First day

Today, my big girl, went to her first day of preschool. Darren and I took her up there and thought I would get her settled and leave. Darren did have to leave pretty quickly to get to work, but many parents were hanging around so I did too. We took her to her room and met her interim teacher: there still is no permanent teacher. The assistants from the previous year(s) are there so that is good. Every morning, they will go to the cafeteria for breakfast first. I stayed with her while she ate. Her friend, Thomas, who I used to watch in the afternoons is in her class. That is both good and bad. Good because she warmed up quicker and didn't have problems with me leaving. Bad because if she's too comfortable or knows someone, she may not listen as well or make friends as well.

She wanted to ride the bus home so she did. The preschool bus is strictly for preschoolers. There is the bus rider, plus another adult to help them. It is also a hand to hand transfer: they will not let your child off the bus unless you're there to get them off. So, I felt pretty good about letting her try it. With her friend on the bus too, she liked it. Tomorrow, she will start riding the bus to and from school. This also gives me a little extra time to get a few things done.

I tried to find out what she did today but when I asked her, she said, "We played outside." I felt a little better when another friend whose daughter goes to another school, told her the same thing. So, I'm not sure exactly what she did but I know she had fun. I also told her to have fun playing with Thomas but to make some other friends too. Like I said earlier, if she has a friend she's playing with, she doesn't always want to try to make new ones. I'm sure she will in time. As for me, I did pretty good. I went home to feed Barrett and the house was SOOO quiet. I got out, went to Target, and got back in time for the bus.

As for Barrett, he's still as happy as can be. He's finally got his second tooth which came in 3-4 weeks after his first. They're coming in slowly and he doesn't seem to be too cranky about it. He started crawling just a little last week. He's got it pretty perfected now. He doesn't crawl fast but he can get to just about anywhere he wants to go. Wow, one in preschool and one crawling. They really do grow too fast!!

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - A

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was a cute idea.

African violets - My mom had many, many of these little flowers. She had a lighted stand in her bedroom that was filled with these pretty plants. She knew all the names and I remember her going shopping for new ones and getting excited showing us.

Aquarium - Everyone is always fascinated by an aquarium full of fish...big or small. My dad always wanted one. To get a nice one is not cheap so us kids discussed giving that to him as a gift one year. He never had space for it however so he would enjoy "visiting" when he went to his mom's house. It really is peaceful to sit and watch them.

Alligator - In high school, our youth group went on a mission trip to Cut Off, Louisiana. I had never seen rivers with boats in the median of the roads or "swamps" on the side of the roads. There was a guy in the church we called 'Alligator Jimmy'; in my small rememberances, he wrestled, caught, did something with alligators. We went to an alligator farm and got to hold some if we wanted...I chose not to. We also had a big shrimp boil with all you could eat shrimp, corn, potatoes, etc. They served cajun nuggets which we were later told was alligator meat. It was good, don't remember exactly what they tasted like...maybe chicken???

Amy - It's funny how names go in cycles. My mom didn't know a single Amy when she named me; she had only heard of 1 other. It became a pretty popular name in the 70s; I was one of 3 in my second grade class. Now, I haven't heard of anyone naming their babies Amy in awhile. It went from #2 in the 70s and droped through the decades to now being #116 in the 2000s.