White pants challenge

I'll preface this post with: I know this is completely corny.  I wanted to write something tonight and this is what came out.  I am, in fact, not obsessed with my white pants.  I hardly ever wear them and today I guess I thought it was noteworthy.  I still have no idea how I got started on this tangent....

Following up on my last post, I must say day 4 of Casey's pick-an-outfit catalog is going fabulously.  She selected her outfit last night but this morning she decided she wasn't feelin' it.  So what would have been 20 minutes carved out of our morning for fashion frenzy, instead was a quick glance at her photos and it was done.  Yes, I'm still fist-pumping over this and I'm certain Tom does not fully grasp the brilliance of my organizational masterpiece.  In fact, he gave me more than one raised eyebrow when I was putting it all together, but just you wait until I go away for some amazing girls' weekend and he is in charge.  I'll bet he'll ask where Emily's pages are.  Actually, no.  The girls will probably be dressed in pajamas and he won't even care...

Casey - March, 2011

 

Casey - July, 2012

Maybe the apple doesn't fall too far from the fashion tree.  I, too, am interested in clothes, shoes and accessories and can fill some mindless time with my InStyle magazine.  Unfortunately, now that I'm a stay at home mom, I can't justify spending money on clothes like I did when I was working.  But I find I still can get my trend fix at places like TJMaxx, Target and the Gap.  I love the look of white pants and today I felt like I was up for the challenge.  If you are a mom or accident prone, -or like me both - you know know what I'm talking about.  Wearing white pants is truly an exercise in agility.  You have to have a steady hand with food and beverage and a quick reaction time in order to not get soiled by little ones who decide they need to desperately hug you after eating pudding or pizza.  Each time I wear them, I like to see if I can beat my time from the last time I wore them.  You know - the success of pulling off white pants is measured in how many hours you can wear them before they are not white any more.  Last attempt ended in, like, 4 hours.  This morning, I felt agile and ready for the task.  Today's biggest competitors were Emily's 10 little fingers, the coffee I insisted on having this morning, and taking Emily to meet the class at pre-school.

I'm certain Nutella would be the least of my worries in these pants... sitting down would be a concern.

I kind of love these.

Emily wanted Nutella toast this morning for breakfast and when she declared she was done, the game was on.  In slow motion, she got out of her seat a sticky brown mess and came for at me saying, "Oh my gosh, I messy."  I literally had to circle her 2 or 3 times before I could find the angle at which I could wipe her mouth off and not have her hands reach me.  When that was done, in a flash I threw the washcloth aside and grabbed her wrists and then we very awkwardly walked with her arms outstretched to the bathroom to wash her hands.  Nutella fingers = 0.  White pants = 1.

Emily....where are you??

I managed to avoid a coffee incident and the score was 2 to 0 when we went to pre-school.  As we got in the car, I very cleverly avoided the bicycle tire in the garage but knew pre-school was going to give my still-pristine pants a run for their money.  When we got to Emily's class, though, I instantly forgot about the little inside joke of a game in my head.  I had to size up the crowd Emily will be spending 4 mornings a week with for the next 9 months.  There are a lot of boys in her class and not many girls.  Exact count - 10 boys and 3 girls.  That's a lot of boy roughness for my not-so-stable Emily to maneuver through.  The teacher and her team seemed nice, but I did find out that Miss Kathy, who has been with Emily throughout her pre-school experience so far, is in another room.  I was under the impression (because the principal told me so) that any returning pre-schooler would be placed with teachers they've had previously if at all possible.  So I was a bit crestfallen that she isn't with Miss Kathy and when we saw her on the playground and she and Emily hugged, I was pretty upset. 

Ready to kick some pre-school butt!  (balancing on one leg!  you go girl!)

As I was helping Emily into the car, I was thinking about the voicemail I was going to leave for the principal and didn't notice the size 11 sandal that had just been on the playground aimed at my pant leg.  Game over.  My head wasn't in the game any more.  This time I made it to 4-1/2 hours...  I'm back to worrying about little sister starting school next week - maybe now even more than before.  I still haven't heard back from the principal (yes, I did call and leave her a voicemail).  We'll probably try to get some extra time scheduled with Emily's physical therapist and maybe even start her on some free weights to get ready to hang with all those boys at school. (just kidding)  After we got home, I brushed off the little shoe print and Emily and I made cookies so Casey could have homemade cookies when she came home from school.  And, no, I did not get chocolaty finger prints on me in the process, so I still felt like I won today.  And I got to eat cookies :)

Practicing catching a ball

As I worry about pre-school, I keep telling myself it will all be fine.  As her mom, I'm obligated to be positive but I come from a long line of worriers and it's not something that is always easy for me.  I will be her advocate regardless of who her teacher is or what school she is in.  Her education is not something we take lightly.  I have been told from very early on in her life that early intervention is a big key to her success and while it's only pre-school and not pre-med, I want to capitalize on this time of early learning.  She's soaking it all up and I want to make sure she can do that in pre-school this year.  After this, we think she'll be on to kindergarten next year (gulp).  I know her school career will be filled with challenges and we'll be ready to take them head on.  Game on.  In my own very corny viewpoint, it will kind of be like my little game of keep the white pants clean.  We might maneuver around some sticky stuff, having to adjust our expectations along the way, but in the end we will brush it off and make the best of it for our daughter.  We'll win, I know it!  Failure isn't an option.  And we will celebrate with a side of cookies :)    

Just plain happy.

Fashion and Friends

 

Casey now has 4 days of second grade under her belt.  That would be, literally, if I let her wear her silver sparkle belt with her neon paint-brushed-splotched tank with her striped skirt and her neon polka dot socks.  All at once.  With a scarf.  My big girl is a self proclaimed fashion designer to be.  She loves to come up with outfits in her head, when we are shopping, on computer games, with crayons and markers on paper and from her closet.  I love that she has such a creative mind and am totally okay with self-expression through fashion.  But we have to draw the line sometime.  Over the top to go get ice cream?  Sure!  Mix and match anything to go to the park?  Not a problem.  Put on more accessories than Liberace to hit Kroger?  Fine - I hate the grocery, so we don't spend much time there anyhow. 

Unfortunately, her little self has declared school to be the place to pull out all the fashion stops, though.  It started last year, and with it came the morning arguments, and then the prior-evening battles.  I hate fighting with her about clothes, but I refuse to send her off to school looking so crazy.  Both days of school last week were filled with arguments over what she COULD wear, so Sunday I got busy and eliminated the stress of what to wear to school.  It didn't take me as long as I thought it would.  I went to her room armed with the digital camera and began taking pictures of every outfit and separates and what they could be mixed and matched with.  I compiled the pics onto pages in Microsoft Word and then printed them.  Everything that is acceptable for school is documented and cataloged.  Now, she has to pick an outfit from one of the pictures, grab those pieces and dress herself.  Add earrings or necklace of her choice and Ta-Da!!  Yesterday and today have been blissfully stress-free in the frock department, I am happy to report.  I'm kind of happy dancing inside a lot over this one. :) 

 

I would have guessed that Emily was going to miss Casey when she was at school.  And I am touched each day when Casey comes home that hey hug tight long enough to make my heart melt several times over and say how much they missed each other.  But Emily asks me many times a day where Casey is and is now attached to my hip.  All day.  I can't even go upstairs to brush my teeth without her begging to come upstairs with me.  So I organized a little pre-school playground time this morning with some friends.  I know several moms who have second graders at school and pre-schoolers at home yet, so we gathered at a park to give ourselves a breather our little ones some time to hang out.   I was a bit nervous about it all. 

Nervous?  About the little playground across from the library?  Yes, a bit.  We've been seeing Emily experiencing a little self-expression frustration at home lately.  I think it mostly stems from the communication gap between what Emily wants to say and what she can say and understand.  And her frustration has been showing up in the form of hitting.  I'm worried it might show up in pre-school, which starts next week, and I was worried it would show up today.  More so, though, my nervousness had to do with how other kids, typical kids, would interact and accept Emily.  It's one thing when we're hanging out with friends we've seen all summer, but Emily had not really played with these kids before.  Would she understand them?  Would they understand her? 

 

 

We've had a couple of experiences this summer where kids seemed actually scared of Emily and very noticeably avoided her.  God, that sucked.  Like knee-buckling sucked.  I know they are all just kids for heaven's sake, but to see your special child walked away from because she's different is one of the worst kinds of pain I have experienced as a mother so far.  I know it will happen again.  And I'll pray that she and I get through it then.  But, thankfully, today was not that day.  I worried for not.  Emily played with the other kids, laughed at piling up at the bottom of the slide with the other kids, rocked on the little cars and sang 'Rock A Bye Baby' with the other kids and ran and chased with the other kids.  She was just like any other kid on the playground this morning and it has me a little more excited for pre-school next week.  She will handle it.  She is so friendly and open and without prejudice.  I'm certain that will speak volumes to other kids even though she may not have the words to say so. 

 

Secretly, though, I was prepared to bolt from the little playgroup today if it wasn't working out for her; to protect her and I from feelings being hurt.  I know I won't be there to do that at school and, really, it's better that I'm not there to do that for to her.  She needs to learn how to handle these situations in order to grow and mature socially.  It kind of sounds like I need to do the same, too. :)

I can't be in control of my girls all of the time.  I guess...  I'm learning.  Slowly.  One day Casey won't need let me edit her fashion choices so much.  She'll handle it with her own style and flair that will be beautiful and so Casey.   And Emily won't need me to worry and wait nearby in case a kid runs away from her because she speaks differently.  She'll handle it, too, in her own way.  Hopefully without a fist flying.  And me?  I'll learn to take it all in stride and worry a little less about fashion and friends and other things that will be out of my control.  Won't I????



I guess they do okay when I step back and let them be...  Emily ran up to Casey's soccer team as they huddled up at the end of practice and I put the camera up just in time to catch Casey put her arm around Emily and include her in the group.  :)