Judging by Facebook, I'm a little late to the game with my official "first day of school" photos - such is life with a big fancy camera but no iPhone, I guess. But I have them! And I will share them here, even though I am still woefully behind on posting the rest of the photos from our Maine vacation.
The first day of first grade was fine - great, even. But mostly just normal. The nervous excitement from last year (for all of us!) is pretty much gone. Many of the faces are familiar, the schedule is familiar, even (especially) the paperwork (all the paperwork!) is familiar. We're right back to last year's routine, almost like summer never happened.
Except for the lingering tans and full memories, of course.
Without further ado, I give you....
First Grader Finn!
And his flashy new backpack with his name AND a WOLF. He is stoked.
And I also give you...
Pre-K2 Lucy!
Not to be outdone, with her Cinderella backpack
These two kids kill me with how cute they are.
Seriously
And for good measure, one of the photos from last year:
I've had all the best intentions of writing here over the last couple of weeks - so many great (in my mind!) blog post ideas, but zero follow-through. Instead, this will be a total jumble of updates and whatnot. Consider yourself warned.
1) First, you may be wondering how "Austerity" is going for us. How is life with no cable, limited Target access, little to no eating out? Well, here's the thing - we have cheated a little. We haven't managed to limit ourselves to one meal out a week. But in our defense, we HAVE decreased the frequency a smidgen, and we've increased the GUILT we feel when we do eat out. So kind of a wash, right? As far as Target goes, we have done pretty well - we've mainly stuck to our once-a-month goal. It's a bit misleading, though, because we do end up buying stuff here and there from other stores, like Walmart (gasp! though I hate shopping there, so I'm usually in and out without much fanfare) or the grocery store. But still, I chalk it up as a win. And finally - cable. We are still cable-free, and so far it hasn't been too rough (and the price savings had been GREAT). Though you may want to ask M. to weigh in on that - he was a bit despondent during the NCAA basketball tournament and the Masters. He seems OK now, but it may just be that he's completely given up hope on ever witnessing the thrill of a good game again. I have a feeling the despondency will be back when football season starts up, too.
Also, I will say that the lack of live TV, network or cable, has probably contributed to my infrequent blogging, weirdly enough. Our time in front of the TV is now very purposeful - we select a show to watch, and we watch it. And since these are all shows we are "invested" in, we feel obligated to pay attention. Gone are the days of throwing on HGTV to play in the background while I tool around on the internet. And clearly, gone are the days where M. will put on a baseball game that I can ignore while I blog beside him. There are no baseball games. THERE IS NO HGTV. Not unless I want to pay $1.99 an episode (I do not).
All in all, we are doing well with our goals, but not great. We ARE still making some "unnecessary" purchases, like some new clothes for me and - well, that's really all. I'm the only spoiled one. And we have some house expenses coming up - a mixture of planned and unplanned - that weren't part of the original plan (I'll get to those in a minute, or eventually, depending on how things go here). But we upped our contributions to our savings account by quite a bit, and we're still getting by, so that is a major step in the right direction. Single family home, you will be MINE one day!!
2) Chapter 2 of this novel is Finn. Can you believe school is over in two flipping days?!? I cannot. Finn, of course, can. According to him, the school year has been SO LONG. Said with heaving sigh full of emotion. But goodness, where has the time gone? How do I suddenly have a rising first grader?
I must say that all in all, he has had a really good year, and we couldn't be happier with his elementary school.* Yes, yes, he has had some behavior hiccups. But he HAS shown a lot of improvement in that area, and more than that, he has really gained a lot of confidence academically. Even as late as March or April, he was avowing that he could NOT read - no, uh uh, wouldn't even try. But NOW it's like he's a whole different kid. All it took was reading one or two simple books on his own, and he was off like a rocket. In March, he knew 40 of the 44 "Kindergarten words," and only 6 of the "First Grade words." As of May, he knew all 44 of the Kindergarten words, and 73 of the first grade words. This kid is on fire, and it's so wonderful to witness.
He is also fairly hysterical. I'm finally that mom that has ridiculously cute and funny things that her child has written for school assignments. They all got sent home with Finn today, so hopefully I'll bore you all by photographing them, posting them here, and translating (he may be able to read, but he is not a great speller yet).
By the way, did you know that our elementary school puts together a yearbook for purchase each year? We can buy a copy to treasure forever for the low, low price of $23. Flrpphtp. Really? It takes me back to the dim room off the cafeteria where a group of us poured over photos and layouts and design elements to product my senior yearbook. You know, when I was 18. Why on earth would a 6-year-old, or even an 11-year-old, need a yearbook to memorialize one year of elementary school? What poor person had to put this together? Is this something that happens in your area, too?
Anyway, Finn is so sweet and funny and charming and ah, six is such a great age! Really, I highly recommend it.
There have been a few articles floating around, bringing some attention back to the families affected by the Newtown, CT shooting 6 months ago - really moving, heart-wrenching articles. I can't help but read them, so shocked that someone could wipe out the lives of similarly wonderful, amazing, loving 6- and 7-year-olds. I have been showering Finn with hugs and kisses lately - I just can't help it. I can't imagine the pain those families feel, and yet I can, and my heart breaks thinking of all the "what ifs."
OK, don't want to be too much of a downer, so let's visit "the other hand." As in, Finn is SO great right now, but Lucy, on the other hand..."
3) Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. I had to go back and re-read some of the blog posts I wrote about 2 and a half years ago, to reassure myself that she isn't an especially psychotic child. Luckily (I think?), I was reminded by my past rantings about Finn that all four year olds are... (hmm, searching for non-four-letterish word here) challenging. Yes, particularly CHALLENGING. This too shall pass, amiright?
Some of the stuff she says to us.... and HOW she says it. Oh God, I am in for it. Yes, God with a capital G. This is my payback, and my mother will 100% back me up on this. Her mannerisms, her attempts to cut us to the quick - it's all me. She is me, 32 (or 22) years ago.
She already tells us we are the worst parents IN THE WORLD. Worst. That is a direct quote.
But oh goodness, I still love her so much, despite it all. And she gets just as many hugs and kisses as Finn, no worries there. Who could help it, really?
In more charming news, Lucy had her first "real" dance recital last weekend. She did have a small one back in December, but it was a simple deal and there were no costumes involved. This was the real thing - two costumes, stage make-up, a dress rehearsal, an audience full of dressed-up family members holding flowers, etc. Despite the fact that her class has been working on their two numbers since January, Lucy only knew about two steps of the tap number. This may not be her calling. And don't get me started on the lack of technique I saw in the older girls (does no one point a toe or straighten a knee these days?!?!? My former dance teachers would have cringed), so even if it is her calling (one day), this may not be the dance school we go with for the long haul. However, she did passably well during the ballet number, and looked damn cute in both costumes. Lucky for you, I captured the momentous occasion on film. With very poor videography skills, I might add.
Ballet was first. You should note that I accidentally focused on the wrong girls at first, because I was too busy looking through the camera screen to make sure I was in focus. Lucy is the third one from the right end of the line:
And here is the tap number. She spent a lot of time seemingly fiddling with her costume under her arms. Not sure what was going on there. If you ask her, she nailed it - got all the steps down. I'm pretty sure her feet didn't move. But again, cute. And maybe she was just REALLY nailing the ducky arms? Not sure. She's the fourth one from the right this time, though in a lot of the video it looks like she's third from right (I cut off the last girl in line):
And a few still photos from the event:
At home, post make-up but pre-costume
Primping in the dressing room before the ballet dance
Rubber duckie!!
I have more to blog about (home renovations! Exercise! Recipes! Some other stuff I can't remember right now!), but I've run out of steam. It's late, and I'm tired. More soon, I hope.
*except for all the Chick Fil A fundraisers that were constantly shoved down our throats. I could have done with WAY less of that.
I'm SUPER loopy, because I was up until about 1:45 a.m. last night working on worky stuff, and up again at the crack of dawn to head to a meeting in Arlington, VA. And I'm on the rag. Sooooo, ~ 3 hours of sleep plus stress plus fresh hormones, and this will be a slap-dash and likely nonsensical set of updates.
1) Finn's Kindergarten situation: This turned out to be much ado about nothing, as Finn is NOT moving to the newly created Kindergarten classroom. He is staying with his original teacher, as is his best friend. Plus he's been doing very well behavior-wise lately, and brought home an excellent report card last week. I will say that I did meet the new Kindergarten teacher, and heard how the transition for the kids moving would occur, and I was very reassured. She was lovely and positive and nice the way, magically, all Kindergarten teachers are (though I did question her choice to wear leggings as pants when meeting a large majority of the Kindergarten parents - coming from a person who has done this herself, but never in a "professional" setting, so...). The transition plan was thorough, and I would have been OK if Finn had been selected to change classrooms. But he was not, so there you go. And the upside is that his class size went from 28 to 23, so it's really a win/win for everyone.
2) Finn has his first loose tooth!!!!! And also, his first adult tooth. Which has started coming up through his gums behind the loose tooth, before it has fallen out. Blerg. I'm encouraging him to wiggle his tooth to make it more inclined to fall out, though M. thinks I'm crazy. But I don't want us to be faced with the possibility of Finn having to have a tooth pulled by the dentist if this thing doesn't come out on it's own, so wiggle encouragement it is. I need to lay in a stash of quarters and/or crisp dollar bills. I asked Facebook to tell me what the Tooth Fairy brings these days, but mainly got answers that I find unacceptable (i.e., too spendy). I'm pretty sure our Tooth Fairy brings $1 a tooth - that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
3) I signed up for Weight Watchers, again. Online only, not the in-person meetings. Things are getting desperate. Too many cupcakes and too little restraint. I also signed myself up for a 5K in April. I'm turning this ship around, stat! First "weigh-in" (aka me stepping on my bathroom scale) is tomorrow. Pretty sure the wine I had tonight and the potato chips DARPA served me today won't help, but at least I was a good girl the rest of the week. Which really just means I was good on Monday and Tuesday, since I didn't sign up until after the debauchery of this past weekend. I could have used Monday as my weigh-in day, but wanted to pick Thursday instead because strategically it's a much better day. You can let loose over the weekend [to a degree], and then still have plenty of time to walk the straight and narrow during the work week before the weigh-in.
I'd write more, but I'm beyond tired and going to bed now. It's a pitiful amount of updates, just three - not even sure why I numbered it, since you can barely even call it a list. But something is better than nothing, right?
Update to my updates: It is now Thursday morning, and since I've had some sleep (yay!), my mind is clear enough to remind me that I wanted to show you a photo of how Finn looked yesterday when he came home from participating in his after-school program's "Crazy Hair Club":
We get to look forward to similar such creations every Monday and Wednesday for the rest of the month. His hair was SO STIFF. He loved it. Cutie.
Also, I was down 5 pounds from Monday at my "weigh-in" (still can't take it seriously when it's just on my bathroom scale - I feel like I need the technology and audience and sheer scale from the Biggest Loser weigh-ins) this morning. Pretty sure the pre-period water retention and salty Sunday Super Bowl food had a lot to do with that, but I'm taking it as a win anyway!
1) I hefted a sleepy, spaghetti-noodle-limbed Finn into Lucy's bedroom this morning so I could work on rousing both kids at the same time. (Goodness they are hard to wake up, every day EXCEPT Saturday or Sunday of course). I rubbed backs with that vigorous "I love you but get out of bed already" rub that one does, I talked in a sing-songy voice and cajoled, I even tickled a little (just Lucy, at Finn's suggestion). And then Finn crawled off my lap and climbed up onto his sister's bed to lie down next to her. She protested with a "Hey!," but Finn just said "I want to hug you." And her Hey! turned into a smile, just like that. Finn hugged Lucy and kissed her on her hip (it's both adorable and frustrating that kids seem to plant kisses on whatever is at mouth level, with no thought to whether it's an appropriate target) and called her "Lucy Goosey," a name that hasn't surfaced in a long time. Lucy kissed his head and responded with a soft "Finny Bo Binney." And they cuddled and smiled satisfied smiles, and I didn't have the heart to dump them out of bed.
Well, at least for another 60 seconds or so.
I just wanted to write that down so I'd remember it. I love how they love each other.
2) In other news, we got a notice last week that Finn's school has been approved for funding to hire another Kindergarten teacher. All of the 5 existing Kindergarten classes are over the allowed limit of 25 students, with all of them sitting at 27 or 28 kids. The notice we received stated that the school has hired the new teacher, and they will be forming a new Kindergarten class by the end of January. This means that a few kids from each existing class will be pulled out to go to a new classroom, with a new teacher and new classmates, 5 months in to the school year. This seems... not right to me. We don't know yet which kids will be pulled from their classrooms. Finn seemed excited at the prospect of having a new teacher, but I don't think he's really given much thought to the idea that it would mean, a) he would no longer have his current teacher, whom he has written little love notes to, so I'm pretty sure that means he likes her, and b) that he probably wouldn't have his very best friend from class with him anymore. As a parent, I am worried about what it would mean to have a new teacher that needs to get to know Finn from scratch - the continuity of learning will be interrupted to at least SOME degree, and we are JUST starting to figure out with his current teacher how to encourage good "green" behavior from Finn (the new year has been rough, with mediocre or poor behavior reports every day from January 2 until this past Monday, when he finally managed a good rating for the first time in 2013). I don't want to start all over again.
I'm also a smidge worried (and tell me if this is stupid - it's probably stupid - maybe?) that the new class will be formed by kids the current teachers recommend for the new classroom, and perhaps the teachers will conveniently recommend those kids that have given them the most trouble (well, *I* might do that!), and the new class will be a class of, um, kids with disruptive behaviors, shall we say. Which might then include my son, who is not exactly the king of good behavior, as I've documented a time or two on this here blog in the past. So then my son might be moved to a class full of kids with behavior issues, and well, I think that might be a less than ideal learning environment. One or two Finns in a class is manageable, but a class of Finns would be pandemonium.
Of course, I also don't want class sizes that are over the limit. But they've been over the limit since school started in August, and I can't for the life of me figure out why they are implementing this change now, so late in the year. If this had been done in September or even October, I would have been far more supportive. Teacher friends (and any parents out there), have you heard of adding new classrooms halfway through the year? When new classrooms are created, how are the students chosen?
Anyway, ack! Hand wringing! We'll find out more tomorrow night, when there is parents' meeting with the principal, and I think we'll know next week whether Finn's class assignment will change. Then I'll know whether I need to ratchet up my concern some more or let it retreat toward complacency.
3) And finally, a more positive new thing (I hope) - a new shirt:
(If you click to enlarge, this is less blurry, but also my eyes look scarier. You've been warned.)
This was an impulse buy from Kohl's when I dashed in (literally - fastest shopping trip ever!) to grab some new pants for both Finn and Lucy, since Finn has apparently passed on the "rips a hole in every right knee" trait to his sister and they both needed new pants. I saw this on the rack and grabbed it (in my defense, I did have the coveted 30% off coupon) without trying it on. It's a bit hard to see in this photo (can I tell you how lame I felt photographing myself? I tried setting up my tripod and using the automatic timer, but those shots were even worse. This was AWKWARD, but would have been even more so if I tried asking M. to snap photos - "and you want me to take these pictures for what, again?" - so camera in the mirror it was). Anyway, it's a chiffon blouse layered over a matching tank (and, um, no bra...). I thought it might be drapey and long enough that I could justify wearing it over leggings, but after trying it on I don't think it's long enough. Or drapey enough. Anyway, here is a link to the item at Kohl's, where you can probably see it better: http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1229210/apt-9-essential-roll-tab-chiffon-henley.jsp
What do you think? Is it a keeper? Well, I should rephrase that, since I've already worn it once and I thus MUST keep it. Is it something you would recommend wearing again? I wore it with some dangly gold earrings:
Sorry for the blurry photo. I really LIKE the earrings, and I think I like the shirt. It feels flattering when I'm wearing it, though it's not very figure-shaping. So I FEEL like I look good in it, even if in reality (or, for example, in these pictures) it makes me look a bit boxy. What I'm worried about is that the look might be a bit too... early 90's?? Big gold earrings, bright color, chiffon... Help! Am I dressing like I'm in the wrong decade? Thx!!
And his equally excited sister, marking the day in style
Finn won't be riding the bus, so no "getting on the bus" photo for us. You'll have to settle for a side view of his new backpack (which apparently was a hot commodity at Target this year, as at least a couple other kids have the same one. Wonder how many times Finn will accidentally come home with the wrong one...)
So, the first day of school is over. I am exhausted and stressed out and feeling more than a little frazzled (what, this isn't all about ME?) - I'm hoping this gets easier as we settle in to a new normal. I think a lot of my reaction is due to an unrelenting, high pressure workload lately, and my own sense of mom guilt (YOU GUYS. Dropping Finn off at his new before-school program was THE HARDEST THING.). But Finn, he seems to be doing pretty well. He was a little uncertain as we approached the school (he admitted he was "a little scared"), and he asked us if we could stay with him at the before-school program. He didn't cry when we left, though, and the information we've been able to drag out of him has been mainly positive. Except for the one kid that apparently called him "weird" during the practice fire drill his class had today. Why one kindergartener would feel the need to call another kindergartener he had just met "weird" is a mystery to me. But Finn can't even remember if he said anything back in response, so hopefully this was a mere blip that didn't bother him too much. Well, other than the fact that it bothered him enough to tell me as we were walking out of the school this afternoon. And that he made sure I mentioned it to my mom when she called to see how Finn's day had gone.
It's good Finn knows nobody's name yet, or else this child would have just made a Momemy (Mom Enemy - do you think that might catch on?) for life. Weird. I'll show YOU weird, you MEANIE.
But really, mostly a good report. Now I have to go take myself off and sign paperwork and fill out emergency contact information in triplicate (I could expound on the torture that is filling out emergency contact information when one lives far away from EVERYONE, but I won't). And drink this glass of wine next to me.
Friday marked Finn's very last day of daycare. I didn't get choked up the way I thought I might - perhaps because I'll still be coming back every day to bring Lucy. And Finn - well, all he could think about was how excited he is to start Kindergarten - I had to prompt him several times to "SAY GOODBYE" and "LOOK, THESE PEOPLE HAVE CARED FOR YOU FOR THREE+ YEARS, COULD YOU PLEASE JUST GIVE SOMEONE A HUG?!" But I wasn't really upset - his excitement for Monday is gratifying, especially when I saw one little girl start sobbing at the prospect of lining up in front of the classroom door to go inside the school during Friday's Open House. Even though her mom was RIGHT THERE, and had no intention of leaving. I think several kids are going to have a tough Monday, but I'm pretty confident that my little guy is going to bound right into the school. It helps that Finn's teacher is one of the two that ran his earlier JumpStart program, so he already knows her pretty well. Also, his favorite little friend from JumpStart has been placed in the same class, so he already has at least one friend.
I do think that once Finn truly realizes that he won't be seeing the handful of really good daycare friends he's made over the years every day, he will get a little sad. But that aspect of Kindergarten hasn't really sunk in yet.
How about a little "before and after?" Not the hardwood floor photos I owe you (I have them! They will be posted!), but photos of Finn:
On his very first day of daycare, December 18, 2006:
And here he is on his very last day of daycare, August 24, 2012:
I will restrain myself from gushing about those eyes! Those cute cheeks! Can you believe that little teeny baby grew into this energetic, fun, funny, smart boy?!? Of course, that's what's SUPPOSED to happen, I KNOW that. Well done, nature. You've done a great job so far with this whole "growing up" thing.
So those pictures mark a "first" and "last" for Finn (and you can bet that the traditional "first day of school" photo will be shared here, too, once it has been captured). Now here is a photo of a "first" for Lucy:
Her first dance class!:
Sorry for the not-so-great pictures - Lucy was NOT in the mood to pose prior to heading out to her lesson. And I couldn't get any photos of her during class, as parents aren't allowed in the studio - we all sit out in the lobby and watch what is going on in the studio via a video monitor.
Lucy's class covers both ballet and tap. Is it ridiculous to buy tap shoes for a three-year-old? Maybe. But my heart is not-so-secretly thrilled that Lu is developing a love of dance - I took lessons for about 10 years LONG, long ago, and have fond memories of jetes and changemonts and pirouettes and shuffle-ball-changes... (and I'm sure I just spelled most of that wrong). Anyway, you get the picture. I think she looks adorable, and I am glad that we finally have a chance to concentrate on doing something that LUCY wants to do. Usually she just gets signed up for whatever activity Finn wants to do or, even worse, she just schleps around with us and watches Finn do an activity on his own.
You can get a sense in some of those pictures of how the hardwood floors turned out, but I will be back with a proper before and after post once we are done with Phase II of the project (did I mention there is a Phase II?), in which new tile is being installed on the kitchen floor. Which SHOULD be this week (I fervently hope, as currently my pantry is spread out over several chairs in the dining room, which doesn't exactly facilitate quick meal preparation. Not to mention the thick layer of dust coating all surfaces everywhere).
But first, I need to get myself to bed so I can be well rested for the parental heartbreak I am about to experience tomorrow. KINDERGARTEN - THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE, RIGHT?
Why do hotels go to the effort of putting huge flat screen TVs in each guest room, and then offer only a measly selection of low-definition channels to choose from? I was almost forced to watch a rerun of Two Broke Girls until I stumbled upon HGTV - it was not listed in the hotel room channel guide, so I can only assume that some higher being saw my need and came to my rescue. A frosty glass of rose (imagine an accent on the e, since I can't figure out how to put one there) can help with a lot of things, but not even that can make an episode of Two Broke Girls palatable.
So clearly, I'm in a hotel right now. Again. It's my fifth night alone in a hotel room over the last 9 days, and while I do treasure the occasional night away, I've way exceeded that limit. Thankfully, I drive home tomorrow (I'm not TOO far away), and then I'm done with work travel for a couple of months.
While I'm away from home, M. is overseeing the transition of this:
My living room
into something that will hopefully look more like this:
See the piles and piles of boxes in the first picture up there? During my trip last week, M. rented a truck, picked them up, and then carried them all one by one into the house. He hauled over 1500 pounds of materials all by himself. Now he's home alone again, handling emergency installation questions and decisions on the fly. Like the one where the workers had to change plans and lay some of the flooring on top of CARDBOARD (the same cardboard that the wood planks came in) because our subfloor was way too low in one part of the space. CARDBOARD. When the workers pulled up the carpet, it was discovered that some of the joists have sunk, and it was being masked by extra padding under our wall-to-wall carpeting. M. had to decide, once the carpet was already up, whether to stop the installation completely and put new carpet back down, to stop it and get a new subfloor installed ($$$), or go with... cardboard. Then, once he chose the cardboard option, sign a waiver saying that it's not the company's fault if we aren't happy with the installation.
If I was the one home, I probably would have panicked. Thank goodness he is the one that handled it instead. Love you, honey!
I'm not completely confident that I'll be walking into a house with fully installed, gorgeous hardwood floors tomorrow evening, but I'm HOPEFUL. It's too late to turn back now!
In other news, Finn starts Kindergarten a week from today. I have no idea if we are ready, but Finn clearly is. He is done, done, done with daycare, and excited to start at his new school. Friday we have an orientation for parents at the school, and then it's off to the races! Should be interesting to see how we adjust to a new daily routine - ALL of us.
A brand new Trapper Keeper properly adorned with a girl-appropriate photo. Like this one:
(I'm pretty sure I actually owned this exact one)
The excitement of wondering which friends would be in my classes for the year.
Picking out a new outfit to wear.
Denim. Waning sunlight. Leaves tinged with red and yellow.
A crisp edge to the air.
Oh, I love the beginning of the school year! Is that crazy? I mean, don't get me wrong, I really, REALLY like the start of summer, too. But there's just something so exciting and full of potential about the start of a school year.
So why do I have school on the brain down here, in the middle of summer, in muggy and humid Maryland, where the air is decidedly NOT crisp yet?
Because of this little big guy:
Finn's school offers a "Jumpstart" program for the Kindergarteners, and we more than happily enrolled him. For the next two weeks, he will be at the school from 8:30 until 11:30 everyday, doing some light schoolwork/activities, and meeting some of the teachers and other students. I LOVE that they offer this - not so much for the academic preparation, but for the social aspect. Finn's daycare is a good 10-15 minute drive from our neighborhood, well outside our school district. I know of only one other child in his daycare class that will be attending our elementary school - and with 5 kindergarten classes, the odds of them being in the same class are pretty low. So this will give Finn plenty of friendly faces to see on his first REAL day of school when it arrives in 5 weeks.
One day down, and he seems to be having fun. He was certainly excited about it - this shining face appeared in our bedroom at 5:58 this morning, convinced it was 7 am and time to get up:
I didn't exactly CRY when I dropped him off, though it was close. I had to walk by a few parents with my head down so they wouldn't see my watery eyes. But I figure by the end of the week (M. is on Jumpstart duty next week), I'll be a pro at the school drop off thing, and the first day of his actual Kindergarten class will be a piece of cake. Right?
The only challenging part is entertaining Finn each day once he's back home, as I balance keeping him occupied with my need to work. It was a little rough today, and I'm not terribly proud of the amount of TV I let him watch so that I could be on my computer. He's never been exactly KNOWN for his ability to entertain himself - quite the opposite, in fact. But we'll manage, I'm sure. Though I am thinking that perhaps taking the week at home with Finn that also coincides with an upswing in the, ahem, lady hormones, was not such a good idea. Live and learn.
Finn had a rough day at school on Wednesday, the kind of experience that makes my heart hurt for him. He was digging in a turtle sandbox out on the playground, one that is filled with mulch. Apparently, at the same time, some older boys were also using the sandbox to create a home for some baby worms they had found. I don't know the details (Did Finn get in their way? Did he try to dig up the worm home? Or was it unsolicited?), but the older boys yelled at Finn, told him to go away and find somewhere else to play. Finn CRIED his eyes out - his teacher told me she had never seen him so upset. By the time I got there to pick him up, he wasn't crying anymore, but he was still being wracked by the occasional body shudder - you know, the whimpering/lip quivering kind that is a sign of a really hard cry. He was still a little weepy when we got home and told M. all about it.
I'm not sure how old the boys were - from the looks of it, maybe about 4 or 5. Old enough to know how they SHOULD behave, but also young enough to be self-centered when it comes to playing. It's not really their fault - a teacher should have been supervising better. I'm a little PO'd that such a range of age groups plays on the playground at the same time, but then again, there are kids of all ages at our playground at home so it's something Finn needs to get used to.
For the rest of the night, all Finn could talk about was the older boys, and how sad they made him. M. and I tried to comfort him as much as we could, and let him know that the boys who yelled at him were naughty, that he could play in the sandbox if he wanted to... It was hard to know WHAT to say, really. It's obvious that he's a sensitive kid, at least right now. He's definitely inherited that from me, and so I just get all teary-eyed myself instead of giving Finn some useful advice. I just want to squeeze him and kiss him until he feels better - why doesn't that work!? Gah, I am SO in for it when Finn and Lucy get older - I just know I'm going to be suffering every time they experience a slight or a hurt feeling from a peer, probably more than they do!
There was no mention of the older boys last night, so hopefully after a nicer day on the playground yesterday the experience is quickly fading from Finn's memory. Why does it still stick in mine??
In Lucy news (which I don't want to broadcast far and wide for fear it was a total fluke), Lucy gave us uninterrupted sleep from 10:30 pm until 4:15 am last night. I don't expect it to repeat itself tonight, but I'm hoping we'll have a night like that every now and then so we can recharge.
Lucy has definitely been more awake and alert. She is starting to put up a fight for going down for naps, and she has been waking up every 2-3 hours (at least) to eat during the night. She's also still been having some gas/pooping issues, so I can't really brag anymore about how much free time we've had while on leave, or how easy she has been. She hasn't been hard, just not really easy, either.
We are still struggling a bit with feeding, too. Lucy is breastfeeding just fine - she latches very well. But I still don't have enough milk for her, so we are bottle-feeding and breastfeeding for each feeding, even the ones at night. It's a bit of a hassle, as each feeding takes about an hour, and there are all those bottles to prep and wash... Honestly I think every day about stopping the breastfeeding. But I feel that would be more for convenience than anything else, so I've been trucking along and trying to give her as much breast milk as I can, at least for now.
M. heads back to work on Monday, so we're all going to have to get back on to some sort of schedule (we meant to try today, but failed miserably - no one got out of bed until almost 7:30). Wish us luck!
A. and M. are two former lab rats who met in grad school, got married, left the bench, and settled in suburban D.C. A successful experiment in developmental biology resulted in a bouncing baby boy, Finn, in October 2006. He was joined in April 2009 by his little sister Lucy. Add to that a neurotically needy cat, lengthy commutes and the joys of homeownership, and there's never a dull moment! E-mail them at uncontrolledexp at gmail dot com.
