All About Angie

School Days, School Days

(NOTE: I typed this all up on Friday evening and then KA-BLAMMO! Internet went out, so I couldn’t post it until today….)

I remember a few years back when one of my good friends sent her first child off to kindergarten. I secretly thought, ‘That’s when you know you’re old, when you have a child in school.’ Ok, I take it back!! Well, this isn’t kindergarten, but we’re one year away.

The first day of school for Susanna was very momentous. I did not cry or even feel the urge, but I could feel like this was the beginning of something much bigger. We’ll see how that materializes. Anyway, I got Susanna and her sister up (the baby, of course, was already awake) and fed them breakfast and helped them dress per our usual daily routine. I then made my first (of many, I’m sure) lunch and packed it in the new “soccer ball” lunchbox (she has never played soccer in her life; frankly, I think she picked it because of the soccer-playing Dora episode). I loaded her lunch and other required items into the backpack (also conveniently Dorafied, do you see the theme here?), took her picture, and piled the necessary crowd into the van for the trip to school.

Once there, I was presented with the option to drop her off in the carpool line (convenient) or get EVERYONE out of the van and walk her in. Since it was her first day, we chose the walk in option (crazy, I know). When we got to the classroom door, I kissed her and all that and she just walked through that door and never looked back. It was very anti-climatic. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I couldn’t help but feel surprised at her nonchalant departure from me. I’ve raised you so far, you silly kid! At least act like you care even if you don’t remember me in an hour! When I left she was regaling the teacher with the intricacies of the all-encompassing Dora backpack (It’s got these cool pockets here, see?!).

When I came back to pick her up, she saw me and joyously squealed, “Momma!!!” Ok, that was worth it.

I asked her all about her day. What did you do first? Did you get to work on the computer? What did you have for snack? What did you do on the playground? What are the names of your new friends? The answer to all of these questions was the same. “I don’t know.” Ugh! I did find out from the contents of her shoe the answer to the playground question (sandbox). I guess I overwhelmed her.

Over the course of the week (3 days), she has revealed more details to me, but not because I’ve asked questions. I suppose she will go at her own pace. We have started having gab sessions. After school, I give her a light snack (like carrots or raisins or, God forbid, chocolate pudding) and we talk about the day. I hope these conversations will become a tradition for us as we go deeper into the educational process. In a few years, Lydia can join us and then Luke.

All in all, this is a good experience for me/us. By this time next year, Susanna will (hopefully) be prepared for kindergarten. Maybe I will too! HA HA HA!!!

What’s Going On In There?

Susanna’s first day of preschool was last Monday. I hope to blog about that in a bit, but first, here’s what Lydia and I worked on while Susanna was being edumacated….

Lydia’s dream for at least the last 6 months has been to learn to use the commode in the way in which it was intended. Well, 6 months ago, you may recall, I was 6 or so months pregnant. I had absolutely no energy and no patience (according to Mark-the husband, not the book). Enter baby 3 months ago. Now I’m a little short on time, considering the feeding protocol and all that baby jizz-jazz. Nevertheless, Lydia is desperately wanting to complete the mission, so to speak, so I told her when Susanna went to preschool, we would work on it.

The first day (Monday) was truly incredible. She had ONE accident all day long. ONE! I thought it would take a bit longer than 10 minutes (it took her sister almost a year) to learn this skill, but here she was. I was impressed. Impressed with her. And impressed with myself for being such a good teacher! Yay, me!

Then came Tuesday.

In the first hour of Hard Core Learning, she changed her undergarments approximately 9 times. Yes, 9. In ONE hour! I’m thinking it was because Susanna did not go to preschool that day and Lydia was too busy playing with her sister and distracted from her Learning. So to sum up: Pride really DOES go before a fall.

Oh yeah, so the whole reason I’m posting this is not about using the potty. It’s more about what happens AFTER Lydia uses the potty (or not). She has become completely infatuated with washing her hands. I say, “Let’s go use the potty!” and her response is always, “Yes and I can use the soap all by myself!” In an effort to steamline washing hands, some intelligent chump created liquid soap. Yay, soap chump! Anyway, Lydia is quite fond of the stuff in the pump dispenser. On Monday afternoon, I was feeding the baby when Lydia needed to use the potty. Reluctantly, I steeled myself for mess cleanup and allowed her perform her duties by herself. I could hear her completing all of the necessary tasks in perfect order. After what sounded like hand washing, I began to hear coughing. Almost like choking, but one or two levels down from that. I put the baby down and headed to the bathroom. When I got there, she was holding her hands to her mouth and bubbles were coming out of it. I said, “What happened?!” To which she coughed and replied, “I tasted the soap! It does NOT taste good!” I guess the Cucumber Melon scent was so good she couldn’t resist.

If the need ever arises, at least we know she can wash her own mouth out with soap!

More

Ah yes, THERE it is! The non-white-noise weedeater has finally revealed it’s happy self. And what’s that EXTRA noise? Oh! It’s the sound of smallish children prying themselves from the bed and grumping about. Even the baby (who loves a good vacuum cleaner sound to nap by) is making his cute (but way too early) squeaky sounds.

Yep. One of THOSE Days.

My apologies to anyone stopping by to look for something encouraging or uplifting. I’ll try to do better later!

Just More Ranting

Right now I’m sitting here getting preschool stuff together (today is Meet the Teacher Day) and WHAT IS THAT HORRID NOISE? Why, of course, it’s Friday morning. At 7am. It’s that silly next door neighbor’s LAWN GUY mowing and weedeating RIGHT OUTSIDE MY CHILDRENS’ BEDROOM WINDOWS.

Did I mention it’s 7am?

I think it’s going to be One of Those Days…..

Cousins

As I’ve already mentioned, we had a great time last week in Oklahoma. Part of the reason for this is because we were with Grandma and Grandpa. The other part of the reason is because we spent time with my sister and her son, “Baby Crewe”. The girls had a blast with not just one, but two (2) babies to play with. Crewe, being almost 4 months older than Luke, can roll over, almost sit up by himself and is on the verge of crawling (Blessings upon you, my sister). Somehow we managed to get the whole gang together at once when everyone was awake for a picture and here it is:

Crewe, Susanna, Luke, and Lydia on the couch

So Summer Camp 2004 was a smashing success!

Kind Words

Sometimes when I’m out and about with the kids, people will make comments along the lines of “Wow, you have 3 small children out in public with you and your hair looks like you’ve recently brushed it”. Well, some are not that kind or considerate. The comments I’ve heard a lot are (with my appropriate responses in parentheses):
“Gee, you’ve got your hands full!” (No kidding, please hold that door open for me). Also, “Are those girls twins?” (One is a whole head taller than the other…). My favorite rude comment has to be, “I’m glad it’s you and not me!!!” (Yeah, me too!!).

Well, this morning, I had to buy the last of the school supplies that Susanna will need for preschool next week. A very kind and sweet-hearted little elderly lady looked at my cart with all three kids in it and said, “I don’t know how you do it, but I’m sure glad you do!”

God bless that kind woman!

Back!

Last week, Mark had to go to Pittsburgh, PA on business (he only travels once a year on business, so I am not complaining), so I had a bright idea to pack up the kids and go to my parents’ house in Oklahoma. So that’s just what we did. And somehow I convinced my sister to pack up her 6 month old and come along for the whole week.

Since my parents live in an area of dial-up abyss, I was not able to post anything. Well, I probably could have, but we were having too much fun. That and the fact that I have forgotten my MT password (it’s bookmarked and saved on this computer) somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind. Sounds like a good Country & Western song, but I digress….

ANYWAY….the weather was delightful. And in August in Oklahoma, “weather” and “delightful” can never be spoken in the same sentence under penalty of taking up residence at the local looney bin. The average temperature for the entire week was in the mid to upper 70s. One night, we were even treated to a severe thunderstorm complete with hail (I say “treated”, because I’m a meteorologist’s wife and if I don’t, they revoke my Meteorologist’s Wife License). It was really nice to sit outside almost every evening and enjoy the weather. My parents have a nice front porch for sitting, gabbing, and taking pictures–the latter of which happened a lot, esp. of the children. Their house is located on a busy street, but with a nice large front yard. Large enough for the kids to play safely in the yard, but with a great vantage point to view folks as they drive by. Most were either speeding or picking their nose (really!) or talking on a cell phone. It’s really amazing what people do in their cars when they think no one is watching! This is really a completely different blog in and of itself, but suffice to say one should never consider the confines of one’s vehicle as non-public space.

We spent the lovely weather going to the park (where Susanna ate sand and Lydia managed to thoroughly soak the picnic blanket with her bottled water), walking downtown, and going to storytime at the Library. One thing we didn’t do was swim. It was just too cold! I had even planned ahead by bringing swimsuits and life jackets, but it was not to be. Not that we were complaining! We had plenty to do. Even made a side trip to Enid, Oklahoma to visit with my bestest buddies from college. Between the three of us, we now have 8 kids!

A few nights, we put the kids to bed and then got out the videos from when we were kids and the old slides of my parents and grandparents and their various adventures. Really, the whole week was a trip down memory lane for me. It was all the fun of growing up without all those necessary spankings.

As of right now, “Grandma Detox” is in full swing. (”Grandma Detox” is the process of purging the spoilage from the children, i.e., reinstating the rules, sugar cleansing–though they didn’t get loaded up this time, clearing that flash-bulb effect from their little eyes, etc.) For some reason, it does not seem as difficult as in the past. I think that’s a good sign.

Well, that’s where I’ve been the last week or so. I was hoping that someone kept the blog warm enough so that it did not spoil. Looks like not. Ah, well.

More later…..and maybe even some pics. We’ll see.