Pre-Party

Around 2:30 this afternoon the leaf pile in our front yard was the place to be. More about Harper's birthday celebration tomorrow, for now, please enjoy:

Start Celebrating

Family members have arrived in town because we are kicking off Harper's week of birthday celebration tomorrow. Uncle Joe and my parents, sister, and sister-in-law were here for dinner this evening. One birthday present to me was that I didn't have to cook (for today). I also received some gifts this evening. I have two new Christmas CDs (before long it will be time for the giveaway!) and some new shirts from Land's End. I also got a new wool "swing coat" from my very generous parents. It has been a long time since I've had a nice coat to wear for church or other occasions that require me to go beyond my old fleece. It was the perfect type of gift because I can really use it, but would have had a difficult time spending that much money on something for myself.

Tonight I've been baking and preparing meat for the tacos we'll eat tomorrow. For our family celebration Harper requested brownies - so no cake drama this year. I'm very thankful to have a little break from that.

I'm barely able to keep my eyes open enough to create coherent sentences here, but I'm keeping the streak alive.

(Michael is talking, loudly, in his sleep about Clifford the Big Red Dog.)

Back tomorrow, maybe with birthday party pictures?

Full Moon

Michael has been in a MOOD today.

We have up to half an hour between Harper's school drop off time and his, sometimes we use that time to run a quick errand. Today I told him we had to drive through and mail something at the post office... His reply? 

"Awwww. Can't you just do it by yourself? I want to go right. TO. SCHOOL!"

However this same child looked up at me as I was walking him in to school and said, "I like you the best Mommy."

I don't know if these fluctuations in temperament are due to the full moon, to age 3.5, maybe to the huge shift in our weather over the last 24 hours... 

Michael's Jekyll and Hyde thing has had me slightly worried about our prospects for getting a good family photo at the portrait studio tonight, fortunately it ended up working out okay.

We're about to have a houseful of company as we celebrate Harper's birthday this coming weekend. Next weekend we're having a second party with some of her friends from school. Wish us luck!

(P.S. Both Matt and I are still a tiny bit jumpy - one little mouse can really get into your brain.)

Ding Dong the Mouse is Dead!

Mouse-Invasion 2011 is, at least temporarily, over!

Hoorah!

Oh you guys, I handled this in a completely ridiculous way. I KNEW I was being ridiculous and yet I couldn't help myself. Ah well, apparently I'm not going to be a mouse tamer in this lifetime.

We are already laughing about this, but trust me, if another furry friend shows up I will be right back on top of a chair, wishing Matt well from a distance.

In the madness of the great mouse chase I managed to grab the camera and get a photo of our two mouse hunters...

They were... not that much help.

Remember how we attempted to "lock" the mouse in our bedroom? When we briefly opened the door to get clothes and brush teeth this morning we saw no sign of the mouse. I was convinced that it had crawled into the heating ducts and would reappear in any room at any time.  Well Matt went into the bedroom to change after dinner (we'd kept the door closed with a towel stuffed under it all day) and the mouse appeared on the floor next to my dresser.

Matt grabbed a bucket and dustpan and the kids and I stood with various containers in the hallway - backup in case the mouse got through Matt. Apparently the mouse had been moving a bit when Matt first spotted it, but by the time he was prompting it into the bucket he said he thought it was dead. We put a garbage bag over the bucket, dumped the mouse in, double bagged it for insurance (?), and took that thing to the garage (garbage day is tomorrow).

What the heck did the mouse die of? Did it starve in our room? Is that even possible?

Since none of the four traps we've laid out have been touched I'm choosing to believe that this guy was operating solo. BUT I'm still going to leave the traps set for now, and we're still going to have our pest control company come and take a look on Friday.

All's well that ends well? Let's home so, Mama needs some sleep tonight!

Oh Dear

We have a mouse.

I saw it as we were finishing dinner.

I could write a lengthy post about our Mousecapades this evening, but I'm too pooped.

It is currently blockaded in our bedroom with two traps. Matt and I are sleeping in the living room and hoping maybe the mouse will be caught by morning...

I'll let you know.

Giant parenting fail tonight as I squealed like a little girl, many times, whenever I spotted the mouse.

Harper has been awake three times already crying/worrying about it.

Michael was upset he didn't get a chance to catch it himself...

I KNOW the mouse won't hurt me, but this situation is causing me a fair amount of STRESS.

Help Wanted

I have a long list of things I was going to do tonight but my motivation has kind of waned and I was just thinking I would head to bed when I realized I hadn't posted yet. Drat!

Short on inspiration for today I am wondering if you could help me with two small problems.

#1: I had a recipe for pork tenderloin that I wanted to try. The piece of meat Matt brought home was huge, so I cut it up and froze half of it. The first half turned out great. Today I thawed the second half and prepared it the same way. Part of it cooked great, but about a 1/3 of it was undercooked - the cooked and undercooked portions were separated by a vein (?) of fat... So what happened? It was very strange and I'm  not sure how to avoid such a thing in the future. If I'd cooked it longer, then 2/3 of it would have been overdone... What's that about? (If I'm not cooking w/ chicken, turkey, or ground beef I'm a little out of my element)

#2: I have a volunteer position at Harper's elementary school this year that requires me to send a LOT of email. I have noticed that email to Road Runner addresses will randomly be bounced back to me. It only happens w/ Road Runner emails and it isn't always with the same accounts. (I have Yahoo email) The worst part is that sometimes the bounced emails don't come back to me until a couple of days after I'd sent them.  You can imagine this is a problem, especially because we are often dealing with time sensitive situations. Anyone know why that might happen and how I can stop it?

Please help our mom not give us food poisoning with her delicious but unevenly cooked pork. And deliver her from bounced emails. Amen.

Honor Flight

I have been waiting for what feels like MONTHS to write about this one...

This weekend my father accompanied my grandfather on an Honor Flight.  It is a really cool program that flies veterans to Washington DC so they can see their memorials during their lives.

Even though we were far away and couldn't be at the airport to meet the veterans as they returned to Milwaukee we still got to participate. On the flight my grandfather was given a packet of letters written by friends and family - just like mail call when he served.

I just had to share the items that Harper made to be included with our letters - I scanned them before sending them off.

First, a drawing:

Apparently Harper's idea of "soldier" is stuck back in the 18th century. I love the hat!  And the fact that the guy is marching into battle with nothing but a flag. Please notice the moon reflected in the pond and the cattails, which Harper called, "You know, the plants that look like hot dogs." The black lines on the background hill are more soldiers marching.

She also wrote her own letter, with minimal input from me. You can click on it to read it more clearly:

Finally I have a photo I yoinked from my brother's Facebook page (hope you don't mind Jamie!). It was taken after my grandfather arrived back in Wisconsin.

I'm sorry I couldn't be there to welcome Grandpa home, but I'm glad we had the chance to send our thoughts in letter form. And I'm grateful we have a large wonderful family, many of whom were there to meet him. (Family members! Feel free to add your thoughts/experiences in the comments!)

Thank you Grandpa.

Weekend

We're having the perfect kind of weekend around here - things to do, but not too many.

Today Matt took Harper downtown for a performance in a family theater series we subscribed to - they saw a percussion show. Think Stomp for kids... While they did that, Matt's father took Michael to a local arena for a train show - he was in heaven! Since I was child free for a couple of hours I did some damage at Hallmark. I was able to get our ornaments for this year, holiday wrapping paper, gift tags, and the birthday and anniversary cards I need for the next three months. It was incredibly pleasant to do all of that without worrying about what little hands were finding while I was distracted.

Tonight we are having another couple over to our house to play a card game that is well loved in our family. It's not a big or fancy affair, but I'm thrilled at the idea of more social time with adults. I feel like I should have something larger planned, since they are going to the trouble of getting a babysitter and everything. Hopefully we'll have enough fun that they'll think it was worthwhile.

Tomorrow afternoon Harper has basketball at the rec center and I'm planning on taking her to a local children's theater production of Gooney Bird Green. Between children's theater, community theater, and high schools in this area I think we could see a different show every weekend!

We'll round things out by having dinner with Matt's parents tomorrow night.

This will be our last sort of "easy" weekend this month. Birthday celebrations will take place over the next two weekends, followed by Thanksgiving weekend in Wisconsin. Before we know it DECEMBER will be here! Time flies.

And speaking of time flying, check out this growing up smile:

You may not be able to tell without enlarging the photo, but Harper has finally lost those first eight baby teeth. Her middle front ones are nearly all the way in and she continues to look ridiculously grown up to me... She will be seven in less than two weeks. In related news, I'm old.

A Thank You, An Answer, A Costume

A Thank You:

You were all so nice to me after yesterday's post... That was sweet of you. I was basically boo-hooing because my child isn't perfect. Thank you for your support, but you should know I have taken my head out of my a$$!

One thing Harper's teacher said that I LOVED and is so true - if you list the traits you admire in adults and then give them to a six-year-old they aren't quite as desirable. I think all the things that make Harper difficult to parent and teach at times will serve her really well as an adult.

Moving on...

An Answer:

Bluedaisy had asked how I handle keeping Michael entertained while I do homework with Harper... My horribly unhelpful answer is I do it by the grace of God...  Seriously. The most difficult part of doing homework with Harper is that she's sometimes too pooped to want to do it after school. Michael is (again, BY  THE GRACE OF GOD) either happy to sit at the table with us and look at his books or color OR he will go into the computer room (w/in earshot) and play with trucks and toys by himself. If he's feeling needed/cranky he will insist on sitting on my lap while I help Harper. Not really a problem. The most disruptive he usually is is when he "reads" his books out loud at the table, interrupting Harper. Then we just ask him to go read in another room and he generally complies.

I do not know what to tell you to have this experience translate into your home... have only two kids? Make sure the second kid is pretty mellow and easily entertained?

Again, not helpful! Sorry!

A Costume:

I didn't get very many guesses as to what Harper dressed as for Halloween. Which makes me think you aren't really all that concerned about it, but I'm going to explain anyway. I'm stubborn like that. Now you know where Harper gets it!

So it all started because Michael was going to wear the same dragon costume as last year - Harper wanted to dress up as something that would go with his dragon... we talked about it and she finally decided to go as a storybook character - The Paper Bag Princess. Emily was right!

If you don't know The Paper Bag Princess, you should. It was first published 30 years ago but the story really holds up - a great early girl power story. My copy is from way back in my camp counselor days. It's still a terrific read.

Unfortunately it is not a very well known book because NO ONE knew what Harper was for a Halloween. One guy said, "Oh look! A UPS package..."

Fortunately she didn't seem to mind. Do we win any points for creativity?

First Grade

We had parent teacher conferences at Harper's school tonight. And I don't know what to think about how our conference went.

I will say this, Harper's teacher this year definitely knows Harper better than any teacher she's ever had. And her teacher is willing and able to work hard to meet Harper where her needs are, which is awesome. All of this is good.

She also called Harper out on all the things she does that drive us crazy at home - being bossy, wanting to do things only her way, be so confident that she's inadvertently hurting others' feelings... I don't think she's a big problem child in the classroom. I do think she's going to have an adjustment period with Mrs. B who is going to hold her to a higher standard of behavior and really push her academically as well.

I think this year, even more than in the past, some of Harper's less admirable traits are coming forward in school and that's frustrating because of course I want her to show her best self to the world.

Don't get me wrong - I feel like Harper's teacher appreciates her and enjoys teaching her. Our conference was mostly positive. But there is a small part of me that worries that I have failed her in some way. Yes, the academic stuff is important, but I just want her to be a kind person - if I can't teach her that I think I've missed a critical part of what this mom gig is all about.

(It's also possible that I'm having an overly emotional response to all of this because I have been up too late every night this week.)

I'll begin by saying that we got a really late start on Halloween this year. So late that I didn't even bother getting any of my Halloween decorations out - I left them in the bin and went straight for the Thanksgiving stuff... Matt and I were at a family wedding in Wisconsin the third weekend in October so we didn't procure pumpkins until Friday evening and then we only got one large one to carve - it seemed silly to carve two of them only to have them sit on the porch for less than a week.  

It turned out to be a good thing we didn't get two for carving. The children were very cranky Saturday morning and ended up fighting and being removed from the kitchen. Matt more or less carved the pumpkin solo this year. He's a good sport.

Happy family before the madness.

In our community Trick-or-Treat was held on the 31st. This is not always the case. Our school district decided to have their celebrations on the 31st as well. Having all of this on a Monday was kind of a nightmare, but at least it is over for this year!

Here's a photo of Harper in her school's Halloween parade. The K-3 students dress up and parade around the school while the 4th and 5th grade students, and the parents, provide a captive audience. There are about 600 children in Harper's school so this is a big event.

After the parade, students went back to their classrooms for room parties. In Harper's first grade class each student had one pumpkin-shaped cookie to decorate with a small amount of frosting and a mini box of raisins. They also had water bottles, tube yogurt (which I think is disgusting, but not exactly horrible for them), and bananas. There's been a big push at our elementary school to have healthier snacks and not so much junk at parties - between that and the food allergies we tried to be really conscious about what was served. The kids did get to stir yellow and red food coloring into their white blob of frosting to see it turn orange - a little science thrown into the mix!

For any of you wondering - I made the pumpkin shaped cookies so they'd be allergy safe. I also spoke to the parents bringing in other food for the party and checked all the labels. It was great to have an event where all the food was safe for Harper and no one brought out any surprise candy that she couldn't have (which happened last year). I may have to write more at some point about how we've handled the allergy thing this year because there are lots of pieces to it, but this year we have an awesomely supportive group of families. (We had great support last year too, but the group was less aware as a whole, I'm not sure why.)

*****

Of course after school and after dinner it was begging for candy time!

I think Michael's costume was testosterone infused... Two minutes after he put it on he started to roar and smash stuff - he actually broke the pumpkin bucket he was supposed to collect candy in by slamming it into our kitchen wall. Next year I'm going to make him dress up as a pillow.

Some of you already know what Harper's costume was, but if I haven't told you, want to take a guess? I'll share the answer later this week.

The spooky pumpkin Matt carved while the kids were pouting.

The bottom picture shows Harper and Michael with some of their "safe" candy. We just confiscate the stuff they can't have and trade them something else for it. This year Michael got two cars and Harper got the DVD of a horrible Annie sequel that she loves (I found the DVD for $6 months ago and stashed it away for this very purpose). 

This post has gone on long enough - I'm not a huge fan of Halloween and the allergy stuff does not make that any easier - but the kids were smiling at the end of it so I guess we've done our job!

NaBloPoMo

Well hello there!

So it is National Blog Posting Month. My recent track record would suggest that it is next to impossible for me to post every day for a month.

I signed up anyway.

I wanted to begin with a post about our Halloween, but I cannot find the camera to download the photos. A Halloween post is better with photos. So maybe tomorrow?

I would have started this post this morning but I was too busy cleaning up after the dog. He ate a bunch of Hershey Kisses so I had to induce vomiting and then clean up the evidence of his Halloween binge. That was fun. In a related note, I don't think I'll be eating Hershey Kisses anytime soon.

Life has been crazy here, mostly in good ways, stick around this month and you might hear more about it.

When NaBloPoMo comes around I'm especially interested in your questions, so go ahead and ask away! As long as they aren't too difficult. My brain is fried.

Michael's First Disney Trip

So I don't post for a week and a half and I come back to find the Blogger has gone crazy! I am not sure I like this new look (from the composing side) but I suppose I can get used to it... Right now it seems so bright I swear my eyes are hurting.

ANYWAY.

I have been meaning to post a little about our trip for, oh, about a month now, and just couldn't think of a way to tackle it. My ultimate decision is to throw a lot of pictures and sparse commentary at you. I like the way Carrie talked about their summer trip as it related to each of her children, so I'm stealing that idea from her.

And away we go:

This was our first character experience - Harper has Michael hooked around the neck so he'll stay close enough to be in the photo.

By the end of the third day, Michael asked for his OWN photo with Cinderella... Watch out ladies!

It is difficult to work napping into a Disney vacation, but sometimes you just have to close your eyes.

We rode the WDW Railroad several times per Michael's request. Every time he had to be reminded that it did not go fast, nor did it go through any dark tunnels!

I'm pretty sure this is waiting to ride It's a Small World. One of the few rides during which no one was scared of anything. We managed to ride it several times as well.

Aladdin's Magic Carpets was the first ride Michael experienced. Here he is with Matt, ride 2 or 3 of about 10 (not in a row).

The white trams that take people from the parking lots to the park entrances were some of Michael's favorite things. He loved them so much we brought a die cast model home with us. Matt says in a couple of years we'll go to Orlando, pay for Disney parking, and give Michael a thrill by riding the transportation around for a week. Who needs Mickey?

Michael was a trooper staying awake for a couple of evening shows and parades. He used that light up Mickey sward to fight bad guys, from the safety of our seats, during Fantasmic. As soon as things got scary he shouted, "Give me my sword!"

For my tastes, three years old is still a little on the young side for enjoying the Disney experience to its fullest (see riding transportation comment, above). Having said that, Michael enjoyed himself more than I ever dreamed he would.

Little things I want to remember about him from our trip:

• Asking, as soon as we got on every ride, "How do we get off?" I think he was worried we'd ride off into something and never come back.
• During our experience with Soarin' Michael loudly, and repeatedly, asked, "Are we in a mooh-vee?" Sorry about that other riders.
• He told every single character that signed his autograph book, "Well we're stayin' at a condo..." And none of them could understand him. He also asked urgently for his book back if they didn't sign it at lightning speed.

Friday Morning

I'll remember this, I think, like a marble in a jar, and have it to take out and hold when he is grown and surly and bristles at my touch. I will have this perfect autumn morning, sitting on a park bench, watching him battle monsters with a stick. When the beasts are vanquished he crunches through dried leaves, pin-balling from one slide to the next, then pushes imaginary friends on playground swings until they are all in motion. Swinging ghost children that I will recall when my own babies are in far away places. He talks to a cast of characters, not the least bit bothered by the absence of other children.

I will remember his brown shorts and the light blue and gray jacket he wears because there is a chill in the September morning air. He is Christopher Robin, this park his Hundred Acre Wood, and I can sit, watching, a little removed, because he is a big boy now and doesn't need a shadow to keep him from plummeting from the high places.

I will remember the sounds of the squirrels and the wind in the trees. The surprising volume of the falling leaves hitting the ground, the specific thud of acorns. I will remember the golden quality of the light, the type of light that makes me feel like I am living in a movie flashback, all colors softened.

I will remember this contentment and feeling happy in this moment. I will remember this peace.

I will remember this, I think, but even as I think it I know it isn't true. It will float away like so many other memories of their childhoods. So I will write it down. I will put a pin in the map of our lives.

We were here.

Talking with the Children

I was teasing Michael tonight as we were getting ready for bed and I told him he should just go ahead and go to be with no clothes or diaper on...

"I can't do that!" he squealed. 

"Why not?" I asked him.

"Because then I'll be naked in the morning time silly!"

Telling it like it is! 

*****

Last week Harper says to me, "It's a lot of work being a mom..." Something she observed as I was making dinner/helping with homework? The she said, "What if I grow up and God gives me a baby but I'm not sure I want one?"

*****

So, yeah, the conversations I have with Michael and the conversations I have with Harper are pretty different these days.

Sous Chef

To appreciate this post you need to know two things:

1) It's been months since I baked bread.

2) I am not a good enough cook/baker to necessarily notice if something seems strange as I'm doing it.

As we often do on Sunday evenings, we planned to have dinner with my in-laws last weekend. I offered to cook because I wanted to be at home while the Packers were on television (not a given in Ohio). Fresh bread sounded good to me so I planned on making some to enjoy with our dinner. Harper was being kind of irritating (not her fault, just comes with being six!) and I invited her to help me by way of distraction.

The kind of bread we were making is cheater's bread because it begins in the bread machine, but you end up baking it in your own pans so it doesn't have a weird bread machine shape or a hole in the bottom. I let Harper help put the ingredients into the bread machine and I happen to set the binder containing the recipe on the other side of the kitchen so I had her reading the (very simple) ingredients to me.

Harper had some trouble conveying the amounts when fractions were involved (1 1/4 tsp salt, for example), but reads pretty well so I trusted what she was telling me. We put hot water, bread flour, salt, sugar, and, finally, yeast into the machine, turned it on, and let it go to work. A few minutes later I looked at the bread machine and was surprised to see that the little window wasn't all fogged up like usual. I looked a little more closely and noticed the dough didn't look right, in fact, it looked more like batter.

I decided to pull out the recipe and double check - maybe Harper hadn't conveyed something correctly?

I knew right away was the problem was. Harper had confidently read to me, "1 cup sugar." I didn't question this, no fractions, and both the words "cup" and "sugar" were easy enough. Unfortunately what the recipe actually said was, "1 tsp. sugar." Just a slight difference there!

We had frozen dinner rolls with our meal. (It was too late to start over.)

I think Harper's going to have to do some more baking with me this winter - and we'll read the recipes together.

Reentry

Er.

Hi!

It has been nearly two weeks since I last posted, which is a new low for me. Life just gets away, you know? It is easy to kind of toy with the idea that I might need to put this on the back-burner for a bit. But then thinking about it, I really don't want to abandon the blog. So here we are.

Some things that have happened:

• We took the kids on a surprise trip to Disney World. It was awesome! It was super HOT. The kids were surprised but we don't have a great "reveal" moment, because Harper was mostly just annoyed that we weren't giving her enough time to tell us about her school day. I might post the video anyway.
• The brand new van that we drove to Florida had some kind of computer glitch on the way home, one hour north of Orlando. We had to get it checked out before we could keep driving home. So the two legs of our trip home ended up being one hour and fourteen hours. The fourteen hour leg was a little rough. (The van is fine but what the heck Honda?)
• Michael woke up sick the last day of our trip. We spent the first day home at Urgent Care - croup! So he missed another day of school, oops.
• Harper didn't get sick until the Friday after we came home.
• I'm still trying to determine whether I'm getting sick. Stay tuned.
• I went with Harper's class on a field trip to a fruit farm. It rained most of the time. It POURED while we were on the hayride. It was memorable. 
• My mom was planning to come visit the week we got home (last week). She actually got to our house before we did, and cleaned it! Now that is a good surprise. My mom is awesome. 

I'm sure there are other things, but that's what is at the front of my brain. I missed you!

Busy

I didn't mean to leave that last post dangling there for so long - we've been a little busy this week:

Changes

It's been blustery here - cold, gray, feeling most definitely like fall. (Except for last Saturday when we took the children to a festival in nearly 100 degree heat.) I'm feeling fully intrenched in our school routines and schedule. The seasonal shift is apparent in everything these days. It may be the changes in the weather that have me feeling like something is brewing, or it may be the humdinger of a surprise we have planned for the kids (If you know, don't tell!), but there is a lot of anticipation in the air in these parts. 

And then this happened...

When I left the house after dinner, my odometer looked like this:

That's 191,132 miles people!

Upon returning home, my odometer looked like this:

204 miles down, lots and lots and lots and lots to go. Squeeeeee!!!!!!

Books!

In our house we love to read. The kids love being read to, and they both love reading books on their own. Harper is at the stage where she is constantly surprising me with what she's reading. A couple of days ago I found her with Ramona the Brave and thought surely she wasn't understanding that on her own... but then I asked her about it and I think she is. I had her read a little bit aloud to me and in three pages she only tripped up on the word, "triumph." I find she stumbles over words that aren't part of her life experience. Some of the Magic Tree House books throw her for a loop, though they are easier reading than Ramona, because she has never encountered some of the history/geography in those books before. So we talk about it, she learns. Books are awesome.

I have been asked about how Harper learned to read early. The short answer is that she was ready and I know the things to say/do to push her in that direction. I keep thinking I might write a post to expand on that, but the really, really simple answer is this. Read to your kids. All the time. Every day. Make room for it. If you do that, most kids will learn when they are ready. The end. 

When you do that, you'll also have kids who will spend 45 minutes at the kitchen table pouring over the first book orders of the year:

Harper was so excited to come home with those book orders, you'd think she was holding a winning lottery ticket. 

When I was in grade school the mailman used to come during our afternoon recess. We always accosted the poor guy looking in his basket for book order delivery boxes. He must have LOVED that.

There's really no point to this post except to say it's back to school time. Book orders will be coming home. Buy some books. Read them.

And, in an unrelated note, is it just me or is this child looking achingly grown-up lately?

Also, I am in love with this song. Go and listen.

Michael's Turn

Look who started school this week!

Last year, for various reasons, Michael's school experiences were a little random. He was in one early intervention program and a different preschool (each 2x/week) for the first 2/3 of the school year. Then graduated into our public school preschool program (where he received speech services) when he turned three. Michael didn't do well with all the back and forth. I don't know how much I wrote about it, but he cried almost every day at drop off for most of the school year. On one hand, it didn't bother me too much. I knew from his after school reports that he didn't cry long and was safe and happy at school. But there is still something difficult about walking away from a child crying, "Moooommmmy staaaaaaaayyyy!" as you go out the door.

Of course by the time he was reliably NOT crying, it was time for summer vacation.

This summer I left him in the daycare room at church during the week I worked at Vacation Bible School. He screamed every day. I did not find this encouraging.

Still, Michael seemed excited about starting school. He said multiple times he was going to be a big boy and not cry. Then, sometime the week before school started, we had this exchange:

Michael: Mom, I do not want you to leave when the teachers walk the kids to the classroom.

Me: When can I leave?

Michael: When the teachers bring us back to the moms.

Me: You want me to wait in the hallway when you are at school all day?

Michael: Yes!

Uh oh.

Still, the first day of school came (on Monday) and we had to drop something off in the office before school. Michael happily followed me to the office and back, clinging gleefully to his backpack, telling me, "I like my school!" 

When the teachers came he looked a little nervous, but he didn't start crying and he didn't cling. I gave him a quick hug and kiss, a high-five, and then I ran away before he could change his mind beg me to stay.

Each morning I sort of held my breath, waiting to see if it would get more difficult as time went on. But every day this week he bravely held his chin up, stood in line with his friends, and waved good-bye. 

He's had a great week, been participating in class, even allowed his teachers to cover his hands in paint. All big feats for our little boy. 

I'm really proud of him. I think he's proud of himself, too.

First First Day

Before I say anything else I have to thank you guys for all the support you offered after I posted my back-to-school worries. It is one of the handful of times (others - parties/holidays!) that I get really on the verge of panic over the food allergy situation. I know that I'm not a big target in the bloggy world - but you should see the kinds of comments that often pop up on allergy articles/blogs. Let's just say many of them are less than supportive. It means more than I can say that all I got was care and concern from my lovely webby friends.

I don't know that many of them read here, but I also have to say that the parents of Harper's friends have stepped up in a HUGE way this week so that she had someone (or two someones!) to sit with every day (at her peanut free table). The whole, "It takes a village," thing has never felt so true.

Harper herself was a complete wreck on Monday, the day before school. She was whiny and weepy and cycled from thinking first grade would be awesome to first grade would be awful about 368 times throughout the day. By lunch time I was hearing the siren song of boarding school. Because it (fortunately) doesn't happen too often, I kind of forget that this is how my dear girl works out her anxiety.

Are you surprised that everything has actually gone really, really well? :-)

All summer long I heard Harper say she didn't want to go to first grade because she loved kindergarten so much and didn't want to leave it. I had a hunch it would only take about five minutes in first grade for that feeling to dissipate and I was correct.

Harper, so far, is very chatty and forthcoming about her school day - especially if I don't press her about it all at once. She will wander in and out of the kitchen, dropping details like breadcrumbs, as I get dinner ready or do some cleaning up - I love it. And I LOVE what I'm hearing about what they are doing in school - I think she was placed with a great teacher for her personality and I hope Mrs. B is enjoying Harper even half as much as Harper is enjoying her!

We are so lucky.

***
File this under a problem I never thought I'd have...
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Harper has suddenly decided that she loves reading more than TV (which is a huge turn-around, that child was TV obsessed by the time she was 18 mos. old). This, of course, is not a bad development but it comes with some unexpected (for me) issues. The primary one being that she keeps disappearing into her room in the morning  to "get ready" or going down the hall to brush her teeth, then, when I check on her, she is just sitting on her couch and reading instead of whatever task I sent her to do!

I have actually contemplated whether we're going to need a, "No Reading Before School," rule, to go with the, "No TV Before School," rule - how crazy is that?

Big Sigh

Okay, so, Tuesday is the first day of school. The first day of first grade. Which means our first experience with all day school and lunch at school. Lunch in the school cafeteria where peanut butter and jelly is a menu choice every single day. Deep breath.

I'm going to do my allergy fretting/freak out right now in an attempt to let go of it before that first day.

The people at Harper's school have been great partners in this endeavor - setting up a peanut free table and making time for the children to wash their hands after lunch before going back to the nut free classroom. Harper will always have her EpiPens with her for any time that those other precautions aren't enough. Still, it is going to be mighty difficult to let her go and trust that everything is going to be okay.

Some people with food allergies have to ingest their allergen to have a reaction - others can react from the presence of their allergen in the air. Harper, to the best of our knowledge, falls somewhere in between these two extremes. We know she has had contact reactions in the past - so she is affected by merely touching peanut residue - hence the table and the hand washing. One frustrating question I have repeatedly been asked, by very well-intentioned people, is how far away Harper has to stay from peanut butter to be safe. I don't know the answer to this - since we have spent much of the last five years avoiding peanuts as thoroughly as possible. You can imagine, then, why it feels so crazy to send her into an environment where she'll be sort of surrounded by people eating peanut butter on a daily basis.

Every allergic family has a different comfort zone based on a combination of instinct, medical advice, and personal experience. On the spectrum our comfort zone is pretty tight.  We proceed with fairly extreme caution in most circumstances and are constantly weighing the desire not to limit Harper's life with the desire to keep her safe. (We're really all doing that all the time, aren't we?)

Preschool, kindergarten, each new step has felt terrifying - but we survived.

First grade is next - I guess it is time to take a deep breath and jump.

Wish List

Some things I would like, in no particular order*:

-a cure for food allergies

-my children to get along w/out screaming for more than 5 minutes at a stretch

-the ability to function on 4 hours of sleep or less (w/ no physiological/psychological effects)

-if my kids aren't going to eat what I prepare for them, I'd at least like them to stop preparing speeches about why they don't want to eat a particular item

-self-cleaning floors

-to know the right answer to the work vs. stay-at-home question (for our family)

-to recognize the right job opportunity when it presents itself

-a successful school year for my children

-a modest lottery win

(*This should not be considered a comprehensive list.)

And you?

Well Then

Not so long ago I was in the library with the children. I think it was during one of the summer puppet shows (Michael was not a fan) because I was reading with Michael in the children's room while Harper attended the show. That day we happened to be reading Biscuit books.

As Michael and I were reading and discussing the pictures, an adorable little girl kept edging closer and closer, clearly interested in our story/conversation. At the conclusion of one book I asked her, "Do you like Biscuit?  We're big Biscuit fans in our house."

She smiled at me and said, "My mother says they're twaddle."

Okay.

Um, I mean Biscuit stories aren't intricate but they are beginning readers so they really aren't supposed to be. They are sweet and easy to read to a squirrelly three-year-old who can feel competent as he chimes in to familiar sentences.

This little girl could not possibly have been more than five. It made me wonder what her bookshelf at home looks like... What else does her mother consider twaddle?

I can't argue that Biscuit books will go down in history as some of the greatest-ever contributions to children's literature, but I will happily allow my children to enjoy them for as long as they'd like.

Do you know Biscuit? Is my pointed disdain for Barbie books the same as this girl's mother calling Biscuit twaddle?

Please discuss!

Also, twaddle, I kind of like that word. I'm quite certain I'd never typed it before today.

My Children Are Not in This Post...

-but my siblings are!

For some reason I have posted very little about any of the fun things we've done this summer (outside of my brother's wedding, and the usual, local stuff). Have I mentioned the fact that I spent not a single June weekend at home?

I think I was feeling a little extra, I don't know, cautious (?) about advertising our various trips away from home. Because so many of you readers are likely to run over and steal our one or two valuable possessions when we flee the coop?

Anyway, we've had a lot of good times this year and I wanted to share some of them before September descends, and then it will be holiday time, and before you know it we'll be taking NEXT summer's trips... ahem.

Back in June Matt and I were fortunate enough (let's here it for in-laws!) to attend my cousin Andrew's wedding in Wisconsin - without the children. There were various reasons for going child-free, one of them being the 10 or so hour drive we had to make on Friday, then again on Sunday.

One of the best parts of the weekend was having time with my siblings and all of our significant others...

I'm related to the blond people.

Here are Andrew and Marika leaving the ceremony:

At the reception, my sister and I got in some good time with our goddaughters. For several years we were the only four female grandchildren out of twenty. Now there are twenty-one grandchildren and five are girls. (Quick rundown of the family history - two boy grandchildren were born, then me, then my sister, then 12 boys, then Nicole was born 18 years to the day after my sister, then Natalie came along, then two more boys, then the youngest, Nora, who is younger than my son Michael. Got that?)

I think my eyes get progressively squinty-er as the night went on - due to excessive drinking dancing.

Aw - it's my mom and dad! You know what's great about having a wedding reception in the hotel you are staying in? Dad can run to the room and put his jeans on after dinner. We're classy like that in Wisconsin... some situations just call for party pants.

The other nice thing about the reception location = hotel was that Matt (who planned on driving Sunday) could choose to go back to the room and sleep after the reception, while I took the party bus with my dad (and assorted other family members) to a college bar to keep the dancing going into the next day. True story. I totally forgot that I am in my mid-thirties, and no one told my dad he's going to be 60 this year, we just kept right up with the young whippersnappers.

The above picture might be my favorite of the entire weekend - the bride, post-post-reception bar run, ordering pizza from their college after-bar hangout. And in case you're curious, yes I also had a slice at about 1:30 in the morning. It was great fun!

(It was less fun when Matt woke me up at 5:25 a.m. later that morning and asked me if I could sleep in the car while he drove.)

My liver respectfully requests that we bring the children to most future weddings and act in a manner more becoming for people of our age...

End of the Summer

Whew - every time I sit down to post these days I can't believe how much time has slipped away. When the summer began I was nervous about how we would get through all of these unstructured days but we've been so busy that the handful of unstructured days we've had have felt like pleasant little breaks (well, except for the many many minutes my kids spend screaming at each other and refusing to clean up their messes).

Tomorrow we begin two more weeks of swimming lessons for Harper (four for Michael, but he only goes twice per week). The week Harper's swimming ends, school beings!

So I'm spending the next two weeks gathering and filling out forms, getting doctors' signatures, labeling supplies, etc., as well as spending plenty of time shuttling kids to swimming lessons, parks, the library, and maybe one more zoo trip.

Is your summer going out with a bang or a whimper?