week 1

we survived the first week of our new 2010-2011 school year schedule! sure there were a few tears, but shed our fair share every week...and now that i'm thinking about...i really think this week had less cumulative tears than we've had each the last several weeks. so that's something!

lulu has done well at school. no tears on monday and just a few on wednesday when i picked her up...and same thing today. each morning she tells me she wants to stay home & play all day and that she'll "very miss my mommy", but her teachers assure me she does great while she's there. she tells us quite imaginative stories about things that happen at school and i have no idea if there is truth in any of them. today she came home talking about a lobster & a spider. a gray lobster. and a spider who was going to eat me. but then we all 'lived happily ever after'. i'm guessing that she's repeating bits & pieces of imaginative games that she plays with her friends on the playground but i can't be sure. i'm so grateful that she has so many friends there...that & being another year older has made ALL the difference.

clay took her to her new gymnastics class (she's a rockin roller now instead of a mighty munchkin...she started out as a diaper daredevil) and after a bit of a rocky start he assures me all went well for the last 90% of class. she's had the same 2 teachers for the nearly two years we've been going there until now so i wasn't surprised it was hard for her, but am very proud of her for getting through it.

we also started dance today and after a bit of 'but i'm going to very miss you' she walked right into class to stand on the green dot next to her buddy margeaux. she was totally motivated by the lollipop her teacher hands out at the end of class...which she remembered from her two attempts at dance last winter. i COULD NOT believe she remembered that! seriously! the kid loves her some lolli. at first i had no idea what she was talking about but then i started to remember something about a lollipop...and sure enough the lu was spot on. what a nut!

and if that wasn't enough change we threw the poor kid into the childcare area at our new gym for at least 30 minutes nearly everyday. she usually fusses just a bit before walking in, but then often isn't ready to leave when i go to pick her up! what a change!

we were blessed with a visit from grandma & grandpa pierse to boot, so it has been a big, big week for a certain three year old. as i reflect back on the week i think she did marvelously given everything we threw at her. i'm thinking next week will present a different challenge as the newness wears off, but hopefully she'll really enjoy everything...cause with the exception of the gym (which is good for mama and therefore good for her) we really just want her to be happy & have fun things to do with other kids. the girl has A.LOT. of energy and clay & i are going to forever be challenged to channel that energy in a productive, constructive way that is good for the whole family.

and then there is poor gusgus. he cried at the new gym pretty much 20-30 minutes everyday (although there were two good days in the middle). and he's just tired. we did a lot more running around this week than he's used to. a lot of having to be places at certain times...i used to plan our whole day around his naps and now i'm planning his naps around our whole day. i know he'll be just fine, but i do feel bad when he's so clearly tired because he didn't have his sleep needs met due to some scheduled luci activity. although he did officially start crawling this week so i guess he isn't too messed up from the big change in schedule. yay gus!

that all said i really think what we've got going is best for the family as a whole right now. and after we get into the flow of the year if we discover what we've got going isn't the best fit we'll just change it!

good job sweet girl. i knew you could do it...and you did! and my sweet boy? we'll get there. i promise all of those tears have been shed for good reason. the treadmill is definitely the best place for mama to burn off her steam...that way no one gets burned!