One Down, Many to Go

Almost thirty years ago, an excited five year old donned a rainbow colored dress and boarded the bus for kindergarten.  She had a great day sitting next to her friends, Justin and Reid, and was excited to share the day with her family when she got home.

Fast-forward to today.  That same little kindergartener is all grown up with a kindergartener of her own.  Yup, today was Biggest’s first day of school.  After yesterday’s post, it is common knowledge that I am slightly saddened by my oldest baby’s start of school.  I was feeling prepared, having set my alarm 20 minutes early to get not only Biggest ready but also myself (hello, we needed to take pictures together).  I knew when the bus was arriving (7:20 am) and was feeling mostly good about getting everything done.  Yeah.  We all know it is never that easy.


On schedule, I was up and ready, as was Biggest (because whether I want to admit it or not, it was her day not mine).  She was primed and ready to go by 7:00 am.  A few minutes later, we were outside taking photos with Biggest, Littlest and the neighbors.  While we were just starting down towards the bus stop, when we heard the unmistakable sounds of the bus barreling down the road.  Yikes!  Next thing you know, I am running down the road in my wedges and dress, trying to get Biggest to the bus stop on time (which was only 7:13 am, by the way).  We made it in the nick of time and Biggest happily and all too easily boarded the bus with her neighborhood friends.  The last thing I saw was her little face peeking at me from a window towards the back of the bus.  It all happened so fast I did not even have time to cry or even get a picture with her.

Sadly, I walked back to our house with my husband and Littlest.  Once home, I made Littlest promise me she would never get bigger and start kindergarten.  She said yes, but I don’t think she meant it.  Then, I began the rest of my day, which basically revolved around indulging mom’s whims to alleviate her sadness.
First, I stopped into the store (yes, I stop in on my days off.  It is what I do), where I found my next item of lust, a great jacket from Scrapbook (pictures will be coming in the future).  I just love retail therapy, don’t you?  After leaving the store,  I ran a couple errands to justify that my day was not totally wasted.  And THEN I found wine.  Actually, my sister and I found wine, but most of it was consumed by me.   We spent an hour or two together at a local wine bar, me drowning my sorrows and her basically humoring her sappy sister.   After a glass of bubbly and a bottle of Pinot Noir (and some lunch, we aren’t complete lushes), I got a quick buzz around the ears from my favorite stylist, Tracy, at Tangled Salon ,and headed home.  The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and generally being a slacker until Biggest and Littlest came home from school.  Did I mention they asked DAD to pick them up and not me?  Yup,  that happened.

Overall, the day was a success.  Biggest loved kindergarten.  Mom didn’t cry, found a new jacket, and had lots of wine plus a nap.  Littlest even had a great day swinging solo at her daycare.  God only knows what will happen during the rest of the school year.  Maybe I better hit Trader Joe’s and stock up on more vino……

The Day Before the Big Day.

Tomorrow is the big day.  The day we have been waiting for for the past 5 years.  Our daycare bill is dropping by $120 per week.  Biggest is starting kindergarten.


I always thought I would be perfectly fine when this day came.  Actually, I have been fine all summer.  The idea of lower daycare costs is a dream for every working parent.  I love the idea of Biggest going to school, riding the bus with all the other kids (which in my head is fun and does not teach her bad words or how to pick on other kids), bringing home homework, and us checking it over with her nightly.  Sounds dreamy, right? 

This summer, we went shopping for back to school clothes together (mostly) and everything was fine.  This morning, we lopped off over 6 inches of hair for her back to school haircut.  Admittedly, I was nervous about going from my little girl’s long flowing locks to a chic little bob. With each snip of the scissors a piece of my baby fell to the floor.  Biggest now looks more like a girl who is growing up, and less like my little baby.   I thought the haircut would be the hardest part.  Boy, was I wrong!  

So this afternoon, Biggest, Littlest and I marched into the elementary school, armed with her bags of supplies (including, but not limited to, a box of crackers, three packs of crayons and eighteen glue sticks).  Biggest seemed to know where she was going, even though mom was clueless.  We found her classroom and met Biggest’s teacher, Mrs. D.  So far so good, right?  WRONG!

As soon as Mrs. D and I started talking, the waterworks began.  Thankfully, Mrs. D. is either used to it or is an amazing person, because she was great about handling the hot mess mom in front of her (I am an ugly, face scrunching crier).  After a few minutes, I calmed down and we got everything put away in its proper place in the classroom.  Neither Biggest nor Littlest seemed to notice their mom in tears just minutes before, probably due to the bag of candy that Mrs. D had the forethought to provide (like any self respecting mom, I love bribes and distractions).  We filled out our remaining paperwork, met a few other families, and sat down to watch Mrs. D’s presentation on what would happen in kindergarten. 

Of course, it isn’t that easy.  As soon as the presentation was over, Mrs. D looked directly at me and asked if I felt better about kindergarten.  Wrong question to ask, Mrs. D!  The waterworks immediately started again, and, for the second time, Biggest and Littlest did not seem to notice, attention still focused on the bag of candy they were waiting to devour.  The other mom in the room sympathetically said she was in the same emotional state with the added bonus of baby blues.  It could be worse, I guess. 

We did manage to make it out of the classroom and have school pictures taken with no more waterworks.  But now that it has happened, it seems just the mere thought of Biggest going to kindergarten all day is enough to set me off.  I know that she is ready, but I am just not sure I am.

Good luck to all the other parents at the bus stop tomorrow.  I am afraid I may be causing a ruckus.  This mama may be stylishly attired for  first day of school photos with Biggest but the tears will probably be ruining my makeup.

A Day at the Fair.

Five years ago, I went to the Minnesota State Fair with my seven week old baby girl.  While at the fair, which by the way was a completely miserable experience thanks to my husband who was on a conference call, realized he left his wallet in the car AFTER we had already gotten into the fair, started a fight with me, etc., I purchased a new piggy bank for my baby girl.  It was cute, very girly with little flowers and butterflies, and, of course, her name blazoned across the side.

Now fast forward five years.  Picture the same cute little baby girl and the same cutesy little piggy bank, as a five year old who is throwing a tantrum over her piggy bank being a “boy”, simply because it doesn’t have eyelashes.  Uh…..what?  You have got to be kidding me.  I know they are going to draw on that pig’s face with a Sharpie, which I could do myself for free, but I also know this will not be good enough for Biggest. So, needless to say, all summer we have been talking about spending a special day at the Fair together, just Mommy and Biggest, in order to go back and get a new “girl” piggy bank. 

Now, we all know this post could go very bad with the things we saw at the fair.  Naturally, I could go on and on about the fashions at the state fair.  There is something about sending people into an environment like that which drives them to lose all sense of fashion (and in some cases, personal hygiene).   I will say, in their defense, that no matter HOW you dress for the Fair, you will end up stinky, sweaty and dirty.  Believe me, I know first hand and I was actually trying to pull off cute but casual.  Didn’t work.  All it earned me was a hot shower when I got home.  Yuck.

So, instead if going down the path of ripping others to shreds, I am going to share with you the fun and special moments I had at the fair with Biggest.  This being her first “real” trip to the fair, I was excited to share it with her.  Yes, Biggest has been there before, when she was a baby, but we also went when she was three years old with her sister who was about eighteen months.  Wow.  I would not recommend that.  So here are the moments which really touched me that day and I hope you enjoy them too.

Moment #1:  The Food!  The food was terrific, as always.  We skipped breakfast at home in lieu of eating like crap all day long.  Totally worth it.  We started the day with Luigi Fries (basically a cheesy breadstick) and then had Sweet Martha’s Cookies.  Yup, it was about 9:00 am.  After that we had Mouth Trap cheese curds (a must for a true Fair goer) and a wild rice cheese burger.  Later, I got to split a beer flight with MY mom in the Ag building while Biggest shared a fresh squeezed apple juice with her Poppa.  Later on, she had a blue raspberry Icee and I had a Gizmo up on Machinery Hill.  Then we ended with the Tom Thumb mini donuts.  I was so full I could burst.  Normally, I am a mom who gets a little bit nutty about the kids eating junk or grazing all day, but that is the beauty of the state fair, right?!  It is a time honored tradition that I passed along to my Biggest and we can share year after year.  Honestly?  I did not eat for the rest of the day.  Biggest had a Happy Meal at McDonald’s on the way home.  Gross but at that point, what is the difference?

Moment #2:  The Sky Glider!  All day, Biggest and I talked about riding the Sky Glider, which is basically a chair lift you can ride from one end of the park to another.  You ride over buildings, streets, and all the business that is the Minnesota State Fair.  We had spent some time with family at the fair (grandparents and cousins) but this was time for just the two of us.  While Biggest and I were on the Sky Glider, we were lucky enough to see the daily parade pass underneath us.  We passed over bands, tractors, princesses, a couple big cows, you name it.  Biggest was bouncing in her seat!  I, of course, was trying to keep Biggest from bouncing too much and sliding out underneath the safety bar (42 inches without an adult, my ass).  We had time to talk, to snuggle and even snap a few photos of the fairgrounds (see above) and the two of us (thankfully, her blue Icee lips had worn off). 

Moment #3:  Some Girl Loses a Tooth!  While in line for the Sky Glider, a family was standing behind us chatting, a mom, a dad and two daughters.  Suddenly, we heard the younger daughter urgently saying “Mom, mom.”  She had just lost her first tooth.  Now, it was not my daughter who had lost the tooth, but it was such a cool moment to witness, especially with Biggest.  The little girl was full of a combination of pride, excitement and awe.  Biggest was fascinated by the little girl, who was about the same age as her.  She seemed to have a better understanding of what happens when you loose a tooth and was even more excited for it to happen to her.

Moment #4:  Dad Gets an Earful!  OK, so this moment happened the next day , but it doesn’t lose anything because of that.  It is the next day at 7:00 am and I am still in bed sleeping, since it is my day off (which really means I am laying in bed while my kids run around, slamming doors and yelling, my husband sings loudly in the shower, and 3 dogs are jumping on top of me, licking my face in an effort to get me up to feed them).  Biggest runs into the bathroom and starts telling her dad all about our day together, since he didn’t see her due to fishing the night before.  All I hear was snippets like this “This girl didn’t know how to drive her boat so I bumped her” and “I had cookies for breakfast”.  It was awesome just to her her replay the stories to him, knowing it was as special and fun to her as it was to me.

So in the end, our day at the Fair was a great success.  I got to spend the day with my Biggest.  We had food, we had fun, and we made some amazing memories.  And yes, in the end, we got a “girl” piggy bank.