Ups and Downs

Here is the first photo of our pre-schooler after her first full day of school:

It was quite an exciting day!  Maia was up and at 'em early enough for breakfast with Daddy.  After their normal routine (Daddy pours Maia a GIGANTIC bowl of cereal, she eats all of two bites and then declares herself all done, Mommy thinks of the waste, waste, waste), she was dressed and ready to go.  She realized it was a bit of a big deal when not just Mommy and Cecily drove her to school, but Daddy came along too!

We parked in the lot at school, and made our way into the building with our very excited three-year-old and snoozin' almost-four-month-old.  The lovely assistant head of the school was at the door, shaking hands with each child as he or she entered the school.  (So far she's been there each morning; and she seems to remember every kid, sibling, etc.!)  Maia led us to her classroom, and was thrilled to take her outside shoes off, store them in her cubby, and don her adorable (and difficult to find in August!) slippers.  She greeted her teachers, and shyly met some of the other kids in her class.  And then it was time for us to say goodbye.  We had a moment of "Wait- you're not staying with me?!" but it passed very quickly as I promised I'd be back in a few hours to take her home.  We got hugs and kisses, and then Daddy subtly dragged me out of the room, down the hall, out of the front door, and into the car.  He was delighted to get to drop off Maia for her first big day-- the real reason, however, that he made the journey with us... to make sure I actually left Maia there and didn't sit in the car in the parking lot for three hours subjecting Cecily to a crying lunatic of a Mommy.  

We found some delicious coffee on the way to the train station, sent Daddy into the city, and then Cec and I headed home to enjoy our morning together.  Cec slept for most of it, and I put away laundry.  That's a pretty simple statement-- Cec slept for most of it, and I put away laundry.  And yet, it was wondrous!  Maia was never a napper.  (I think this is partly my creation, and partly just the kind of kid she is.)  I'm guessing most of my mommy friends wouldn't be impressed by Cecily's napping skills, but as far as I'm concerned the fact that she'll sleep for even twenty minutes in her co-sleeper is brilliant and miraculous!  And after well over two years of defensive laundry folding (two hours to fold one basket of laundry- I would fold something, Maia would declare she wanted to fold it and would therefore unfold it, "refold" it, and then throw it somewhere random, etc., etc.) it was amazing to just fold laundry and put it away.  (I don't think words can describe how shocked Daddy was when he came home to find the 17 loads of laundry that had filled every nook and cranny of our bedroom gone!  And not even stuffed-into-my-closet-or-under-the-bed-and-pretend-they're-not-there gone!)

Cec woke up for some desperately needed cuddling and laughing time (desperately needed by Mommy), and then we got back in the car to pick up Maia.  We arrived early enough to be the first car in the pickup line and watched the cuties line up on the bench for dismissal.  (Each kid is walked down to the pickup line by his or her teacher and personally delivered to the parent.)  Maia was thrilled to see us, and held up the line a bit as I couldn't remove her from my leg.  Eventually I coaxed her into a hug, then into her car seat.  The car ride home was filled with stories of the new friends she'd made, her teacher's chocolate lab named Betsy, the sandbox... and here we are a week later still hearing wonderful stories!   Today she was thrilled to discover our next door neighbor, Oliver, is in her class.  (The school does a staggered start, and today was their first day in class together.)   We love hearing about her adventures, and will hope to post more often to share them!

It was another important first this weekend... the first football of the season!  Mommy and Daddy LOVE football.  Back when we lived in Ithaca, we had a Sunday afternoon tradition- we'd get fabulous subs from Wegmans (the best grocery store on the planet!), a six-pack of beer, and a two-pack of moon cookies.  We'd spend the afternoon watching whatever game happened to be on (often the Bills, go Buffalo!!!, not often enough, the Patriots, go New England!), while stuffing our faces and having a great time.  (Aside- when Maia was born, we decided to give up TV.  We didn't want her exposed to all the commercials, images from the media, etc.  We made it a whole year without it-- but realized the one thing we couldn't live without was sports.)  One of our parenting goals is to pass this love of football, and more importantly the Patriots, on to Maia and Cec.  And so we have our new family Sunday afternoon tradition- it's pretty similar to our old version, except we rarely finish a six-pack and we usually munch on Pirate's Booty instead of moon cookies.

Maia loves it.  She knows we're a Patriots family, and knows many of the players names.  We told her early last week it was going to be a football Sunday.  And when she woke up that morning, she immediately demanded to put on her jersey.  She and Daddy went out to get coffee and the paper, and she was oohed and ahhed over at each stop.  Here's a cute photo of them cuddling after breakfast (and yes- that's a Bruschi jersey):

Maia was very excited when 1pm finally rolled around.  We got our snacks and drinks, headed up the third floor, and settled in to watch the Pats destroy the competition.  But oh... if we had only known what was about to happen, we might have gone AWOL.  Not even a full quarter into the game, Daddy's man-crush, our hero, yes, Tom Brady, went down... really down... out of the game down... Maia turned to Daddy and said "It's okay Daddy.  Tom Brady just needs me to give him a kiss and he'll be all better."  Sadly, not even a Maia kiss will fix this boo-boo.  There was no news for the rest of Sunday, just a bazillion rumors flying over the internet.  But when the truth came out on Monday morning... out for the season.  If you've been reading this blog since last February, you may recall Daddy's devastation and depression following the Super Bowl.  It lasted a month, maybe six weeks.  It was bad... this could be badder.  A whole season without Brady?!  How is it even to be comprehended?  Here's to the era of Matt Cassel- we'll keep our fingers crossed.

There was even more excitement in our house in the last week!  Mommy bought Cecily an exersaucer!  For those saying "a what?!" it's a stationary play thingy- the baby sits in a comfy seat, surrounded by all kinds of toys to delight and amuse.  I never got one for Maia, first because we lived in a tiny apartment, and then because I didn't know anyone who had one.  If I could go back in time... it is amazing!  Cec LOVES it.  I can put her in it, and make dinner!  (To speak of Daddy's amazement at coming home four out of four nights to find a home cooked meal, well... words can't describe said amazement.)  She's still a little small to reach many of the toys, but she loves to look at them.  Here she is, checking out the green puppet thingy:

Maia is also a big fan of the exersaucer.  Whenever I put Cec in it, Maia will pull up a chair and help entertain her sister by making the various whirlygigs whirl, etc.  Cec now lights up when Maia walks in to the room, and I think a big part of it is being able to play on Maia's level.

I also got these cute photos of Cec in her jammies waiting for Maia to finish her bath..