10…back to school edition

Man it has been awhile since I posted a 10 on Tuesday.  It’s not Tuesday, but I’m awake and have half of my wits about me so here we go….

1.  Kindergarten & 7th grade:

Could they be any taller?!?!  Time flies.  Be sure you click that link, it’s worth it just for the laugh.  It gets me every.single.year.

2.  As the first week of school is about to come to a close, I have more stories and one liners from Taryn than I can wrap my mind around.  Her first day went really well.  She was really nervous, but also very excited that morning.  All 5 of us actually managed to get up and out on time, which is a slight miracle given that the elementary school starts very early compared to the middle and high school.  They stagger start/end times here which I absolutely love (it enables little ones to get home before the high schoolers who drive are out on the roads plus it ensures that the middle school kids, for the most part, are not latch key and get home around the time most parents do).  I was super nervous leaving her that morning because all the other girls in the class were already paired up and she was sitting at a table by herself and kept putting her head down.  She was pretty quiet but we had to leave to bring Ty.  Her teacher is so wonderful with the kids and was very reassuring with Taryn, I knew she was in good hands.  When I picked her up we had a bit of taryn-esque drama (see #2) but once we got home she said she had a great day and made not one, but TWO new friends in her class!  Yay!!  And whew!!!  She must have had a good time because this was the view (a la iphone) as I pulled in to our driveway, HA!

3.  The first day did include little issue.  I pulled up to carpool at the designated time and waited my turn in line.  When it got to be my turn they called over the walkie talkies for Taryn to come out of the building (they have it down to a science).  Well there are around 6 stations and you pull up as things move along.  They called again, no Taryn.  By the time I pulled up to the 4th spot I started to get worried….did a 5th grader run her over rushing down the hall?  Was she scared and hiding in her classroom?  Did she get lost going to the carpool line?  Did the automatic flushing toilet that she is scared to death of get the best of her?  Or the most likely option, did she revolt at our refusal to let her ride the bus and just get on one anyway?  Cause you know, 5 years olds think all the buses are the same and they all to to their house.  I started to panic.  I rolled down my window and asked the duty teacher standing at the station if I needed to park and go in and get her since she wasn’t answering to her name.  She said no, that it was the first day and she was likely talking to a friend in line and not listening and then asked what she’s wearing.  I tell her, blond hair, purple shirt, purple backpack and jeans.  Station 5…..Panic…..Station 6……Panic……duty teacher comes over and tells me they can’t find her.  Sit tight and let’s see if she answers the page and turns up.  Right then I hear her name over the loud speaker.  I start to pull out to park my car.  Just then someone says they found her over the walkie talkie….whew….thank God!!  I twist my neck to turn all the way around to see her coming out the door looking very ticked off sporting her signature scowl.  My heart sank and I feared she’d had a really bad day.  I was determined to stay positive, greeted her with a big “Hi T!!  How was your day?!?”  She plopped down in her seat, crossed her arms and scowled even more.  She said “I didn’t get to finish my snack…humph!”  Her teacher was the one who walked her out thankfully and she filled me in.  Taryn had been in carpool line with the other kids, she asked to go to the bathroom and another duty teacher took her.  When she came out of the bathroom the other teacher was standing there talking to someone and Taryn gave her the slip.  She proceeded to sneak into the YMCA on-sight aftercare program “because they had snacks!”.  Apparently, she slipped in, took a seat and was promptly served goldfish.  I don’t even know what to say to that except at least it didn’t rival Ty’s first day of Kindergarten.  When her daddy asked her why she did that she said “because I was hungry!”.

4.

oh.be.still.my.heart.   Many, many more from this little session with her coming….someday….

5.  The first day also included the fire alarm going off at school, but the report from her teacher was that she did ok with it.  Nervous but ok and it didn’t last long as someone got curious and pulled it on accident.  But on the second day, once again in carpool, inching up for it to be our turn, when the fire alarm went off again, I started to panic when I heard directions come over the school loud speaker for everyone to evacuate the building immediately.  And then I smelled smoke.  I talked to a duty teacher who said she saw Taryn heading to the front of the school with a group of kids and teachers and that she was very upset.  She is deathly afraid of loud noises and I’m now so very glad we talked to her about firedrills ahead of time and that we warned her teacher they would likely be an issue for her.  Her teacher was nearby when it went off and looked for Taryn right away and gathered her up.  By the time I got to her she was still really upset, I parked and gave her a bunch of love and hugs before she was ok enough to drive home.  By bedtime she’d sworn off school thanks to the 2:2 fire drill ratio they had going on.  For the record, the school was not on fire, there was a fire nearby and one of the staff smelled it and pulled the alarm since they didn’t know where it was coming from.  Better safe than sorry!  Thankfully Wednesday we got her through the front door of the school and there were no fire drills all day long!  Needless to say, I skipped the carpool line and opted to park and go in and get her!  By Thursday she was much more confident in school and learning how things work.  She braved the monkey bars or “welllllll, at least half of them” as she says.  She has continued talking about her new friends, how she tried to trade her sandwich at lunch but the other person didn’t like salad in their sandwich (it was carrots) and she loved music class.  She is dealing well with the automatic potty thanks to a tip from an ingenious teacher to put a yellow sticky note on the wall and each time she goes she just grabs it and puts it over the sensor on the potty.  That way it only goes off when she is ready to bolt out of there.  Talk about smart!  And she even walked from the nurses office all the way to the lunch room by herself with confidence.  Thursday morning she insisted we could drop her off and she would know where to go and what to do, citing her room number and everything.  Jase still walked her in this morning but I think by next week she’ll be good to go.  Big kid!

6.  I’ll be honest, our new schedule is kicking my butt.  My issue is that we have to get up at the crack of dawn to get everyone up and out.  Ty has football practice every single morning so he’s putting a 2 hour workout in before he ever opens a book.  He has to be there early and so does Taryn.  That wouldn’t be a super big deal except I have to get my work in while the kids are sleeping and generally work from around the time Jason gets home to anywhere between 1 am and 3 am.  Especially since I’m still so behind.  Getting up at 5 am doesn’t exactly mix with that and I’m struggling with it.  I used to sleep in with the little kids and let Ty and Jase do their thing and get out each morning but with Taryn getting up early Teagan is also waking up (she needs a mute button!) and that means I need to get up to help out too.  I’m just not sure how to adjust our schedule and make it all work for us, still get everyone’s needs met and get my work in.  Balance eludes me again!

7.  After 3 years of procrastination I finally decided to cash in a bunch of my credit card points for my business account.  They have been racking up for awhile and it was time.  We decided on this running bike for Teagan, and several other things.  I’m still trying to pick out the best juicer for our family too.  Suggestions?  The only thing to arrive so far is the bike and Teagan is thrilled with it!  He can’t pedal a trike, big wheel or other toddler bike, his left side is slower/weaker than the right and his core is very weak so we hope this will be a great option for him.  He had a hard time maneuvering it tonight and can’t balance, but he’s still excited to have a bike.

8.  Last week I also used a few points to order these Goodbyn Lunch Boxes for the big kids lunches.  I’ve been interested in bento for a few years and decided it is finally time.  We’ve sworn off school lunches this year in our goal to eat organic, healthy food.  I can’t wait to get our new lunch boxes.  There are so many positives, they help ensure you offer a variety of foods and healthy, appropriate portions, they reduce waste, are made out of the most benign of all plastics on the market, and are lead, BPA and phthalate-free.  Not only that, you can run them through the dishwasher (even with the stickers!) and even freeze them.  But the aspect that is the most important to me, it puts all of their food in front of them at the same time.  I have no doubt my kids go to the fruit I pack for them first, fill up on that and the veggies and stuff I want them to eat is last and picked at.  With a bento style box, everything is right there and open from the moment they take the lid off.  They may still reach for the fruit first, but at least they don’t have to go digging for the veggies at the end.  No, I don’t work for the company, I’m just an extra big goob who gets excited about lunch boxes and reducing waste in our environment.  I wish I had time to make a cool bento for the kids every day, but at this point I don’t.  It’s all I can do to grab something frozen from the freezer (thank you food fairies!) and get it on the table each night.  For now, lunch consists of leftovers, fruits and veggies, bottled water, organic snacks from Whole Foods, etc.  But someday when I DO have the time, I’ll be visiting these websites for inspiration and ideas:

Another Lunch | Easy Lunch Boxes | Super Healthy Kids | Bento Bloggy | Bento Box Lunch

And here is a cool spreadsheet of bento lunchbox ideas.  This is useful even it it’s packed in a regular old brown paper bag 😉  And I’m pretty sure I need these Lunch Box Notes too.  Does anyone have any healthy lunch websites or resources you want to share?

9.  What is a food fairy you ask?  There is an amazing group of moms, friends and clients that have banded together to keep us fed over the last few months while Teagan has been sick.  Either Becky or Emily collects the food and delivers it to us around once a week.  This is no small task given Ty eats like an army in his own right!  We are truly so appreciate of all their help and donations, I’m not sure how we would have gotten through the last few months without them.  Tending to Teagan’s needs and care and medications is extremely time consuming and just having one less thing to worry about in getting dinner on the table is HUGE.  Ty has dubbed Emily and Becky our “food fairies”.  Ty is so baffled by the fact that people bring food to us….I think it is his little mini version of heaven!

10.  And last but certainly not least….Kylie.  Oh, sweet Kylie.  She never thought she’d love anyone more than Jason.  That is until Taryn came along.  They have such a close bond.  For years when Kylie is feeling like she’s lacking something (puh-lease, she wants for nothing 😉 ) or wanting Jason’s attention, she’ll go find one of his shoes and put it on her bed.  Especially if he is out of town or something.  She doesn’t chew them, she just lays next to it and looks sorrowful.  It’s pretty much how she communicates a need.  By Tuesday, I think it’s clear she’s sending us a message that we weren’t the only ones missing Taryn….

She’s never done it with T’s shoes before.  I immediately teared up and rushed over to love on her.  I miss her too Kylie.  Bunches.  Taryn was thrilled to see this when she got home.  Every day she now runs through the door and checks Kylie’s bed.  She looks heartbroken if one of her shoes isn’t there, lays on the floor, pets the dog and says “why didn’t you miss me today girl?”  They cuddle and get all caught up on their day.  And I just want to melt.