Showing posts with label The Joy of Sibs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Joy of Sibs. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

We made it!

Mary Grace was up, dressed, and ready to go at 7:05 this morning.  The bus doesn't come until 8:30.  I made her get undressed and take a shower, instead of just staring out the front window impatiently for almost an hour and a half!


Meanwhile, Claire had a total thermonuclear meltdown that Mary Grace was going to school without her.


She felt a little better when she realized that we were going to MG's school, too, after we got her onto the bus.

The bus was 10 minutes late.  BJ said, "Do we have the wrong day?"  I said, "No, I think it's just a first-day-of-school thing."

While we were waiting, we had a photo shoot.


Got some last-minute advice from Daddy:


Then we tried magic:


...and it worked!  The bus came!


Good thing I'm quick with the camera, because she jumped on that bus and disappeared so fast, I almost missed it.  I didn't even have time to cry.

Apparently she met a girl named Grace on the bus, just like Junie B. Jones.

When we got to school, we parked a couple blocks away and walked.  The crossing guard yelled at me.  I'm going to probably learn as much as MG this year.

We finally arrived at room 10, and MG wasn't there!  I sent BJ down one hall with Jack, and Claire and I went down the other to look for her.  I was afraid she'd gotten lost, because the buses drop them off on the opposite side of the school from her classroom.

I got all the way outside and to the second door (I was trying not to panic, even though when I got outside there were no buses out there, and OMG where the hell could she be, panic panic panic!) before BJ called and said he'd found her in the hall that connects hallway #1 and hallway #2.  PHEW!

By the time I got back to class, she was already settled in and coloring.

We just stood there and let her ignore us for a while.  Then the principal came on and said that the parents could proceed to the cafeteria for information on Parent Council and a sibling snack, so we gave her a kiss and left.

She barely looked up from her coloring page.


We walked back to the van



...a little bit sad, but excited for Mary Grace!

Claire, Jack, and I went to the Boo Hoo Breakfast at Chick Fil A.  Daddy stopped at his usual cafe on the way to the office, and apparently found the Woo Hoo Breakfast - a bunch of parents were there celebrating their liberation.

Before I knew it, it was time to pick our big girl up from school.  Looks like she had fun, doesn't it?


We went to the office to run payroll, then we all went to DQ for lunch.  Mommy had a strawberry lemonade, because swallowing anything chunkier than chicken soup still feels like swallowing knives.  It might be a good diet plan, if it weren't for the fact that milk shakes feel so good on a sore throat.

When we got home, the light was better, so I got one more picture in front of our Kindergarten sign.

Is it just me, or does she look older in this one?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Let's Not Call CPS, Ok?

I debated about telling you this, because if you read it the wrong way, it sounds so wrong... But it really was a teaching moment, and I was calm the entire time, and the punchline is great, so without further preamble......

Mary Grace has been choking Claire. Claire's little neck is right at the perfect height for her to do it, and it has been happening a lot lately, in spite of the timeouts, and the taking away of toys, and everything else.

This morning she did it to her again. Claire was crying on her Daddy's shoulder, and I got down on MG's level and said, "I don't think you understand how scary it feels when you do that to Claire. I'm going to show you, so that you understand why I don't want you to ever do it again." Remember, I was totally calm. Well, a little ticked off, but it wasn't like I lost my temper and then choked her to hurt her. I was trying to teach her.

Ok?

So I gently put my hands on MG's neck and applied enough pressure that she reflexively pushed my hands away. "See?" I said, "That feels really scary. I don't ever want you do to it to Claire again. If you do, I will take away a princess for the rest of the day. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mommy," she said, then went in her room to cry.

She was crying, mind you, because she was angry and frustrated. She was NOT crying because she was hurt.

A few minutes passed... "MOMMY!" she yelled, in a very parental voice, "Don't you ever put your hands on my neck again! If you do, I will take away your..." mind-wheels turned, "If you put your hands on my neck again, no more blogging!!"

Yep, she's got my number.

I can only hope that her ability to repeat my admonishment means that she learned from the experience.