Sunday, August 30, 2009

Random Thoughts

Well, we are about to start the third full week of school around the Whitman household! I'll be honest, I didn't get alot done around here the first week and a half. I just felt weird without Mady here! She usually is my shadow and is never at a loss for something to say... or three things to say at one time! Jack and I both missed her terribly at first. He kept saying things like when we went to McDonalds to get him a sausage and biscuit - "Mady don't need one, she at school." If I cooked anything during the day he thought it was supper and worried that "Mady no eat supper?" He still brings me toys. "I brought one for me and eww (you) one too. So I know he was lonely at first. You have got to think that he is almost 3 and this is the first time the two of us have been alone together for an extended period of time. When Madalynn was in Mother's Day Outs 2-3 mornings a week, A. We were running errands or B. He was in school too. We have never had just normal days of being alone together. One morning that first week, we sat on the couch and watched Cars. I haven't just sat and watched an entire movie since before I had kids! I am enjoying our time though. Every child needs time one on one with their parents. Jeremy hasn't been terribly busy and he has taken Jack to work with him for a few hours at a time. Jack loves that.
It seems like while we were on vacation he really took up with his Daddy. We had the great-grandparents along on the vacation and one night he and Madalynn both came back to the hotel to stay with us!
I have to get started planning on what we are doing for his 3rd birthday. It is about a month away and I think we will be traveling to West TN that night and visit for the weekend. Not sure yet what we are doing though. Maybe a construction vehicle theme. We did a tractor theme last year. I may even buy a cake pan and make his cake again this year. Last year the tractor cake I did turned out really well.
I am supposed to be the room mother in Madalynn's class this year. So I hope it works to bring Jack along! I have got to get my letter to parents done...tomorrow. I also want to get my menu for the week done. Plus the ironing of M's uniforms for school. We have had 2 birthday parties this week. School, family was visiting last weekend. My garden is finishing up. Playdates with Jack's friends Nico and Zachary. Plus all the "normal" stuff. Lots to do, lots to do.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Our First Day of Kindergarten!





Whew! I am glad that is over and no tears were even shed! This is a major feat both for Madalynn and myself. I have to admit there were times I feared that we would ALL be crying like babies. No so though!

Jeremy was able to come back home in time to drive to school with us. (It is only a few miles from our house.) We walked in and she was the first to arrive in her classroom. The room looked very cute! Their class mascot is the monkeys. That is perfect for kindergartners. We tried not to stay long, but long enough. As parents, you often have to find the line between just long enough and too long. Stay too long and the waterworks are sure to start. She was supposed to have a friend from preschool in her class, but she is a twin and the mom wanted to separate them so of course the girl was the one switched out. I wasn't sure this would go over well with Madalynn, but she did fine.



I hope we have made the right decision about the school she goes to. We chose a small private Christian school here in town versus the public school. I am not against public school and I never thought I would send my kids to private school, but with the public schools we were looking at upwards of 25 kids in a class. Mady has 12 in hers. Everybody says "well it is just kindergarten." It is, but I think it still matters. We will see how this year goes. I want to find time to volunteer in her classroom and maybe others so that I can get a first hand look at what goes on and how things are done. That was something that was strange. Before, I have always been on the inside. I knew what the procedures and routines were; now I am a parent on the outside looking in. Getting in depth info from a 5 year old is like questioning a wall so she isn't much help at this age.

Jack ended up going to work with Jeremy when we got back to the house, so I had ...gasp...FREE TIME. I didn't know what to do with myself. I cleaned the playroom, stripped all the beds and put clean sheets on every body's bed, went to tan. Then I just sat around thinking how weird this was. To not have somebody talking to me or strewing toys around that I just picked up. Weird. Maybe I need another baby. I am not sure I like being the parent of a school age child. Makes me sound old. I can't be old...

When we got home, she was bouncing off the walls! Apparently she loved it! Hallelujah, my prayers have been answered! I am not sure how to break it to her that she has to go to school every day for years. :)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

OK. I hope I am ready. At least I hope I am getting there. My baby girl, my Peach, my Madalynn Kayte will start school in exactly 2 days! I have purchased all the necessary school supplies. The monogrammed backpack, the crayons, markers, lunchbox, etc. Today Jeremy went to rope with a friend and took the kids with him. I struck out to Wal-mart to get last minute breakfast and lunch box items.

She is not excited...AT ALL! I have tried to tell her that she already knows some of the kids in her class, she will love it, it will be so fun, that this is the year she will begin to read- on her own, and she will be a Big Girl now! The other part of me wants to cry all the time and tell her ..."You are right! Let's just not go!"
I worked for about 2 months after she was born during which time I brought her to school with me in the afternoons and then was off for the summer. (I taught elementary school.) Then I taught school for a year longer. When we moved to Kentucky, I never went back to teaching. I hated the idea of being in a new state and knowing not a soul in this town and certainly having absolutely no one I would trust to take care of my baby like I could. It was hard - in more ways than one! We were lucky to have savings from when we both worked and had no living expenses. (That is another story) If we hadn't had money in the bank I would have had to go to work doing something. I also wasn't used to being alone with a small child ALL DAY EVERY DAY! It was hard. but like everyone says "If you can stay home when your kids are little, you should!" That is so true. The past 5 years have flown by!

I have been very conscious of this being our last summer of freedom. We have taken trips- Dollywood, Tennessee to see family, Knoxville to the zoo, and Yellowstone National Park. We have camped out, roasted marshmallows, and slept late. We have watched movies, ridden horses, and attended the "Happy Hour" at Sonic more than once. We have played in the pool, had picnics, and playdates at the park. It just isn't enough though. I am not ready to loose this wonderful freedom we have had, she and I, for the last 5 years. Sure we had days of appointments and days of preschool at mother's day out, but nothing like this 13 year journey we are embarking on.




I am trying to keep up a good front like all moms of kindergartners do. I am planning to decorate the kitchen like I do for birthdays, complete with streamers and balloons for the big day. I am baking a cake with pink icing just for her. I want it to be a party. I couldn't feel less like being happy or partying, but that is what moms do. They make it all look hopeful and fun and exciting, when inside they just want to crawl into bed and cry all day that day... that day their baby goes off into the big world. I pray that we have made the right decision on where to send her to school. I hope she opens up and just blooms into this beautiful little person who loves to learn when she is there. I hope we get really lucky and she loves it from the get go. I hope I can say the right things if she doesn't. I hope she knows how much I will miss seeing her face between the hours of 8:30 and 3:30 each day and hearing her constant chatter in the house.
Her world will never be the same and mine won't either. I hope she knows that when I turn and leave Wednesday morning, I will hate to go as much or more than she hates to see me go.