It's the First Day of School!

I have to say it's a lot more confusing on the other side of preschool -- where the "general population" are. Preschool was such a nice, protected little bubble. They have their own playground. They start the morning with songs before heading out to their classrooms. They have their own lunch area. It was so nice, so protected.

Come the first day of school for Kael... and it was mass chaos. OK, so it really wasn't chaos, chaos. It just seemed that way because of all the kids and parents milling about. Kael was a little more comfortable than some of his classmates and immediately ran towards the big slide. Unfortunately, the bell rang just then so he didn't get a chance to really play.

Ah, yes. The Bell. You all remember the bell. It's what tells you to line up and come back to class. Kael was not used to being rung and continued playing. I had to go get him and do the whole "Did you hear the bell? You have to line up when you hear it" drill. He did not hear it so hopefully like Pavlov and his dogs, my kid will be as easily trained to come on command.

That's another thing we have to work on: lining up. Don't get me wrong: he knows how to line up. The real question is where does he line up? There were so many people milling around I had no idea where to take him. Luckily they had signs posted for each teacher. I asked a faculty if this was where the kids lined up every morning and she said... No. But they do line up in this area.

WTH? What does that mean? My kid can read certain things. But he can't read "Junior Kindergarten, Ms. Romo's Class." Alright, alright. Nervous Nelly Mom. He can handle it. No one's ever lost their kid at school, right?

We line up and the school does the whole song and dance of introducing the teachers then we head into class. At that point, we (the parents) were kind of kicked out so I only managed to get one picture of Kael sitting at his huge, ginormous desk. You'll see what I mean.


Mr. GQ. He's totally goofing around. This was the only picture I got of him where he's not doing something completely wacky. This was only mildly wacky.


Mr. GQ's photo spread continues. He's posing with his friend Lauren.


The big kid's slide. Notice how the area is deserted? That's because the bell rang and he didn't hear it!


The Line Up. But not where you line up every day. No. It's just for today, to confuse all you youngsters.


Doing the Pledge of Allegience. I love the looks of total and utter confusion on their faces. We'll need to work on this too.


Kael and his buddy Cole. I would have thought they'd have smaller desks for Jr. Kindergarteners, after all most are 4 years old, going on 5.
Or maybe these are the smaller desks... hmm.

All in all, the first day of school went well. Kael said he enjoyed it and likes his new teacher. I'm looking forward to another great year.

And to all of you who made the same comment on pictures from Orientation Day: I did pull his pants down! That's his natural waist line, people! Kael is like a horse: he's all leg. That's why buying pants are such a pain the a$$. He's got a 3T/4T waist and a 5T length. So either his pants fit around his waist but fall about 2 inches too short or they hit the heels just right but he's having to hike them up every 2 minutes.

Sheesh.

School Orientation

Sorry for the short post but it's getting late and I wanted to get this in before I post Kael's 1st day of school pics from tomorrow.

Today was school orientation for new parents and while we aren't new parents/students to the school, I took this opportunity to introduce Kael to his new teacher and to get a lay of the land. Junior Kindergarten is completely different from Preschool. They play in a different area and eat in a different area so I wanted to make sure Kael at least was aware of that. He freaks out when he gets disoriented so I wanted to be sure the transition was a smooth one.

I also wanted to check out his new teacher, Ms. Romo, since we were expecting Ms. Thompson. Ms. Romo seems very nice, and the way she set up her classroom was very cozy and engaging. Kael is sitting with his friends from preschool so that will help ease him into the new school year.

We were told that he had to wear his uniform today, hence the pictures. Just for the record, I'm not a complete dork -- I was not the only parent taking pictures on Orientation Day! He looks so handsome, like such a big boy. He was so proud to wear them, as evidenced by his mile wide smile. And being a school uniform, it's very durable. Meaning: it's thick as heck and most likely as comfortable as wearing cardboard. I bought some gently used uniforms and even "gently used" they feel like they were freshly starched. I can't imagine what the brand new ones feel like! Needless to say, the second we got home, he asked to take them off and spent the rest of the day in his tank and boxer briefs.

So, here's my handsome boy:

Check out his belt. We went to 2 stores before finding a pretty kid friendly belt that didn't have holes to line up and braids to punch through.


Upon entering the campus, Malia stated that she wanted to go to school too. Sure... she says that now. I'll bet money she'll be the loudest one when it comes time for me to actually leave her there!


Dad took some time off work to come to Orientation with us. And still keeping up with being a super Dad, he's coming to the first day of school tomorrow too!


Kael at his new desk. He's sitting next to his buddy Cole. I hope he and Cole pay attention to Mrs. Romo otherwise those boys are going to get into a lot of trouble.

I'll post First Day of School pictures tomorrow.

Fact... or Fiction?

You remember how when we were growing up our parents would tell us all kinds of things to get us to not do something?

Like:
Don't cross your eyes otherwise you'll go blind.
Don't make that face -- one day you will wake up that way.
Don't swallow watermelon seeds otherwise it will grow out of your tummy.

As we get older, we obviously know better and that sort of stuff rolls off our backs. However, for me, as much as I know... as much education I have under my belt... as much life experience I have accumulated over 3.. thirty-something odd years... there's still some stuff that my mom's drilled into my head that I can't shake loose.

This morning I was upstairs getting ready for the day and the kids were downstairs watching TV. My typical routine is to feed them first then let them watch a show so I can have at least 25 minutes of uninterrupted Mommy Time to wash up, do my hair, get dressed, whatever. It's a treasured time, believe me. Anyway, I usually hear them talking or making some comments about the show. Especially Malia. But this morning, she was pretty quiet. I should have picked up on it, but I was pretty tired from a late night out with Linda, Katelyn and Shirley. I finish and walk (OK, OK -- it's more like waddle) downstairs.

The first thing I notice is what I don't see: Malia. Kael's sitting on the couch and usually Malia is next to him or jumping from the ottoman to the couch and back. But she's nowhere to be found. I call her and there's no response. I start to feel the first pricklings of panic -- then I see her: she's climbed up the bar stool to sit at the kitchen counter.

The past week she's discovered that the kitchen counter is a virtual treasure trove of forbidden fruits: pens, coins, Kael's art work, Daddy's glasses, car keys, the plate of brownies. So she's climbing up those bar stools every hour or so to see what's up there. As mentioned earlier, I went out last night. I emptied out my "going out" purse of stuff to put back into my "everyday" shoulder bag: driver's license, credit card, chapstick, a pack of gum.

A pack of GUM.

GUM. Or at least what used to be an almost full pack of gum. What was left was a pile of wrappers and 4 gobs of partially chewed Spearmint Trident gum. There were probably 8-10 empty wrappers and only 4 chewed gobs that I collected. The obvious question would be what happened to the rest of the gum? Well, it wasn't stuck on her anywhere (not her body, not her hair, not her clothes). I pulled one out of her mouth (under protest) and the rest were either on the counter or on the ground. The only logical conclusion is that she ate said missing gum. That's a lot of fricking gum! (On a side note, I did take a moment to be duly impressed at her fine motor skills to be able to unwrap those tiny pieces of gum.)

So to tie everything in and finish this post, I know intellectually that gum doesn't really make your intestines stick together. I know that. But at that moment (and I will admit many moments throughout the day as the scent of spearmint floated about her), I could hear my mom's words coming back to haunt me: Don't ever swallow gum -- it will glue your insides shut.

That's not true. Malia's fine. Her intestines won't be blocked or anything. Right?

RIGHT?!

Necessity is the mother of all invention.

We had a really fun (and tiring) day at Wild Rivers with the Di Dodo's and Kendall's. The park is closing for the season end of September so we wanted to get the most use out of our season passes as possible. Realistically, I don't know how much more I can handle it. Even with Truong helping today I was pretty beat. I can't imagine going at it alone like I did earlier in the season.

Anyway, Malia took a nap, while Kael played quietly as Truong and I tried to recover from a day in the sun. When Malia woke up, he got her to play a game of basketball. She of course had no clue what he wanted her to do and ended up just chasing him around the house. This suited him just fine since he kept yelling out "Come on Malia -- try to get the ball away from me!" Poor Malia. I can just read the big "SUCKER" sign on her forehead.

Kael kept asking me to set up a basketball net for them with his bug net. I was trying to get dinner ready so I couldn't help him. Dad was BBQ'ing ribs outside so he couldn't help him. Finally I told Kael: "Honey, just stick it anywhere! You have to figure it out or play a different game. I'm trying to get dinner on the table."

After a few minutes I heard a "YEAH! I did it! This is cool! I made a basketball net!" And the kids continued to play. It never occurred to me to check it out. Until I started cleaning up the house as Truong took the kids for a walk.


There's his bug net, stuck in a pool noodle.


The weight of the ball must have caused the pool noodle to sag so he took the couch pillows to prop it up. I tested it out and "dunked" a basket -- it stood up!


Here's a close-up of the basket, secured inside the pool noodle.

What a smart kid I have! I would have not thought of this set-up. I would have just stuck the net in between a toy basket and the cabinet, or something equally as lazy just to get the job done. This is pretty ingenious.

Seeing is believing.

The countdown is 4 weeks.

4 weeks to get my act together.
4 weeks to get things for Blub ready.
4 weeks to... well, come to the realization that we're going to have another baby!

So far, I've accomplished -- nothing. Well, not "nothing" really. Since we don't know what we're having, it's kind of hard to prepare. I've got Malia's old preemie and newborn clothes out of storage. I just have to wash and organize them. I have some clothes from my many nephews sort of sorted, just waiting to be washed. I have diapers -- preemie and newborns.

Really, what else do I need?

Oh yeah -- the co-sleeper and car seat. Yeesh, only the 2 big ticket items. Technically I have the co-sleeper; it's in the garage. I think. I just need to, uh, find it (!!), air it out and then set it up. Thao has the car seat in Santa Cruz which will be given to me August 31.

So while I don't actually have anything ready to use if Blub decides to make an appearance tomorrow, everything is RIGHT HERE.

Speaking of getting things ready, I packed my hospital bag tonight. I suffer from major pregnancy induced amnesia and couldn't remember what actually goes in a hospital bag. Luckily Shana still remembers and we went over the list last night. If not for her, I would not have remembered to pack a going home outfit for Blub (*mental slap*). So after some digging around, I found a blue and pink preemie outfit which I am happy to say is being washed as I type. Going through Malia's old stuff brings back so many memories. Mostly disbelief that she was so darn tiny.



In the middle is one of her outfits.
Yes, she actually wore that.
No, it's not a toy doll outfit. It's an actual preemie outfit made and sold for real babies.
On the left is her doll. It's a regular sized doll. Nothing fancy.
On the right is a ruler. A regular 12 inch ruler.

I can't believe how much she's grown and yet she's not that big, compared to kids her age. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that in 4 weeks I'll be coming home with another little bundle.

Yikes. 4 weeks! And we still don't have a name.

Things that go bump in the night.

CRASH! BANG!

What's that noise you ask? Is it the mad rush of getting me out the door as I go into labor? Kael having a night terror? Truong coming home late from work and tripping over a toy in the dark?

No. It's none of those things. It's merely the sound of Malia as she throws open our bedroom door at 1:40am to crawl into bed with us.

What started out as an occasional trip to Mommy's and Daddy's bed for the occasional crying bout in the middle of the night has evolved into a 5 nights out of 7 slumber party.

Oy.

Truong has nighttime parenting duties. Once I'm in bed, I'm clocked out. Any nighttime crying, night terror screaming, bathroom trips, water breaks, etc. fall squarely on Dad's shoulders. Most of the time it's an easy fix: taking Kael to the bathroom, handing out a water bottle, snuggling in bed until Kael falls back asleep. It's when Malia has a rough night that it gets hard for Truong to handle. If he's not too tired, he will rock her in the glider for a while and place her back down. The past few months he's been unable to soothe her and the only remedy is Mom. Since Mom refuses to leave the bed unless it's on fire, the problem child comes to her.

And so it all began.

We've had to leave their bedroom door ajar for Kael's midnight bathroom breaks -- he's not the quietest kid on the block when in a sleep stupor -- and that's pretty much an open invitation for Malia to come a'visitin'. First she'd sneak into our room (our door is also ajar since the stairs are right there) but my Mom's 6th sense can detect her even in a deep sleep. It was a little jarring at first to open my eyes and see her face inches from mine, staring at me intently. As time went on, she got bolder and bolder. Now there's no sneaking. It's like she wakes up, gets off her "Mermaid Bed," and runs down the hall to our bedroom, shouldering our door aside on her way in. I'm taking a guess that she runs since the door slams open hard enough to bang against the wall and almost close again. I doubt she even slows down. She doesn't even bother to stop by Dad's side, which is by the door. No. She runs down his side, around the foot of the bed, up my side, and into my waiting arms since I was just startled awake by the door slamming.

I have to admit I do love sleeping with her. Truong is not so thrilled. She doesn't have the best bed etiquette: she likes to sleep along his pillow, using it as a body pillow with her feet in his face. I'm so conked out that I turn my back to her and let her do whatever she wants, so long as she doesn't fall off. The bonus for me is when she sleeps with us, she wakes up around 7:00am or usually later. If she sleeps in her own bed, her wake-up time is between 5:50am and 6:20am. That's a sacrifice worth taking.

But I have to say: when Blub arrives, it's going to be a huge shock for her to see the co-sleeper blocking her path to Mom and Blub already in bed with us.

Yikes!

Potential Honorary Godparents

Remember that I said Truong was going out of town this weekend? He told me it was for a partner's meeting in Marin County. I was a little suspicious when he told me that he was told to bring his golf clubs. Huh. "Important meeting." Yeah, sure.

Anyway, he called me yesterday on someone else's cell phone with a (916) area code. Turns out it was Dave's, another partner. Apparently where they were going, there is no cell phone reception -- at least not with ATT, only Verizon. So out of 7 partners at the meeting, only one guy has a working cell phone.

OK. No problem. Just call me from the hotel.

A little later he calls me again. From Dave's cell phone, again. And tells me that there is no meeting. At least not a traditional meeting like they were expecting. The Big Boss called the partners together to have a Partner's Retreat and Team Building Exercise. He rented 2 houses and the partners were to be split up (3 in one house and 4 in the other). They were kind of in the middle of nowhere and -- and this is the best part -- there are no telephones in the houses. He didn't even see a decent restaurant on the way over and the houses were empty of food and supplies.

I didn't understand; what does that mean "no telephones?" He replied: "That means I can't make any calls: no cell phone reception, no land line, and I can't even check my email with my broadband card. The only line out is with Dave's cell."

I was quiet. Then I said: "So in the case of an emergency, like say, I go into early labor, I have no way to get a hold of you?"

There was complete silence on the phone. Evidently he hadn't thought of that. Of course, the chance of me going into early labor is pretty slim (I've got about 4-5 weeks left), but I had to bring it up just to make him sweat since I was still irked that he left me solo-parenting for the weekend.

And I have to admit that I got some satisfaction from hearing the thread of anxiety in his voice. He told me to take Dave's number down and that he would ask Dave to keep the phone on him, just in case.

After we hung up, I thought about Murphy's Law and decided to call Shana, just to let her know the situation. I figure if I prepare for it, then nothing will happen. She took it in stride and said she'd give Patrick a head's up. We both got a chuckle at the thought of Patrick being my labor coach. She said something about "you should have seen the look on his face when I told him that." I told her that if a DiDodo ended up cutting the cord on Blub, I'd make them Honorary Godparents. I have no idea what a Godparent does as that's not a part of my Buddhist beliefs, but hey, if they are going to be elbow deep in an un-medicated labor with me, then they should get something out of it, right?

You know you're a touch grouchy when....

Your 4.5 year old looks at you and says:

"Daddy says that when you're tired, you get really crabby. Are you tired, Mommy?"

Ouch.

And yes, that would be an affirmative: I am tired. In fact, I am beyond tired. I am exhausted. Bone deep exhausted.

The weather is heating up again and this time it feels like it's worse due to the humidity. So that doesn't help.

I'm getting bigger and it's harder, more painful to move around. I curse the stairs on an hourly basis. I hate riding in Truong's car with its bloody bucket seats. I swear Truong drives me around in the Audi just he can get giggles watching me struggle, trying to hoist myself out like a walrus stuck in an inner tube.

Malia is so small that potty teaching her is a pain in the rear because of all the bending and squatting I have to do. This is definitely an instance where boys are better than girls: with Kael, I just had to point and shoot. Malia I have to get down to eye level and for some odd reason, she doesn't pee down! Half the time she pees out - meaning at me! Shana warned me, but I thought she was smoking crack and perhaps there was something anatomically wrong with Gina. But apparently she was right: unless girls lean forward, they too can pee out above and beyond the toilet seat.

Kael unfortunately is bearing the brunt of my impatience. I try to be patient... but golly, if he would just listen to me...!! OK OK. I realize that I'm not the most patient, not the most rational of human beings right now but I will do my best to take deeper breaths and maybe start counting to 50 before opening my mouth.

Better make that 75, since tomorrow is supposed to be 90 degrees with a humidity level ranging between 50% and 64%; Grandma is leaving for up north for about 3 weeks; and Truong will also be out of town starting Friday, possibly through Tuesday of next week.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 .....

And the wait continues.

So I went to check Kael's tomato plants...

And it appears that Malia did indeed harvest the one and only tomato. There are flowers and buds present, but alas, no fruit to be seen. We'll have to wait a few more weeks for them to ripen for another harvest.

Kael still does not know that she plucked it and if he asks... well, I don't know what to tell him. Maybe I'll tell him that the birds ate it.

Another one bites the dust.

After dinner the kids played in the yard while Truong and Grandma did some gardening. I escaped upstairs for some alone time so the kids weren't well supervised. But really, how much damage can 2 kids do in an enclosed area, right?

Around 8:00pm, I called them in for showers. Kael was dancing around naked as usual while I struggled to get Malia's clothes off for a trip to the potty. "Struggled" because she had something in her hand and I had a hard time getting her fist through her shirt sleeve. I finally figured out the problem, got her to open her hand... and this was what I saw:



AHH!! Holy cow! I snatched the contraband out of her hand and tossed it on the counter before Farmer Kael saw it. I quickly looked around for Kael and luckily he was still doing Naked Flashdance in the bedroom so he was none the wiser. Then Malia proudly said: "Look Mommy! I have a toe-may-mo!"... to which I furiously shushed her before her brother heard and caught on to what she did.

Poor Kael. He has been waiting for his tomatoes to fruit since his last harvest of 3 tomatoes. That's right. You read that correctly. Three tomatoes.

1-2-3.
THREE.

He gave them to Malia and she gobbled them up in 2 seconds. She didn't even take the time to savor the organic flavor or the crisp juiciness of home-grown tomatoes. She just inhaled them and asked for more. That was a couple of months ago and Kael's been waiting ever since. So now we finally have a new crop of tomatoes.

Well, we did anyway. I have to go back out there to see if there are anymore besides this one that Malia snatched.

And just so you have an idea of how large Kael's prize winning tomatoes are:



But it's not the size that matters, right? It's how good it tastes. And according to Malia, Kael's toe-may-mo's are Blue Ribbon all the way.