Toast 2 Mom

The Caves

I got to be (sort of) that fly on the wall today for Sydney at Kindergarten. Today was her first field trip, and I volunteered to be a field trip helper. When I finished telling the Hubby about the day, I realized just how exhausted Sydney's Kindergarten teacher must feel every night. These little five and six year olds take a lot of work....but they are a lot of fun!

The field trip was to the Inner Space Caverns. There were six classes that went; so each class had to take a turn down into the caves. Sydney's class was the last class. So when we got there, it was lunch right away (at 10 a.m.). Then the kids had some time to play outside. Each volunteer parent was in charge of roughly three kids. It was a way to just make sure the kids were kind of grouped. I had Sydney and two of her best girlfriends. I really enjoyed watching these little triplets in action. I think they all have the same mannerisms. 

Also as a volunteer, I got a list of activities/ideas to do with the kids while we were waiting. There were things listed like I Spy and 20 questions and things like that. I started with a few word games, but you could feel the energy....and games were a must. So I ended up playing Red Light Green Light, Mother May I, Steal the Bacon and Freeze Tag. I started with my little group of three and ended up with a group of ten. 

The most fascinating thing for me was watching all of the personalities in action. Some were competitive, some cried, some cheated, some quit, some followed the rules exactly, some bent them, some understood them, some made up their own. There were many different dynamics between the boys and girls. But one constant is that they are all silly! 

I had a great time! It was so fun to relive some of the games from my grade school days, see my daughter in action, run around, play and then ultimately be looked up to as the "one who knew what to do next". Good times!

Babies Kitchen Soccer

In that order, that was our weekend. The Hubby is out of town, and I anticipated a very busy weekend of unpacking into our new kitchen. We are seconds away from being totally complete (but really, when is any house project totally complete?) I was going to spend the weekend trying to figure out what should go where....but bigger duties called.

A friend of ours was scheduled Monday to be induced. Her mother in law was arriving Saturday. But baby had bigger plans. I was always a "back up," but the liklihood didn't seem likely -but it was. My friend has two other children. So on Friday I went over to their house while Mom and Dad bee-lined for hospital. On Friday night I played babysitter to four kids, ages, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Yeah, I ordered pizza.

Saturday life got back to "normal" around noon after we saw the new bundle of baby joy. The girls and I came back home to our own chaos of kitchen clean up. I hoped to get done more than I did, but it's better than yesterday. So I gotta go with that.

Then today was Cheekers' first soccer game. The photo below is when it was a happy time. I have to remind myself, and often, that Natalie is not Sydney. They are different girls, with different interests and different approaches to life and different strategies of living. There were many o days of Sydney's beginning soccer experiences where she stood on the field and stood only. Well, Cheekers has that part mastered. I think she spent more time looking at the dirt on her shoes than at the soccer ball. I am going to mark this one down as "no nap Natalie" and see where we go next week.

It's hard because a) she's three b) she wanted to do soccer two monhs ago when we signed up, but that was two months ago c) she's three. The Hubby and I are clear on one thing, you sign up, you finish it. And finishing it means we expect you participate along the way. Natalie is a more headstrong individual. I sent a text to the Hubby as he couldn't make this first game saying, "it's going to be a long soccer season." I hope I'm wrong and next week is better. But before the cold front blew in, here is a happy #49!

P.S. I'll try to be better blogging this week. I've been kind of a writing slacker.

 

A Story For Each of Them

I have a story to share about each of my girls today. It seems by these tales that maybe Mommy doesn't know everything that is going on all the time like I thought. :) I'll elaborate.

I'll start with Sydney. Yesterday I went to a playdate at a Mom's house. There were five of us moms there  - each with our child just starting Kindergarten and all in the same class. A few of us knew each other. A couple of us were new introductions. We were each sharing our stories about the first week of Kindergarten. "Oh Sydney loves that or Sydney doesn't like that as much." Eventually this mom that I've met before only briefly says, "so your daughter is Sydney." We were also learning the names of each child for association as well. I said, "yes, Sydney's mine." She said with chagrin, "oh I've already heard about Sydney." I think my cheeks then turned a bit pink at this point. I had no idea what this meant. In my mind, I didn't think that meant my child's name went to the office already - but I couldn't understand her remark.

I said, "oh, you've heard of Sydney?" She said, "yes, I have a colored picture of her at my house." So the story goes, apparently her son drew a picture of Sydney behind bars in a jail as the result of Sydney telling this boy that "girls rule and boys drool!" So as punishment to Sydney, this boy drew a picture of her behind bars during free color time at school.

Oh boy!

Now the even better part to this story is when I picked Sydney up yesterday, I told her about my Mommy playgroup and who all was there. I told her that this boy's mom was there. With a smirk on her face, she said, "oh his mom was there." I said, "yes, and I heard that you told him girls rule and boys drool." Sydney responds with yet another smirk, "yeah, I told him that."

So for all of these days thus far that I've picked her up and asked about her day, well I've yet to get any good stories like that!  I'm looking forward to my pick up today to see who this boy is....

Now, Cheekers' story. During her "quiet" day times at home while big sis is at school, Cheekers has been enjoying partaking in some dress up. She is pretty into her fashion and likes to change her clothes a few times a day. I typically don't encourage this, but she seemed to be responsible about it. My rule was that for every outfit she changes, she has to hang the old outfit back up. I don't want to spend my day hanging clothes - and she can do it.

Well last night, I went into her closet to put some laundry away. One of her shoes fell off the shelf and onto the floor. I bent over to pick it up. Her hanging clothes are on a bar lower to the ground. So they hang pretty low. When I bent over to get the shoe, I saw about five dresses wadded up into balls and shoved at the back of the closet.... "the Natalie version" of hanging up clothes, I guess!

So this week has been a bit enlightening for me. Perhaps some foreshadowing for my future - issues with boys, clothes and being sneaky! Ahh, they start early these days!

Yes, I'm here to brag

It's pretty well known that blogs are a space for people to share positive stories, optimistic tales and over-eager ambitions. Sometimes they get slack for being too optimistic. As if we don't use the space to be "real" and therefore come across as too unrealistic to live up to.

Well I know that I have had that feeling in visiting some blogs ...how do they get all that done and still be a mother? How can their house look that good? How do they have time for that? Seriously, their kids really behave that well in public? Yada, yada.

Today is not a day I'm going to tip-toe around life. Today I'm here to straight up brag about my kid! :) With the worries of Kindergarten that lingered in my mind for weeks leading up to this week, I am so happy to say my child is kicking Kindergarten in the butt! :)

Yesterday she came running out of the school and immediately showed me a new bracelet on her wrist. I said, "ohh, what's this?" She said, "it's a bracelet my teacher gave me today." I looked down as the bracelet had words printed around it. It said, "I am a role model for my friends." I said, "oh that is so nice, Sydney. Did your teacher pass these out to all the kids today?" Syd replied, "no, Mommy, I was the only one that got one. I was the only one listening to (my teacher) at this time of the day and she gave this to me for doing a good job."

Well, you could just see my parental glow after learning these details. The Hubby and I were enjoying high five moments with our girl last night for successfully acclimating to the new school and demonstrating just how ready she is. We are SO proud of her.

Now I know there are many vulnerable, rough and not proud moments ahead. (Here's my moment of reality.) But for today, yes, we are bragging parents.

 

There She Goes

The day is finally upon us. No more fresh powder baby smell. No more swaddling. No more rocking this baby to sleep. No this girl of mine, my baby, my first born, has grown up in a speedy flash of light that I never expected would be so fast - only cliche. But it is true. 

Today I dropped this beautiful, smart, funny, witty, inquisitive, competitive, assertive, confident young girl of mine off to her first day of Kindergarten. And now I wait and count the hours, minutes, seconds of the day for her to come home and tell me everything she experienced.

After she walked away, I couldn't help but wonder and worry - did I tell her everything she needs to know?

I know, I know. I'm not sending her off to college. I'll see her later today. But since birth, time feels like it's been leading up to this moment - this milestone of life.

And within me, some prayers begin to surface. Please keep my child independent - continue her characteristic of confidence in her own interests and kindness of sharing and teaching, therefore making genuine friends along the way. Please let her find new experiences as ways of growing and becoming stronger. Please let her days be filled with that toothless wonder grin of hers. Please let her feel safe and be safe. Please let her learn and understand daily all that she is capable of. Please let her feel how proud we are.

I am one blessed Mommy!
(Ok, gotta go re-do my make-up now :)

 

Can't....It's a School Night

We are officially experiencing a real school night tonight. Tomorrow morning, my girl will be school-bound. Today was Kindergarten orientation.

There were mixed emotions among my wee pupil. She told me on the drive over that she was nervous. When we arrived at the school, we went directly to the cafeteria where all parents and new Kindergarteners were to go. The room was packed. There are six Kindergarten classes. The total classroom size is roughly 22 students.

When we sat down, we recognized some familiar faces from pre-school, swim team and around the neighborhood. I'm glad we have done some of the activities we have, or I might have felt as nervous as Sydney did.

The principal spoke about arrival and dismissal tomorrow. Then she introduced the teachers. Shortly after that, all of the kids, filed down the hallways to their classroom. Sydney's eager, leader,  and assertive side kicked in as we walked to the classroom. She kept tugging on my arm to "hurry up". She really like to be first - I mean really!

We walked in and met her teacher. She is very nice. Sydney had to find her name at one of the assigned tables. Sydney is at a table with three other boys. If this had been Natalie, that would have been a bad scene (as Cheekers, not a fan of "mean boys"). With Sydney, she's going to fit right in, show those boys the ropes.

The teacher went over several bits of information with us parents about what to expect. The one thing that keeps ringing in my ears is that when we drop our child off tomorrow, we have to drop them off at the front door and not escort them to the classroom. Sure, torture me right away....just rip the bandaid off, why don't ya!

We found Sydney's backpack and lunch box cubby. We found her name at several spots around the room. So I'm eager to hear all about what each of those name stations stand for.

But tonight, was an early bed night, the first of many.  

I've packed the lunch. I've laid out the clothes. I've got breakfast ready to go. I've set the alarm. And morning will be here soon....

 

What Can I Say?

Well, what can I say? Was it over 100 degrees here again today - yep. Are we still without a kitchen and tired of eating sandwiches and Clif bars - yep. Is there still a lot of dust flying around - yep. Am I bitter - nope. I'm really not. But the day to day is a lot of the same.

Eight more days until school starts, and I seem to grow more sentimental by the hour of this inevitable.

The girls and I went to the gym this morning. We dined on Subway sandwiches for lunch. We picked up some more stone for our new floors. We then signed up Sydney for a dance class which will begin mid-September. I did some household maintenance, while the girls played when we got home. Then we endured about 15 minutes of outdoor play time before racing in to the air conditioner. I made a Boca chicken patty for Natalie for dinner and a hot dog for Sydney for dinner in the toaster over. They also got yogurt. Daddio got home, we shared our day with him. Now I'm trying to be a good girl and write a bit. Later this evening I will be grouting tile.

We are at the point of summer, though, where we need to establish a bedtime routine. Last night the girls went to bed at 10:00 and woke up this morning about 8:00. That is not going to work when Sydney needs to be at school by 7:30. So tonight we begin our school bedtime routine. Boo hoo.

And that, folks, has been our day. A couple photos....