The Lady Starts Kindergarten

If any of you follow me on Twitter, are friends with me on my personal fb page, or if you saw the photo of the Lady on the Three Bean fb page yesterday, you know that the Lady has started kindergarten.

Deep breaths Bean. Deep breaths.

On the bus for kindergarten orientation

Yesterday was kindergarten orientation. My husband and I rode with the Lady on the bus, we were able to bring her to her classroom, we met the teacher, we had a Q&A, we sized up the other students, checked out where the bathrooms were and tried to get the Lady and ourselves acclimated to elementary school.






It was a great day. We left there feeling positive and not at all echoing the sentiments of one of the Lady's new classmates, who blurted out when they were all sitting down for circle time "This is the worst class ever."

With the school mascot

Fast forward to this morning.

Waiting for the bus on the official first day

We weren't riding the bus.

There wasn't going to be two kindergartners and three parents on the bus.

There were at least 10 kids at the bus stop.

The Lady was nervous.

Looking kind of nervous

I was nervous.

The bus pulled up. It was pretty full.

The Lady got on. There were no seats until the back of the bus.

The bus started to move before she was seated.

I started crying.

The babysitter started crying.

I got in Minnie-Ru and headed towards the school.

After sitting in a bit of back-to-school traffic and driving behind an incredibly slow blue Nissan Altima, I finally pulled into the Lady's school. The place was packed. I inched my way down the long line of cars and as I pulled into a packed parking lot, I saw the Lady getting off the bus and running through the rain.

I had a moment of panic because I wasn't sure if she would know where to go and I was too far away to get to her.

I finally found a parking spot. I grabbed the raincoat she "forgot" and headed into the school.

There were people and backpacks everywhere.

I found her classroom.

She was sitting in her seat, coloring a rainbow.

I kissed her once. I hung her raincoat. I kissed her again.

I walked away.

I then bought one of those car magnets that says her school's name. I also perused page after page of sign-up sheets that lined the table outside of the entrance. I was surprised how many times I found my name. Yesterday, in my quest to be as involved as I could be in the Lady's school, I pretty much signed up for any event that said it was ideal for working parents. I have no idea what these events are or when they may occur, but I will be there, for the Lady.

When the Odds are Never in Your Favor

Here is a bit of advice. Don't watch the Hunger Games and then go and sleep in a room with five kids under 5.

Not only will you have Hunger Game-inspired dreams, you will awaken every 15 minutes to the sounds of those tributes, kids in their various state of slumber.

I am pretty sure Katniss got more sleep strapped into that tree branch then I did on Saturday night.

The Lady went full on Peeta Mellark and camouflaged herself beneath so many blankets, I wasn't sure if she was even in the bed.

The Wild Ones, The Big Guy, and the Little Lady moved so often that they were barely on their beds. I found each one of them in various states of slumber with legs and arms off of mattresses, wedged between Aero beds and walls, in a constant state of motion that not only kept me up, but kept me guessing.

There is nothing like rolling over and seeing your 3-year old niece sleeping peacefully on a mattress on the floor and then opening your eyes ten minutes later and not seeing her at all until you finally make out her little body wedged at the bottom of her brother's bed, covered in blankets. It is peace followed by sheer panic.

I kept waiting for an ambush.

Those tributes, kids know how to keep you on your toes, or in my case, wide-awake in a half-dream state battling teenage killers and tired toddlers until the sun shone brightly through the windows and the only cannon that sounded was for the death of sleep.

Happy! Happy! Little Lady!

The Little Lady is 3!

 

Little Lady we love your spirit and your sense of humor. You bring joy to our lives everyday and I am very proud to be your mom. 

Blowing out the candles on her Barbie cake. Many thanks to my husband who not only decorated the cake, but didn't drive like a maniac on the way to the party so that I didn't end up with Barbie on my lap.(Gotta love the Lady "helping" in the background. She also "helped" open all the presents.)

A Thank You from the Little Lady

Had to share the thank you from the Little Lady's Splash Zone Party at Chelsea Piers CT. She had a great time and I didn't have to clean anything up! More pics to follow!

3x5 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

 

On the Ba-Lympics and Bribery

The Little Lady: I want to watch Mrs. Franklin in the Balympics.
Hubby: Do you mean Missy Franklin in the Olympics? 

We have been on an Olympic high in our house for the past two-weeks. The Ladies are way into the gymnastics and the swimming. Not only are they doing more flips over the couch and pretending to race in every kiddie pool imaginable, they are also asking for gymnastics lessons and pretending they are Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin.

Reminds me of when my cousin and I did hours of cartwheels on the beach in '86 trying to convince anyone who would listen that we were Mary Lou Retton’s cousins.

While the Olympics is a great opportunity to teach kids about winning and losing, meeting goals and having dreams, parents need to seize this short window of opportunity for bribery purposes.

I have started bribing my children to behave with a promise of “medaling.”

Whoever finishes cleaning, eating, or brushing their teeth first gets the gold...

This is working wonders.

The Lady is nothing if not competitive. And while I will admit to having a wee bit of a competitive bone in my body, it is nothing like the competitive nature that her father possesses. It is impossible to play against him in anything. Not only does he always win, he is kind a jerk about it (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). After the Scrabble screamfest of 2005 we have decided that it is probably best that we try to be on the same team.

The Lady, besides being competitive, is also relentless when it comes to getting what she wants. She will wear you down. I will admit that I respect her tenacity and I think it is a good trait to have in life, but her dogged pursuit of the win is making me wonder if any local YMCAs offer Mock Trial classes to an almost 5-year-old.

So, when all forms of pleading, screaming, communication fail, if you make the suggestion that the Lady might get a gold star attached to a piece of paper or that she may win a hypothetical gold medal that girl will respond. She is clearly capable of listening to direction, picking up after herself and attending to her personal hygiene.

I don't even have to bribe her with an actual object. Just the mention of a medal is enough. Oh the possibilities. . . we might have knot-free hair, sparkling teeth--do I dare hope for a gold medal in good listening? I do. This is the Olympics after all and I dare to dream.

Just try it. Mention to your kids that they are in danger of not medaling in bedtime or clean-up. Tell them there is a chance they might miss the podium and you will see some kids called into action--children who deserve to carry the flag for your household.

I am thinking of building a podium in the living room. I am pretty sure I can find directions on Pinterest. We can have daily medal ceremonies complete with the Lady's own anthem, which I am pretty sure will be “Call Me Maybe.”

Source: ffffound.com via Israel on Pinterest

But move fast. .  .the closing ceremonies are approaching, and unless you DVR'd the Women's Gymnastics All-Around like we did, you may miss your opportunity to take advantage of the spirit and the wonder of the Games and harness it all for your benefit.