Back to work

Starting today. Back to work. Part time for a month at least, otherwise it'd be too painful for words. It's already painful enough as it is.

Madi is now Magdalena Luna Lunera Cascabelera Cinco Pollitos, according to her big sister. What a nickname, no? This one is definitely harder to leave than her sister was. She's grown so much but is much more attached than her sister was, even at the tender age of 10 weeks. She needs me more for some reason and I say that knowing the absurdity of a 10 week old not needing mama, but Animalia was just less like that. Does that make sense?

Madi's 2 month checkup:
First vaccines (she cried and then fell asleep but was cranky for 2 days after), weight: 12lbs (catching up!), length: 22.75 inches (shorty!).

Everything else:
Getting used to getting ready in the morning is going to be rough. Dropping off Animalia at school and leaving Madi with Nana and Tata is going to be rough. Pumping during my breaks is going to be rough. It's all going to be rough. I'm exhausted already and it's only 9:30am and I've only done this once so far. Low grade panic setting in... breathe.... breathe.

3 years old

I'm so disappointed in myself for not blogging. Not really though. I'm just busy, braindead, tired, pregnant, working, mothering, laundering, etc. No really. I think I was asleep before 9pm more than once this week too.

Animalia just turned 3 years old. We celebrated some the week before with family that was in town for a couple of days at the same time as celebrating her 14-year-old cousin's birthday. Then we celebrated again at Disneyland which has to be it's own post with pictures. Then we celebrated with Nana and Tata on her actual day. Pretty low-key. Pasta, cake, ice cream. Would have been lovely but Animalia was really grumpy and fell asleep in my lap during the pasta. I only realized at that point that she had a fever. Poor thing.

So we went to Disneyland, got back, Animalia got sick for a few days, took her to the doctor who decided that she was fighting off an upper respitory infection for which she prescribed a nasal spray that wasn't covered by our insurance and cost slightly more than $100.

So there's all of that.

And then there's all of the stuff we're looking forward to:

Animalia starts preschool on October 11 at a new Reggio Emilia program mere blocks from home/work. It's half days. Bilingual. She loves the classroom and she cried when we left our visit. Later, she asked Nana if the teacher made her leave so that her mama doesn't hit her. Seriously. Sigh. She's trouble.

We're looking forward to the New Baby. Well, mostly me and a whole lot of it has to do with maternity leave and not being pregnant anymore and spending precious moments gazing into her eyes. Animalia, when asked one day if she was the baby, responded that the baby is in her mom's pansa. But she goes back and forth. Sometimes she points out a tiny piece of clothing at a store and asks if that was hers when she was born. On vacation she wrapped up a towel and said it was mama's New Baby and wouldn't let her dad touch it. I think she'll freak out everytime he touches the New Baby but maybe she'll not. I have no idea.

So everything is going fine. She's still really hilarious.

Preschool Search '10, part 3

We've hit a standstill on the search.

One school was awful. Super academic. Developmentally inappropriate. Viewed play with the whole "idle hands are the devil's workshop" adage. Sure, they were multiplying at age 3 but they weren't playing. They were being drilled. No decorations on the classroom walls because they're viewed as distractions from learning. I know quite a bit about early childhood brain development and this school was ignoring crucial things. You know, like real experiences in favor of rote memorization. Not for us.

Second school was good. Clean. Cute. Lots of outside time. Foreign languages. And then there were some alarming things on someone elses visit. Like dirty bathrooms. And elitist attitudes. Things I don't want Animalia learning, even if it's just filtered down through layers of administration and teachers.

Third school took my name and number because the program isn't quite put together yet. They're starting a Reggio Emilia based program, bilingual. Sounds awesome but I'm wondering when we'll know the details.

Fourth school never called me back.

So here we are.

Preschool Search '10, part 2

So I thought I loved the second school and then decided, after someone else visited the next day and reported that the bathrooms were filthy and some other major stuff, that I don't love it anymore. I'm not a clean freak by any means but filthy bathrooms are a deal breaker. Also, a certain elitest private school attitude that won't serve us well as we're hoping to put Animalia in public school for 1st grade. At least that's the current plan. Have I mentioned that this is really hard?

Left message at two other schools. One will get back to me when they have their Reggio Emilia-based program completely in place, the other, a well-known and -respected place, hasn't bothered to return my call.

The Great Preschool Search of '10

Realizing that my daughter was going to turn three this fall has sent me into a fevered frenzy of preschool searching. Actually, my fevered frenzy is more like "umm... I heard this one is ok, maybe I should call them." And then I tell myself that for a few days until I actually do it. So anyhow, this is hard and also time consuming, and, once a school is chosen, will be expensive. I guess I didn't realize that preschool is almost $500/month full time and although I'd like her to just go 2-3 days/week for the first year, I think full time might be good for her second year. Then, it's kind of weird, but it seems that either the schools are super structured, sitting at desks, doing worksheets and not being fun at all, or free and easy, hippy dippy, barefoot. It might be nice to find something somewhere in the middle. Then there's all these methods and philosophies and rules and registration fees and waitlist fees and... it's enough to make me just want to start school in kinder and skip all of this. But I know she'll love it and I know she needs just a little extra structure and variation in her life at this point. So I'll get through it.

So far I've had one visit and one upcoming appointment. I think I'm going to call two more places and make appointments with them. Results to be announced but I already know it isn't going to be the first school. That one was pretty terrible.