Check this out

Mostly this will be interesting to those who know Jenny Pruden (Chapman, I mean):  http://gap-mag.com/

(Scroll down to the second set of photos.)

*** Sorry, you missed it!  She's not there anymore.  No more cute Jenny in cute outfits.  

Weekend photos

Lulu is really happy because she's eating at the table with Tommy instead of in her seat.

 My new favorite things, from my very sweet mother-in-law who understands that I love pretty Christmas dishes.

 In this picture, Lizzie is having a fit and Tommy is consoling her.

 It worked.  Feeling better.

 Tres cute, n'est pas?

 She's a big girl, walking down the street.

 In Bishops Park:

Eli's trip without his family

The view from his posh hotel room:

 At night:

 Em, in her car, driving on the wrong side:

 Em & Sid's place:

 Em & Sid's place, inside:

 Em & Sid's place from the outside again:

 The tallest one is where Em works:

 Ferry ride:

 Sid & Em in front of a silly looking building:

 The picture that makes me most jealous (lucky Em & Sid):

 Or, maybe this one makes me most jealous?

 For the Walters:

 Bidding Eli farewell:

Lizzie's words

Daddy

No

Mommy

Apple

Moo

Moon

Airplane

Juice

Milk

Please

Walk

Pasta

Kitty

Meow

Dog

Baby

Uh-oh

Hi

Hello

Bye-bye

Happy

Book

Off

Up

Down

On

Swing

Slide

Play

Out

Shoe

She intersperses them liberally with screams and a newly perfected growl.

And, again.

So this is another post about how awesome Tommy is, and I'm telling you here so that if you are weary of these posts you can skip it.  It will not hurt my feelings at all.

I have three stories for you today.

First, on Wednesday on the way home from football, Tommy wanted to color instead of scoot home.  Mandy said no, and Tommy got mad and scooted away from her, really fast.  When Mandy got to him, she took his scooter away because he hadn't listened to her.  Then, he was angry for a while, even threatening to tell Eli and me that she had taken the scooter away.  Mandy, bless her, stuck to her guns.  After a pause, he looked at her and said, "I'm sorry Mandy.  I got really mad and I lost my temper.  You're the best nanny."  At which point she returned the scooter and they all went home.

Second, when I dropped him off at school on Thursday, his teacher Miss Anna told me that he'd spent the whole of the previous day with Sophia.  They even, she said, hugged during carpet time.  So I mentioned to Tommy that it's fine to hug people, but that we want to be sure they want to be hugged.  "Oh, mom.  She loves to be hugged by me."

!!!

Finally, and this is the worst, so stop here if you hesitated at all in reading this post after the disclaimer at the top, today his teacher, Miss Jo, told me that she did some assessments with him yesterday and he knows all his letters and sounds so will start learning to read next week (!!!) and that he is a "pleasure to have in class."  She said that he says things like, "Miss Jo, I just love this classroom!  It's the best classroom ever!" and then all the other children hear him and get excited and repeat him.  I mean, really, how adorable is that? (I acknowledge that it might not be as adorable as I think because I am his mother, but it's still a little bit cute, right?)

Last night was curriculum night so we learned about what Tommy will learn this term and also more about the school philosophy.  I have felt since he started two weeks ago that we made a good decision to send him to Eridge house, but last night I felt absolutely affirmed as the head teacher told us that above all, they want children to be happy there.  Amen, I shouted.  Not really.  But, well, you know that he's just four and where we come from, four year olds don't go to proper school, and my biggest fear is that going to school so young might make him stop loving school, so it was reaffirming to hear Miss Janey say that.  She also said that the things we need to do as parents are (1) get our kids to school on time, (2) feed our kids breakfast, and (3) not feed them chocolate for breakfast.  To use Tommy's favorite phrase (because it rhymes), "easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Tommy has an opinion about his uniform.

One clarification:  he says the shorts are too short, but he really means they're too long.  He is still obsessed with the shorts covering his knees.

(And just so you know, this is the summer uniform.  He is going to haaate the winter one, which includes a turtleneck and a scratchy sweater.)

First Day!

And to keep things interesting, I've posted the photos in the wrong order.  (Blogger's fault, but what else is new?)

Here is Tommy's classroom.  He's in the fruit stand:

 The classroom.

 Outside of the school -- see the white wall and the blue sign? The gate is to the right of the blue sign.

 Walking to school.

A week in, and Tommy seems to love school.  He doesn't complain at all about going, and he has lots of interesting things to talk about.  Like, the names of the ladies who serve lunch and what he accepts from them and what he does not.  On Friday, I picked him up at one and the first thing he told me is what he had for dessert (ice cream with a biscuit).

Our week and, more importantly, weekend without Daddy was just fine.  We missed him, and I admit that on Sunday morning I lost my business with Tommy when he had a fit about something stupid (nope, no idea what, because Sunday afternoon was about how the soup was "sloppy"), but mostly, it was a really nice weekend.  Tommy got to watch "Mary Poppins" and sang all the songs for the rest of the weekend.  Then we all went to a cooking class on Sunday morning and baked savoury scones.  Lizzie made the biggest freaking mess I've ever seen and it was not in my house.  

And a very happy Monday to you all.

School

I took Tommy to school this morning (I couldn't yesterday because I had an early meeting) and AGAIN, I was tearful.  What is wrong with me? Why is this lovely, exciting time causing me only angst?

Mandy has said both days that Tommy has reported only great things when she picks him up.  He says he really likes his big-boy school.  He told her that he's working on writing.  (I am skeptical, but he can write a few letters, his absolute best being his absolute favorite: T.)  Anyway, I took him this morning and when I got it together enough that I didn't think I'd cry if I spoke to the teacher, I asked her how things are going.  She said that the kids are interacting more and that they are doing a lot of talking about the classroom rules.  She has a traffic light, she explained to me, and after a couple of warnings, kids' names are moved to the yellow light from the green one.  And for the ultimate crime of hitting, the perpetrator has his or her name moved directly to red. (Only one of the Chloes was still on red when we arrived this morning.  Tommy was on green.  Phew.)  I asked Miss Jo if he had any difficulty settling down, and she said that he didn't, that he'd been wonderful and enthusiastic -- just an incident or two of snatching toys from others, but that he was immediately apologetic. 

Eli's doing well in Sydney and loves the city and is loving spending time with Em and Sid.  He says Sydney is a lot like San Francisco which of course made me want to move there. Or at least visit once Lizzie is solidly three and will watch TV for hours on end.

Last night, I had to get up twice because the usual getter-upper is out of town (but let's be honest, if you breastfeed two babies for a year each, you're going to get up in the middle of the night so much that Eli will never make it up to me, even if he's the getter-upper until they're 18 and move out).  I went up to Lizzie after she cried and she told me she had a poopy diaper.  I was skeptical, but how bad would I have felt if she did and I made her sleep in it??  So I changed her and, that's right, no poo.  Then, Tommy woke up to go potty and stood at the top of the stairs whisper-yelling:  "MOM AND DAD? THERE'S A MOTH IN THE BATHROOM.  IT'S NOT PRETEND.  IT'S REAL."  So I suggested he use our bathroom, which he thought was a great solution.  "Oh, great idea! Thanks, Mom!"

Finally, last night I ran home from work -- along the Thames -- with my clothes in a backpack.  It was exactly six miles and so pleasant that I would feel cheesy describing it.  Suffice to say that I got my holy-crap-I'm-in-London-how-lucky-am-I feeling back.  Yaaaayy.

Jitters

Tommy starts school tomorrow, but he had a play date to meet his teachers and class today.

And so I couldn't sleep last night.  Tell me what that's about?!?

I realized on Friday, when I finally went to wash his uniform and get it all set, that I don't have one part of his uniform (the uniform company's fault, not mine), and hopefully I'll have it by Thursday which is when I need it, but do you think that's why I dreamed last night that it was raining and he didn't have a coat he could wear?

So then, this morning I woke up and went for a run, and got to stay with the kids until 9:30 when Mandy came and Tommy and I left for school.  (It should be noted that a full hour of this time was spent with Tommy throwing a fit about his uniform:  "I HATE MY UNIFORM!  THIS DOES NOT LOOK COOL! I JUST CAN'T HANDLE IT!"  I took a movie which I will try to post.)  We spent the walk talking about "the Fighter", which Eli and I watched (and both really, really liked) last night and had to return to the library on our way to school. (Don't worry; I didn't explain Dickey's crack addiction.)

Anyway, we arrived and there was a throng of parents with their kids and tears immediately popped into my eyes because honestly, pinch-me-I'm-dreaming, how can he possibly be big enough to go to school?  HOW?  So I got it together and he met a couple of kids as we waited, and then they opened the door and we all marched in and I could barely greet the head teacher because I knew I'd begin to cry, and on this went.  We got into the classroom which is lovely and has (1) a tub marked and containing "legos", (2) a tub marked and containing "little legos", (3) a tub marked and containing "vehicles," and also had each table set with various art activities (play-doh, coloring).  There is also a store in the back of the room which Tommy calls a fruit shop, a computer on a low table with two tiny chairs in front of it, and, an electronic white board at the front.  When we met Miss Jo, and she asked what activity Tommy would like to do, he pointed at the electronic white board.

Which figures because I'm certain it's mostly for adults, would create the biggest disruption in the already chaotic classroom, and, well, did look very cool.  It is broken at the moment - to be fixed this afternoon - so he was told that he could not use it, but that she had a computer and should she show him how to use it?  As Miss Jo and Tommy headed back toward the computer, I shouted good bye and left, still feeling like I was going to cry.  I told myself to appreciate his independence -- it was so impressive, as was his willingness to really explore that classroom.  Most kids sat down at a table and started coloring or play-doh or whatever, but my guy was determined to know every inch of that place as quickly as possible.  Other kids were crying.  Other kids were being held by their parents.  And mine was following the teacher back to the computer, and could not have cared less about my presence.

When I picked him up two hours later, he sauntered out of his classroom with the front of his shirt tucked into his shorts (must've gone potty) and something white spilled all over his navy shorts and said, "Hi, Mom, I had a great time at my big boy school."

And that is the beginning of this story.

Some self-indulgence...you were warned.

This transition -- returning to life after vacation -- has been rough.  Maybe worse than rough; maybe horrible.

The thing is, there are plenty of reasons.  The horribleness can be explained away:  jet-lag, the kids have been sick, I have a job that I am finally facing, I'm not busy enough to really be distracted at that job, I miss my family, I miss my friends (especially the bride), I miss yards with grass, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

But I'm just not sure that's it.  Doesn't it feel like some things are just going to have to change? Big things? Like our political system? And the legal industry? (I know, maybe only big to me.  And other lawyers.) And our disproportionate energy use? Or am I in a mood?  We did find out that my sweet husband  needs £3000 of dental work.  But I was in the mood before that.

And then this morning, I had such a nice morning at home with my kids.  SO NICE.  Best time since returning to London.  We baked bread and ate breakfast and got dressed and read lots of books because there was a book sale at my work (can you say random?) and I bought the kids a bunch of new books for very little money.

I suppose what I'm taking from this horrible transition is that as a newly-working-again mom, I can now truly appreciate the time I get to spend with my kids.  I've been reading a new blog (she's not a Mormon, which I know brings my husband some relief as I think he secretly expects our very own, no-strings-attached copy of the Book of Mormon to show up at our house any day.  To be honest, I would ask for one if I thought that reading it would give me the interior decorating skill or fashion sense of the Mormon bloggers I read.  Holy parenthetical, Batman!), and the woman who writes it takes cheesy photos, lives in a McMansion in Florida, and is uncomfortably effusive about how much she loves her life... but she's sort of getting to me.  And she's really good at saying all the time how much she loves her girls, and pointing out the happy moments she has with them each day.

I think I'm just homesick.  (Which home is that?)

Today, Tommy drew a treasure map and showed me the "X" where the treasure was buried, and then, he drew the pirate ship.  The most amazing part of this is that it actually resembled a ship.  Then, he drew the sails, and again, they actually resembled sails.  Then, a flag that actually looked like a flag.  Then, some "bones" on the flag that did not look like bones.  But still.

Lulu didn't do anything truly remarkable today (that I can remember, anyway), but she has been screaming in her bed for two nights.  Our fault.  We let her sleep with us two of the nights that she was sick and jet lagged.  There are two completely contradictory rules of parenting:  one is to do what "feels" right, and the other is stick to your routine.  And if you do something that feels right, like letting a clingy, sick baby sleep with you, but she normally sleeps in her own bed, she's going to realize how much better it is when she's not doing the routine and let you know that she knows it's your routine and she wants to do it her way for a while.

Eli has to work on his speech this weekend (he leaves for Australia on Tuesday, right after we drop the big boy off for his first day of school), Tommy has a swimming lesson on Saturday, and we have to buy school shoes.  Otherwise, we'd better do something to make us (one of us, at least) feel grateful to live in London.

Seriously, I'm going to get some musical tickets.  Not for this weekend, but for a weekend in the near-ish future.

Visitors would also help.

Our time.

It seems that every parent I know goes through a period of illness.  Your kid is sick, then better for a couple of days, then sick again, then better for a week, then sick again, and on and on.  And it seems like this summer has been our own special time to be sick.  Because after one stomach illness AND hand food and mouth, we are again afflicted a stomach bug.  POOR TOMMY AND LIZZIE vomited all night long.  (And Eli and I didn't get to bed until two and after that, sleep was interrupted, and I had a breakfast meeting today of course.)

Of course we have no idea what happened (though I am inclined to blame the plane), but I just called Mandy for an update and she told me that she's not feeling so well...

And if I'm honest, I'm not feeling so well, either. But of course, I might just be completely exhausted.

I'll check back later in the week, hopefully a bit more optimistic (and healthier!).

What Tommy and Grandpa Ollie do:

(Eli took all of these pictures.  Actually, you should assume Eli takes the pictures on this blog unless I tell you otherwise.)

We should all move to Laramie

Here's why:

1. The house of my dreams only costs $400,000 and it is SO adorable (from the outside at least).

2. Tommy is still talking about the Laramie Rec Center which has water slides (fun ones!), fountains and one of those river rides -- and that's just the indoor pool! We went on Friday and Saturday (we were a bit later leaving for the airport than we should have been because of our swim) and yesterday Tommy suggested we head over for a swim but of course yesterday we were in London.

3. You can drive anywhere in town in ten minutes, maybe even five. There is no traffic.

4. There's a dinosaur museum there (and there should be; it's amazing how many of the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum are from the western United States).

5. We ate out plenty, and every restaurant was good. Also, there's a co-op with a very cool lettuce and basil dispenser -- it grows in the store, out of the wall (which must have soil, etc., in it) and you cut off whatever you want with scissors. Can you say fresh?

6. Regular exercise at 7,000 feet is better for you than regular exercise at sea level. I know because it's so much harder.

7. The mountains are so beautiful, and so close! And also, they aren't as crowded as the mountains near Seattle.

8.  Trains!! (But only once every 20 minutes.)

8. Two of the four best grandparents in the whole wide world live there.