Civil Disobedience

I forgot about this little tidbit from Margot's day yesterday until late last night when I was talking to Brodie.

On our walk yesterday evening, Margot did mention that during circle time her teacher taught the class a new song. At the appointed time, the pre-kindergarteners were supposed to sing/shout "Hooray for school."

Margot looked at me sideways when she told me this anecdote and said, "But I didn't say it. I wanted to be at my old school."

I suppressed a smile. My little Gandhi-in-the-making.

First Day of Pre-K

August 24 finally arrived. We've been preparing Margot for this day, for her first day at a new school. A big girl school. A school that has kids all the way up to the 5th grade.

Once again, Margot has gone from being the big fish in a small pond to a very tiny fish in an ocean. (And yes, I felt like I was in an ocean this morning with hundreds of kids reporting for the first day of school, including the mayor's sons.) She began the morning with smiles; hence, the happy photo below taken before we drove the short distance to school. But, once there, she had a minor meltdown at the prospect of not having her old napmat (this new school requires vinyl nap mats, not the cushy sleeping-bag-like one she used to use).

Margot brought Clover the bear with her for comfort. Unfortunately, she's also not allowed to bring stuffed animals to school with her. Sigh. This is going to be a tough transition.

She was clearly overtired and overwhelmed when I arrived to pick her up, and shed some tears on the way home. We came home and she watched Caillou and ate Ritz crackers while I finished up work. That seemed to perk her up some, and so then we took a long walk to the park with Portia. I tried asking about school to get the details, but Margot wasn't interested in talking. Hmmm...wonder where she gets that from! (Seems to be both a Daileader trait and a Ruland trait!)

I know that she will adjust eventually, and that she'll also succeed. But it's just so tough seeing her through the hard times! It makes me sad that she was truly loved at her old school, whereas here she's more of a student. Hopefully, we will find a balance.

Underwater Unicorns

This week, NPR has been feature reporting on an animal I'd never heard of: the narwhal. A narwhal is a whale with a large horn on its forehead.

Brodie and I both listen to NPR in the mornings on the way to Margot's school. Beginning yesterday, Margot has become enthralled with narwhals. This is because the NPR reporter likened the whales to "underwater unicorns."

"Can we go see them?" Margot begged this morning. Sure, I responded half-heartedly. Even though they are in Greenland and are fairly elusive. Maybe someday, I said.

I tried to tell Min this morning that the narwhal is actually a whale and not a unicorn, but she didn't want to hear it. I let it drop. I love that, in her mind, there is a white unicorn with a golden horn swimming underwater somewhere far away. Why would I ruin that with the truth?

If you'd like to learn more about narwhals, you can listed to this morning's story here.

School Supplies

Margot will be starting pre-K at a new school in the fall. While we're very happy with her current (soon-to-be-former) school, its distance from our house makes morning and evening commutes trying on the best of days (and downright painful on the worst of days).

So M is a little apprehensive about this upcoming change, but I am trying to ease her transition. This weekend we had a playdate with a new friend in the neighborhood who will be in her school. We also made a trip to Target to purchase some new school supplies.

Margot oohed and ahhed over the backpacks for no fewer than 20 minutes. She tried them all on, and finally settled on a blue Tinkerbell backpack that is almost as big as she is. (This was after I said no way to a Hanna Montana backpack; she didn't need much convincing though. She's never actually watched Hanna Montana.) I told myself she'd grow into it. Then, we moved to the lunchbox aisle. Once there, she immediately latched onto a pink Disney princess lunchbox. Yuck. But that's what she wanted, and I want her to feel as if I support her choices (at least the benign ones). So we bought the princess lunchbox and I swallowed my disdain of the princesses.

Margot's adoration of the princess lunchbox reminded me of my favorite lunchbox - the red, plastic, Ewok lunchbox I used during first grade. It looked just like this one. I don't know if M will reminisce as fondly about this soft, pink lunchbox as I do over my Wicket lunchbox. I wish there was way to know exactly which items are making a life-long impression on her! In 28 years, will she be writing a smiliar post?

Lake Anna

Margot spent the weekend at Lake Anna in Virginia with her paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Brodie and I were there, too, of course.

Four is a really fantastic age - at least for Margot. She played nicely with her cousins with no intervention needed from the adults. She happily swam, boated, ate s'mores, dug in the sand, kicked the soccer ball around, and was even agreeable to regular applications of sunscreen.

She's not quite ready to swim on her own yet, though. She took a spill off a raft that left her gasping, and so if she's in water deeper than she can reach she clung to me and Brodie tightly. When she could stand, she happily went chest deep but was not interested in trying to take her feet off the ground. But, that said, if someone was waiting to catch her, she jumped off the dock over and over again.



Oh, and did I mention Portia had a lovely time as well?