Time and Tide Wait for No Preschooler

This has been a monumental week for my growing babies. First Mathilda turned two, and now Lucy is a preschool graduate.Wow. I wish someone could explain to me the physics of how time moves more quickly once one becomes a parent. Because maybe then I could figure out the secret to slowing it down. That old saying "time and tide wait for no man" is the fabric of my life. Whenever I think, "wow that school year sure flew by," or "Christmas already?" or "I can't believe my baby just turned ___," I always think of this phrase. Sometimes I feel like I'm holding onto a kite string in a wind storm and it's slipping out of my hands uncontrollably. I do my best to embrace change, but I would at times like to hit the slow motion button on the remote control of life.
 
Lucy's last regular day of preschool was Monday, and when she came home she told me she "almost cried". She had a great group of kids in her class, and they're all going off to different schools in the fall and Lucy might never see any of them again. I'm pretty sure she hasn't grasped that yet, but I have and it makes me sad. Those kids have a great group of moms, and I might not see most of them again either. Unfortunately we can't stay in the sweet, simple world of preschool forever. And I have Mathilda's preschool years to look forward to.

I celebrated Lucy's big day by letting Bethany and Connor play hooky from school so they could attend the graduation. Afterward we went to the library and hung out for a couple hours, one of their favorite things to do. And I even bought them lunch at the library's cafe, something they ask for all the time and I always say "no". Lucy fell asleep in the car on the way home. She is still a baby after all. Breathe. Kiss her cheeks. Embrace the moment.

All 3 of my preschool graduates with their teachers

Connor is reliving his happy days of yore

At one point Mathilda disappeared and this is where we found her

Lucy's favorite thing to do at preschool

Bethany loved being chased by a bunch of preschoolers

I repeatedly tried to get a picture of the sisters in the matching dresses, but Mathilda was not having it. In this shot she is pushing Lucy away from her. She only wanted to drive around in the red car without anyone getting in her way.

May Flowers

I'm feeling slightly guilty because I sort of did a bait and switch with Lucy. I convinced her we should skip her preschool field trip tomorrow morning by bribing her with a trip to the library. She actually said, "sure mom, that would be wonderful!", so I'll try not to feel too guilty. It's not that I don't want to go on the field trip, I'd just be much more enthusiastic about it if it were later in the day. We had a rush around morning today and by bedtime I just couldn't face the prospect of another one tomorrow. With Mathilda screaming while I try to get clothes on her squirming body and attempt to feed her breakfast in the car. Oh wait, that was Lucy. I'm getting my days confused. Or, more likely, it was both of them. Lucy did, in fact, dress herself, but not without a great many tears about how unfair it is that no one ever lets her sleep. (See? My mottled brain is at its limits!)


Anyway, it was a busy day today, which included Kindergarten Orientation for Lucy. A couple months ago she was not at all enthused about starting kindergarten this fall, but now she is totally excited about it. She ran off to the kindergarten room with the other kids without a moment's hesitation. (Meanwhile, us parents stayed in the cafeteria and were bombarded with information that those of us who have school aged children already know. How about an orientation for us where we just drop our kids off and pick them up in an hour? kidding, sort of) On the way there, I instructed Mathilda not to fall asleep in the van, but that she was welcome to go to sleep in her stroller as soon as we got there. Of course she didn't listen (keeping in mind the school is less than a 5 minute drive), but she must have really been tired because miraculously she stayed asleep when I transferred her from her car seat to the stroller, and remained in deep slumber throughout the entire orientation. It was hectic, which I hate, and I didn't get a chance to talk to the kindergarten teachers like I wanted to. What I'd like to know is whether or not we're the only half-day hold-outs so far. The school gives us a half-day option, but because interest is so low, the kids have to stay in a class with the full-day kids and leave just before lunch. We'll have the opportunity to switch her to full days when and if we think she is ready. Boy I am going to miss her, even just for half days. But I'll save my boo-hooing for another day.


I am happy to say my yard is beginning to wake up to the fact that it is spring, even if it doesn't feel like it (the temperature in my house has reached a new low, but so help me that furnace is not getting turned on in May!). My tulips are still straining to open, but my rhododendrons are in full bloom, and since we had a reprieve from the rain today, I had a chance to photograph them, along with a cuddly little bumble bee.

Now I'd better buzzzzz off to bed (Chris loves when I talk like that...hehehe), since I'm pretty sure no one is going to let me sleep in tomorrow.

It's All Good

Last weekend, I was able to spend some time with a few of my awesome friends.  A couple of the ladies have March birthdays, so we went out to celebrate Friday night. We were not actually asked to leave, but boy let me tell ya, it was coming. Saturday I got to see some of the very same ladies again for a different kind of birthday party...one for a 3-year old. As you can imagine, it was fun in a completely different way. For example, no one was trying to hide anyone's credit card so they couldn't buy anymore drinks. Nor was anyone shamelessly singing karaoke. Or picking up (literally...picking UP, off the ground) random strangers. Just sayin'. Not that any of those things happened Friday night. This is purely hypothetical. I swear.


And now it's Spring! Finally! Spring! But wait, I just looked outside and Spring just happens to look quite a bit like Winter at the moment. Hmm. Abracadabra! I choose a different state! A warm one! Please?!


I paid off my library fines last week, so now I am free to check out tons of books again. One of my favorite things to do! Yay! 

I got some new jeans at Target for $6...and I didn't try them on in the store and they fit me perfectly. Yay!  

I went to Joann's and bought some yarn and crochet hooks and a book about how to crochet which turned out to be totally useless. But YouTube! There are videos for everything on YouTube, including crochet lessons. Yay! Plus childrens' books about crocheting from the library, which are right about my speed. I've been practicing my stitches. They look pretty but I can't yet get my rows uniform. When I figure that out perhaps I can actually make something.

Things, in general, have been going really well. But I have this mental problem. Happiness scares me.  I know, I know, I know...how stupid, right? Do I think I don't deserve it for some reason? Am I really a pessimist posing as an optimist? There is this nagging fear in the back of my mind that it can't last, that I've filled my quotient. I'm trying to combat that fear with rosy thoughts of rainbows and unicorns. Because, elusive happiness, I do deserve you. So there.

**P.S. Don't forget to enter my Nutella giveaway! The deadline is March 31!**

An Ode to Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer, I love you. I love you and your book, The Power of Intention,so much, in fact, that I almost (almost) don't mind that the library is charging me top dollar to replace this book for water damage, for which I'm pretty sure I'm not responsible, in order to retain my beloved library privileges. The reason I almost (I did say almost) don't mind is because they are letting me keep the book. Plus the book was in my house at the same time as my four Mega Mess Makers, so I suppose I have to accept the remote possibility that perhaps I could maybe be responsible for the damage. In any case, I've let it go and am happily welcoming the book to my collection..

Your inspiring words of wisdom, your quotable passages, your unsinkable positive attitude...I love it all. I admire your strongly-held beliefs, and I look forward to frequently re-reading and referencing my newly acquired Wayne Dyer masterpiece.

Thank you, Mr. Dyer, for your prolific writing career. And thanks to my ability to suck it up and pay up, I will soon be checking more of your books out of the library for my reading and self-improvement pleasure.