Kindergarten Woes

Little Grantie is 5 and the summer is winding down. This means that it's time for him to start on his long journey to greater education. Today was his Kindergarten Orientation. He was going to meet his new teacher and see his classroom and get "comfortable" with the entire situation. We live across the street from the Elementary School so it was a quick jaunt in the rain. Grant was not in opposition mode on the walk over. But after walking into such a large expanse of a building, he realized there was no backing out. And when Grant is faced with a situation where there's not a way to back out, he digs in his heels, literally. So his nice teacher came to collect him for a little fieldtrip to the classroom while we parents got the principal schpeel. Grant stood firm on that cafeteria floor, not budging. This is what he does when he doesn't want to do something. I offered to walk him to his classroom, knowing really this was the only option unless these poor parents wanted to be subjected to a total mommy/son melt down. So we walked. And the teacher saw me with him and in her quest to make the students more independent, she grabbed him gently by the hand and he gave me the nod that he was alright. It was then that I realized he had taken off the chalkboard sized name tag that they had hung around his neck. I got back to my table and there it sat. Again, I smiled inside. This is so Grantie. About 20 minutes later, he came back into the cafeteria to be reunited with me. I could see a twinkle in his eye and I knew he had enjoyed himself. He told me he was supposed to walk me back to his classroom to show me around and he informed me they would have cookies for us to eat. He went right to the classroom--good sense of direction already. He doesn't get that from me. I would have been over in the 6th grade hall had it not been for Grant. We partook of the cookies--Chips Ahoy special. And on the way out of the classroom, Grant tells me "Those were great cookies Mom. But I don't understand how they made them so fast". The assistant principal was in front of us and she chuckled, as I'm sure she finds reason to do on a daily basis with so many children around. We walked toward home, in the rain. Grant told me he wanted to stay in Kindergarten and he refused now to go back to preschool (he has 2 more days). Oy vey! So after some additional coaxing and another threat of a mommy/son melt down, we were on our way to preschool. Some parents, especially mothers get all sad and teary-eyed on the day their child crosses into Kindergarten. I'm there, providing the teacher with child-sized catcher's mitt, fully waiting for that cross over. It's not because I don't totally adore being a parent, because I truly do. It's because I'm excited to see one of my children grow, to see them take steps toward independence, and to know that they're learning. It's all a happy cycle. Then someday when he's trying to take me to the nursing home, I'm going to do the same thing to him. I'll dig in my heels, I will take off my big ol' moomoo and lay it on the table and run naked through the nursing home so that he can chase me down and surprise me with a plate of prune cookies or something. I know, not a pretty image. But life is about coming full circle.

Love ya Grantie. This is a picture of him with chocolate cake all over his mouth.

A Picture to Post?

I struggle with this whole blog thing. Is it a blog, is it a personal journal, turned public? I want to post to the blog. But my issue is that I feel like if I don't have these magnificent pictures of my children engaged in some activity that we've done, I am not allowed to post. What's up with that? I don't know. I think we as Mormon women emulate each other. So one starts up a post with beautiful pictures and we all feel compelled to follow. There's an unwritten law that unless you have a picture of said children, don't even bother. We don't really read your thoughts anyway ha ha. I don't know if people really read my thoughts. But I thoroughly enjoy writing. It's liberating. But as I said in my first post, I don't write to share the intimacies of my life, as though you're able to read all my thoughts. You read the basics of what I want to share.

With that said, I think we are a visual nation. We like to see pictures--they're fun and interesting. So we tend to gravitate toward the picture over the words. Maybe that's why people say the cliche of a picture speaks a 1000 words. Translated it means, save the saliva sister, just show me the picture. So now I counteract and write without a picture. Will I be scorned? Will my fellow friends see this and skim right through it, simply because there isn't a picture? I am one to boycott things that belong to a trend. So I'm boycotting pictures for this one post. Call me a cynic. I can deal with that.

So what is the purpose of this post? Just to share my thoughts on always having a picture in order to validate a post. My sister blogs without pictures sometimes. My dad says he doesn't ever read the words, he just looks at the pictures (thanks for your honesty Dad). And my hope is that in writing a blog, we take the time to share our thoughts with the picture. That we don't just think that our pictures speak for our lives. Words have just as great a meaning.

Cue step down from soap box. Thanks for your time. And just to attract all you picture people, I'm going to pick a superb selection from the "came with the computer" photo track to enhance my post. It's the least I can do--smile.

Cheers,

Eva

Seek the Creek

I'm an adventurous soul by nature. It doesn't always translate to an Indiana Jones type of response but at least the will is there. I try and take the kids on a walk every night. I tout it as exercise but it's nice to be out, talking and enjoying nature. We stumbled upon a trail one night. It was exciting. We continued down the trail and found ourselves at a small creek. It was beautiful and peaceful and who would imagine, right in our own backyard. So weekly we visit this place. The kids like to go there and roam around in the water. I think personally the water smells like the restroom stalls at Costco but kids--they don't care 'bout that stuff. So I captured some pictures of them having a ball. Uncle Jeff came with us and he dawned some nasty shoes to go wading in the water. I guess water brings out the kid in us all.

Independence Day

Yesterday was the Fourth Of July. It was a fun day but not what I had expected or planned. But as I'm always one for impromtu changes, I go with the flow and things seem to work out. I think if I were ever stranded on a desserted island, I would survive out of the sheer ability to adapt to my surrounding conditions. I had planned a great day for us to go to the church breakfast, head over to the Fairfax Parade and then to Lake Anna for a day of swimming in Virginia's second largest lake. Here's what really happened. I got up and decided I wanted to sleep in for once so I missed the ward breakfast. From there, we zipped over to the Fairfax parade (at least something stayed on schedule) but got there about 5 minutes prior to the parade starting and had to squeeze into the sea of people. Again, I adapt because I'm one that's not always overly prepared. We didn't bring chairs because we knew there wouldn't be room to put them. We watched the parade in humid splendor and the kids kept asking "When are we leaving?" My goal of creating a down-home 4th of July was not being received so well. We left the parade hot, sweaty and ready for a nap. Rob was sleeping (worked the night before). We woke him up and everyone dawned swimsuits for our foray at the lake. We drove 1-1/2 hours (much longer than I expected it to take) and got to Lake Anna just in time for the lifeguards to call everyone out of the water. It was thundering. We hadn't been on the beach more than 2 minutes. So we couldn't go in the water. I took the liberty of liberally applying sunscreen to all participants so that they would have time to marinate prior to entering the water. However, our dream to swim was short-lived. The clouds continued to move in. I of course had to take the kids to the restroom. I don't understand why kids have to use every bathroom of every building or place we go to. And when one has to go, they all suddenly have to go. And the bathrooms were a dreaded place. But we came out to see our posse of family waiting for us with chairs in hand. We packed up, got in the van and went off to return home. The trip started with the rain crashing down, lightening dancing through the skies and tree branches smacking into the windshield left and right. We stopped for gas and decided to hunker down at a Cracker Barrel for dinner until the rain stopped. On our way home, we made the last minute decision to go to the fireworks show at Fairfax Highschool. We were still in swimming attire but again, adaptation wins the race. We brought umbrellas, set up our chairs again and watched a magnificent fireworks show, completely open sky, as the rain poured down. Even with the rain, it still was a great show. A memorable Fourth, despite the downfalls, or rather---rainfalls.

New to the blog

Well, following in the blogging footsteps of my sister and various friends, I'm starting a blog of my own. After previewing other blogs, I'm a little taken aback at the candid honesty of some people on their blogs. I almost feel sinful reading them, as though I've snuck into someone's room and opened up their journal or diary. Why do people feel so comfortable sharing so much with perfect strangers? Maybe it's with the thought that it's refreshing to be uninhibited by such an idea. But I can tell you, none of that will be shared from my perspective. It's straight forward for me. I am just barely figuring out how to do this. So once I gather the in's and out's, hopefully I'll be able to post more. Until then, if I ever find my way back to this site (not sure how to even get back to this blog site)....Happy Trails.