splash Park this morning only to find it still closed. The news had said it was to reopen yesterday, but I guess that didn’t happen. (I just read an article dated today saying that tomorrow is the earliest it will open. Too bad we didn’t check this morning.) So we went to another that was nearby. Not nearly as big or nice, quite dirty in some areas and the 10-12 bees I saw sent us away after about 15 min of play time. We decided to head over to a Chandler park that we have been to several times, it was much better! Then it was home for lunch and a nap before speech came. Therapy was fine. It is difficult because Camden really dominants the sessions and so I look forward to seeing how Carsten does when Camden is at school. We played a game of ARGH! for a few minutes and now the boys are playing with play dough. I will be making a pizza in a bit for dinner and then I think we might have an early bedtime. I am beat!

Carsten used to be a great sleeper. We would do our routine and he would put himself to sleep. Since moving the big boy bed in things have gotten progressively more difficult when it is nap/bed time. He cries and gets out of bed (10-20 times each night). Last night I was done and said he was going back to his little bed (crib). He fussed for a minute and they I gave him kisses and walked out the door. He is still asleep at 6:45am. He would have normally been up by now. I almost had Mark dismantle the crib this weekend. I am so glad he didn’t. We might use it from time to time. I am not in a hurry to get him out of the crib, the big bed was just a great opportunity we couldn’t let pass us up. We will take each day as it comes and he will sleep where he sleeps!