Last day of "school"

Anna has been having a blast at the Armand Bayou camps (that's her bird's nest above from today), and she's halfway through her final week. Next week she starts the St Thomas camps, which last all day, thus mitigating the once-per-day freak out moment I encounter of "where's my kid what time is it Oh OK". The schedule has been a little wonky but she's been flexible and so it went fast. She's still never thrilled on the afternoons she had to go to "school" (and I can't blame her). But today is her last afternoon there until August 29 when she starts with her new Pre-k-5 teacher (yippie!).

Today when she started sulking about having to go to school I reminded her it was her last day. She perked up but I reminded her that she was saying final goodbyes to her favorite friends (Ryan, Karma, Erin) she'd grown up with since infants because they would not be going to her class in August. I think that hit Paul and me harder this morning than it has her so far (by the way, is this just my own pet peeve? For an explanation of when to use "I vs ME" read here: http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/ime.html).

We'll try our best to keep in touch with these kids (I like their parents) but who knows how these things go. That's life.

In the meantime, Anna can now swim to the bottom of the pool to pick up pool toys for fun! Well, she still needs our help in getting to the bottom but she holds her breath, looks around for what we've thrown down there, picks it up, and gets it back to us :) She does still want her arm floaties most of the time, just I guess for extra caution. Baby steps. So to speak. She's midway through her final week of swim class. Don't know if we'll continue on a semi-regular basis or what. I guess we'll see.

So long June!

Today I got half way to Anna's camp when I realized that in my rush out the door I'd forgotten to put half my makeup on.

The fact that nobody at work noticed is a testament to either:
-their politeness
-the fact that I must look pretty great without all the makeup; or,
-I suck so bad at putting on makeup, why bother wearing it.

First Class!

Let the wine vs caffeine battle begin!

Swim!

Go baby! So Paul and I were doing silent cheering jumping jacks while watching her do stunts in he firs swim class. We amused the other parents and she just stared at us with a grin :)






I was supposed to be on a plane. About that...have you ever actually known personally a dumbass who gets in line for a flight, hands over their ticket, then is told they're getting on the plane to some place called Harlington when they're supposed to be going to Columbus? Seriously? Well you have now. I just showed up to my gate, saw they were boarding, and got in line. When my boarding pass kept going bong instead of beep, the attendant informed me, in front of everyone, that I was headed for the wrong plane! I don't even know where Harlington is. I then announced to the witnesses "I swear I'm a seasoned traveler!" Turns out my plane got delayed so far back that I got to go home and then go to the first half of Anna's first swim class. Paul called me with some grand finale stories I missed (yay!) and overall she really had fun!!

She loved her morning camp too. She fame back sweaty and dirty and all talks about their hay ride and how she got to let a rollie pollie climb all over her arms.

I'd say she'll sleep well tonight!
I, however, won't be landing until midnight. And I've got charts to make on this flight for my presentation tomorrow morning. Yawn. I'm up first for free upgrade to First Class. It's looking good! Fingers crossed though the wine would conflict with the caffeinated caramel mochiatto something er rather I just got from Starbucks.

Still! Waiting...

She's all sunscreen and bug spray

Ready for her first day of morning camps at Armand Bayou, she started this morning. When we arrived she realized that she's never been to THIS camp and she's excited as we walk in. Heck, me too! Sure we were sweating our butts off but Armand Bayou nature center is notorious for local wildlife fun. This week's theme for Anna's morning camp is Animal Homes.

She is such a big girl. Geeze. She was full of closed-lip smiles that said "mom, I'm good don't make a big deal!" But I'm beaming and only even get a half-kiss with zero hugs (mommmmm!) and she's off with about 8 other classmates led by a nice woman she's never me before. And she's a sticky mess of bug spray and sunscreen and morning sweat, all clear confirmation that it's summer in Houston.
















This afternoon I catch a plane to Ohio so I can give a presentation at Ohio State University in the morning. So I will miss her first swim lesson tonight. Booooo. I know she claims she's excited and I totally need to be there but now Paul's got this but let's face it: he and I handle these things differently. In the extreme, He pushes her too hard and I don't push hard enough. We recognize this at least. I am counting on the instructor to be the tie breaker. But is it just me or do you agree the first swim lesson makes a critical impression about her whole approach to water much less the remainder of the 2-week lesson? Maybe it's just me. Fine.

She's gotten really good about holding her breath and going under water. Swim lessons was her decision. We even went over and watched few so she'd see what it's like. Yesterday we bought 3 more swim suits because already she's pretty much in the pool daily. Here's hoping tonight goes well!

Camp: week 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL TODAY! We are glad you were born J

 

Anna’s first week at camp (mornings, M-Th) was really great. She loved it! It was “critter camp” where they learned about animals and reptiles and things at the University of Houston Clear Lake campus. On her first day, though, she was NOT excited about having to go back to “school” for the afternoon session. In fact when I picked her up from camp and told her where we were headed, she stopped in her tracks in the UHCL building and internally threatened a 4-yr-old-type tantrum if I dared take this any further. I sat wondering: bribe? Threats? Pick her up and carry her out kicking and screaming? (yes, that’s MY kid. She’s not USUALLY one of those. Honest!)…Ultimately I got her to move with threats. Later, explanations about the schedule and why she should obey it. And more threats.

 

When she’s at school in the afteroon, it’s with her same teacher with her same friends (a few new ones), and as it turns out the classroom has moved to one that has a pet chinchilla. Of course, that was a big hit! On Tuesday afternoon she was home between me and Paul, then to the Valeo PT Astros game that night, and on Wednesday afternoon she went to play at one of her little friend’s house for the entire afternoon I was at work! She was so tired she and her friend actually passed out for a nap on her friend’s bed! MY CHILD? Unheard of! She spent Thursday afternoon at the clinic, then gymnastics, and on Friday morning she was at school (water play day!) in the morning, and with TJ and the kids swimming at a client’s/friend’s house in their beautiful pool on Clear Lake! They even own a pet duck that wears a diaper around the house so yeah, Anna had a blast. Topped that evening with dinner with TJ and family, and whew, what a week! On Saturday, a friend from her school came to swim for a little while in our backyard, and on Sunday we went to M’s dance recital (who did a GREAT JOB!!).

 

Hello? I’d say this kid had a pretty great week of summer!!! Except for the Astros game, we did our best to keep to her sleep schedule by 8:30 max nightly. This kid needs 12 hours of sleep, for real. The night of the Astros game, she had a major nightmare that we heard all about the next day, that consisted of Cat Monsters. The next night she and I had lengthy discussions at bedtime about the existence monsters and how she is safe in our house and that everyone has bad dreams, and different things can cause bad dreams. When I told her that she’d stayed up too late for the baseball game, and that may have been a cause of her bad dream, she declared: “No more baseball games for me, then!”

 

I knew the bad dream and scared at night thing would come eventually. This little girl was obviously so scared in her bed even as I lay next to her! She was stiff as a board, looking off in every direction, asking about every sound. We’re working on bravery and what’s pretend vs real and it’s a fine, delicate line. Hey, we all get scared as kids. Some more than others. This is one area I feel that you have to kinda be careful about how you approach it because I feel like it could impact her reaction to all things in the future that may be potentially fearful. Not like I have the answers or anything. In the end, with respect to things that go bump in the night, I do believe that we fear that which we don’t understand (oh, also fortunately we do fear things we do understand, like serial killers, but that’s basic instinct and survival ;) HA!).

 

Anyway, we’re on week 2 of camp: Kids’ Chemistry. This morning when I picked her up, she could tell me the difference between a solid and a liquid and she came back with a jar full of good-smelling bath salts they made. She LOVED this class! She said they even made the classic volcano with paking powder and vinegar. Sounds like a great first day to me J She didn’t cry there at pick up but gave me some grief at school during drop off. Her teacher is out of town this week, and the sub, Ms. D, is AWESOME. She lets no child in that class get away with any crap; her discipline is right on. I SO wish Ms. A could learn from that! No matter, this makes me feel more at ease this week with Anna being there. Then just two more weeks of part time there until school starts again in the fall.

 

One last thing, Anna has become a rude little booger. We are working hard on her manners. It seems she can’t find them lately.

 

 

 

 

Anna's home!

Anna had a blast at mom's house for the weekend. As I suspected, she looked and acted older than when we left her as always is the case after I've not seen her in awhile. As much as she had fun she was excited to come home, and as we pulled into the neighborhood she couldn't contain her excitement. KC! Her bedroom! Her pool (oh yeah I forgot to mention we got this about 4 weeks ago):





She was all over that poor cat, claiming she'd forgotten what KC looked like! Claiming she forgot we had stairs (please), and ran up to go see her bed because she missed it! We played in the pool, ate pizza, and when bedtime came she said she was excited to sleep in her bed again.

Today we just hung around the house, swam, and played games and puzzles. We made peanut butter rice krispie treats and pumpkin pancakes. O and M came over for the evening and lo and behold, Anna started swimming with her face in the water! Like holy crap, she and M were all crazy swimming under water! Both did great holding their breath and swimming! Anna had her arm floaties on even though she can touch the bottom but we are floored and proud of this huge leap from just in early May when she hated getting her face wet. Wow! She says she's ready for actual swim lessons and Paul and I agree so we will be looking into it soon. I think having the pool in the back yard has been good for Anna getting more and more time in the water. So she's getting more comfortable. We still can't believe those girls tonight!

Oh and WE HAVE FREAKING CORN STALKS growing in our garden. Corn stalks, people!

It's not lost on me the wonder of how we've managed to pull off an actual garden (Paul's determination, the first one to survive after about 3 previous attempts in 10 years) a new rose garden, and a swimming pool in the middle of a Houston drought during the busiest times of our lives. Go figure.

Anna starts her first day of KidsU camp tomorrow. It's 8:30-11:30 M-Th and the first week is Critter Camp. It's at the U of H Clear Lake campus so Anna's excited to be going where mommy teaches :) I am taking off Tuesday afternoons and Paul Thurs and Fri afternoons to be home with Anna. She will go to her school at GD MW afternoons and Fri mornings. We're excited and hopeful she will like it! It's the first time that she's been anywhere other than GD so it will be new for us all. Hoping for the best!

Childless: Day 4 and 5

Well this week I skipped all my exercise because of the respiratory crud that's got me a little knocked down. And frankly by the end of the day, I'm too tired to do anything really exciting. Too bad, I had imagined that this week I'd get back to the 8pm summer running I used to do. Didn't pan out. Too tired over nothing.

Observations:

Night of Day 3:
Worked until 6:00pm, which is about an hour later than usual. Joked with my co-workers on the fact that there's nothing pressing me to leave by 5. Except grocery shopping, which I did, at a nice, slow pace, knowing I had no place really pressing to be once I was done. Discovered where they moved the canned chicken because I had time to get to the bottom of it. Picked up some stuff not on the list because I'd always thought it'd be neat to have them on hand in the house if I could ever remember to pick them up. Found the frozen "all-natural" section. WOW, now THAT is a cool section! Pryed my eyes open to finish knocking out some DVR'd Oprahs. Anna didn't want to talk to me on the phone, which is actually fine by me! It means she's happy out there.

Day 4:
Holy crap, is it Thursday already? We drive all the way back out to Austin tomorrow to get Anna already? What to do on my final night at the house? Too tired. Made dinner, watched DVR'd Office marathon (we have them taped back as far as December!!). Told the cat what I've been thinking the past few weeks: you're great except for the fact that you don't cuddle. CUDDLE, DAMN YOU!! Paul found green beans in our garden and brought in a bowl full! So now, in addition to all the tomoatoes we don't know what to do with, he have ACTUAL FREAKING GREEN BEANS, PEOPLE. The kind that look like they do in the store: like FOR REAL. Time is a double-edged sword: slow down so I can take in all the free mom time, but speed up because I miss Anna!

Day 5:
Why did I wake up at 6:19am? Oh yes, because Paul's alarm went off and that was it for me. My last chance to sleep in. I am at work by 8:30. This is 45 minutes sooner than when Anna's here. By 9:15 I think it's snack time, but no. It's only 9:15. This is screwy. On the way to work, I checked the mail, which I hadn't actually done since Day 2. So I guess some things don't change afterall.

Tonight we're going to grab dinner and head West to bring Anna home tomorrow. We will need the weekend to undo all of the no-doubt-spoilings that have occured over the week. Her summer camps start Monday.

Here we go!

Childless, the first 36 hours

This week Anna is staying at my mom's in Austin. We left her there Monday night. She was all excited and then when it came time for Paul and I to go she started to back peddle. I told her it was OK if she wanted to come home with us but told her all she'd miss out on so she decided to stay.

Observations:

Day 1:
On the ride home Paul and I realized we had an hour long conversation with complete sentences that made sense. The only interruptions were phone calls and text messages. Also I could not even figure out what music I even wanted to listen to now that I had a choice. When we got home I was a little too sad to go into Anna's room.

Day 2: I caught some crud Anna had so I stayed home sick from work. Had sudden concern I had to be somewhere and get out of bed. It was only 9:30am. Watched DVR'd Oprah shows all day. Thought I had to go somewhere or do something by 5. But realized I did not. Actually read the mail. The day seemed slow and steady. Went to a late showing of Pirates 4 with Paul.

Day 3: Slept till 7:30. quiet morning getting ready for work. Began to realize that even though Anna is a good kid with good behavior, she still brings an innate and inevitable amount of noise and rush to the house. This is a kid requirement. I'm starting to think I should start tuning out noise like Facebook and Twitter. I should slow down more often and read the mail. Should not run the TV in the morning. I never had the TV on before she was born. Realizing I can work as late as I want today but instead will go home, change my clothes, and go grocery shopping slowly and at a time while the world is still awake. Question: if I had no kid, what would make me come home from work at a reasonable hour? What did I do before Anna came and I have to pick her up by 5:30?

Interesting.