Hewwo?

Operator

I just had my first real phone conversation with Lucy. She likes talking TO me on the phone -- bellowing odd comments about her desires for popsicles or cheese, or her favorite book/TV characters, or other non-sequiters ("Mom! MOM! Monkeys!" "Mom. Mom! MOM! I got owie!").

Just now, though, we had some great back and forth (this is something she's working on in her various therapies, reciprocal speech). She told me about her new clothes, and corrected me when I misunderstood her (she's wearing a purple shirt, not purple shoes, FYI). She told me they were going to the dog park, and that it was very hot, and then said "Dad wants to talk to you" and gave the phone back to Matthew. It doesn't seem like much to many parents, but it was good, very good.

First day of "big girl" school

Arrahhhlggghhh!

She's excited -- likes the uniforms and her new lunchbox. Matthew and I are anxious; I hope more than she is. Enough said.

Waterworks

Lucy's last day at preschool. She was super excited -- popsicles! hugs! last day! Lucy's special day! I was a fucking mess. I was emotional off and on earlier in the day, pretty weepy during the popsicle party itself, and I lost it entirely when saying goodbye to Mindy, Lucy's teacher of 2 years. She and I were both just sobbing. It was not pretty.

It's amazing and wonderful to know how much these teachers truly love Lucy -- like, really LOVE. They made her a sweet goodbye book with "I love Lucy because" statements from all the kids and teachers. Lucy demands so much from people around her, and is also super sweet and adorable. As a result of that combination, the bonds that inevitably form are bigger than normal student/teacher bonds, I think. She will never have a "school" experience like this one, which makes me tear up again. In all these pics following, I'm not sure if you can tell that she's almost literally vibrating with joy as she doles out hugs.

On to the new school next week. Oy.

Goodbyes

I can't believe it but here we are, on the second-to-last-day of Lucy's time in her Nike daycare. It kind of breaks my heart to imagine how sad she's going to be when it finally sinks in that she's not going back to her "school" anymore...I don't think she gets it yet. I hope like crazy that it's going to be harder on me than it is for her. The school been such a HUGE part of her life for four years. A retrospective:

From when she started, in September 2008, and spent the first nine weeks, for most of 8 hours a day, literally crying every minute and her teachers reported that she was crawling around crying on a regular basis (although she took occasional breaks from the waterworks to eat family style with her little friends).

To the middle of October, when she finally gave up and decided to fall in love with the place, and became, as she is wont to do, happy every minute of every day she spent there. This is one of the notes we received on an almost daily basis from her teachers.

She developed her love of messy art, and then of REALLY messy art (this hasn't abated and has actually gained a label, Sensory Processing Disorder...but really what it boils down to is god, does this girl love "exploring textures.").

 Her first year ended, and onward to three more, with many of the same "friends" she made those first days. 

Over the coming years she built her skills -- jumping, writing her name, her first representational drawings (kind of). Baseball in her tutu. There were challenges, but this school's staff went above and beyond every time to support Lucy, love her, and help her grow. She's spent two years now in her current pre-K class. They talked last week at circle time about transitions and leaving, and although I'm pretty sure Lucy didn't really know what was going on, she nevertheless went around the circle with a hug for ever one of her friends and a happy "goodbye!" My sweet girl. The teachers she's leaving -- Mindy, Phil, and Melanie ("Melallie") will leave a huge hole in her life. You guys, if you read this: she loves you SO much, and you know her amazing memory -- she always will. I hope you know that. 

Serenity now! (or: soon!)

We're almost settled on our choice for Lucy's first real school experience. Until now she's been at Nike daycare, where I work, and it's been an amazing place for her. They're so wonderful. But she can't stay there forever (I asked), so: onward.

I'm sure I'll write more about the new place once we're 100% settled but until then, I want to write about one aspect I'm positively giddy about: getting my communing time back to myself again. Oh my GOD, I can't friggin' wait. I've been driving to and from work most days for the past almost-4 years with Lucy. Most of the time it's been not-horrible...she's relatively happy, it's relatively smooth. Other times it's awful; we've had some rough periods with meltdowns in the car with me that have been no fun for anyone. But even when it's not-horrible...it's also not-serene. I'm so sick of kids' music, and Lucy insists that NPR is not to her taste. I can't wait to let my shoulder recover from the constant reaching back to deliver the demanded cracker or hold hands. I anticipate a 60% decrease in the thickness of the layer or dried milk that covers everything in the 12" radius of her car seat.

I'll get to listen to NPR again. NPR, I've missed you so.

Bloggity blah blah blah

I'm trying, trying to stick with my "more blogging" resolution...but good god, I'm just SO BORING these days. I read this:

"Are you kidding? That guy was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and crudely stapled to a ticking fucking time bomb. He was either going to hit somebody or start a blog. To tell you the truth I'm kind of glad he hit you." (The Magicians, Lev Grossman)

Ha! Made me laugh out loud when I read it. I can empathize -- the quote implies that bloggers are insane nutjobs who would rave madly, while in reality my blogging problem is extreme lack of ... well, of a life even vaguely interesting to anyone but myself (and even that's questionable at times). But still. I need to take up juggling knives or ... crochet, or something, to give myself something to write about.

Books, I guess. I do excel at loving books. Want some recommendations?

• David Benioff's City of Thieves. Incredible story, incredibly written, so distrubing and sad and captivating. 
• Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. Same as above, but non-fiction.
• The Magicians, quoted above. Magical realism, a style I really like (Alice Hoffman, Gabriel Garcia Marquez). 
• Christopher Moore's got Sacre Bleu coming out in a few days, can't wait for that. Love everything of his.  (I typed "Christopher Lamb" at first, which while not his name, is in fact his best book ("Lamb") and probably on my list of top 10 favorite books ever. Start there if you haven't read it yet and want laugh-out-loud funny every other page.)

What have you read?