Banannalee

First day of Kindergarten!  Woo hoo!  I had been anxiously awaiting this day for over a year.  I kind of wish I could have sent her to school last year because she is really smart (she can read and do addition and subtraction) and she's been STARVING for social interaction.  I didn't think I would cry to send her off.  But as the day got closer I realized that my extremely useful helper was going to be gone all day, leaving me with Baby Fats and the Vanderlizer.  (Can I send Vander to an all-day preschool instead?)

But it was time for Annalee to go.  I didn't cry about sending her to school, but when a miscommunication resulted in me missing her Back-to-School night I bawled and bawled over it.  I couldn't understand why I was so upset.  I finally figured that I had been dealing with the emotion and stress of watching my first little fledgling flutter from the nest by having a very specific plan of how that was going to happen. 

And when we missed the chance to meet her teacher and see the classroom, POOF! there went my plan and my sense of control.  I'm happy to say we all survived.  Annalee trotted off to school without a backward glance while I drove the 40 minutes round trip for a SECOND time that morning to pick up her Hello Kitty lunch box that I'd left in the fridge.  (I told myself that the good news was, I likely would never forget it again!)

We have all been adjusting to the new reality.  I am lucky to carpool with a friend whose 1st grader also goes to the school (it's a 20 minute drive to get there).  But since I don't have a van, I can only drive on the days when Nathan is off work and can stay home with Vander and Bellana.  (Gotta get a van by next year!)  The first question Annalee asks when she gets in the car after school is, "What did you do while I was gone?"  And she wants a very detailed answer.  I must tell her EVERYTHING. 

"Well, we came home and did a load of laundry and had a snack--"

"What did you have for a snack?"

"We had grapes.  Then we did more laundry and watched 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.'  Then we had lunch and a nap.  And I fed the baby a billion times."

She seems to think we are doing super-fun things while she is gone.  Nope!  Just the same boring stuff we do when she's home!  It translated into her not wanting to go to dance class because she didn't want to miss out on what we were doing while she was gone.  (Which was nothing!)

Oh, and here is something funny:   For five years now, my daughter has always woken up before we do. But three weeks before school started she began sleeping in past 7:00, sometimes until after 8:00.  I can't BELIEVE I have to drag this kid out of bed, just like in the parent/student stereotype. 

Here we are, all packed in the car and ready to drive to the first day of school!  (No carpool that day.)

In the first few days of school I got a call from the school nurse, informing me that Annalee had been stung by a bee.  Her hand was swollen and she had thrown up.  Great.  So I packed the kids in the car (which took 20 minutes) and started driving.  Realizing that I wouldn't be there for another 20 minutes, I called to see how she was doing.  She was fine and wanted to go back to class.  She never even cried.  I was surprised that she hadn't cried at all.  What a rock star!  (But now, whenever she sees a wasp, she stands stock-still and refuses to move until it's gone.)

About a month ago Annalee and I had a rare moment together when Vander and Bellana were napping at the same time.  She had been playing with play dough and begged me to play with her.  We played dinosaurs.  She was the mommy and I was the baby.  Baby D had fun begging for a million things (like some kids I know) and Momma D had fun saying "eat your dinner first."  My dinosaur whined that it was hungry so she said she'd find me some food.  Most of the dough had gone into making the dinosaurs, so there was only a little bit left over, and the baby had been using it as a blanket.  I had rolled it up into a tube while we were playing.  When Momma D saw there wasn't any other play dough, she said, "HERE is some food!" and we started eating.  Then, in the dinosaur's voice, she said, "Hey!  This tastes like your blanket!"  I laughed and laughed and laughed.  I had heard about the day when your children make jokes that are actually funny on purpose, but it seemed like it would never come!  Hooray!

Annalee is so special.  She has really grown up a lot in the last few months.  One day this summer, she saw me struggling to take care of the baby while getting Annalee and Vander ready for bed.  Out of the blue, she said, "I'll read Vander his book."  So she read him a book she knew well and then she sang him a song.  Then she announced she was going to change his diaper.  So she did!  Then she put him to bed!  She did it for a few nights until the novelty wore off and Vander wasn't satisfied with his sister putting him to bed.  But what a sweetie she is!

Annalee's Primary teacher gave each of her students a little bag of paper hearts and told the kids to do an act of service and leave a little heart behind.  Annalee asked me, "Mommy?  Can I do something for you?"  I said, "Sure!  You can unload the dryer!"  She has helped me unload the dryer before, but I have never just sent her upstairs to do it by herself.  Pretty soon, she came back down and said, "Mommy, there is something upstairs you should go see!"  Up in the laundry room I found that the light-colored load had been sorted into everyone's baskets and the dryer was empty.  On top of the dryer was a little pink heart.

Summer hung on way too long this year, and then a cold snap hit before we finally saw some Fall weather.  It didn't last long enough.  This was a little walk we took along an empty canal with some friends I was babysitting.  The three oldest kids walked and hunted for roly polys while I pushed the two babies in the double stroller.



We went to our Credit Union's customer appreciation day a few months ago and entered the giveaways. We got one entry per account-holder so I entered for Annalee and Vander and had them select the "Date Night" package as the prize they wanted to win.  Annalee won! They called to talk to her and I was like, "Well, she's five." So they told me she won the date night package. I told Annalee she won a free babysitter. She was sooooooo excited about winning a babysitter! "Who is it?" she asked. I told her it might be the gal across the street and she was stoked. Hee hee hee!

Her school had a Spirit Week with lots of fun dress up days.  But since she only had class two days that week, she only had Western Day and Favorite Color Day.  This was us on Western Day.  (I was volunteering in her class for a few hours in the morning.)  She wore her snow boots and refused to wear jeans or let me put braids in her hair.  She definitely has a mind of her own about what she wears.  The pants she's wearing were brand new, but within a few weeks they had holes in the knees from her crawling around, playing Puppy.  She is almost out of all school pants except her jeans, which she cries if she has to wear.  Oh well!  Maybe she'll stop wrecking her pants!

Annalee gets bloody noses like her Daddy when the air is too dry.  Usually, Daddy deals with them (because he's cool like that) but this early morning crime scene was up to me when Nathan was sick with the flu.  It was in a deep puddle on her bed and even on the wall (so high that she must have been standing in bed) but only one drop got on the carpet as she walked from her room to ours.  Her mouth looked like the cover of some horror movie and her hands were dyed in it.  Thank goodness the sight of blood doesn't make me faint!

One last story to end my post on my Annalee-Banannalee.  I was feeding the baby and Vander was asking for help with something.  I asked Annalee if she would go help him.  It turned out that he was trying to take off his jacket.  She helped him get it off, calling him "Bud" and talking sweetly to him.  Then she took his jacket and put it away herself, without being asked!  Sometimes she is just so good and kind.  I am really proud of her.