1 Mother 2 Another

Cora went to see the dentist for the first
time yesterday. Yes, she’s three. It’s the same age we
started Maddie at, and she survived, so there you go.


Cora’s been to the dentist’s office a couple times
before with Maddie, so she knew what to expect. And where Maddie
was fearful – the whole “new situation” thing
– Cora was straining at the leash.


“Is today the day I go to the dentist?” Cora said every
morning this week – and not in a “dreading it”
way, but in a “please tell me it’s Christmas
morning!” way. She was so ready to get in the dentist’s
chair that she asked if we could leave story time at the library
early – before we’d even sung her favorite song.

The CPSC issued a government warning today
to stop using infant sleep positioners. CPSC has received reports
of twelve infants between the ages of 1 and 4 months dying from
suffocation due to the sleep positioners in the past 13 years.
Doesn’t sound like a lot, I know, but if one of those numbers
was your child it would.


If you have an infant check out the href="http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm227575.htm"
target="_blank">article – they lay out the reasons
quite clearly.

I’m going to cut to the chase here.
My kid’s got a boy in class – who will remain nameless
– who is making her life not-so-great, and the only thing
keeping me from going over to his house and knocking him down is
that the school has not yet published our school directory for the
year. Possibly for just this reason.


Last week, Maddie told me this boy was making fun of her at recess.
“He was teasing me because I don’t play football. I
told him girls can’t play football but he wouldn’t
stop.”


“Well,” I said reasonably, “Did you tell him you
actually do play football? You play it with Sam on play
dates.” True story.

Twinkle toes.


My whole childhood, twinkle toes was a nickname people gave me when
they couldn’t think of anything better than to reference my
ballethood. Apparently, now it means something different.


According to Maddie, “all” her friends are wearing
these fugly shoes – picture a pair of white Keds, graffitied
by Jackson Pollack armed with neon spray cans, and then bedazzled
by some poor Chinese woman who was apparently paid by the sequin.
Now add to that the fact that some of the jewels LIGHT UP when
jostled. Now realize that all of this is crammed on very small
feet.

At Maddie’s school, disobedience can
earn you a lap around the playground at recess. The teacher has a
notebook, and keeps a tally of the number of laps each child
“earns” during the morning, and if you drive by the
playground at recess (not that I ever do, especially not with a
camera) you will see several children walking around the perimeter.


Maddie finds this idea quite interesting, for some strange reason,
and has taken to it with gusto. In fact, she is so enamoured of the
punishment that she and her friends will pretend that they’ve
earned laps, just so they can walk around and talk the whole time.
Maddie’s friend Elise was distressed to see Maddie marching
the line the other day, and didn’t know until later that
Maddie’s punishment was self-inflicted.

I mentioned recently that Cora’s
been “babysitting” Paige, and 18-month-old friend of
ours. Cora takes it quite seriously, and whenever she sees Paige
she goes into work mode, feeding Paige raisins from her stroller
tray one by one, or adjusting the sun bonnet over her face, or
whatever she can find to do.


We were out for dinner for a school spirit night at a local
fast-food place last night, and the kids all went to play in the
play area. There’s a little square “room” off all
the tubing and such that’s only about a foot off the ground,
and it’s got a steering wheel in there and a lookout spot.
Cora went in there with Paige, and was talking to her, watching
her, and having a great time being the bossy older person.

I teach on Monday evenings, and have cut
back my classes so that I may still pick Maddie up from school and
have some time with her to decompress for a while before I head off
to work. This arrangement seemed to be going well, until yesterday
afternoon.


Maddie had come home grumpy and irritable, a sure sign that she was
tired. I tried to be loving and patient, but time came when I
needed to leave. I announced my departure early, giving myself time
to deal with her, and boy was I glad I did.

I’m always keeping my ears open for
new stuff that makes my life easier – baby gear, good books,
brainy toys, or superfoods. About a month ago a girlfriend told me
about this small peanut butter company in her home state of
Vermont; apparently they made a really excellent peanut butter, but
put extra stuff in it that made it even better.


Like chocolate? I asked. Because we all know chocolate makes
everything better.


And the answer –yes, but more than that.

This past Monday, Cora and I dropped
Maddie off at school and walked home, at which point Cora turned to
me and said, “Mommy, can you call Miss Allison and ask if I
can babysit baby Paige right now?”


Here’s the backstory – we’ve got friends with a
daughter Maddie’s age and a baby about a year and a half old.
My friend and I have discussed exchanging babysitting during the
day so we can go have lunch with our older girls – I’d
watch Paige for her, and she’d take Cora for me. Trying to
include Cora, Alli said to her, “Cora, do you think you could
come over to my house some time and help me take care of baby
Paige?” Cora nodded solemnly, and the idea was planted.

Tuesday night was Curriculum Night at the
elementary school – a chance for the educators to sit down
with parents and fill us all in on what exactly’s being
taught during the day. It’s not a night for one-on-ones with
the teachers, but in addition to covering curriculum it is an
opportunity for the school staff to reinforce some important rules
and regulations to the new school parents.


I was teaching Tuesday night and was not able to be there, and you
can imagine how worried I was about not having the chance to
micro-manage that scenario. Poor Brian was less than enthusiastic
about being our token parenting unit, knowing that no matter how
hard he listened he was bound to be unable to answer EVERY QUESTION
I’d have about the event during my post-game debriefing.
Fortunately, my friend Mary went along and sat next to Brian,
taking notes on my behalf on the things she thought I might find
important that Brian may miss.

So I asked Maddie how recess went
yesterday, after Monday’s big heart saga. “Much
better!” Maddie sang out.


“Great!” I cheered. “How so?”


“Well, I decided it was best if I just avoided that boy
completely.”


Um, what?

I teach on Monday nights, and so get home
just after the girls are in bed. Both of them try to wait up for
me, and making the rounds is now part of my home-from-teaching
ritual. Cora’s usually zonked out, but Maddie’s often
still awake and wanting to chat. I expect it now, and somewhat look
forward to our intimate conversations.


Last night was one such night, and Maddie plunged into what was on
her heart with absolutely no preamble.


“Mommy, I just think that school is too hard for me. I
don’t know that I’m going to make it.”


Take a breath. We can have this conversation again.

I’m headed out for three days with
my hubby for a much-needed mini-vacation. Yes, we just went to
Colorado a month ago, but that was with the kids. This is the two
of us, three days – BY OURSELVES.


I can wear whatever I want and not worry if it’s compatible
with grape juice, or if my child is going to look down my shirt and
say, “I can see Mommy’s boobies!” I will eat
chocolate whenever I desire, without fear of having to share
– or even having the Breath Police accuse me –
“Mommy, I smell suh-wock-o-whate on your breath. Did you eat
some?” I will choose a restaurant based on its wine list, not
based on whether the mac n’ cheese on the kid’s menu is
Kraft or some inferior imposter.


I will sleep, uninterrupted, through the night.


And just as important, I will wake up whenever I want. And not one
damn minute sooner.


Seriously. Do. Not. Disturb.

Open gym is OPEN.


To badly paraphrase Browning, “The lark’s on the wing,
the snail’s on his thorn, open gym’s open, all’s
right with the world.”


Yep, Cora and I cracked that bad boy open like a rotten nut
crumbling under a sledgehammer yesterday. Cora has had her leotard
picked out for THREE WEEKS, waiting with breathless anticipation
for those doors to unlock and summer break to be OVER. And it
finally, officially is.

Maddie has never been what you’d
call a daredevil: she had the traumatic bike-a-thon at her
preschool where she rode all of one lap on her bike before freaking
out in fear of falling, and walked or scooted the rest of the way.
She’ll put on roller skates and then gingerly walk her way
around our neighborhood, and on the days when she does get her
scooter out she scoots at a snail’s pace.


So I thought we’d never be the ones taking alternate (read:
wheeled but people-powered) transportation to school in
kindergarten. But last week as Maddie and Elise walked to school
and saw all the “big” kids whizzing by on their
scooters, an idea was born.

I’ve written a lot in the past few
weeks about Maddie and her adjustment to kindergarten, and some of
you are wondering how Cora has done. I know it looks as if
I’ve spent all my energy on Maddie, and certainly I’ve
been working hard with her getting settled into her new way of
life. But don’t worry – I haven’t neglected Cora.


As a matter of fact, Cora’s adjusting quite well to this new
schedule also.

Cora spent Wednesday morning vomiting
– her usual MO, you know, when she’s got strep throat.
So I was kept busy doing loads of laundry and trying to pin a
fretful girl down to the bed – which I did with copious
episodes of Dragon Tales. I was, needless to say, wiped out.


But one good thing did come out of Wednesday – for whatever
reason, Cora chose that day to exclusively use the potty. Yes, she
wore one tired diaper the whole day, and as sick as she was, she
dragged herself to the bathroom every time. When she went to bed
that night, I told her we’d get something special to
celebrate the next day.