8:10am: No tears. Just an “OK – See ya mommy! Love ya!” as he rode away on his daddy’s bike.
***
Now, on to more pressing matters. I need you to go to BlaseDesign.com and vote!
Help me here people! This is SERIOUS!!!
Listening: Watch Out For Rockets
No crying today at pre-school drop-off! Hooray! The kid may just come out of his toddlerhood unscathed!
And while we’re celebrating stuff… how about Baby’s First Roller Coaster?
Yep – Harrison experienced his first roller coaster while we were in California. And, had my mother (the one who is terrified of most things gravity-defying) not suggested it we would have sadly passed right on by.
He was just tall-enough-to-ride-this-ride with the help of his hat. I sat next to him while Marc captured the bewildered, then nervous, then full-fledged-scared, but, ultimately triumphant Harrison on video.
Please, as always, excuse the obnoxious woman with the screeching commentary.
About halfway through he asked to “I get off now”. But, as soon as it was over we got a “Go again!”
And while walking away we were treated to his two-year-old-impression of a roller coaster: “Super Fast… zoom – zoom – zoom – zoom!”
(and sorry that the videos are links outside of the site – for the life of me I cannot figure out how to embed them!)
Listening: The Suzan
I have made this photo my desktop background to remind myself that we did indeed have a vacation. It’s easy to forget a thing like that given that I spent a great deal of our three week trip to California shackled to my computer dealing with client “emergencies”. The working-while-on-vacation thing is nothing new. It has been almost exactly 6 years since I took a trip without bringing my computer. We went to Paris in 2004 where, from the looks of the photos all I did was eat and stare at Marc adoringly.
Listening: The Black Keys
I thought I’d spend a bit of time this morning getting caught up on vacation photos – when I found Christmas photos from last year. Oopsies!
So, rather than a peak into our Bay Area-Tahoe-California-summer-extravaganza, I give you a look back on a chubby 1.5 year-old learning the finer points of present-opening
cupcake eating
skateboarding
and family-hugs
There are tons of new photos from our 2009 California Xmas here.
Listening: Gayngs
The dreaded Monday morning pre-pre-school goodbye
me: “Hey buddy, time to ride to school with daddy.”
H: “Okay. Bye Bye mommy.”
me: “…!?”
* * *
On the way to the Lego store pre-storm weather
H: “Big, puffy clouds make rain.”
H: “Scary clouds make thunder… Rumble. Rumble.”
H: “Cinnamon clouds make cinnamon apples.”
H: “Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.” (exaggerated, fake, post-joke laugh)
* * *
While “working” on his bike – attempting to loosen a bolt with a wrench
H: “UGH! I need a mechanic. For help me!”
Listening: Suuns
Today was more difficult, but, to be expected and I imagine Monday will be downright hellish. But, let’s face it – we’ve been 100% A+ perfect parents up until this point and we need to give him something to hate us for. This is all in God’s modern-America plan… parents selfishly have children to create meaning in their lives. Parents ignore children while they work to buy material $#@! that they don’t need. Children grow up in a self-obsessed, MTV-laced haze but, decide to buck the system and save the world. So, see – it all works out in the end!
Obviously I am distraught and coffee-deficient and unable to write coherently this morning.
Happy Friday.
Listening: Marnie Stern
When Auntie Kylies and I went to pick H up from school yesterday, we tentatively waited in the entry looking for him. He turned the corner to look outside and caught eyes with me from across the room. He was confused for a split second… then I could physically feel the relief and joy radiating from him. I was immediately transported to times in my life when I have felt that.
Like the time I got stung by a bee down the street at the Hawkins house. Mrs. Hawkins asked if I was okay and I bravely told her yes, got on my big wheels and rode as fast as my scrawny legs could take me. It was a long street with a side court splitting the Hawkins’ house from ours and knowing that I was not allowed to cross the street I rode the entire way around the side court and then down the street to the very end where we lived. I ran into the house, found my mom and collapsed in her arms. The feeling of complete and utter safety knowing that everything is perfect and I will be okay was so intense that even writing about it now I am reliving it with tears in my eyes.
(FYI – that is a loooong way on a big wheels)
Seeing that in Harrison’s eyes yesterday broke my heart. Knowing that for him to feel that much happiness – so much that he couldn’t contain his sobs made me feel guilty and sad about putting him through a day of torture at school. I wanted to pull him out of school, sell our house, eliminate all of our financial responsibilities and quit my job in order to keep him with me all day so that he would never feel that again.
And it wasn’t until just now – writing this – that I realized that without challenges and new experiences, new people and places and bee stings life wouldn’t be what it is. Without that bee sting I wouldn’t have one of my most precious memories of childhood… the best-ever mommy-hug.
And to be fair, school was not torturous for him. In fact this morning he was happy to go back. And when Marc (only Marc this time – I didn’t think I could take any more tears) took him to school today, Harrison put his lunch box away himself and began inside play. And there was no crying – a bit of “Daddy I need a hug…” but, then he went back to his activity and that was that.
And I know that the kid will be fine. I know that he will better than fine. When I picked him up yesterday his teacher (the woman who has been running it for 30+ years) told me that he asked about Mommy throughout the day – calmly and never with tears – and she would tell him that I’d be back later and that he can play now… and he would respond, “OK – I was just joking.” Apparently she’d never heard that one before – first day and already making an impression.
Listening: Twin Sister
I sent my kid off to preschool today to be raised by complete and total strangers.
We have been talking about school… about how AWESOME it is… how there will be KIDS there! and GIRLS there! and you’ll get to have a nap with all the other kids… and there will be lunch – with a special school-cookie (yup, I promised him chocolate-chip-sugary-buttery-goodness to ease my own guilt about sending him off to school).
And all of this was working. He WAS excited. Until we got there and were ready to leave him and I could see it in his eyes. That he thought that SCHOOL was an activity that WE were going to experience TOGETHER.
I forgot to explain to him that school was what he would be doing while daddy would be working and while mommy would be scouring the internet to find information about how sending your kid to full-time day care at two years old will not scar them for life.
So, when we started to leave he looked confused. He cried and grabbed for me, begging for a hug. And I KNOW logically that you need to leave him there all nonchalant-like as to convince him that you trust the place, that it’s okay and that YOU are not nervous – but, the kid rarely cries when we leave him (granted the only place we’ve ever left him was at a familiar house where he had Finny to comfort him). I hugged and kissed him and turned and walked away. I blew a kiss and said “See ya! Love ya!” which is our standard goodbye. One of his teachers picked him up, which comforted him a bit, and when we got outside the gate he yelled through sobs “Bye Bye!” and waved.
Auntie Kylies was with us (because oh yeah, by the way – my sister and her husband BOUGHT A HOUSE. IN AUSTIN. PRACTICALLY AROUND THE CORNER FROM US. AND THEY ARE MOVING HERE… TODAY! More on that later… back to how I’m scarring my kid for life). So, Kylies turned to wave one last time – because I couldn’t (didn’t want him to see the tears streaming down my face) and she happily reported that he had stopped crying and was looking around the playground most likely scoping out his closest competition for that cute, little, curly-haired brunette we saw as we walked in.
Listening: The Sea & Cake
It took a trip halfway across the country to find kids that Harrison could accost without objection.
If it isn’t obvious – we’re on vacation and because we are short on cash and other things that make a vacation really fun and indulgent I have allowed myself to not blog for three weeks without guilt.
For vacation – some people go to Italy and experience great art, food and wine… others go to their parents’ house and not-blog.
Harrison and Finny are about 25 months old now and have been together almost every week day since they were 4 months old.
And today is the last day.
Harrison is graduating to pre-school – a Montessori school within walking/biking distance of our house! I cannot accurately express the joy of not having to commute – sometimes an hour – to take our kid to day care just to turn around and come back home for work.
I wasn’t sure about Montessori and we won’t really know until we give it some time, but, I believe that it is a great fit for H.
It is a sad day because it means that he is growing up and moving on to a new chapter, but, as with every ending – it means a new beginning. Harrison will miss Chelsea and Finny, but, he is, as we hoped he would be, a confident kid who is always ready for new adventures. We head to California tomorrow morning. We will be gone for three weeks – seeing family, friends, camping and hanging in Truckee and when we get back he starts school. Harrison is already talking about how at school there will be girls there. And lots of kids. And how they will sleep on the floor for naps – he’s excited. I’m concerned that they don’t serve organic snacks, but, if that’s my biggest concern – I think we’re going to be just fine.
Listening: Caribou
