September song: first day(s) of school,

So, the children began school this past week. Or at least: Aoife began her two mornings a week of preschool on Thursday (left and below), and Rose began junior kindergarten (full-time!) on Friday (further below). Where does the time go? Rose had a new (larger) backpack, and Aoife (after a conversation with Rose) began using Rose's former bee-backpack.

And: I was impressed with Aoife: not a peep out of her when I left her at school (she wandered in to play with toys) nor when we collected her. I expected at least some complaining at pick-up, but apparently she was completely fine. She looked nervous, they said, for the first little bit, but began dancing once music was turned on. Far more comfortable than Rose, who complained heavily the first few weeks of preschool (but only at pick-up, not wishing to leave). Given both girls are the younger (Aoife the youngest) in their respective classes, we'd been curious to see how they'd react.

Christine took a couple of days off, which allowed Christine, Rose and I to walk Aoife to preschool on Thursday (as Rose munched randomly on a scone, for some reason), and Christine, Aoife and I to walk Rose to school on Friday (which Aoife and I will be doing daily, from now on).

It feels strange, but also not-strange. As well, this means a return to a bit of time for me at my desk. Might I be able to actually and finally return to some of these longer prose projects? Short stories, my memoir, my novel?

Part of my focus on reviews and the short prose poems of "a book of smaller" (some of which appear in the new chapbook) over the past eight or nine months has been deliberate, with the goal of returning to longer prose projects once school began. Might that actually happen now?

I expect a week or two of flailing around a bit (most likely), but then a return to work...