And We Survived Day 1

Today was Butterfly's first offical day of preschool. She was excited, doing happy dances while getting ready this morning. I was nervous. What if she missed me? What if she didn't like it? What if she didn't get along with the other kids? What if she didn't have enough time to eat her snack (Butterfly is a slow eater)? For some reason, I allowed these thoughts to run through my mind last night and keep me awake. On the car ride over to the school, Butterfly tells me "I'm not going to miss you. I'm not going to be like LLama (from Llama Llama Misses Momma)." I don't know if I was ever so simultaneously proud and heartbroken. There was the "Yes! My child is independent! She wants to explore the world! We've done a good job!" sentiment running through my head. Which was quickly followed up by the "What do you mean you won't miss me? I'm your mom?!?" I allowed that one to stay around through drop off. Butterfly and I walked to her classroom. I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. No tears, just a bit of melancholy emotion. I helped her find her hook to hang her backpack. I watched her place her lunchbox on the shelf. She came and gave me a hug, and never looked back as she walked into the classroom. And thus began her life seperate from me. My husband was home with Ladybug, so thankfully I didn't have to worry about having 2 kids at drop off. While she was looking for her sister when I returned, Ladybug didn't seem to mind the one-on-one time she's now acquired with mom. We went for a walk, played outside, and had a snack. At pick up, Butterfly was all smiles coming out of her classroom. She was carrying a picture she'd painted of Clifford the Big Red Dog. Painting on the first day of class was sure to win my little artist over. I could tell school had tired her out. She was fuzzy and not forthcoming with the details of the day. Her voice was so quiet, I had to strain to hear her. But once home, a bit rested and after a yummy lunch, details of her day began to creep out. They sang songs, which she sang for us. They read a story about Clifford and in the story he tore up flowers. Butterfly and a classmate who has the same lunchbox had a bit of mix-up, but it was resolved. All in all, it sounded like a pretty good first day of school.

The End of the World as We Know It

I've been at home with the girls since Butterfly was born. We've led a pretty carefree existence, a routine versus a schedule, very few commitments, letting the weather dictate our plans once we had breakfast. Spending days outside, or reading, or pretending, or making art.

All that has changed as of this past Thursday. We had a major milestone in this house. My Purple Butterfly started pre-school! Two days a week we have to be out the door by a certain time to get her to class in time for 8:30. Of course, we haven't done that yet, because we got out the door in time for orientation in time for 9:00am. 8:30 is a bit more daunting. And here is my Purple Butterfly before her very first day of preschool.

The schedule adjustment is just the tip of the iceberg. Staring Tuesday, I'll be dropping Butterfly off and leaving her with her teachers and classmates. I'm very excited for her to start preschool. She needs all the things that preschool is for - time away from me, getting used to listening to a teacher, not being the major focus of the adult, and the part I'm most excited about her experiencing - socializing with other kids her age. I've tried with playdates, music classes, and trips to the park and library to help her socialize, but I really think she'll benefit from regularly being in class with other kids her age.

Things are going to change for Ladybug, too. She'll get some much needed one-on-one time with mom. We get very little time as just the two of us, maybe some time in the mornings. Now, we'll have 5 hours a week. It will be intereting to see how she handles her sister being out of the house, or not being with us in the mornings if we runs errands. According to Ladybug, there are places that Butterfly should be, because she always is. Now we're going to change that.

I wasn't overly emotional on Thursday. No tears, but lots of pride. Of course, we were there in the classroom with Butterfly. We'll see how we all feel Tuesday when Butterfly walks into the classroom by herself to join her classmates.

And so goes the harvest

A good portion of the spring and early summer was spent gardening at our house. My husband did some much needed landscaping, and we planted a vegetable garden. Butterfly was such the little helper, out there in the mud and muck with her daddy, hoeing, sowing and watering. For our efforts, hopefully our front yard is no longer an eyesore to our neighbors, and we got to enjoy fresh veggies. Eating peas fresh from the vine was a nightly event in the beginning of July. We were out of town and missed the beans, but thankfully friends were able to enjoy them. Now we come into my favorite part of the harvest season - tomatoes and cucumbers. We have a decent crop of tomatoes. We planted Sweet 100s, Early Girl, Beefstake, and Orange Blossom. We've gotten one Beefstake so far, but the Sweet 100s and Orange Blossoms have more than made up for it. The Early Girl plant is producing, too. I have to keep an eye on Ladybug that she doesn't grab a green tomato and make a run for it. Yesterday I found her with a red tomato in one hand, and an orange tomato in the other, and seeds and juice all down her chin. As for our cucumbers, so far we've gotten two. They were tasty and crisp, but I was really looking forward to an abundance of cukes to make pickles from, or just to slice and eat with a little bit of salt. Thankfully, my dad has hooked me up with some cukes from his garden, and I was able to make a batch of what I consider to be the best cucumber salad ever. I will share the oh-so-easy recipe in another post. Yes, I'm going to share a recipe. When you see how easy it is, and discover how tasty it is, you will definetly thank me. Now we wait and see if we get any broccoli, watermelon, eggplant, or pumpkins.

It's Spring!

In honor of the first day of spring, I made it a point to read It's Spring to Butterfly and Ladybug. It's written by Samantha Berger and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

Although the first line is "In April, the robin began to sing.." I found it fitting for the vernal equinox and the beautiful weather we've been having. Several woodland and farm friends spread the word that spring is here - the leaves and flowers are back, the snow is gone and the sun and rains are here!

The illustrations are large and simple enough without omitting too much detail to engage the littlest of readers, and the rhythm and rhyme will make it a continual favorite for the older readers as well. There is plenty of opportunity to make animal sounds, which makes a good book so much better in this house. There are quacking ducks, singing birds, and crowing roosters. You can talk about animal motions - swimming ducks, trotting horses, running deer. It's also an opportunity to introduce the concept of hiberation as the story concludes with waking bears. Or you can just enjoy the rhythm of the sweet little poem.

Just look at that bunny. How can you not be happy it's spring?

Pink Butterfly's new identity

Purple Butterfly chose her own identity. She likes to pretend to be a purple butterfly and to flap her wings. She likes to pretend that we're a family of butterflies, so it followed that if I would refer to everyone as butterflies. But as Pink Butterfly gets older, she is becoming more and more her own person with her own very unique personality. She's still partial to pink, even more partial to hot pink, but she's also showing a penchant for ladybugs. So, for clarity and honesty and individualism, I will now call Pink Butterfly Pink Ladybug, possibly Ladybug, L, or PL for short. Yet I will stick with an insect theme. Apparently my children are more bookworms in the manner of being book larvae. I don't think that's a term that will catch on.

Owen

Our most recent trip to the library had us bringing Owen by Kevin Henkes home with us. Owen is a mouse who has a lovey, Fuzzy, a worn yellow blanket. Fuzzy does everything and goes everywhere with Owen and is not so fuzzy anymore. But Owen will be starting school soon, and won't be able to take Fuzzy with him. His parents, armed with some encouragement and advice born from a rather nosey next-door neighbor's disapproval, try to break Owen of his Fuzzy habit, but to no avail. Finally, Owen's mother devises a solution that works for everyone.

My own kids are a bit too young to have to worry about having the conversation of where the lovey can and cannot go, but this book made me think about it. And when that time comes, we will borrow this book from the library again. Henkes does great job of writing in a way that speaks to both the kids and their parents. The words are reassuring, the illustrations fun and engaging. His world of mice tackle a lot of the "issues" little kids have to deal with.

This book has inspired me to look at the relationships my own children have with their lovies. Of course, that will be an upcoming post or two.

So much for resolutions...

We're not even 3 weeks into the new year, and I've already broke my resolution in regards to this blog. I'm not going to try to defend myself by saying that I was sick, my kids were sick, and that by trying to keep my other resolutions I had much time for screen time. I am getting more sleep, though! :-D And I do feel more patient. Although, I think next year it will just be easiest for me to resolve to eat more Nutella.

A new development in the Butterfly househould is that we're reading more again. Well, more children's books, anyway. I'm still trying to fit in time to read more of what I want. But I'm excited about reading to my kids again. Purple Butterfly has always loved her books. She and I used to spend hours a day reading. Once Pink Butterfly was born, the reading time diminished significantly (although Purple Butterfly still got at least 10 books a day). Of course, a baby is more intersted in chewing the book than listening to the story or ripping the pages than looking at the pictures. But as she's getting older, she's coming around. She now brings me books to read to her. She has interest in books that have other illustrations that just pictures of babies. (See my Baby Giggles entry.) And she likes her stories before bed. Here is my newly hatched bookworm.

Purple Butterfly's current favorite is the All About Cordury story book that Santa brough her. Mr. Butterfly or I have read her that book at least twice a day for the past week. Pink Butterfly doesn't seem to have a favorite, but I did watch her spend about 15 minutes looking at Pat the Bunny tonight after dinner. As for me, I'm reading I Am the Chose King on my Kindle. I may finish it before springtime.

A trip to the library earlier this week will allow for some book highlights. I hope you enjoy them.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, indeed! 2012. If you believe the Mayans, the world either ends in less than 12 months, or we're headed for the age of Aquarius. Either way, we better make this year count! But that could really be said of any year, now couldn't it?

The new year always brings resolutions. Last year, I was 9 months pregnant so I didn't really make any, other than to have a baby. That one would have been difficult not to keep. This year I am game to try my hand at some, so I'll share them with you.

First, and most importantly, I am going to try to be a more patient person. This is especially true when it comes to my children. They deserve a more patient mama. My husband deserves a more patient wife. There are several steps that will go into this, probably each one could be considered a resolution of its own.
- I have to try to look at things through a child's eyes more often. It's too easy for me to be wrapped up in what I want and need and expect to my kids to conform to that 100% of the time. I need to be a bit more understanding that they don't understand, and step back to look at things from their perspective.
- I'm going to get more sleep. Sleep recharges my patience supply. With a 2 year old and a baby, I've been pretty sleep deprived for the last year. I need to make changes to my daily routine to accomplish this, as well help little Pink Butterfly learn to sleep better on her own.
- I'm going to take better care of myself. I'm purposely leaving this one vague. I'm not setting a weight loss or exercise goal, I'm just telling myself that I need to make opporunites to get more exercise, eat better, drink more water, etc.

-Organize and declutter my house. The disorder in this house despresses me and makes me anxious. It's not to the point where A&E is going to show up at my door with a camera crew, but it would be nice to have more usable counter space, room in closets, or play area for the kids.

My other resolutions pale in comparison of importance to that one, but I've made some just the same. They are more along the lines of personal development and growth. For the past two years, I've set an unoffcial goal to read a book a month, or 12 books total for the year. I've surpassed this both years, so this year I'm going to go ahead and set a goal of 25 books. I've also had a DSLR Nikon camera for two years now and 99.9% of the time, I have it on auto. I need to learn how to use my camera. Hopefully I'll be able to take some awesome pictures of the dawn of the new era, or next Christmas at the very least.

Lastly, I have goals for this blog, too. I want to improve it, make it more visually appealing, increase my readership, do more with it, post more. So I intend to post at least 3 new posts a week, 2 book posts and one general post. I hope to post more than that, but that is my starting point. Maybe I'll even work up the courage to do a give away or get this blog it's own Facebook page.

So now I have set my resolutions out for the world to see. Let's see if that improves my accountability.