Where has the school year gone? In the afternoons of seeing the school bus stop at the end of our sidewalk, in the mornings when I woke the girls before light to bowls of oatmeal and helped them pull on their blue or white polo shirts and navy skirts or pants. I tried to quit or at least pause work in the afternoons when they arrived at 3 so we could play or walk to the nearby business district and get ice cream at a neighborhood drugstore. The owners knows their names and knows that Margaret likes vanilla and Clara likes chocolate.
Here in the post No Child Left Behind (and no testing corporation either) World, I despair a little for public education. There are no toys in kindergarten. It's time for sight words, math word problems and reading. Clara is already oriented towards numbers, probably because we like that she can count and add, but there are kids in her class who can't count or read--and yet, they are being told to do word problems. What happened to learning through play? And learning to get along?
Margaret has been in special ed for her fine motor delays, and she can now write. Slowly, and not very well, but she can write nevertheless. We will work on this with her this summer.
She is ready to join her swim team. Hold on to your hats for that.
When the girls get home from school today, we will leave for Texas, where we will stay with my wonderful cousin Peggy and her husband David, loved by women of all ages and stages. But we will go in stages, first to Alabama to see cousins and nieces and their families, then to New Orleans and finally Houston. GTT, as the 19th century Georgians used to write on their doors when they fled the aftermath of the Civil War. Wish us well, it's a long drive.
I thought I knew what it was to miss my mother. But I had no idea how much I would long for her, for someone who would love my children as much as I do. And for Daddy, who wanted to have only girl children and who ended up with three sons. How my parents would have loved Clara and Margaret!
Well, back to work, which is relentless, endless and mind-numbing. Love y'all.

Last Day of School

The First Day

They have picked out their clothes (within a few parameters, because they will be wearing uniforms to school. Khaki or navy skorts, white, pink or light blue polo or oxford shirts, plain, clothes toed shoes. Quite a shock for Clara, who wears these kind of crocks shoes, with open toes). They are supposed to ride a bus but weren't given a bus number, so today we will take them. I am making lunch in just a few minutes.
Margaret is in a class with a special ed teacher who will help her work on her handwriting and socialization issues. It's a collaborative class, meaning that Margaret will be in the same classroom as the other children, she'll just get extra help when she needs it. Clara is in another classroom. She was considered the model student by her pre-school teacher, so we will see how she does. Clara loves rules and loves enforcing them, and if the rules aren't stringent enough, she will make them so, especially where it concerns Margaret.
Much of the public school system in Athens, and probably in Georgia, seems very punitive to me. Codes of conduct to be signed. Information about good touch/bad touch (which seems good to me, actually). Notices about restraining children. School insurance (which seems like a scam). We had forms and more forms to sign. All risk-management related. I can't imagine how complicated it is to play an organized sport on a school team.
The school PTA seems very organized, so I plan to get involved with that as much as I can. Which may be a lot, given that I soon will have an entire day free. When the bus does start arriving, I expect it to get here around 6:30, which will mean they will be gone from then until 3 or 3:15. A very long day for someone who's five.
Recently, we went to a movie (their first!) in a local art house theatre, where the feature was an hour of Looney Tunes. Clara settled into her seat next to me, holding half a bag of popcorn and her doll. She snuggled up to me and said, "Now, this is my idea of a good time."
She's hilarious. I will miss being with them all day, but I am also relieved not to be with them all day.

School Calls

With temperatures in the high 90's and heat indices hitting 103 degrees, returning to school seems insane to me. Especially since the playground at the girls' new school has no trees in sight. Anywhere. I may join the gardening committee of the PTA and plant some trees there! We visited Timothy School yesterday, went to the children's classrooms, met their teachers and left feeling a little sad, at least me. There were so many forms about discipline, expulsion, legal rights, hearings, etc., that it seemed as though we were buying a house not just visiting a public school.
But sign there, I did. Gene wasn't so bothered.
He was more concerned with the principal, who couldn't pronounce the word "second" correctly. She said "sec-on-nd" with an extra syllable. She had a few other strange utterings, but they didn't bother me. I have trouble distinguishing "steel" and "still."
We have to provide four bottles of hand sanitizer for each child, two packs of copy paper, four boxes of Kleenex (the brand was specified) and five boxes of sanitary wipes. You would think they are guarding against MRSA instead of wiping off sticky hands.
Having looked at the school lunch menu, I'm going to be packing their lunches this year. I didn't do it for Margaret last year when she was briefly in Pre-K, but I'm going to this year. The menus sound yucky. No attempt at vegetables or fresh fruit. Clara will eat hummus and carrots and celery until the cows come home.
We went downtown this morning on a university bus (always a thrill!) and bought Clara a pair of new shoes. She's now ready to go! I'll post photos of their first day. I think I'm more worried than they are!

Time Flies when you're Flying

This summer, we hae let the girls try many different things. They have been together in soccer camp (Clara loved it, Margaret did not, turning into Bartleby the Scrivner, who replied only 'I would prefer not to' to just about everything. They tried tennis (Clara excelled, Margaret put down her racket and told me she couldn't do it). And they tried dance class (the teacher told me Margaret freaked out when everyone starting tapping). Clara loves dance and will continue into the fall. She may sign up for soccer if it doesn't conflict with the dance.
This week, Clara is taking more tennis classes, and Margaret, well, she's at trapeze camp. We went to a "circus" performance at the trapeze studio in the winter, and it was all I could do to keep her from trying to get on the mat and on the bar. So she has been waking up shouting, "I"m going to trapeze!" I wonder now if she would have enjoyed the other activities if she had been alone? Who knows?
I don't want them over scheduled, not that we could afford all the things that are out there. I do want to figure out some way to get them into piano. They both love music. First thing is to find a piano!

Margaret rides to the rescue

Merry Christmas

Clara and Margaret were so confident that Santa was going to bring them what they wanted, they pointed to the doll strollers and said, "Look, Mama! There they are!" as if they were introducing old friends. Wonderful to have such faith, no? And then, that wily ol' Santa brought them other gifts they didn't even ask for! They were dunderstruck.
Margaret will be going to school again in the new year. She was asked to leave Emmanuel Day School. One of the meanest acts I have ever heard of. The principal called me in one Friday morning and said, "Margaret isn't coming back on Monday." Out of the blue, in fact. Turns out, it was just too darn disruptive for Margaret's support people, her special ed teacher and occupational therapist, to come into the classroom. Just too disruptive, even though the school was started to help special needs children. But that's all water under the bridge now. We are moving on to a public Pre-K program, with support in the class every day and the coolest playground you've ever seen. And, best of all, Margaret will get to ride a school bus to school! How cool is that! She is so excited, she can't stand it! Their elementary school is within walking distance, so she and Clara won't get to ride a bus when they start kindergarten next year. Clara would love to ride a bus, too, but she will continue at Emmanuel.
My job at Patch is going to be good. Right now, I am busy helping to build a directory of businesses, government agencies and non profits in town. The list is huge, but it's fun meeting people.
The other night, we were driving around, looking at lights. We passed a huge display of inflatables: Santa, reindeer, snowmen and other creatures. I drove to the next street to turn around and spotted a small Nativity scene. I said, "Hey, look at that!" and Gene said, "It doesn't have half the lights of the other one." And Clara chimed in, "Daddy, that's the whole reason we have Christmas. if we didn't have Baby Jesus, we wouldn't have Christmas at all, you silly Daddy." And then Margaret said, "Daddy, we love Baby Jesus." And I thought, thank you, Jesus, and thank you Emmanuel.