The first week of school was complete and Clara still had to go back the following Monday.
Clara: How long do I have to keep doing this? Me: Oh a long long time. All of your childhood and most of the time you are a teenager too. Get used to it because it's going to be many years. Clara: But why do I have to go to school so much? Me: Well there are a whole lot of things you'll learn that will help you get ready to be a grown up. Clara: I already know what I need to know! I know math and ABCs and can read! Me: There is actually going to be even more than that.
In other news today Jane used my mom's set of play dishes and tiny little table and chairs to make a pretend dinner for Clara and me. She even used all of her strength to pull a full size chair over for me since I can't sit in the children's chairs. Then she let us know that her and my empty plates were filled with gluten food and Clara's had gluten-free food. Then she happily poured us what she told us was coffee and we all pretended to eat together and she was thrilled.
And finally, just in the last week Calvin has started actually giving me kisses upon request instead of gleefully shouting no and running away.
Clara is beside herself to start school. A few weeks ago--when it seemed clear they really are going to have school in person--I went ahead and told Clara her first day is August 23. She wrote "SCHOOL" on that date on her calendar and has been eagerly anticipating it since.
On Sunday Jack and I took the kids to the school so Clara could see the outside of the building and the playground. They all played there for awhile.
Clara asked if I could show her the inside and the "other children" and I told her that would have to wait, but I did show her a Facebook picture of her teacher and she was excited about that too. That night as I was putting the kids to bed, I told Clara we got her a new dress for the first day, and she excitedly kicked her feet back and forth and squealed "I can't wait for SCHOOOL!" I also let her know that this Friday would be her chance to see the inside of the classroom and meet her teacher and the other kids.
In anticipation of kindergarten orientation this morning, yesterday Clara drew a picture of a "school tree" (apparently a Christmas tree?) which I said she could bring with her. As we were getting ready to leave the house, she was literally dancing and leaping about saying she couldn't wait to see the inside of school.
And once we got there, I was buoyed by not only her excitedment and delight but also my own nostalgica for when I was in grade school. She was thrilled to enter the school, to see a desk with her name on it, to meet the teacher and tell her favorite color, and to talk to other kids. It was great.
The school is pretty cute, well put together, bright and clean. The kindergarten classroom was sunny and colorful. I suspect academically there won't be much for Clara to do, as she already knows the alphabet and really basic arithmetic and is starting to sight read. But Jack and I figure if she's too far ahead we can see about skipping her a grade later, after she's already gotten used to a school routine.
At some point the cafeteria manager sought out Jack and me specifically to discuss possibilities for making sure Clara has GF lunch, which was very sweet/encouraging. Sounds like it might be doable for her to get lunch there. They also gifted us a new backpack and we do have to pick up some more supplies for Clara's art and technology classes, as well as a $5 party fund. I plan to join the PTO (just as a follower) to help support events like back-to-school picnic and monster bash (wonder what that is!) and I hope they make a kind of big deal out of holidays, because that was a favorite for me as a kid in elementary school.
I'm glad we're in Missouri where they are prepared to make sure in person school continues if at all possible. It's a huge relief to see Clara finally get to go back.
Clara is beside herself with excitement to go to her first day of school. This morning was kindergarten orientation, and she was literally dancing around before we got in the car. She was thrilled to go inside the school, see her classroom, meet her teacher, and meet some of the other children. She said she can't wait for "real school" on Monday. I am relieved and delighted that she's finally getting to go.
I finally finished the genetics course that's been annoying me the last few months! I thought the final went well, we'll see. Then I had a wonderful time with Aaron at dinner. Awesome day.
Clara, standing on an end table in the living room (totally not supposed to do that, btw).
Clara: Mom, I'm going to learn about gravity. *She holds up a piece of paper in one hand, a large bouncy ball in another. *She makes sure I'm watching. *Drops both Clara: See? The ball goes faster because it is heavier than the piece of paper. Heavier things fall faster.
I actually don't know why she knows that but I'll take it.
I'm very very close to finally reaching my pre-pregnancy weight! Also at work I passed my qualifying test for body fluid analysis, which means I should be able to start assisting (some of) the analysts with (some of) their casework. And I signed up for a genetics course I need in my long term prep to become an analyst myself. Productive day!
I found some free online geography puzzles including the United States but also the countries of each continent. The girls love them and so I bookmarked the website and now they will go to it on their own just to put together countries and states and I love that I am making them into a bunch of little nerds. Mwahaha
I had been out of town since Friday morning in Portland for a pro-life thing. Jack picked me up at the airport with Jane and Calvin in tow. after going home with them to make lunch take care of a few things I went to pick up Clara from school.
When I got there she didn't see me at first, and I stood quietly near the door and watched her play with other kids. It was very reassuring to see how they all got along and how she was part of the group. When she did see me she was excited and announced "Mom, you're back!" She ran up and gave me a big hug and she pointed me out to some of her classmates and said "This is my mom! She's so cool."
As we left the classroom I realized I needed to fill her sippy cup. She showed me where the outside water fountain was and how to use it. It has a little stool for the kids to stand on so they can reach. Then we got in the car and rolled the windows down to enjoy the really nice day outside. As we drove to Safeway I asked her questions about her day and then about her birthday. I asked her what kind of cake she would like; she told me brown. She meant chocolate. She also explained that she would like three presents and that she would want them to be wrapped in wrapping paper that was brown like her shoes and red like her pants and pink like her shirt. I said we'll see.
When we got to Safeway she wanted to carry the reusable shopping bag herself. We went inside and looked at balloons. Originally she picked out two: one for her and one for Jane. But then upon further thought she also picked out one for me and one for Jack, and all of them were colors that matched the clothes we were wearing today. She carried the balloons in her shopping bag over her shoulder and followed me around talking to me about her plans while I looked for gluten-free cake mix. She talked to several passers by who wished her happy birthday. She also very carefully put the balloons on the conveyor belt at check out and then talked to the cashier about the balloons and about our plans. Everyone seemed to think she was adorable, and they're right.
Then we walked to the Dollar Tree, which is adjacent to Safeway, and we picked out a bunch of Paw Patrol stickers for her to take to school tomorrow. We also grabbed a little soccer ball she found on the floor of the aisle and was excited about. She chose a number 5 candle for her cake. It was fun letting her help me get all of the supplies. On the way home she wanted me to keep all of the windows up in the car because she was afraid the balloons would float away (though they were not helium).
Once we got home I made some gluten-free pizza and I added bacon and extra cheese. The kids watched Lady and the Tramp, Jack took care of Calvin, and I started making the cake. While the cake was baking and the kids were occupied I quickly wrapped a few of the presents we've received via mail for Clara. I didn't wrap all of them because I think she will like to have some more to open on the day we actually celebrate when we go to Fairy Tale Town. Jane wasn't as into the movie as Clara was, and kept coming to watch me doing different prep. She was especially interested in watching me wrap the gifts.
When the cake was cooling I started blowing up some regular balloons. Clara picked out one of each color and the girls watched in delighted fascination as I blew each one up. Once they had about six or seven they started trying to make them all fit in the laundry basket or on the red office chair and laughing delightedly as balloons would pop up and float around the room. They had a great time. They are so easy to entertain at this age.
They also helped me with the cakes. I had made two in an attempt to do a double layer but I couldn't get them out of the pan without messing them up, so I decided to just have two small cakes. Clara helped me spread the frosting on each and they both helped me put rainbow sprinkles on each, which means the cakes were "caked" with sprinkles. But it was worth it to watch the girls get excited about decorating.
For most of this prep Jack dozed on the couch with Calvin, which frankly was very helpful because then Calvin wasn't constantly interrupting. They looked so peaceful too.
But by now Calvin was finally waking up so we cleared off the table and put the presents, balloons, and cake on it. We had everyone sit around and we sang Clara "Happy Birhtday."
They enjoyed some cake and then it was time for presents. Clara wanted to hand one present to each of her siblings, which was so sweet. I explained all the presents are for her because it's her birthday. Jane handled it well. Clara was most excited about the snake magnifying glass and she and Jane laughed a lot looking at each other through it for a while.
After all of that I decided to take a shower. Not long after I started, Clara peeked her head in to see what's going on. She and Jane both wanted to join me, so Clara hurriedly took her clothes off, Jack helped Jane with hers, and they both got in the shower with me. I like to take very hot showers and neither of them wanted to be directly in the water but they each had a cup and they stood near me and tried to capture the water running off my elbows or shoulders or hair. They did this the entire time and seemed to really enjoy it. They reminded me of little ducklings following their mother around.
When we were done they came out to the table and ate more cake. At one point Jane was completely naked with chocolate all over her face, and she seemed very happy about both of those facts. Clara was talking to me about how the food goes in her mouth and down into her stomach, so I pulled up a YouTube video for kids about the digestive system and she and Jane watched it at least three times. Before bed Jack and I heard Clara explaining to one of the balloons how her food turns into poop.
Anyway we haven't even done her big celebration yet but she seemed to have a wonderful time. I can't believe that she's 5 years old or that I have been a mother before at least that long. Something about age 5 makes it seem like her younger childood is really over now as she moves into, I don't know--"middle" childhood." But I've enjoyed the baby/toddler phase so much. I'm both nostalgic and sentimental about her very small years already done but also looking forward to continuing to watch her grow. Parenthood is so strange and wonderful.
Today Clara's teacher sent me this picture of her and explained that Clara really enjoyed helping squeeze lemons to make lemonade. So tonight when she got home I asked her about it and she told me the whole story about making lemonade. Later on I said "Come on, Lemonade Girl!"
Clara: "Lemonade Girl? I'm not Lemonade Girl, I'm just a person!"
Today is Clara's first day back at school after being off for a couple weeks for the holidays. We got her ready as usual and then I stayed home with Jane and Calvin while Jack dropped her off, but unlike the normal routine, about 15 minutes later I got a video call from Jack. I answered and Clara was sitting in our car clearly nervous. She said she couldn't go to school because she needed to see her mom. I talked to her for a few moments about how she's going to get to play on the playground and ride the double seated bike, and she started grinning. She seemed okay when we disconnected.
I know it won't be long before I won't be able to help her so simply and quickly but I really enjoyed being able to do so this morning.
Later that day coloring a Dumbo coloring page
Jane is fussing because she stepped on something that stuck to her foot. Jack: "Oh, did you step on something?? Welcome to MY world! Do you know how many things I step on on a *daily basis* that shouldn't be there?
From two days earlier - Jane dancing with Baby Rose
I didn't have time to write a full blog post, but highlights:
It was very sweet watching Ellen walk across the stage and get "hooded." Can't believe she has an MD finally. So much work. I'm really proud of her. I thought she looked incredibly sophisticated in her graduation attire. I'm extra proud of her because she doesn't have a doctor or even PhD in the family (unlike nearly everyone who graduated) and I think that speaks to her particular resilience, confidence, and hard work compared to people who came from families with more pedigree and experience. She's a freaking BAMF.
Ellen on the top step because she now has the most advanced degree.
Lunch after the graduation was a lot of fun, actually. Dad, Jill, Rocket, Ellen, Igor, and I all went to a pretty nice sandwich place (Steubens) and had a pretty funny conversation about the use of the word "like" in conversation. Had a great time, also had a chocolate malt.
Other highlights of the visit before that included Ellen making spinach sausage loaf, ridiculous amounts of giggles on the drive home from a taqueria dinner (I was the only sober one, Mom and Julie were giggling at everything, it was pretty funny), and giving Ellen her med school scrapbook and enjoying her and other people enjoying it. I love making a good scrapbook.
The day was going to be a bit complicated because our apartment was planning to shut the water off from 10a-2p and the ceremony began at 1p. Jack showered the night before to be cautious. Merlene filled a big pot and some pitchers with water in case we needed it. Then it turned out they never actually shut the water off that day, haha. Well better to be prepared.
Jack had to run errands in the morning, including going to a ceremony rehearsal and printing parking passes for us (our poor old printer isn't working anymore). Merlene ran to the store and got food for lunch, then went by the hotel to pick up Julie. I was so glad for their help when they got back. Julie fried some tortillas and got fixings ready for lunch, including some perfect avocado Merlene had picked up. It was delicious.
At some point Jack returned and he and Julie got dressed up and left together to get to the ceremony early. Merlene helped get Clara and Jane ready and then all of us (Don included) took their rented minivan (which came in so handy so many times) to campus. Jack was texting me asking where we were and there was zero parking available at the first parking garage, so Don dropped us off and went to find parking elsewhere (unsung hero). We found the student union building and fortunately Jack found us because it wasn't that obvious at first where in the building the ceremony would be. Also there were students everywhere because this was all happending eary afternoon on a weekday and I guess classes aren't out yet.
Anyway so Jack directed us to the ballroom and we found seats in the back near the doors (for easy exits in case of restless children). It was not a huge room, though, so even from the back we could see the stage fairly easily, plus they had big projector screens both behind the stage and around the room that were even easier to see from where we were sitting. It was a good setup.
Ready to watch Dada get his pin!
The graduates entered to "Best Day of My Life" (American Authors) which was pretty cheerful. The whole group walked down the center aisle between the two big sections of audience seats and then they paused as graduates walked up to the stage two at a time (one for each set of seats on either side of the stage). Between the really cheerful music and people applauding and cheering as their graduates stepped onto stage, it was pretty exciting and moving. To my surprise I even felt a little teary eyed (Scheve tears), it was so happy. Clara saw Jack and immediately (and persistently) wanted to run to him, so we had to figure out how to distract her. I think ultimately Julie took her into the hallway to run around and burn off some of her excitement.
The ceremony consisted of speeches and specific acknowledgements and awards before the actual pinning. In particular the student speaker, Evan, did a great job. I was expecting the sort of classic and cliche walks down memory lane and somber calls to greatness, but instead his speech was funny and fast-paced and delivered enthusiastically and sincerely. Apparently he used to be a wedding DJ. In retrospect I wish I'd videotaped it; I still hope to get a video copy of it. Either way, though, it was very entertaining, particularly his made up sample HESI test question that barely sounded exaggerated. He delivered it rapid fire and had people laughing before he'd finished. Anyway his speech was a high point.
They gave out a bunch of different awards, not all of which I can remember now, and I didn't really expect Jack to win one because I figure he's been so overloaded with being a student as well as husband and father it would be hard to go over and above enough academically to get a bonus to the degree itself. But he did! He won one of the Men In Nursing awards--the very last award annoucnced and he was the very last (of 3) recipients announced. So that was a pleasant surprise.
While all this was happening Julie was letting Clara play in the hallway and with the drinking fountain, which kept Clara busy nearly the entire time. Jane did well in the ballroom at first but when she got restless Merlene took her to the doorway where Merlene could see the ceremony and Jane could see Julie and Clara, and that seemed to work alright.
I kept checking on her to see if she wanted to switch because I didn't want her or Don to miss the ceremony, but she insisted they wanted to make sure I didn't miss any of the ceremony, which I really appreciated. Throughout the entire graduation weekend I did feel not only really proud of Jack but also that we earned this together, as a team. Both are great feelings.
Then came the actual pinning. Actually "pinning" is a misnomer because they really pin the pin to a ribbon like a lanyard and then they put the lanyard over the graduate's head. But either way. They explained the symbolism of the pin and how it involves meaning both for nurses and for Sacramento State graduates. They had all the pinners line up in alphabetical order by their graduates' last names, so Julie and Jack's friend Melody were roughly in the middle. (Only RNs can pin graduates, and Jack chose Julie because she's family and Melody because she is Jack's former classmate and was a tremendous help to him during his last semester, giving him lots of guidance on the classes and projects she had completed only the semester before.)
Normally this portion of a graduation ceremony would be really dull for the audience because it would consist of hearing a lot of names you don't recognize back-to-back as you wait for your graduate to walk. However, for this ceremony it was pretty interesting, because all of the graduates had submitted photo collages of their friends and family (and pets!) and just people who meant a lot to them or who they wanted to thank. Then as each graduate was pinned the collage displayed behind them and on the projectors around the ballroom, and it really gave more depth to the ceremony because the rest of us got a little insight into who this person is and what's important to them (and their aesthetic when creating photo collages :-P). Some of the collages were really funny, some fun-loving, some somber. One of my favorites was a collage of only three photos in which the graduate thanked her past, present and future. The past was a picture of her parents, the present was her and her (presumably) husband, and the future was a picture of her children. It was a simple and very sweet homage. I had made Jack's collage for him a while back and included a top row of pictures of him studying while Clara climbs all over him. I wanted to really highlight the unique challenge of being a student parent, plus the pictures are kind of funny.
After everyone was pinned they showed a slide show of pictures of the class throughout the program. It was sweet but a little cheesy, mostly because they did the whole thing to the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (a song I can never seem to fully escape, apparently). But they exited to "Can't Stop the Feeling" which I just now realized is Justin Timberlake which makes me like it a bit more. Also this music video is great.
After the ceremony we mingled for a while. I got to actually meet Melody, who was very sweet. Jack grabbed Jane and took her around to see people (he is proud to show his kids off). Several people recognized Jane and Clara from the Men In Nursing meetings Jack has taken them to. Then we headed outside in the beautiful weather and took some surprisingly successful family photos in front of a fountain Clara loved.
She was upset when we had to leave the fountain but I think she was just overtired. She passed out in the van about 30 seconds after we started driving home.
I actually don't know why she knows that but I'll take it.
