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Wed, Apr 27, 2005 5:19 PM
my new favorite activity?

taking my daughter to school.

there's something timeless about walking down the sidewalk, backpack on, talking about what's in store for the day. then, when we arrive, we head to her cubby, she drops off the backpack, finds her friends, and starts doing school stuff. i stand back, fascinated and just slighlty depressed that my daughter has become so independent and self-sufficient, and just watch. she heads into the classroom and i linger outside for just a few minutes, watching her from the window...

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Fri, Apr 15, 2005 3:32 PM
it's been a tough few weeks for the family.

an icky flu made it's way through the family, starting with kaya, then zade, and finally settling in mommy, who's been coughing her way through the night for the last week. meanwhile, we babysat for cousin ben, had pop-pop staying at the house, fired our gardners, and sold our kidneys to pay our 2004 tax bill. at this point, i'm so tired, i'm dangerous to be around. thank god for iced tea.

so this AM, we went for z's 6-month doc appt, which just happens to be right next to kaya's preschool. from the doc's 4th floor window, you can see right into the guts of the school, and i quickly found our little k, sitting on a blanket, eating carrots and pb&j with kira. funny how kaya's learning to play with other kids, but they still ate a good distance away from each other, immersed in their food. i found out later that kaya made her first non-family-assisted poop, apparently while kira did as well. well, you know what they say about friends that poop together...(wait - what do they say?)

meanwhile, back inside the office, z was on his usual good behavior, charming dr. jeff while i asked important questions like "he hasn't had an erection in six months. is that OK?" or "what can we do about his flat head?". an evil nurse then stuck 3 large needles into his thighs, and once again i was reminded of how brave these little kiddies are...30 secods after his shots, he was enthralled by a burp cloth.

so, yeah, things are tired, and yet things are good. my newest and most favoritist thingee to do in the whole wide world is my evening walks with the family, where we just explore our way up and down our little street, meeting doggies, smelling the flowers, and playing hide-and-seek. i think in a previous life, kaya was a small, wide-eyed kitty cat, because she is terrified of dogs, regardless of size. in fact, she's not scared of being bitten; rather, it's the dreaded thought of being licked. i feel bad for the first man that tries to french kiss her.

and lastly, the stories, oh, the stories that my daughter has begun to manufacture. last night's story was basically this:

"i have a booboo becau-becau-because i fell out of the window (points to window), i landed in the, in the, in the street and then a car ran over me. it broke my tummy."

"did it hurt?"

"no. it broke my tummy."

"well, then why are the bandaids on your knees?"

"umm..umm..umm...because it broke my tummy and...and...and my knee hurts. kiss it, please."

and so our life goes...

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Fri, Apr 1, 2005 4:00 PM
today was my first parent/teacher conference.

to this day, i have warm memories of bringing my mom into school at night for parent/teacher night, showing her my classroom, explaining how everything worked, and marveling at how strange it was to be in my school at night, with mom in tow. but i never really thought about what it's like to be the PARENT.

so i arrived, late of course, to our 15-minute conference with the teachers. the first thing i noticed was the awkward kiddie chairs - the three teachers were all sitting in them, and chona was across the table in her little chair - it was like a pint-sized tribunal. the most ominious thing in the room, however, was the polite box of tissues on the desk, as if implying "it's likely that you're going to CRY at this 15 minute conference". as i walked in, i thought, "what kind of warped parent finds themself crying in pre-school?" "Jimmy spilled paint on Cassie!" - WAAH!

to their credit, our 3 teachers (for 20 kids) had some good observations, and they all had wonderful things to say about THE GREATEST KID ON EARTH (aka my daughter). the asian teacher (obviously biased in favor of my half-asian daughter ;) ) talked about how mature kaya was, how she was just "getting the whole school thing", how she had learned to use the potty by herself and how she was learning to sit with the group and have some self-discipline. the pessimist in me was trolling for negatives, anything they might say that might possibly imply that my kid is not PERFECT, which, of course, we all know is impossible. but no, the teachers simply suggested certain kids that kaya would get along with for playdates, and generally said how pleasant it's been to spend their mornings with her.

and that's when i started to LOSE IT.

ok, so i managed to keep a poker face, but with every compliment they gave, and every description of my daughter's growing independence, and every observation, i found myself melting with pride. i was soooo close to getting up and just screaming "THAT'S RIGHT, BIATCH - THAT'S K-A-Y-A KAYA, LEMME HEAR A WHOOP-WHOOP!" and slapping ass with everyone in the room. but i figured that wasn't appropriate in this setting.

there was no way i was gonna reach for those tissues, so i furtively wiped my eyes on my shirt and gave that bullshit "oh, there's something in my eye" look.

and then it was over. and i realized that any parent who thinks that they can objectively listen to feedback about their kid, is, well, completely whacked.

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