Surprise!

Living with young children is a lesson in anticipating and fielding the unexpected. Some days the surprises are parceled out sparingly, and other days they fly fast and furious. Often, these unforeseen events are amazingly entertaining. Sometimes, they just suck. There's no way to prep ahead of time or know on which side the next surprise will fall. The key, I have found, is to enjoy the wonderful moments when they come and run for cover whenever an explosion hits.

Surprise # 4,672,924
In front of Sophie's school this morning, we spotted an elderly gentleman valiantly jogging down the street. He looked like a hero to me, plugging away despite obviously being extremely hot and tired. Sophie, however, had a different take. "Look at that silly man running, Mommy!" she exclaimed. "Hey you, Silly Man! Why are you running? Where you going? Why are you being silly?" The gentleman looked startled at Sophie's verbal onslaught but remained silent as he slowly hobbled past. (Seriously, I doubt he had the breath to say a word even if he'd wanted to. The dude looked about one minute away from collapsing.) Of course, Sophie would not be denied. She took off running after him, shouting like a maniac about how she wasn't a maniac. "Silly man! You don't have to run! I won't hurt you, I promise! Did you hear me, Silly Man? Come back! I SAID I WILL NOT EAT YOU!!!"

Surprise-O-Meter Assessment: Slightly alarming, but totally entertaining.

Surprise # 4,672,925
For the first time in months, Emma agreed to let me french braid her hair for school. Initially I was excited, but I quickly remembered why I had stopped braiding in the first place. About 30 seconds in, Em started complaining that I was pulling her hair. By the end, she was screaming "YOU'RE KILLING ME!!!!" and practically frothing at the mouth. Once finished, Sophie and I oohed and aahed at how pretty her hair looked. I even took a picture so Em could see the view from the back. (See Exhibit A.) I was kinda proud of myself for producing (somewhat) straight braids under such adverse conditions.

Exhibit A

Em took one look in the mirror and started crying hysterically. "I look BALD!" she screamed before crumpling into a shrieking heap on the floor just like The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. She continued wailing the entire way to school, and I (mostly) clenched my jaw shut against the angry words that were bubbling in my throat. I pulled into the drop off lane, and the teacher on duty opened the door to help Emma out of the car. Clearly, he could tell with one look that something was awry. To his credit, he didn't glare accusingly at me while assuming I must have clubbed my daughter over the head or pulled the legs off all her dolls or committed some other such horror to illicit such an hysterical reaction. In fact, he didn't even ask what was wrong. He just nodded at me and said, "Have a good day, Mom. I'll take it from here." Then he whisked her into the school building while I managed to keep myself from weeping in gratitude.

Surprise-O-Meter Assessment: HORRID. Have fun, Covington Elementary! For the next six hours, she's all yours. God bless.

Exchange of the day

Yesterday, while playing in the sprinkler...

Sophie: "Ooooh, try the water on your vagina Emma! It feels so good!"
Emma: "Sophie, that is inappropriate. You aren't supposed to do that."
Sophie: "Really? Does it say that on the sprinkler box?"

What a difference a day of pre-K can make

Today was Sophie's first day of pre-kindergarten.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that both my babies are now in school full-time. I have juggled being a stay-at-home mom and working from home since Emma was three months old. I've always felt so grateful for the flexible work situation that has allowed me to be here - literally here - for my kids all these years. I know just how lucky I am, and I've tried to never take any of it for granted. But the arrangement does come with challenges, and it has often been difficult to manage it all. So after eight years of working whenever I could steal a few moments away (i.e. weekends, late nights, early mornings, naptimes, quiet times, here-girls-watch-a-video-while-mommy-works-just-five-more-minutes times), I am beyond excited at the prospect of having a more consistent structure to my work hours and finding a greater balance between work and family.

It is definitely bittersweet to watch my youngest enter the full-time world of education, but Sophie's almost five years old now. It is time for both of us to make this leap. She's totally ready...and lord knows her mama is.

However, Sophie didn't necessarily share my rosy outlook about the new arrangement when we headed off to school this morning.

 

This wasn't a huge transition really - same building, teachers and kids she had seen at summer camp three days a week for the last three months - so I wasn't too concerned. I knew Sophie would come around. She was just letting me know that she sensed a change, however small, and she wasn't too happy about it. I was sorry Soph wasn't more excited, but I didn't let her bad mood dampen my own enthusiasm one little bit. I managed to restrain myself from shouting "I'm FREEEEEEEE!" and drop-kicking the door open before running full tilt to the car, but I did have a little extra spring in my step as I said goodbye.

Thankfully, Sophie's mood had improved considerably when we picked her up at the end of the day.

In Sophie's words, school was "awesome" and she can't wait to go back tomorrow. We'll see if that holds true after morning dawns and it sinks in that she isn't staying home with me on Tuesday like she usually does. As always, one day at a time. But so far, so very very very very good.

Graduation! (Yes, four-year-olds need rites of passage too.)

Sophie officially graduated today from the preschool she attended in the city for two years, Hoyne Street Playgroup.

We feel incredibly blessed to have discovered this small, shining jewel back when Emma was just a toddler. In fact, I am still astounded at the dumb luck that led us to Playgroup in the first place. I was so overwhelmed by all the preschool options floating around Chicago (ah, choices...one of the best and worst things about living in a big city) that I desperately latched onto the first suggestion I received from a friend and immediately signed Emma up. Fast forward five years and here we are, saying a final goodbye to what has been an absolutely perfect first home-away-from-home for both of our daughters. We will miss all the teachers, parents and children we have met through Hoyne Street very, very much.

And now, onward and upward. Tomorrow...first day of pre-kindergarten! (Cross fingers for us and stay tuned...)

The kids didn't let a little rain slow them down. There was much playing in puddles and stomping in mud. Here's Sophie getting goofy with her friends Ada and Lily.

Full circle, indeed! As a Hoyne St. alumnus, Emma was the one who presented Sophie with her graduation bag. It was awesome to have Em share this special day with her little sister.

Sophie with her beloved Miss Louise. Oh, what this wonderful woman has meant to our family over the years! I am actually getting choked up right now just typing about it. Every parent in the world should be lucky enough to have a first teacher like Louise for their kids. I know, without a doubt, that no one in our family will ever forget her.

Sophie's teacher Ben made tooth boxes for each child as a graduation gift. Emma has one from her graduation three years ago, and it remains a treasured possession.

 Enlarge the diploma and read it all if you can. You'll get a good sense of the philosophy behind what makes Hoyne Street so special.

Group shot! Amazingly, we were able to wrangle all three teachers and every graduate into one photo...plus a couple of strays. (One of the kids was feeling a little lonely without his daddy and little sister with him, so they snuck into the back of the pic.)

Emma the Brave

Emma had her first day of third grade yesterday. (Btw, check out the new accessories in the pic below. Yep, Em finally took the plunge and got her ears pierced on Monday. Every time I see those little earrings twinkling away, I'm struck by how damn mature they make her look. It's semi-terrifying.)

As most of you know, we moved out to the 'burbs this summer after 14 years of city living. So yesterday not only marked the start of a new grade for Emma, but also a brand new school at which she didn't know a soul. I was so lucky growing up because I never once had to change schools. I lived in the same town - hell, the same house - my entire childhood, and the kids I met in kindergarten were the same ones I graduated alongside senior year. I always thought being the "new kid" would be so scary, and I wasn't really sure how Emma would handle the transition. This is the first time we've moved since she's been born, so there was really no precedent. She was super nervous, I was super nervous, and there were a few tears from both of us as I dropped her off. But when the last bell of the morning rang and her class began shuffling inside, she marched right into that school building and didn't once look back. I was so damn proud of her. At pick up, she greeted me with a huge smile and declared that her day was "awesome" and she already had two new friends. I gave her a huge hug and kept chanting in my head, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you."

Her first homework assignment of the year was to fill a paper bag with three items that really describe who she is. She decided one should be a picture of her doing a cartwheel. (Sadly, just a few minutes after the below photo was taken, Em's foot got into a fight with the entertainment center during a cartwheel-gone-wrong and the entertainment center won. Now she's rocking a nasty slice the whole length of her foot, which I think she's rather proud of.) The other two things she selected were a pen to represent her love of writing, and a smiley face because she likes to tell jokes. She's not particularly adept at telling jokes, but it's true that the girl definitely digs telling them. 

THIRD. GRADE. Wow. It feels unreal. If anyone out there knows how to stop time, drop me a line please...sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'm just gonna keep watching this little girl of mine blossom and try to stay the hell out of her way.

Movie trailers, bats, and all other kinds of awesome

We just returned from our annual Ohio vacation with the Dippel family, and as always, we had a blast. We played lots of board games, ate lots of food, and battled lots of bats. Yes, BATS.

In the early morning hours of one fine gaming evening, we endured three separate visits from the flapping little beasts. The kids miraculously slept through the entire thing. The adults each played a role in bat control...some more effectively than others. My Chris stormed right into the fray and caught the little buggers. Claire planted herself on the stairs and protected the children by flapping a pillow maniacally whenever a bat neared. Chris D. started screaming M. Night Shyamalan quotes and flying a toy helicopter into the bat cave living room. I ran for my life and took cover, hiding in the bathroom (bat attack #1), the laundry room (bat attack #2), and under the table (bat attack #3) before finally barricading myself in the bedroom when a bat that looked an awful lot like a helicopter flew a little too close for comfort. After Claire and my Chris chased the last bat downstairs and then actually followed it into the bowels of hell unfinished basement to verify the point of entry, "Mission: Bat Containment" was accomplished with a blanket and lots of duck tape.

I tell ya...we all felt like superheroes after that crazy encounter. (Shut up. Hiding is too a superpower.) So, we decided to make a movie trailer about it.

Luckily, we had movie-trailer-making whiz Charlotte Dippel on hand. An ipad camera prodigy at the tender age of 9 years old, she made two awesome and gloriously creepy trailers featuring the kids: The House of Seacrisy and The Haunted House of Indiana. Charlotte and Chris D. shared directing duties on the trailer that includes all of us, Super, Ohio. Take a gander below. (Watch them on full screen if you can - they are so much better that way.) Enjoy, and be sure to look for all three flicks not so soon in a theater near you!