Birdie Goes to Kindergarten

Brigade. Brigade! Birdie went to kindergarten today. She said it was "great, great, great!!!" She punctuated this exclamation by throwing both her arms up over her head with each great.  She played some disco alphabet. She listened to The Kissing Hand. She visited the library. She colored. (Joe has already said that he thinks Clara might be a better artist. There might be no might about that, Fans.)

There is no might about it that the day was made easier by the presence of two of Clara's KinderCare classmates in her room. One of them also walked to school today so Clara had a familiar face next to her while lined up against the brick wall by the school's enterence waiting for Mrs. Dvorak to come up with her students who'd taken the bus. It's at that point that the walkers join the stream toward Mrs. Dvorak's room. The buses were running a little late on this first day of kindergarten, so there was plenty of time to stare at Clara and hold back tears. She was there for such a long time--until suddenly, she wasn't. She was off! She was off. Julie was the only one who cried. No doubt no one is surprised by this.

You will all recall that Clara said she was not scared to meet new people! She just loved us so much. So there.  As it turns out, it might be a little hard to talk to friends we haven't met yet. Clara allowed as much just after she'd been tucked in tonight. She talked only to the two people she already knew. But plans have been laid! Longtime readers will recall that Joe had a plan on his second day: to ask someone to do something specific, such that if he or she said no, Joe could be all check you later as he dashed off to do it. Clara has the same plan. The alternative but not mutually exclusive strategy is to tell a friend-we've-not-met-yet that she likes her dress/skirt/shoes/hair/whatever, and see where it goes. Julie reminded Clara to be sure to say yes if someone asked her to play. Clara looked at Julie and said very matter of factly, "It's not hard when someone asks me to play."  Point taken, Brigade, point taken.  Birdie. She'll tell you how it is. No might about it.  That's our girl.  Our kindergartener!

Madonna imitation.

Birdie Gets Ready For Kindergarten

Our Birdie, meanwhile, will go to her first day of kindergarten on Thursday. This afternoon, we had a conference with her teacher, Mrs. Dvorak, who our longtime readers will no doubt recognize as Joe's kindergarten teacher as well.

We were so proud of our kindergartner-to-be! She answered all of Mrs. Dvorak's questions about what she liked to do, and what we like to do as a family, and what else she wanted Mrs. Dvorak to know about her. When Mrs. Dvorak asked us if there was anything we wanted her to know about Clara, Julie said that Clara was a little apprehensive--which she un-fancied to scared for Clara--to meet new people, at which point Birdie broke in and said--with an eye roll!--"I'm not scared! [eye roll] I just love you so much." Oh. Oh! Mrs. Dvorak allowed us a moment to collect ourselves after that announcement. It was so heart-stoppingly Birdie: tender, but independent--with a little bit of attitude.

After we left Mrs. Dvorak's room, Clara said she wanted to see the gym. So we headed down a floor to the gym where we met one of the gym teachers, Mrs. S. Clara asked if the gym was just the floor, or if there were toys--"equipment," she then quickly corrected herself--!!! Mrs. Dvorak has a Fancy Nanacy fancy words poster in her room now, waiting to be filled. We think Birdie is going to love (adore, harbor deep affection for, hold dear, be over the moon for) this poster.

She is off her feed a bit, as Grandpa Charles would say--cranky and emotional. Who can blame her? Thursday will be a big (huge, tremendous, momentous, epic) day. We will keep you posted.

Birdie tries out her assigned hook.

Our Hero Goes to Second Grade

Fans, Our Hero is a second grader. Today was his first day of the new school year. He was a pretty cool customer but not long before we all left the house to walk him over, did say, "This is the hardest part." For Julie, it came later, when she realized that the long leave-taking that is being a parent doesn't seem like it's really going to ever get any easier.

Joe's teacher's name is Mrs. Gamble. Her room is right next to Joe's first grade teacher's room. He was in Chicago with his Grandparents Trump on the day of the ill-timed meet the teacher event, so "right next to Mrs. Stolusky' room" and his new teacher's name were the two pieces of information we gave him to get him from the school's front door to Mrs. Gamble's room. He was game. But when it was upon him--after he'd walked in the building and s nearly to the stairs--he turned back, panic in his eyes, and said, "Wait. What's my teacher's name again?"

Julie admonished herself to let him be a risk taker--to force it!--but after she replied, "Mrs. Gamble," she asked one of the staff at the entrance if she could accompany him to his room. At the door to the hallway his classroom was off of, she tried again to let him go, pointing down the hall to Joe's room. But when Joe said, "Can you just come with me for, like, three seconds?" she caved again! We save risk taking for another day.

It was only moments later that he saw his friend Kathleen and introduced himself to Mrs. Gamble. The three second were up. Julie made her way back out to the sidewalk where Ted and Clara were waiting and tried to hold back her tears.

Five and a half hours later, he came out the same doors and said, "The first day was awesome." If you are wondering why, Fans, here is what Our Hero had to say: "One, no homework. Two, the work was easy and boring. Three, recess." Mr. Easy Peasy did not manage to bring home his take-home folder though. Perhaps he mistook it for the non-existent leave-at-school folder. So he may have some things as yet to learn. But how to meet the world with a happy heart, he seems to have down. Can we get a folder for that?

Shortly before leaving for school.  In case you cannot tell what Our Hero is doing, we will tell you that he is dragging the wagon along on a jump rope teether attached to his scooter.  Miraculously, it did not end in tears.

Not even when Clara hopped in wanting to be hauled around.

State Fair for Three

It has been two years since we were last at the State Fair.  Knowing Julie is not a big fan of it, Ted decided to take the kids himself to get their Fair fix. The weekend was terribly hot and humid, but on this, the last day of the Fair, the weather was perfect.  This time they took the express bus to the fair which was a very nice way to do it and avoid figuring out parking, plus it was like a Fair ride!

Upon arriving the trio headed for the animal barns which is our only must do activity.  Joe wanted to pet anything with four legs, while Clara mostly followed after with a quick pet.  If Ted didn't keep an eye on him Joe would have climbed into the hay and snuggled up with a 1,000 pound cow.  A new activity was to duck into the show arena which happened to have a barrel racing competition going on.  We watched for about 30 minutes and all were fascinated the entire time, the longest they have jointly paid attention to something for that long!

We kept the "try new things" game going with a trip on the water raft ride which got us pretty well soaked but again everyone had fun with it.

From there we walked around and got our requisite pronto pup, mini donuts and lemonade interspersed with some tractor sitting.  The line was ridiculous for cheese curds, so we missed out on that favorite.  But we got to take the gondola ride across the park and get our milk shake from the Moo Booth before heading for the bus. And that was our trip to the Fair!

For the Birds!

Ever since Joe was enrolled in A Bird's Eye View camp at the Bell Museum last summer, he's been pretty into birds. As many of his Fans know, he is into animals generally, but birds are of particular interest. So last summer, we got a bird feeder and hung it from a tree. In retrospect, we realize we probably fed as many squirrels as birds. This summer, we acquired another feeder for a different type of seed. The birds wanted nothing to do with it. Humph. Then one day, while The Birds were out and about, they stumbled into a store called Wild Birds Unlimited where they asked why no finches were coming to dine on their nyjer seed and were set straight: it gets stale easily and gets compacted when wet. They were given new seed and bought some silica. One evening and replinished seed later, we awoke to two pairs of finches darting about the backyard.

It's been an education, Fans.

But the squirrels continued to get the better of us. All of us have run them off looking like deranged maniacs. We spent one morning thinking we'd bested them, watching them slide down the shepherd's hook pole slicked with olive oil, but a few hours later, they'd figured a way to best us. Joe informed us that squirrels can jump five to six feet up in the air. So there you go.

All of this is why we are now the proud owners of a bird feeding "system," including a "baffle"--that black cylindrical object on the pool in the picture--which apparently baffles the squirrels. And baffled they have been!

Now that we've run off the squirrels, we've seen all manner of birds: cardinals, finches, chickadees, a downy woodpecker, and a bunch of gray birds and brown birds we've not yet identified. Together, they clear out the entire feeder on the left in the picture above--!!!!!

Which is why we had to find a bird feeder filler while we head off up North, as they say here, on summer vacation.

Catch you on the flip, Fans.