Well, the kindergarten visit/orientation thing went pretty smoothly. Despite saying she was "excited but a little bit nervous", I saw mostly the former and hardly any of the latter. She was happy to be there, excited to find her desk, really jazzed about her locker, enjoyed touring around the room and the school, and seemed pretty comfortable.
I'm sure it will be a bit different next week when I'm not there and she has to stay longer than an hour, but I'm starting to think (wishfully?) that this might NOT be a repeat of the Montessori catastrophe (think R. M. S. Titanic, only with preschoolers and Montessori fundamentalist jihads). Jon will be going with us to drop her off on Monday, then from that point the idea is he will do dropoff and I will do pickup every day. I think that might be a good thing -- she gets his undivided attention for a brief time, he gets to see her school on a more or less daily basis (and precedent for this was set after Max was born and he took her to preschool, too).
One of my high-risk OBs has a daughter in the class. I've actually seen her and her little brother around all over the place this summer, with their nanny -- they go to the mall playground a lot and the Y. So we may get to know them, a bit.
Then Lisa and I met up at the bookstore and went on to the mall with the kids. Ava has the same effect on Emily that Aidan does -- they seem to bring out Emily's inner hyperactive demon two-year-old. At one point we were trying to get pizza for lunch and it was so chaotic and horrible that Lisa and I just started laughing hysterically and could not stop. Needless to say, we also saw people from Lisa's church and Emily's preschool while we were making utter crazed fools of ourselves.
It was about 400 degrees and 9,000% humidity outside today, which didn't help. EVERYONE seemed in a pissy mood, and all the kids were straight-up brats. I am really, really, really looking forward to fall.
Dinner: an improvised chicken breast thing with the thai orange bbq sauce from American Spoon, and a package of coconut jasmine rice from Target, of all places. We should do a veggie, but I'll just throw some frozen peas into the rice and call it a day.
8.23.2007
grrrr
WHY do they offer a "remember me" option when you sign in if blogger.com NEVER REMEMBERS YOU ANYWAY?
Why does the kindy teacher want everything -- even the individual pencils -- labeled?
Why won't max sleep ANYWHERE but in a moving car or my arms?
Why are people around here so stupid?
Why is it 80 degrees and 8000% humidity? I felt like I was in the rainforest just stepping out to the car to get the school supplies?
Why don't schools supply their own damn pencils, glue and crayons? When I went to kindergarten I didn't need to buy that stuff. Of course, it was almost 40 years ago, but I think the scool supplied us with slate pencils, primers and a water pail, at least.
Why does the kindy teacher want everything -- even the individual pencils -- labeled?
Why won't max sleep ANYWHERE but in a moving car or my arms?
Why are people around here so stupid?
Why is it 80 degrees and 8000% humidity? I felt like I was in the rainforest just stepping out to the car to get the school supplies?
Why don't schools supply their own damn pencils, glue and crayons? When I went to kindergarten I didn't need to buy that stuff. Of course, it was almost 40 years ago, but I think the scool supplied us with slate pencils, primers and a water pail, at least.
8.22.2007
Win-win
So in a few minutes, we'll go pick up Sophy, Emily's favorite babysitter, and she and Emily can hang out for a couple of hours and have "girl time" before Sophy goes back to Vassar on Friday (we have VERY classy babysitters!) and so I can get some errands done WITHOUT someone talking constantly and asking me for everything they see and complaining about how they NEVER get ANYthing, EVER...
And tomorrow is kindergarten orientation. Fingers, toes, everything crossable crossed that it goes well. I think it will.
Now that the hurricane remnants have passed through, it is hot, sticky, humid and in general disgusting out. I REEEEALLY have had enough of summer, already.
We went and helped out at church last night a bit -- they are repainting and rearranging some of the Sunday School rooms. With their usual stellar organizational and communication skills, only about 4 people ended up showing at completely random times, and the babysitting and activities were sketchy. So we bailed a little early, but not before I scraped about 8 years' worth of dried glue and paint off the preschool art tables, and got to know a bit too much about some of the other parishioners. There's something about being in recovery (AA in this one guy's case) that does make one go on, and on, and on, and on and on-anon...
OK, have to scoot.
And tomorrow is kindergarten orientation. Fingers, toes, everything crossable crossed that it goes well. I think it will.
Now that the hurricane remnants have passed through, it is hot, sticky, humid and in general disgusting out. I REEEEALLY have had enough of summer, already.
We went and helped out at church last night a bit -- they are repainting and rearranging some of the Sunday School rooms. With their usual stellar organizational and communication skills, only about 4 people ended up showing at completely random times, and the babysitting and activities were sketchy. So we bailed a little early, but not before I scraped about 8 years' worth of dried glue and paint off the preschool art tables, and got to know a bit too much about some of the other parishioners. There's something about being in recovery (AA in this one guy's case) that does make one go on, and on, and on, and on and on-anon...
OK, have to scoot.
8.21.2007
yumm-o
I made the single best batch of kheer (Indian spiced rice pudding) for book club last night. We read Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai, and it was my turn to make refreshments, so I wanted to go with an Indian theme. I had also planned to make onion bhaji and buy some samosas, but the universe conspired against me. Still, the kheer is FABULOUS. Cardamom, nutmeg, almonds, orange peel, a touch of saffron, and a hint of rose essence. Beats any restaurant version I've ever had! And it makes a damn good breakfast.
So church will start back up. Not that it doesn't continue year-round, but it isn't really feasible in the summer with no Sunday school -- Emily has the attention span of a gnat and Max is beyond the stage where I could just nurse and have him sleep through the service. They do have a nursery worker, but I'm not that fond of her, although the kids seem to like her well enough.
And Emily will be attending a Jewish elementary school, after being raised Episcopalian and going to two rather evangelically-oriented VBSs. This should be interesting!
I'm still in utter despair at the state of my house -- I've nearly crossed the line into How Clean Is Your House territory (from a mere Clean Sweep level) but without help it is IMPOSSIBLE. I hate this.
So church will start back up. Not that it doesn't continue year-round, but it isn't really feasible in the summer with no Sunday school -- Emily has the attention span of a gnat and Max is beyond the stage where I could just nurse and have him sleep through the service. They do have a nursery worker, but I'm not that fond of her, although the kids seem to like her well enough.
And Emily will be attending a Jewish elementary school, after being raised Episcopalian and going to two rather evangelically-oriented VBSs. This should be interesting!
I'm still in utter despair at the state of my house -- I've nearly crossed the line into How Clean Is Your House territory (from a mere Clean Sweep level) but without help it is IMPOSSIBLE. I hate this.
8.19.2007
Beginning of the end
Well, I for one am glad summer's drawing to a close. I do worry that we might have a repeat of the Montessori disaster when Emily starts Akiva, but I think it might be different -- she is older, her best friend is there, etc. I do know she NEEEEEDS some daily activity/outside the house time, and she's bored, so it will make a difference.
Now if only we could get Max to sleep in his crib, instead of ONLY attached to my boob, or in the car (while driving) or on Jon after he's walked him five miles or so around the living room.
And I'm trying to de-squalor the house one room at a time. It has been a painfully slow process, because everybody is around all the time, and because I have been MAJORLY depressed, but I'm not going to feel any better by continuing to sit in the squalor.
Off to do errands.
Now if only we could get Max to sleep in his crib, instead of ONLY attached to my boob, or in the car (while driving) or on Jon after he's walked him five miles or so around the living room.
And I'm trying to de-squalor the house one room at a time. It has been a painfully slow process, because everybody is around all the time, and because I have been MAJORLY depressed, but I'm not going to feel any better by continuing to sit in the squalor.
Off to do errands.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
