Monthly Archives: August 2011

Leaving the Nest

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So it started with Kindergarten orientation – no, wait – make that soccer – no, no, no back that train up. Make that day camp. Day Camp is when we started seeing the writing on the wall. The writing that said “Oh Here Go Hell Come”.

The last couple weeks with Little P have broken down like this:

Day Camp:
1st week number of days signed up = 4
1st week number of days actually attended = 2
Through some miracle of I-don’t-know-what, we seemed to figure out just the right combination of clicks, whistles and twirls that got us through the remaining weeks without incident.

Soccer:
Number of practices attended = 2
Number of practices participated in = 0
Number of games = 1
Number of games participated in = 0
Number of times the uniform has been on his person = 0

Current Theory: He may have more of a future as the team photographer.

Team Photographer

Team Photographer

Kindergarten Orientation:
Number of minutes it took to put on the nametag = 20
Number of pictures the teacher’s aid was allowed to take of him for the bulletin board = 0
Number of pictures I had to take of him for the bulletin board = 1
Number of times he was more than 6 inches from my body = 1

Here is the singular photo I was able to take of him while attending orientation (it was the only time he was far enough away from me that I could actually focus the camera to get a shot):

Kindergarten Orientation

First Day of Kindergarten:
Number of times we barely averted chaos before leaving the house = 2
Number of hours I anticipated being late to work = 2
Number of times I expected to receive a phone call once at work = 5
BUT…..
Number of minutes it took to put on the nametag = .0025!!!
Number of whines and/or leg clings = 0!!!
Number of photos taken = 11!!!
Number of hugs/kisses/waves goodbye = 1, 1 & 3!!! (respectively)
Number of phone calls to work = 0!!!
Number of tears shed (by either of us) = 0!!! [I felt so much relief and joy that I was, literally, unable to feel sad or sentimental.]

And as for that other girl of ours, well 3rd graders tolerate their mothers for about 5-7 minutes before giving them the side-eye and telling them to move along already. At least that is my first-hand experience.

And so there I was – watching the one who I had to gently scoot from the nest and the other who bolted at a dead run. I can’t help but wonder if this is how it will always be.

First Day of Kindergarten & 3rd Grade
(click the photo to see the entire set)

Summer Vacation, blar-de-blar-blar.

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Okay folks, I’m going to make this quick because quite honestly I’m already over it just from rounding up everyone’s photos. And when it comes to the “What I did for Summer Vacation” posts, we’ve all kind of been there and done that. At last count, I’ve written about 10 of them, and they have all started sounding pretty much the same. Unless we end up stumbling across a bigfoot or one of the kids grows a third arm, I think there’s not much new to say.

Yes! Steve and I went to Paris, and yes, it was awesome – IT WAS PARIS FOR GOD’S SAKE! AND, we were staying with friends. Yeah, it’s like that. We ate all the great food and drank all the great wine wine and saw all the great history stuff and spoke all our horrifically horrible French.

Yes! The kids were treated like royalty by their doting relatives and given everything short of matching blue ponies.

Yes! We saw the mountains, the beach and the finer points of the Central Valley.

Yes! We are tanned, and tired, and all 5 pounds heavier.

The pictures will sum it up much better. You can click through at your own pace over on Flickr, or you can watch the exquisitely crafted slideshow (not really) over here – but be warned, it will take you a while (about 14-ish minutes at last count) – and it has audio. Oh, and you probably don’t want to watch it unless you really like looking at our kids. Just sayin’.

(Photo credits go to Grandma Judy, Grandma Dani, Aunt Celene and myself – taken with various cameras and phones – accordingly, quality will vary. Amended photo credit: Shannon S. Yodowitz, because she threatened to sue me if I didn’t give her credit for the four photos she took. Effing lawyers.)