Christian, Jackson, & Sophie's first day of school.

The trips in their classroom.

Today I conclude my “Back to School” series with Christian, Sophie, and Jackson’s first day back to pre-school.  They are happily returning to the school they attended last year.  They like it there and they teachers and staff likes them too.  Shelly also teaches there.

“The Triplets”… I try not to refer to them as a singular entity.  They are all very much their own individual people.  All five of my children are very different from each other for that matter.  They are 3^1/2 years old now and testing us in all of the ways that you can imagine three 3^1/2 years olds would.

Christian is a sweet kid with a huge heart.  He almost always has a smile on his face and is doing something silly to make you laugh.  He is very much into fairness and sharing.  Even if it means ripping a toy out of the hand of someone that has two toys to give it to someone that has none.  He means well.  He is also very protective of his brothers and sister.  On the playground one day, a boy tried taking a ball from Jackson. The boy and Jackson both had a clutch on the ball and were wrestling for it.  Christian ran over and grabbed the kid by the head and did all he could to to just about rip the kids head off to pry him off of Jack. Later the same day, the same boy was trying to get the same ball from Sophie.  She kept running away from him.  She then came over to Shelly and I and said, “He hit me!” and pointed to the boy.  Christian heard Sophie and saw her point to the boy and went after him like a mad man.  The boy ran in terror to his mommy.  Christian still likes to curl up in your lap and cuddle.  It’s great, but Christian is a big kid (for a Farley) so it is getting uncomfortable.

Sophie is a great little girl.  She loves to read.  She will sit by herself and read her books while her brothers are ripping the house apart.  She also loves playing with her baby dolls and princesses like any girl.  But having four brothers has also made her a tough cookie and she does not hesitate to box, wrestle, play football or hockey with them.  It has also made her have to stand up for herself so don’t give her any crap!  She is a very smart little girl as well.  Probably all of the reading.  I may be biased, but Sophie is the prettiest little girl in the world.  She is also the most loved person in the house.  Her brothers fight over who gets to play with Sophie, who gets to stand next to Sophie in the pictures, etc…  That is a good thing that will pay off when the dating years arrive.

Jack is my little man.  When I say “little man” I mean when you interact with Jack you think you are talking with a little adult.  Jack is smart… like spooky smart.  Smarted one of my kids at this age by far.  He is an excellent problem solver.  One day he wanted popcorn.  I told him “No.  Not now.”  and went back to work.  A few moments later Noah came upstairs and said, “Daddy, Jack is making popcorn.”  I ran downstairs to find Jack had gotten popcorn out of the closet, pushed a stool over to the stove, climbed onto the stove (good thing is wasn’t on) put the popcorn in the microwave and started the microwave.  I said, “JACK!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!”.  He said very matter-of-factly, “Making popcorn.”  Jack can also be a bit of a “button pusher”.  He should thank his lucky stars he shared a womb with Christian because I foresee him having to bail Jack out of a few messes.

I should also mention that Shelly also starts back teaching today.  She teaches at the preschool the trips go to.

Well, that concludes our “Back to School” series.  It was a good week and we hope the start to a successful school year.

All of their first day of school photos and more can be viewed at Farley Family Photos.

Back to School – Day 2 – Andrew

Back to School – Day 1 – Noah

Adnrew's first day of kindergarten

Andrew heading into school.

Our county does a staggered start for kindergarten.  Today was Andrew’s turn to start school.  Like Noah yesterday, Andrew got up and got himself

dressed and ready for school before Shelly and I even woke up.  He seemed very excited to go.  We drove to his school to see him get off of the bus.  He already had a couple of buddies he was talking with while they walked him into the building.  That is a big deal for Andrew.

Andrew has always been our most introverted child.  I use this phrase a lot about Andrew but he is stuck between two very large shadows… Noah and the triplets.  Although he is not technically a sequential middle child,  he has all of the classic middle child characteristics.  Until recently…  I can not correlate it to a specific event, but about 2 or 3 months ago Andrew started coming out of his shell.  He has been making new friends a lot easier.  He has been participating in things he ordinarily did not, like group activities and such.  He stands up for himself more, especially to his big brother. Andrew is also our sweetest and funniest child.  He cracks me up and always makes me laugh.  Sometimes intentionally… sometimes not.

Andrew’s teacher seems very nice and Andrew liked her.  He is genuinely excited about going to school and learning.  That has Shelly and I felling good.  I think he is going to do just fine, but I am a little anxious for 3:30 to come so he can tell me how his day was.

Tomorrow’s Post… Back to School – Day 3 – Christian, Sophie & Jackson

Back to School – Day 1 – Noah

Noah's first day of school 2009 - Second Grade.

Summer is over.  Time to head back to school.  Today Noah starts second grade.  He was up at 6:00 AM, got dressed and eagerly awaited mom and dad getting up.  At 6:30 he came in to wake me up to get him breakfast so he could make the bus on time.  Totally different kid from last year.  We had to pry him out of bed almost everyday.  Looks like it might be a little easier this year.

Noah did great in 1st grade and we expect no different in second.  He really enjoys going to school and makes friends really easily.  His teacher this year seems a little more stern than his previous teachers.  He was kind of a teacher’s pet last year.  His teacher used to come to his hockey games.  That kind of impressed us.  During business day, when we get to meet his new teacher, she must have mentioned behavior and discipline requirements half a dozen times.  Noah’s worst offense is getting a little chatty every now and then so I don’t expect much of a problem.

Noah’s hockey career is still developing along nicely.   He was in the “rookie” house league all of last year and was one of the top players in the league.  Something happened in the last third of the year where his skating and stick handling became much, much better.    I mentioned in an earlier post that he tried out for a development travel team and was asked to play up with the regular travel team.  That was a bit of a surprise but so far has been working out really well.  He has been on the ice for a practice or a camp 2-3 times a week all summer.  The additional ice time along with more advanced coaching and trying to keep up with the big guys is really going to improve his game.  It already has.  The Bears have their first game this Saturday.  Not sure how much ice time he’ll see, but he should see a little.  Look for regular posts about how the season goes.

As Noah gets older he is starting to want his privacy a little more.  There is not a lot of privacy to be had in our household so that is something we are still working on.  I think one of the reasons he likes school so much is he gets to be around kids other than his 4 siblings.  With that said, he is still a pretty good big brother especially to his little sister.

Tomorrow’s post…  Back to School – Day 2 – Andrew.