Where to begin?

Where shall I begin? Well, I should really begin by giving a quick update about baby-to-be, due in December. Already, this baby is getting the shaft on the blog because I assume our tangible happenings are more interesting than the pregnancy updates (to summarize the last 28 weeks, I've been stiff, fat, sleepless and hungry all the time). In any case, I had the opportunity for some bonding time with the peanut last Friday as I gazed at a sonogram screen for thirty minutes during my latest appointment (now conveniently scheduled during preschool hours - awesome news if you've ever been privy to my Carly-humiliates-me-at-the-OB's office stories). I usually can't help but prematurely try to make guesses about his/her personality during these sessions and this was no exception. I'd say, with the baby's constant movement, that he/she is not a big sleeper and possibly thinks that that is funny (it's not). The one concrete trait I did learn from the doctor is that this baby has big feet. And, yes, I am concerned.

In any case, here are the latest shots:



Switching gears now to preschool, glorious preschool (God bless those home schoolers). All summer, we talked up the idea of school to Carly. Every time we drove by her new school, we'd make a big deal about it being "Carly's school" and point out "Carly's playground" and tell her how exciting it would be to meet new friends & new teachers, read new books, and play with new toys, albeit, without mom, dad, binky or froggy. We practiced rocking out to a school bus song anytime we drove by the school. You get the idea.

Well, good news, my brief stint at child psychology worked. Day One came and Carly was so excited, she could barely eat her breakfast. She had her frog backpack over her shoulders before she was out of her pajamas. She even totally refused to pose for the traditional first day photos.


And, as we pulled up to the school, she screamed "bye bye mommy, Carly's school, yeeeeeah, see ya!" Once inside, she found her way to her classroom, walked right in toward the train set, and didn't even look back to say goodbye. (A bit over the top, don't you think?) Then, when I went to pick her up, she threw a fit and refused to leave. I'm talking total temper tantrum. I had to carry her kicking and screaming to the car and toss out a few fake laughs for the benefit of the staring moms when she did the 'ole arching of the back to avoid the carseat trick. As a new preschool mom, precariously navigating the world of late policies and volunteer "opportunities", I found myself a bit humiliated. I mean, seriously, I was surrounded by moms conversing with the teachers about how little Mary finally adjusted after snacktime and how little John spent his day looking longingly out the window for his mom. And damn it if she didn't do it again the next day.

The following week, our pick-ups were a bit more successful, perhaps because I knew to bribe her with the promise of a lollipop in the car and a return to school for the back-to-school pizza party on Friday night. In any case, I think we'll just use this photo as her official first day photo. Of course, I had used my free time the previous week to buy those mums.