It's that day...

The most wonderful day of the year. Well, not really for me. I'm not one of those people who's anxious to send her kids off to school. I'm jealous that their teachers get to spend so much time with them. I miss them already and they've been gone for an hour. Miss G started kindergarten today. I can't wait to hear how her day goes. She's a school-type, if you know what I mean. She just loves everything about it. Mr. T struggles a bit more - he's very smart, but sort of socially behind a bit. He gets better all the time, though.

So a new school for them and Tom, who's teaching general music this year (he hates that). I hope we all find a way to make it in our new life here. The change from suburban to rural small town is probably hardest on me, since I'm a suburb girl born and bred. The kids have known the farm since they were born, at least on visits. Tom grew up here, so it sort of works for him, even if in part he's grown a little too sophisticated in some ways. He still retains the small town farm boy inside, though, just with an orchestral exterior.

This day is probably hardest on one little person in particular - Miss S, who is losing her playmates. I'm planning to put her in a gymnastics class or something so she meets some friends and gets out a bit, but the fall parks and rec book isn't out yet, so that will have to wait a while still.

Counting down...

Only six more days until school starts. That means six more days where I don't have to stress about where we need to be and when in the mornings. I'm a little worried that I've taken on too much this year, at least three days a week. Miss G's preschool starts at 9 and Mr. T's school starts at 9:20. I have to take them both to both places. They're only a few miles apart, but the hurry-up part will make me a little crazed on those mornings, I think.

It's been rainy and cool here for the past couple of days. I'm starting to think fall, even though I know it's just a tease and will likely be nasty hot by the weekend again. I love fall. I love back to school. Tom thinks I"m insane, but I really love the newness and the whole fresh slate of possibilities. Even now, as an adult who hasn't even been to college in seven years, I can't help but think of all the new things I can do and create. Fall inspires the crafter in me. I always take on new projects this time of year. And get sudden bursts of creativity or organization that just overtake me. On Saturday, I emptied out our very cluttered kitchen to make room for the projects I'm going to want to do. I don't even know what they are yet. I just know that once fall settles in, I'm going to want to create. Something.

Also on Saturday, I bit the bullet and just bought the whole list of school supplies. I'd been trying to buy a little bit along the way so it wasn't all at once. But my memory is kind of crap and I kept forgetting to take the list with me. And of course, I couldn't remember anything on the list except pencils. Yeah, got those. I took the list and bought everything. But I don't mind. I'm actually (not so) secretly happy to have a reason to buy school supplies again. I love them. In years past, I've always bought myself new pens and a notebook or two. Just because. Who doesn't love a fresh notebook and pretty pens?

I'm trying to decide if we're going to shop for back to school clothes. We don't have a tax-free day or anything this year, so there's no incentive there. And Mr. T hasn't really grown so much that his clothes from last year don't fit. In fact, they still look quite nice. And the weather, today's rain excluded, will be warm for at least another month. I'm thinking of waiting until it actually does get a little cooler and trying on his winter clothes to see what he really needs. And Miss G really only needs new tights, since she wears dresses year round. Lots and lots of new tights. Most pairs only get worn once before they have a hole ripped in them.

The last thing I'm thinking about is our trip to the beach. I haven't expressly told the kids yet, but Mr. T is a smart cookie. I think he's figured it out from listening to adults conversations. Miss G and Baby S are going the whole week of Labor Day with my mother. My dad and Mr. T and I are driving down for the weekend. I have these visions of getting loads and loads of stuff done around the house. I think reality is going to go a lot less ideally. But getting some things done will be nice anyway. Now if I can just avoid the black hole that is the Internet.

Gender constructing...

Back before I had kids and was stuck in post adolescent idealistic phase (post regarding quoteable movies, like Clueless, to follow), I thought that all you had to do was buy your kids all the boy and girl toys and they'd like everything. I truly believed that we made girls like babies by buying them babies. I had major moral objections to the girl aisles being pink and boy aisles being full of violent predators. I questioned my grandmother on the choice of a toy broom set for one of my cousins. "Why don't you buy that for one of the boys?"

Turns out sometimes boys really just like boy toys. The gender constructing thing is more after the fact than a marketing ploy. My girls are into babies. My son is into cars and trucks. And since I have both male and female children, we have ALL the toys (it feels like a freaking toy store most of the time). They could choose anything. Sometimes Miss G likes to play with cars and dinosaurs. Sometimes Mr. T likes to take care of a baby doll (only for a minute or two, though).

And so now both Miss G and Mr. T are playing with Barbies. Oddly, Miss G is Ken and Mr. T is Barbie/Mom. Barbie/Mom thinks they need to leave their baby with its aunt, but Ken thinks they should just leave it home alone.

Last day of school...

I think I'm the only dork parent who's teary-eyed at the thought of the end of the year - and not because I'll have all three kids (and Tom) home all summer. It's been a really long year for Mr. T in school and I'm glad to see the end of it. He's grown a lot, physically and emotionally. And I can't get over how he just picks up anything and reads it. Anything.

When I was in school, I had this bittersweet thing about the last day of school. I hated to see it end, but I wouldn't give up summer (and sleeping in) for anything. And I always looked forward to starting school again. I didn't really love school all that much, academically. I guess inherently I'm a people watcher. I loved being around all the people from school.

So starts the summer. Typically, we go spend a lot of time at my husband's parents' farm. He drives a tractor while I play farm wife and the kids have a freedom they just don't have here in the burbs. Then we'll spend some time here trying to clean out the basement from the mess we made all winter when it was too cold to spend any time down there, just shoved the Christmas decorations in a corner. Then two crazy adults are going to drive three kids for 8-9 hours. Yeah, that'd be Tom and me. Tom's brother Uncle E is receiving his Ph. D., so it's a big deal, so we're all making the trek southward. I'm so crazy that I'm excited about it.

A very important date in MamaChris history...

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of the single most significant event in my life. I love my husband, but it is not our wedding anniversary - although that is the second most significant event in my life. I love my daughters, but it is not their birthdays. It is the anniversary of the birth of my son, the sixth anniversary of the day I became something else entirely - a mother. At 2:02 a.m., Sunday, May 6, 2001, I gave birth to a perfect baby boy. And my life changed. Not instantly. I was not one of those who just instantaneously became a mother when their child was born. But I immediately grasped the larger responsibilities of being a mother.

This year the calendar falls the same way it did the year my son was born, the year my son made me a mother one week before Mother's Day. It has me thinking more than usual about everything I was doing that year (working until Thursday despite being in early labor).

Today that boy is absolutely amazing. His very own little person, so small and young and yet so very grown up in so many ways. Frustrating and complex, loving and totally innocent.

To my sweet son, the song I sang to him when he was small enough to hold. How wonderful life is when you're in the world....

Shoe Shopping: A Gender War

Shoe shopping with a (four year old) girl:

Girl: Hmm, that shoe is pretty, but the bow is blue and I like pink. That shoe is beautiful. Mom, can I have it?
Mom: No way. You can't have platform flip-flops when you can barely walk in sneakers. How about these? They have princesses on them.
Girl: Um, I don't think so. I like these sparkly pink ones.
Mom: But they're three sizes too small.
Girl: But I like them!
Mom: Then go ahead, try them on.

Girl proceeds to try on six or seven different pairs of shoes. Including ones that aren't her size but are "bee-yootiful" like the sparkly pink ones. After much debating, she ends up saying let's get these (princess shoes that Mom had pointed out).

Shoe shopping with a (six year old) boy:

Boy: Hey those look just like the shoes I have on my feet. And they have my size.

Boy tries on shoes. They fit. We're done.

One of these kids is going to give me fits when she's a teenager.