I have enjoyed very thoroughly not having much of a schedule this summer. Having a schedule adds a great amount of stress to our lives since I seem to be the only family member (during the daytime while Aaron is at work) who is interested in being on time to anything or motivated to go anywhere.
On Monday John had gymnastics class. This was a big deal because it was his first class without Emma. I admit I was nervous and he was excited. He is pretty nervous about doing anything without Emma. But he did great. It was like he didn't even notice that Emma wasn't there. Afterwards we went to Emma's elementary school (David Elementary) to help unload school supplies for the teachers. The kids did really well helping out. I admit I was surprised. It was nice to be able to work with them and have it be a positive experience as opposed to many of our "clean up the house" experiences. And I was hoping that the more that Emma is at the school, the more comfortable she will be on her first day.
On Tuesday I took the kids to a movie. It was a disaster but that is another story, one that I would like to forget about so I won't write it down. But the good part is this was Emma's first movie theater experience. The kids loved eating popcorn. John didn't want butter on his popcorn and Emma did. John is a purist - no condiments shall taint his food. John lost interest in the movie two thirds of the way through the movie. Neither kid totally got the movie as evidenced by the fact that they laughed at parts that were supposed to be sad. In the end I think they liked the experience.
On Wednesday we went to the butterfly museum with our friends the Schmutz-Parentes. Emma could have sat there forever pushing buttons in the educational section of it. John liked to look at the bugs. They liked the actual butterfly portion of if but I don't think it was the highlight of the experience. Afterwards there was a little play area for kids. They were pretending to be bees in a hive and do a shape sorter in flowers and a bunch of other things. By the way, the baby that I am wearing is my friend's. No strollers allowed in the museum. Then we had lunch with our friends and headed home. Emma also started ballet again. She liked it but asked to be moved to a class with fewer kids. This made me nervous for kindergarten because there will be 20 kids in her class. Preschool only had 13.
On Thursday we went to the school again because I had to print stuff off for the PTO. Yes, I am volunteering for the PTO. Turns out a sucker is born ever kindergarten. I am supposed to organize volunteers for the PTO. Which ultimately means that I will be answering questions about volunteering. The irony is that I am a kindergarten mom - totally clueless. Anyway, we went to make copies. It was fun for the kids to use the copier for a while and then the system started to break down and I had to pull out Elmo on my phone. Mostly because there was a paper cutter involved and John just couldn't keep his hands off of it.
On Friday we did a father-son date and a mother-daughter date. John calls it "Daddy time" and Emma calls it a "Emma daughter date." John and Aaron took my car to Walmart to get the oil changed and eat and ice cream cone. Cue grunting. Emma and I got lunch at chic fil a and then drove down to the butterfly museum. When we were in California and again at the butterfly museum earlier in the week Emma saw one of those machines that you put in 50 cents and a penny and it imprints an image on to the penny. She wanted to do one so bad she could taste it. However, both times we didn't have two quarters. I was supposed to take the kids to the downtown children's museum Thursday but it just didn't work out. She was so broken-hearted that all she wanted to do was go get an engraving. So we drove 45 minutes downtown, got the engraving and then walked around Herman Park. Emma wanted to get an engraving for each member of our family. She spent $2 on us all and that is quite a lot of money for her. We looked at the Japanese gardens and she liked them.
Afterwards we went to costco to get Aaron's tires rotated. The funny part about this was getting samples. Emma didn't like the mixed nuts, or the carmel flavored puffy things (kinda like pirates booty or cheetos). She didn't even want to try the pizza or chicken nuggets. She did however like the chocolate milk, the juice, and the asian noodles with vegetables. Go figure.
That evening we got to meet Emma's kindergarten teacher - Mrs. Allen. She seemed warm and fuzzy like all kindergarten teachers should be. And the good news is that there is a girl in our ward who will be in her class. Aaron bribed Emma with candy so she would go around the room and introduce herself to all of the kids. I was worried that Emma would appear to be the really old kid in the class but it didn't look that way at all.
I am looking forward to Emma having more intellectual and social stimulation than what I can personally provide her. I think she will love school after she gets over the initial shock of it all. I can't make the same promise for John and preschool. I am nervous that he will figure out that it is just like nursery and riot. John has been making progress in potty training but is still a little touch and go at times. For example, he won't wash his hands unless I sing the ABC song. He doesn't feel he can do that on his own. I am picturing him asking his teacher to sing the ABC's so he can wash his hands. Some how, some way, he will make it to adulthood right?
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