A Brief Synopsis, or a Rambling Blather

School has begun. The summer was too short, and that first full day of school I sorely missed my two big school girls. It almost felt as though I'd been thrust back to those early baby days with no adults to talk with during the day, because even though they're only in grade school they can at least hold a conversation.

E1's teacher is an art-lover and likes to incorporate lots of art into their class work, which is just up E1's alley. She's also looking forward to girl scouts starting up again.

E2's teacher is just all-around-awesome, and E2 is all "Finally!" that she gets to go to school. Today is orange day, the last color of the Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? book that they've been reading and dressing along with as the days have passed. She punched her fist in the air this morning and said, "YES! Today I get homework! WOOHOO!" Tomorrow, she's the leader of the day and gets to bring a show & tell item. Friday is an early dismissal day and her class is putting on a nursery rhyme/color program for parents, grandparents, babysitters, etc. She's also having a good time with soccer. She makes noise about not wanting to go, but then has fun when she's there. Rob is coaching her team, and they've got two games under their belt so far.

E3 is relishing being the boss of the manor (HA!). Every morning when F arrives the two of them have to re-establish their hierarchy. I think I've seen too many episodes of The Dog Whisperer, or whatever that show is on National Geographic, because I've been mentally comparing them to dogs. They go through a little routine that could seriously be compared to the butt-sniffing and posturing of dogs. E3 seems to usually win out as the Alpha-dog - at least it seems that way, because F spends his day mimicking everything she does. On Monday, when she sneezed (for real), he fake-sneezed. It drives me a little crazy to hear every boop, blip, and word she utters repeated in echo form, but she seems to enjoy it and tries to see how long she can keep him going. When they finally get past this phase it won't be long before they're mimicking one another for the purpose of being annoying - that should be fun.

Her allergy blood test wasn't as low as we'd hoped, so we continue to keep the Epi-pen at the ready lest some renegade peanuts leap out at her when we least expect it.

E3 is also at 'GO' in the potty learning process as things have recently seemed to click for her, and she's been keeping herself dry and getting to the potty on time with great success. It all kicked in the day before my birthday last week, so I'm totally taking it to mean that she loves me so much that she's willing to big-girl up and ditch the diapers JUST FOR ME.

She and F watch Wonder Pets on Nick Jr each morning, and it serves as inspiration for their play the rest of the day. F is Tuck, E2 is usually Linny but sometimes she likes to change it up and be Ming Ming. Oh? You have no idea what the Wonder Pets are? It's a show about three classroom pets - Linny the Guinea Pig, Tuck the Turtle, and Ming Ming the Duckling who venture out into the world/universe, after everyone leaves their classroom, to save baby animals. They use teamwork, and always end each mission with a celery snack. So, E3 and F construct the "Fly Boat" out of various things, or declare the wagon or van their "Fly Boat", and they drag out piles of small stuffed animals and rescue them, all while calling one another Linny and Tuck. Sometimes E3 forgets and calls F by his name, to which he corrects, "I'm not F, I'm Tuck." Usually their snack is something other than celery, because after one taste F declared that he didn't like celery.

It sure beats the alternative, which is them pushing, shoving, not sharing, and shrieking and wailing over various perceived...whatevers that almost-three-year-olds perceive.

There are secret plans to camp by the pond at The Farm (a.k.a. WWR's Parent Company) should the weather cooperate.

We're making plans for E2's upcoming 6th birthday - she wants us to plan a surprise party..."I'll just play outside and then when it's time for the party I'll come in and you can all yell 'SURPRISE!'"

I'm getting the itch to start squirreling things away for Christmas, which means I should probably make a more concentrated effort to write down the gift ideas I have for the girls...and to remember to keep some of those ideas for myself.

Rob,as mentioned above, is coaching soccer, being a worker-bee for our humble village, and continuing to educate the world about the beauty of metal.

We're all wondering what is up with the Cardinals.

We leave for Hawaii in 5 months. I told both of the school teachers that we'd be gone during school time and neither one bitch-slapped me or called me crazy. E1's teacher seemed to be mentally flipping through the school calendar to determine that there won't be any conflicts (thinking of state testing, I'd guess). E2's teacher immediately asked if she could go too.

The ALS walk is coming up soon, and I just realized I never came back to announce our Team Name. It's Amy's Army: A Boot in the ALS. Our original thoughts were Amy's Army and Amy's Angels...then I suggested Amy's Army of Angels...but that night as I was brushing my teeth I had a vision of us walking dressed as Hell's Angels and decided that wearing leather while walking outdoors in Illinois' September weather would probably be hot and result in a lot of chafing. So, we went with Amy's Army, adding the boot comment to resemble 'a boot in the Ass', because we're clever like that.

Sorry for the disapperance

Things have been hectic with the beginning of school, soccer, gymnastics...blah, blah, blah. It could have been worse. I could have been carried away by the hawk that landed in the backyard a couple of Saturdays ago.

First Day

It's the first day of school! We escorted E1 & E2 to school at 8:30, and I've got to scoot back up there in a bit to pick them up since they're only there about 1 1/2 hours today.

What a difference three years and the second child make! E2 was raring to go, first E up this morning, and all grins to be starting Kindergarten. "Finally!" she's exclaimed a few times lately when the discussion of KG came up.

Flash back three years to E1's first day... She was on the edge of emotion all morning, and when we finally got to the classroom and all the commotion she started crying. All my pregnancy hormones rushed to the surface, and I couldn't help crying myself. After settling her in, we went back home, and Rob left straightaway to get to work. I snuggled with E2 on the bed, sniffling and tearing up, while she watched cartoons and we waited that 1 1/2 hours.

This year, Dad watched E3 and nephew F so we could go to school. Once we got back, Rob went to work, and I uploaded first day photos. Dad was outside with the kids when I finished with the computer, so we played outside a bit before coming in for some grapes. After a while, Dad left and E3 and F went into their usual love/hate cycle. Now, they're trying to squeeze in the first half of Wonder Pets! before we have to go get the girls.

Did my heart twinge a bit? Yes. Our petite-but-powerful E2 is growing up, and before long, it's going to be E3 (and F!) who are having their first day. Of course, I figure by number 3 I'll be tap dancing to school and then I'll be free to go out to breakfast with all the other Mom's for that 1 1/2 hrs.

Behold Our Craftiness

We borrowed this idea from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. The hooks will be used for backpacks, diaper bag, and jackets during the school year, and for bags of swim stuff in the summer. I plan to put a bench below, or some sort of baskets, for shoe & misc. storage.

The hangers are there temporarily there because the pegboard displaced them. A hanging bar will be located in another part of the laundry room.

The cute little wire basket there has no use just yet. It just looked so neat, how could it not come in handy?

Please ignore the wallpaper, it came with the house and we haven't reached that part of our 'To Do' list.

E2 is a Grandma!

We're still trying to determine what kind of birds they are.

Cover shot

I just don't get it. All of these photos are or could have been on the cover of a magazine. So WHY is this one SO damn offensive?

I really don't think breast exposure is the issue here, do you? Is it because of the suckling? If that's the case, shouldn't people be uncomfortable seeing a baby suckling a bottle? After all, when bottle nipple manufacturers claim their nipple is more like mom isn't it a logical conclusion that THAT is practically the same thing?

It's crazy, to me, (someone who was never very comfortable nursing in public, by the way)that people could get this fired up about photos of a BABY eating.

Seriously, people.


Image from www.breastfeeding.com

Let's spend more time trying to figure out why 'oxygen action' laundry products only fade the color on MY shirts, particularly the ones with food stains on the front...leaving said shirts with a faded splotch right on my boob.

A Zero Day

I'm reading along here Trail Journals to follow a friend's younger sister's hike of the Applachian Trail. It's a continuation of a hike she began four or so years ago that was halted by a broken foot. The AT apparently has more nicknames than a Clinton County softball tournament, and Gator Goat drops them like she's at a Hollywood Red Carpet event.

There's a term she's used during both hikes, a 'trail term' I guess you could call it that I need to adopt: A Zero Day. This is a day of rest, where no hiking is done and the hiker allows her/his body to recoup. I take days like this, but I never had a name for them.

"We're not going anywhere today," I'll state to the kids, while we have a day of no commitments or errands. I usually try to swing the calendar so the zero days fall on Monday - always good after the weekend, I figure, and even the kids who don't usually nap can be convinced to 'just rest a bit' on Monday.

This morning, as I was shooing the girls off to put on some play clothes E3 asked, "Where are we going?"

Nowhere.

While combing her hair, E2 casually queried, "So. Where are we going today?"

Nowhere.

And, late this morning, after the third time E1 had asked, "What can I do now?", I asked her, "What would you like to do?" To which she hopefully suggested, "Go somewhere?"

Nope.

It's A Zero Day, people. Hunker down.