Whoopsie Daisy!

I was doing pretty well there, posting regularly. Then stress set in and it all went to heck. That's right I said it (well, ok typed it), HECK!!!

Sunday is Logan's birthday, numero six-o. As hard as it was to believe Nora turned three, this is even weirder. She seems so grown up these days with her half grown in permanent teeth, her vast knowledge of Egypt, her new ability to jump off the diving board and swim in water up to twelve feet deep, go off a rope swing into a river and be in the progressive gymnastics group. Watching her do all of these new things I realize we are moving into a new chapter, one where she is more sure of herself...well a little.

Nora of course wants to keep up along with her, we have to keep holding on to the back of her swimsuit every time Logan jumps off the diving board because Nora wants to "dive" too. Unfortunately, she keeps forgetting that she doesn't know how to swim yet. I admire that she's not about to let it slow her down, but we'd like her to make it to birthday four.

Erica, Beth and I are doing a triathlon relay. I'm the swim leg, Erica the bike and Beth the run. They both keep telling me I've got the hard part, but its only 300 yards so I'll be done in less than five minutes. I feel bad but neither one of them wants to swim and I sure don't want to do the run : )

A post from work

Yes, ok there are probably other things I could be doing right now, I already checked the laundry, folded the laundry, wrote my weekly e-mail (a day late, but hey better late than never) and wrote in a journal so really there's not much else left to do for this last 48 minutes (or so) until I get to go walk/run with Erica...and this time we're getting snow cones darn it!

So we are into week three of the transition, the girls are at their new school, Campbell Montessori, and after a bit of tears on both the part of Nora and I everything seems to be settling down. She was expressing some fear "I scared of Campbell" but we could never seem to get out of her what exactly it was she was scared of. My theory is that her teacher for the first two weeks (in the summer, the montessori teachers work for two week shifts so she didn't have her actual teacher to start off with) was much taller than Sarah or Darla...or Bianca or Xia for that matter. I'm not that tall so I think maybe that freaked her out a little having a tall teacher, and this woman is pretty tall. Yesterday she started with her real teacher, Mrs. Jordan and when I asked her if she liked her she told me, "She's not a bad teacher"...very diplomatic Nora!

Logan on the other hand is loving the new school which is great since she was the one we worried about. She has learned the term "stairstep technology"and has made friends with several of the other "older" kids in her class, one girl named Emily she is very fond of (she's seven). They spent two weeks working with legos, making letters, houses, their names (or Logan's interpretation) and then a trip to the City Museum where Charles let a child get a bloody nose...great our first field trip and we'll never be allowed to chaperone again. Now they are learning about Egypt, and already we are being bombarded with facts! I'm so relieved she is happy and making friends, anxiety seems to have dropped a lot!

On my end, I am still adjusting to the changes, my hours have switched twice from 7-3 to 6:30-2:30...the ride in is still too quiet though my latest addiction to Mamma Mia has helped some as I have been belting out ABBA on my way in. Charles is doing drop off now so his hours are now 9-5:30, that is REALLY strange to not have him home until late...well, late for me. Our Friday swimming and pizza night is all messed up now, we can't just go swim as a family in the afternoons now because he doesn't get home until so late but again change happens and I have to deal with it!

Making tracks...

Today was the Make Tracks for the Zoo run. Erica, Charles and I all ran the 5k, Julia, Logan and their friends Claire, Rachel and Vanessa ran the 1/2 mile race. Nora "ran" the 1/4 race but mostly it was her running about 10 yards, then walking, then crying, then Charles carrying her on his shoulders then us trying to coax her to the finish line while she cried again...she was really tired, but she finished.

Considering that Erica and I haven't gotten a whole lot of training in, she has a cracked rib and I'm pretty out of shape, we finished in 33:47, and that was with us walking a bit so if we had run the whole race we probably would have finished at around 30. For me, this was actually a personal best time, even when I was training for the tri last year I was still having so much knee trouble I had to walk a lot. There is hope for the marathon relay yet! Erica could have finished faster but stayed with me and I appreciate it a lot. We had fun anyway.

Then we finally made it to Jilly's Cupcake Bar in U City which we had been wanting to do since Charles' birthday. The cupcakes were HUGE, the girls loved it, Charles loved it, a little too much icing for me, but good cake. Then we all went back to my parents house and passed out. A good end to the weekend. Tomorrow is the big day, Campbell here we come!

Kindergarten Humor

Logan and Nora love jokes, generally of the "Knock Knock" variety. We do the one with "Boo, boo who? Don't cry it's only a knock knock joke" the best part is Nora's fake tee hee hee laugh at the end. Then there is "Olive, Olive who? Olive ( I love) you very much" and the always irritating "banana, banana who? banana, banana who, banana who? Orange, orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say banana" and so forth. The girls of course have their own brand of knock knock jokes which generally go as such:

"Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Banana."

"Banana who?"

"Banana, monkey." (and if its Nora telling it the tee hee hee follows)

there are many variations, usually involving objects that they see around them, cars, food, animals, signs. Mind you the punch line makes absolutely no sense but in the three and five year old minds this is hilarious and provides hours (ok maybe not hours but at least the entire drive to and from school) of entertainment.

So about a week or two ago we were driving to my parents house and we were talking about numbers, Charles told Logan and Nora the old "Why was 6 afraid of 7?" joke (because 7 8 (ate) 9...in case you didn't already know this). Of course Logan immediately came up with her on variation of this joke. Here it is as follows:

"Why was Target afraid of Home Depot?" (she picked this because we happened to be passing a Home Depot at that moment).

"Why?"
"Because Home Depot ate Arget."

and then "Why was D afraid of E?"....""Because E ate P".

Hilarious...I can't wait for Last Comic Standing to call. Ahh, the mind of the Kindergartner, I guess I should be grateful that we don't find body functions humorous yet, well...not as funny anyway. Maybe she should start watching tv if for nothing else to get some pointers on good comedy.

The end of a chapter

So it's officially over, Logan and Nora have ended their time at Hope. It was rather ironic this morning, we got out the door without incident and our ride to school was very peaceful, I was teary the whole way in, especially when Nora decided to start singing her favorite song "What a Wonderful World". Normally Logan would try to drown her out or complain but today she said, "Mama, Nora's singing her favorite song, I don't know the words, maybe she could teach them to me." She then proceeded to try to sing along with her (not over her as she usually does) and then they broke into "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". There was no fighting, no whining, no complaining and for the first time I wished there was so that I didn't have to not want the ride to end, but it did too quickly. I dropped Logan off as I always do, and of course Norlita, Logan's Kindergarten assistant and the person who has been with her at breakfast for the last three years gave me a hug which set me off again. Then it was off to the toddler house where of course the minute we walked in and I saw my friend Melisa I started again. Nora must have known something was up, she wanted to walk with me to clock in today and stayed close to me for a minute longer giving me a tight hug and kiss on the lips. As I sat watching her eat I was struck once again at how big she is and the tears came yet again. David asked me what was wrong and when I told him he said, "Yeah, but they are such cool kids." Cool or not doesn't make this any easier. Good news is he is letting me come in late Monday so I can go with Charles to drop the girls off, which eases my anxiety a bit.

Saying goodbye was hard, even though I will still see Sarah, Darla, Xia and Bianca everyday it will be in a different capacity; strictly in a coworker position now not as a parent. I am forever indebted to them as well as Melisa, Nancy, Anita, Casey and Sarah for helping Nora become the person she is. I can also thank Melisa, Nancy, Anita, Jamie, Adrienne, Misha, David, Kathleen, Corey, Rachel, Liron, Shavae, Swati, Melissa, Justin, Althone, Mark, Norlita and Susie for helping me raise Logan to be the confident, loving, and joyful person she is. You are all incredible people and there isn't enough I can say or do to let you know how much we appreciate all you have done for our family over the last six years. All I can do is look at the people my children have become and be forever grateful to all of you.

Oh, Oh what I want to know, where does the time go?

The day I've been dreading looms over me tomorrow. I knew this week would rush by too quickly and it has. Tomorrow morning will be the last time I drop Logan and Nora off at school, at 3:15 they will walk out of the toddler house and the preschool respectively for the last time. Monday morning Charles will take them to their first day at Campbell Montessori for the beginning of a long path, what I hope is a wonderful one of course, but one that will be theirs for the next 8 and 11 years (they will be there through middle school).

I have had one of my children in the same building with me for the last six years, the other has been just down the hill from me for the last three. I remember the day we dropped Logan off for the first day of preschool, I was on maternity leave with Nora and I bawled because my baby seemed so big. Well, now look, my baby baby is going to preschool (primary in montessori) and my oldest is entering the lower elementary program, she'll be with children that are 7, 8 and 9 years old...I'm not ready for that. What I'm really not ready for is not having them near me, not having the constant chatter in the car in the morning, not seeing Nora in passing when I go to the kitchen or out on the playground, not having Logan blow me kisses from her playground and come running to the fence to say hi to me and tell me about her morning. I won't have a window into their days anymore. I don't know their teachers yet, I don't have a repore with them, I'm not familiar with the building or routines of the new school and that makes me feel very unsettled.

Logically I know the girls will be fine, they will make friends, adapt well to the new environment, they are montessori children even if a slightly different background, but I worry because I don't have the connection that I do to Hope, at this school I'm just another parent...and a neurotic one at that. I want my children to be well cared for, to be accepted for who they are and loved like they have been for the last three year by the wonderful people that have nurtured them into the beautiful people that they are. Will they see them in that light? Will these new teachers try to change them into something else? Will they find the joy and creativity in them as endearing as Misha, Mark, Norlita, Chavae, Althone, Sarah, Darla, Xia and Bianca did? I pray so, because if they don't I may have to bite the bullet and stay home and teach them myself.

I anticipate Monday being a very emotional day for me, and I have a new child of my own starting in my class so I can't even be there when the girls go off to their new school. I know as we settle in to the routine I will adjust, I just don't deal well with change, it's inevitable and yet I fear it so. For the sake of the girls, I remain positive so they can be excited for this adventure ahead of them.

Can't believe we've come to this

It's been a whirlwind of activity the last two weeks in our family. Nora turned three last Monday, she received a "big girl" bike like Logan's, all pink and white and shiny. She hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of pedaling to make herself go forward but she's got pushing backwards on them to stop and is quite content to let us push her around on it. The excitement of the bike was quickly overshadowed by the small cake Charles brought home for us to share and the icing fight that ensued thereafter...most meals at our house these days seem to end with food being thrown or smeared on others. Saturday was her party at Bounce U, thankfully unlike our experience last year with Logan's no one got injured besides our wallet and a good time was had by all. The birthday girl had to be carried out kicking a screaming so I'd say that was a success and at least this time we didn't have to pay extra for adults to bounce. I look at her and just can't believe she's three already, seems like I was just pregnant with her, seems like Charles was just playing basketball while carrying her around in the sling, seems like we were just settling in as a family of four, now I can't imagine it any other way. She's just so big these days, her vocabulary, her empathy, her desire to be so much like Logan and all of her friends, Nora just doesn't see herself as "little", but on even keel with her older sister, even when she isn't quite there, she's not willing to give up the fight. Gymnastics starts in two weeks for her, it will be interesting to see how she takes to her first organized activity, she's certainly not a go with the program kinda kid.

This week the show has been all Logan, last night was the spring musical at Hope, our last one...again something I can't believe. This year she performed not only with Room 7 but then with the Kindergarten at the very end. For the last month she has been singing "On Top of Spaghetti" at the top of her lungs over and over, there were 4 other songs she performed last night but apparently that's the one that really meant something to her. Not the pledge to the Earth, not giving out hugs, not being thankful for everything, but meatballs and sneezing...that's my girl. She sang with great expression and confidence, her teacher Misha told me that she had been practicing very hard the last few weeks and at the rehearsals she had done a very nice job, she certainly was confident. I was struck though at just how much she has grown over the last year, listening to her talk about all she has learned this year in Kindergarten, looking back at where she was when the year started and mostly just how old she looked up there on the stage, well it made my heart hurt a bit.

Tonight was her gymnastics performance, she was nervous about performing in front of all of the parents which I thought was a little ironic since she had no qualms about it the night before but once she got out there she was great. Having seen her progress since the beginning of the year I am again amazed at how far she has come, it always seemed to me that she was just out there being silly, I know her teacher Miss Gretchen said she loved having her in class but it never really looked like she was getting much out of it but she had fun so that was all I cared about. But as she went through the opening routine with the big kids too she kept right up with them and then as they went through each apparatus I saw just how much she has learned this year, she can now do a forward flip over the bar on her own, she can walk on the beam forwards and backwards, pivot, kick her legs up, dip and do a v-sit when for most of the year she wouldn't even get up on the high beam and when she did she made her teacher hold her hand. She can do a bridge up, forward rolls, an almost cartwheel and kick up almost all the way to a handstand on the floor. Not bad for someone who just started and was pretty unsure of herself for the first few months. Her confidence in herself has just grown in leaps and bounds over the last few months and it is showing in everything she does. I used to worry a lot about her, but after the last two nights, I know Logan is doing just fine, she's Logan and that's all she needs to be.

I'm pretty proud of my two girls, the people they are becoming, they are such different personalities yet each one of them is a truly incredible person...I am blessed thoroughly! I'm just not ready for them to be so grown up yet.