We Must be Closer to the Sun

We arrived at 1:00 pm... and left at 7:00 pm. Assuming each interval took 4 minutes (which is a conservative estimate), that means that Sam went down a large inflatable slide into a friend's pool approximately 90 times. To be fair, he did stop for about 10 minutes to eat lunch, but from the second we arrived, Sam buckled up his little life jacket, climbed the stairs to the top and went down the slide with a PLOP! again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. He LOVED it. About an hour before we left, he got out of the pool, said "I done swimming." Took about a 15 second yawn and looked liked he would collapse from exhaustion right then and there. When we said that if he was done, he could change his clothes and be done, he turned to the slide and said, "Want to go down slide," and took off. We were amazed at the little guy's stamina.

Two more days until school starts. Having two long breaks is great, but I can see how kids and parents get anxious for school to start after so much time. Claire will be starting the second semester of pre-school at the International School since she completed the pre-school program in her Argentine pre-school (opposite schedules, remember?). Since she completed the pre-school program, she would be starting the full-time kindergarten program at the Argentine school which goes from 8 am until 4:30 pm. Yeah, you read that right. There is an hour break for lunch. The cost for us sending her to the Argentine or International school (since it's not K-12) is a wash, so we'll send her to the International school where we benefit from using the facilities by virtue of having a student there. Claire is excited to go, but was concerned that her teachers would be mean. I doubt it. From what we can tell, there are three Kinder 4 classes with about 8-10 kids each and two teachers. Not a bad ratio. Plus, there will be four other kids from our ward that will also be in Kinder 4 so she's bound to have someone she knows in her class.

One of the things that Candace and I talk about is how we feel like our family has gotten so much younger again. Lily was in kindergarten and was learning to read, write, and tie her shoes. She was so independent and was getting more and more independent everyday. Now that she is gone, we've taken a step back and have reverted to having to do a lot of things for our kids. Claire is doing great, and having had so much time with Lily, they learned a lot of things at the same time, but the developmental difference in one year at that age is very noticeable. We are able to retrieve those sweet memories of teaching Lily different skills while doing the same things with our other kids.

Lastly, it would be a shame to not give proper credit to Candace for the following... She spoke about how living overseas has given our kids unique opportunities that other families don't get, but how at the same time, there are some disadvantages for which we, as parents, need to identify and address. The context of the conversation was in returning from Church on Sunday talking about the challenges of our kids attending Sunday School classes in another language they haven't mastered yet. It was an interesting observation that it puts more of a burden on us as parents to make sure that we take full advantage of the opportunities of being here in addition to filling the gaps on the things that our kids are not getting as a result of us being here. Just more for parents to do. Hooray.