School Night

Tonight is our family's first school night.  Emily starts Kindergarten tomorrow!!

I am apologetic that my only post this summer was about Clara's output, but that has really been a big part of our lives since I've figured it out.  For the past month, she's been gluten free, and I've discovered just what she can't have.  I've cut out ALL onions, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, grapes, noodles, bread, and bunches of other things that she likes to eat and are easy to just throw at her.  I've been cooking largely gluten-free and fructose-free dinners for the whole family, but since that's difficult, and I don't want to cut out vegetables that Emily and Audrey like, then I end up cooking nearly two full meals most nights.  It's exhausting and requires a lot of planning, but Clara seems to be digesting her food better.  I hope it means she's absorbing iron better, and maybe even growing more! 

Emily got to meet her teacher today.  Her name is Mrs. Salmon (sounds more like Solomon than the fish), and Emily was quite shy upon meeting her.  We assured her that Emily would open up and rule the place once she had her bearings.  I think Emily is pretty intimidated, but she'll catch on soon that it's absolutely something she can handle.  Travis and I are staying home tomorrow morning until she gets on the bus at 8:20, and then I'm going to work and Travis is taking Audrey out for breakfast - to McDonald's, to get anything she wants!  Then he'll bring her back home to Clara and Amanda, and finish the day at work.  Then, I pick up Emily at school at 3:35, through the zoo of first-day parent-pick-up (bracing myself for its awfulness), and then Emily will collapse in a heap of exhaustion, I would imagine!

It's crazy to think that I started this blog way back before I even knew who she was.  And now she's a schoolkid.  She's a great kid, too.  I was supposed to write down a few things about her so the teacher could get to know her, and it was hard to know where to start.  I mean, this summer has been huge for Emily.  She lost her first tooth, and is very close to losing the next one.  She learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  She gave up sucking her thumb by her own choice! She chose a thumb-guard from several options that I showed her on the computer, and then has worn every night for a month.  She started taking piano lessons.  She's picking out more and more words that she's obviously reading.  So starting school is no big deal, in some respects - she is absolutely ready.  But still, it's a matter of doing it, and while I'm not worried in the least bit, I'm a little sad and a little nervous for her.  Now I'm sending her off into the big world to be around other people.  Other people who don't KNOW her like I do!  What if someone picks on her for absent-mindedly putting things in her mouth?  What if someone thinks she's a dork for speaking like such an adult?  What if a teacher thinks she's a problem when she absolutely cannot stop herself from some compulsion she has to finish what she intends to do?  What if she is unhappy?  At home, she is perfect in herself.  In the world, she gets to be compared to people.  And really, what's the point of that?

Audrey gets to meet her teacher on Friday, and I think she hasn't really comprehended yet that she'll get to go to her own school.  Next week, Emily goes to school every day, and I think Audrey will then decide that it's time for her own activities.  We've signed her up for two days a week, so it's a pretty small exposure, but I want her to have her own school experience that's appropriate for her, just so she doesn't feel left home like a little baby.  Honestly, she can pick out words nearly as well as Emily does, and I think she's an even better counter - she can count 12 randomly-arranged objects and never mistake whether she's already counted each thing.  I love hearing her perfect speech ("Mom, bring that over here so I can see it closely!"). Of course, many things about her are totally age-appropriate (Emily loves to listen to me read chapter books, but Audrey doesn't have the attention span for that; same with piano).  But there are some things that I want to have people with experience in childhood education see first-hand, so they're ready for her as she gets into the school system.  I'm blind-siding them with Emily, because she'll blossom in a breadth of ways that I can't even predict yet, but when they get to Audrey, they'd better be ready to have her reading with higher grade-levels, and other things like that.  These kids are amazing!

Which brings me to Clara, who is more than just a food processor, of course. :)  She is getting SO much personality now!! She's hilarious!  She understands everything we say to her, and she's a total mama's girl, still!  She knows that when people are putting shoes on, she should go get hers, and she'll deliver shoes to people who don't have theirs on yet - even for guests!!  She got my sister's shoes for her the other day!  So cute.  Travis taught her to sign "more," and it is so sweet to see her slamming her hands together requesting more food.  (It is also heartbreaking when she's watching her sisters eat grapes or peaches or something else I can't give her, and she's disappointed with strawberries again...) I suppose I should be working with her to get more words she can say, but it hasn't been her focus this summer.  Maybe when it's quieter without Emily around she'll want to say more?   She has been taking better naps now, sometimes as long as 3 hours!! And she loves books.  She even knows which ones that Audrey knows how to sing (Teddy Bear, Baby Beluga) and will take them over to Audrey for her to sing.  We have an easy, fun bedtime routine that we both look forward to and enjoy.  I get a little sad every night that I finally put her into her crib, all snuggled and dozing and adorable.  She just gets bigger and bigger!! They all do!  I picked up Emily to show her the days on the calendar, and she flat-out told me not to pick her up anymore - she's too big!!  I was hugging Audrey before bathtime tonight, and she is losing her lanky, bird-like build, in favor of a stronger, more solid frame, that is fortunately more coordinated than she has been before.  She's a graceful little runner now, less likely to walk into walls or trip over nothing.

So even though I still vividly remember carrying her into this house for the first time, in the carseat all 9 lbs tiny, tomorrow I'll watch Emily go off on the bus... That went fast...