More abc's than zzzz's

It's almost like having an infant again. That is how much Jellybean's kindergarten has affected the entire family's schedule. We are trying to get both kids enough sleep, and now, after 3 weeks, we may have finally found the schedule that involves the least amount of tears. From all of us. In the interim, there have been more complete & total meltdowns from each child in 3 weeks than there were in at least the previous 6 months.

Our evenings mirror the schedule we had when Jellybean was a baby. We have shifted our dinner time about an hour earlier, and both girls are in bed asleep no later than 7:30. And sometimes even 7. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: The whining and crankiness (and fighting with your sister) commence about 4:30 each afternoon.

For now, weekday evening activities are not even an option. From 4:30 on, it is all I can do to play referee between the girls so that they survive until dinner time. And after dinner, L and I shepherd the girls' every move and keep a constant eye on the clock so we don't overshoot the all-important early bed time. A few times, either Peanut or Jellybean has even announced that she is going to bed and started climbing the steps to her room! L and I scrambled to attention accordingly.

Shouldn't it just be Jellybean who is cranky and tired? Well, yes and no. Jellybean is the one at school all day. But the end-of-school pick-up interferes with Peanut's nap time, so she is now getting 45 minutes to an hour less sleep during the day than usual (and I have to wake her from a deep sleep to go get Jellybean). So, she is thrown off too, and hence the need for an across-the-board schedule change. I have tried but cannot get her to start her nap any earlier, so she's stuck getting gypped.

I have no idea how long it will take Jellybean to acclimate to being at school 7 hours a day. At some point this school year (hopefully), I'll look back in this tiring time and reflect about the tailspin our lives are in. But right now, I'm just trying to minimize tantrums and get everyone some sleep. Including me.

The many benefits of having a kid in school

Jellybean loves school. Even on the mornings after she went to bed kinda late (oops, L and I need to get better at this new routine), she pops out of bed and gets dressed, talking about how excited she is to go to kindergarten.

I knew that once I got over my emotions -- can I mention that any more?! -- I'd enjoy seeing her transform into a school kid and all the changes that come with that. New friends, newfound abilities, more independence -- all of those are already evident.

We live pretty close to her school, so we walk there and back every day, about 10-15 minutes each way. Those walks have been a great time to talk about all her new experiences. And, because I walk both ways of those walks twice a day those walks hold something else for me: more exercise!

I didn't even realize it until after the first couple days, how much activity those walks are adding to MY day. Now, no matter how much working out I do, in the name of school transportation, I will be adding a minimum of 40 minutes of walking to my daily routine. And, because at 3 she is too little for fitness walks, I am also pushing Peanut in the Burley stroller the whole time (and Jellybean when she wants in). Have I mentioned we also live up a steep hill?

So, let's do the math. 40 minutes of brisk walking x pushing 35-85 lbs. + 2 steep hill climbs =
1 Mama who likes how this school year is shaping up!

P.S. Yes, I realize that's L in the picture. I'm always behind the camera. And, do you like our retro Burley?

I am now the parent of a school-age child

Kindergarten has started for Jellybean (I know, already -- doesn't it seem way early?)! And so far, we all have survived.

Some of my anxiety subsided before the first day, mostly because of visiting her classroom and meeting her teacher, and knowing how that helped make her more comfortable. But the mom hormones must have been gushing through my veins, because I was weepy and emotional for like 3 days before (not in front of her, thankfully). I wasn't quite prepared for that part of it.

I don't think her first day of school could have gone any better. She strode into her classroom confident and excited, and she was glad to be there. When I picked her up at the end of the day, she came running toward us, arms open wide to give a hug...to Peanut. It really was sweet -- and sad -- how much they had missed each other all day.

We walked back home, and when we got into the driveway, Jellybean said, unsolicited, "Well, that was a lot of fun, guys. Thank you for picking me up. I had the perfect day at kindergarten!" My just-turned-5-year-old got replaced by a 10-year-old in one day!

I opened her lunchbox when we got inside, and she still had about half her lunch -- half a sandwich, half her apple, half her vegetables. Apparently they only have 20 minutes (!) for lunch. So, she sat down at the table and polished off the entire remains of her lunch right then and there, in addition to the snack we'd had on the way home.

Onward and upward, to the second day of school and beyond. And to think, I thought the baby phase was going to last forever...

OMG, kindergarten

Denial can be a happy place, really it can. I have been very happy this summer, doing all the summer things with the kids and enjoying our family being nearby. Happy, happy in denial-land, ignoring what is so rapidly approaching: the school year. Because, this year, the school year means something big for my little Jellybean. She's going to be in kindergarten.

There, I said it. I'm starting to emerge from that happy place called denial. Kindergarten is really going to happen. I have the school registration form and the school supplies to prove it. It's going to happen -- the question is, how? How is my little Jellybean going to go to that big school with all those kids for ALL-DAY kindergarten? She's so little and so innocent and still takes a nap a couple times a week, for heaven's sakes! Every time I think about it, I imagine Jellybean being so sweet and good at school, diligently listening to her teacher -- and then coming home at the end of the day and instantly transforming into a hungry, tired MONSTER. Even my daydreams can't conjure a different scenario.

And that's how she's going to be. What about me?! All these years of us hanging out together -- even when she was in preschool, we still had lunch together every day. A part of me is so thrilled she gets to go to such a wonderful school with all these great teachers and people. But the rest of me is just torn apart at the prospect.

I know so many moms who have sent their first kid to kindergarten in the past couple years. They've all told me all about it, given me advice to prepare me for when my own kid did the same. But, denial. I was still living so happily in denial. And now I no longer reside in denial. So, please, help me figure out how we're going to survive this transition.

What's your schedule?

When organizing our bookshelves the other day, I came across some old schedules and routines for the girls that I had typed up for babysitters. They involved a lot of diapers and bottles and tons of minute detail about how things should be done so as to maintain the status quo.

Now that the girls are getting older, the daily schedule and routines are much simpler. It got me wondering (as I often do) what other kids' -- and hence parents' -- schedules are like. Here's our current schedule. What is yours like?

7:30-7:45 a.m. Wake up
8 a.m. Breakfast
10 a.m. Morning snack
Noon Lunch
1 p.m. Peanut nap begins
1:45 Jellybean nap/quiet time begins
3:30ish Naps and quiet times done
3:45 Afternoon snack
5:30-6 Dinner
8 p.m. Get ready for bed, read a story
8:15-8:30 Bedtime

New routine

We've spent the past few days settling into what will be our routine. Because my parents were here last week and preschool didn't start until this week, we hadn't really adjusted to L's work schedule nor organized our lives properly.

L's teaching schedule this fall requires him to leave before the kids wake up in the morning. Jellybean goes to preschool three consecutive days per week this fall, so that's one more day than she's used to and different than her previous Tuesday and Friday routine. Peanut and I will start a music class next week one day a week too.

So I think I have it all worked out as to the timing of everything, obviously with some give and take here and there. Because of Peanut's afternoon nap schedule, I have to feed her lunch before we get Jellybean at preschool, but that's not a huge deal. (easier than when she still took a morning nap too)

I took Jellybean to preschool yesterday and got her settled in, only to have Peanut dying to get out of my arms so she could also play with the myriad toys surrounding us. One of the teachers made the comment that this will be a hard year to bring Jellybean to school, now that Peanut sees how much fun it is there. When I picked up Jellybean on the playground at the end of preschool, Peanut thought that looked fun too, and said, "I fing, I fing!" ("I swing! I swing!") It was cute, but I also felt a little bad for her. She's stuck at home playing with Mama while Jellybean has a blast with tons of kids and tons of toys. It's hard to be the baby.

Jellybean seems to be having some transition time to adjust to this routine -- L being gone all day plus the three days of preschool. She only napped for an hour yesterday (she's a very regular 2-hour napper), then proceeded to lay down on the floor and cry after her nap when I said she couldn't color right then. It was horrible and so out of character. Change is difficult to cope with for 3-year-olds, I'm seeing. In the meantime, Peanut was zooming through the house saying, "I nunning, I nunning" (running) and just exercised away her stress.

So let's hope today's nap goes better and she's more herself. She was a monster until L came home, and then it was like nothing was wrong. Not too much mystery there as to what her problem was!