A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

We got an early start today and never really slowed down.  Michael, using his amazing powers of perception, realized I did not have to work today, so he got up at 5:45 so that he could maximize his fun time with Mommy.  I tucked him back in, and he was quiet for awhile, but by 6:15 he was howling, and he woke up Leon who had been asleep since 8:15 last night (and they said Leon would never sleep!).

As usual, Michael was grouchy that he did not get alone time with me.  In an effort to keep the peace, by 6:37 a.m., the boys were strapped into the stroller (still sporting last night's jammies and diapers, but they weren't complaining and it saved a lot of fussing), and we took off for a long walk around the neighborhood.

They were completely content on the walk, and it was actually a nice way to start the day.  Although Friday afternoons are the craziest time to be on the streets in Wilmington, Friday mornings are usually pretty quiet.  Apparently no one works on Friday or everyone just calls in after Thursday night's fun.

We came home, ate breakfast, and I did something around the house.  For the life of me, I have no idea what it was.  I know I did laundry and took care of dishes later.  Hmmm.  Anyway, Ree and I took off again around 9:30 for a super, crazy adventure.  We went and checked out a new preschool for her.  The preschool actually insisted she come and play before we could register, and Ree had a lot of fun.  (We don't know yet if we'll be accepted or if we'll go there if we are accepted, but we wanted to get in the mandatory play session!)  We ended up staying for an hour and a half and Ree got to finger paint, play with the water table outside, listen to stories, build with blocks, and do puzzles.  Despite all those activities, tonight when she was going to bed she told me the best part of her day was eating snack at the preschool.  (They had multi-grain crackers and apple chunks.)  That girl still loves at least some foods.

Following preschool, we had lunch at Panera and then went to the post office, Food Lion, Target, Office Max, the bank, and Harris Teeter.  By the time we got home, she and I were both ready for naps.  Of course as soon as we pulled in the driveway, the boys woke up from theirs.

Jeff let me sneak away for a little while, and I passed out for about 20 minutes.  Ree ended up sleeping for nearly three hours.

The boys were cranky since they got up really early and took short naps, and Jeff and I struggled to keep them entertained.  Around 4:45, as I was trying to figure out how to make dinner while keeping them busy, it suddenly hit me that Max had a vet appointment at 4:30.  Max was still laying on the living room floor.  Crap.  Called the vet, who thankfully is located at the entrance to our neighborhood, apologized profusely, and they said they could see him anyway.  We've been worried about him, because he spends all his time looking for things to eat, and he just keeps getting thinner.  It turns out, there is nothing wrong with him.  He is just spending all his time chasing the squirrel brigade and the other creatures that threaten our yard.  We just need to feed him more.  Alrighty then.  We can do that.

We made it through the usual bedtime madness, and then I got busy again.  We only have a single car garage, but when we moved in to this house last year, I vowed we would be parking a car in it.  A year later, it's never happened.  So last Sunday, after tripping over baby gear yet again, I decided to do something about it.  Normal people would clean out the garage.  I decided to have a yard sale.  Tomorrow.  Before Jeff's soccer game.

So last night I was up late sorting baby clothes and getting stuff ready.  It was about 12:15 by the time I showered and unwound from that fun.  Thankfully I had less to do tonight.  The plan for tomorrow night - to sit on the couch and do nothing except maybe lift a beer to my mouth.

Conundrum

On Tuesday, we got a note from Ree's teacher.

She hit a boy in class.

They were so proud of her!

This was the first time she had shown any sign of standing up for herself at school.  At home she is happy to boss around the dogs, and she is starting to tell her brothers what to do (although she mostly shrieks in fear if they take her stuff), but at school, not so much.

So although she has made a lot of progress socially, she still has a long way to go since we kinda failed at socializing her the last couple of years.  (Not that she is the first kid in the history of the world to stay at home with a parental unit until she is three-years-old, but she is the freak exception in the current world in which kids begin taking music lessons and attending formal play dates when they are six-months-old and are playing soccer, taking gymnastics, and learning piano by the time they are three.)  But academically she is doing just fine, and is actually way ahead of the curve.

And now, in the next two weeks, we have to decide if we want to put her in the four-year-old class at preschool, which is where she fits chronologically and academically, or in the three-year-old class which is the natural progression from this year's class and where she might fit better socially.

I was so hoping we could put off school dilemmas until she was deciding between Harvard and UC Berkley.  School decisions shouldn't be so hard at this age!

D-O-Gs

There are two teachers in Ree's preschool class.  Last week they were doing some planning while the students were there, and thought they would be sneaky by spelling things out.  (What parent or teacher doesn't resort to this trick occasionally?)  Among other things, they mentioned a D-O-G.  Ree immediately chimed in, "That spells 'dog.'  What dog?  Where's the dog?  Why did you say dog?"  Of course by then the other kids in the class had picked up on it, and everyone was very interested in the dog. 

The teachers just groaned.  And couldn't wait to tell me about it.