bloogs blowing by

Kindergarten Eve

My daughter starting Kindergarten tomorrow. I don't know how this is possible. She is still my little baby, the one who I snuggle with some mornings, and the one I can hold right in the crooks of my body.

I am nervous. I feel like I'm sending her off to the unknown, where I won't really know what she's doing. Her preschool allowed me get a glimpse of her day - I always talked to her teachers in the morning and afternoon. They helped Mr feel still connected - because I knew what she was reading, who she was friends with, and what she was challenged by.

And now, I feel like I need go let go, just a little. And it gives me this empty feeling in my stomach. Just today, T told me that she loved me when she was in my stomach. How can I let go of that kind of spirit and innocence?

And then it dawned on me.... I think this is the slippery slope to helicopter parenthood....

Tae's song

The Wizard of Oz, scene 1

Punch Buggy!

Tonight at dinner, we were talking about birds at the park.  Tae said that a bird was anything with wings.

"Well, what about a butterfly?" I asked.

"No, that's not a bird," Tae said.

"A ladybug?" I asked.

"No, that's not a bird," Tae said.

"A penguin?" I asked.

"No, that's not a bird," Tae said.

"Hey Tae!" I said, "A penguin is a bird!"

And then she punched me in the arm.  And then she looked at me and said, "Punch buggy!"

I asked her why she punched me, and she told me that it was because I was wrong.  Because while a penguin is a bird, it wasn't a bird that would go to the park since they line in Antarctica.

And then she said, "Kids-5, adults 4!"

I have no idea where she gets this stuff.  (Well, except the punch buggy, I taught her that.  But she has no idea what a punch buggy actually looks like.  Sigh.)

Monday Movies

Monday Movies

Evaluating

I'm going to take March to evaluate a little. Posting here has been slow. Life is busy. There's facebook and Twitter and so many ways to keep in touch with people... I'm not sure what my blog contributes to all of this.

Tae is bigger now. She doesn't change day by day. She'll be starting Kkndergarten in the fall. She is reading. She has her own email address to keep in touch with people.

We'll see. I am going to try to post 5 times per week in March and see where that gets me.

HI-808

HI-808

This is one of Tae's favorite music videos... In case you're curious, here's the real thing:  Blue Scholars: HI-808  This is also just to say that we're still alive. =)  Just happily busily occupied with... life.

Comic Books

Ever since Tae discovered that she has her own copy of Secret Identities and that Photobooth has a comic book setting, she has been very interested in comic books.  So, today (very snowy out, again), we set out to make our own "comic book page."  Tae's very funny because she was very concerned - because most of the pages in Secret Identities are in black and white, and her comic book page is in color.  Some works that Tae would consider influential - Cinderella, the Wizard of Oz, and Dora Saves Mermaid Kingdom.

Merry Christmas!!

Sharing a little holiday love!

Being a parent is hard.

... but I am thankful for my wonderfully insightful and understanding daughter.  Who sometimes drives me nuts.

Recently, Tae has been acknowledging that being a parent is hard.  This first surfaced when she asked me to read a book to her in the parking structure outside Borders (we got kicked out because it was closing at 7pm on a Sunday in December).  I had asked her, incredulously, "You want me to read you a book while we sit in the parking lot?"  And her response was, "Being a parent is hard."

This has come up again a couple times.  I acknowledge that being a parent is hard, and I also told Tae that being a kid is hard.  She agreed, her reasons being a) sometimes you don't get to make choices, and b) you never know what's going to happen.

It is hard being a kid, when you never know what is going to happen.  Like this past week, when I had to roust her from bed at 7:30am.  I started gently shaking her, and when she woke up, she looked at me, and then burst in to tears, "I wanted to wake you up!!"  This is her daily routine, waking up the grown-ups in our house.  But, when things don't go according to her plan, she freaks out.  Life is hard, if you're five.

Being a parent is hard too.  This afternoon, Tae and I spent almost an hour pretending we were twin sisters.  Tae went and ratted to E that I was bothering her, but I wasn't!  Then I told Tae to stop saying that I was bothering her, and then she said that I was bothering her by saying that she needed to stop bothering me.  E said we should ignore each other and not feel bothered, and Tae yelled me to stop bothering her, and then I told her that I wasn't doing anything and that she needed to stop bothering me first. And then...

Tae has also been asking about when she's going to be a big sister.  And I told her that being a big sister is also hard.

Despite the fact that life is really hard, as a parent, a partner, a big sister, etc., our lives are actually quite joyous.  During the time that Tae and I were acting like sisters who fight a lot, I caught a couple glimpses of this infectious impish grin, as Tae laughed at the fact that we were pretending to fight.  These are the moments that make all the hard times totally worth it, the moments when we can laugh, and have fun together, even as we're yelling and pretending to fight.

I am thankful for my family.