1m2aSandbox

Cora starts preschool on Monday –
pre-kindergarten, three days a week. To say that she is ready is an
understatement.


Cora cried – tears of rage, not sadness – when she
learned that Maddie would be starting school a whole week before
she would. “Not FAIR!” she screamed, and stormed off to
take a break. I do believe she’s the only kid who’s
asking for MORE days of school.

I’ve been apprehensive about Maddie
starting school back up again this year; as I’ve mentioned
before, last year was hard on her emotionally and I was bracing
myself to witness my happy, sunny girl shrink back into her shell
for another nine months. Now, I know this is only the first week,
and perhaps I’m just looking a bit too hard, but I am
starting to feel hope that she’ll handle this year
better.

So Monday morning Cora and I got through
the whole taking-Maddie-to-school thing, and then immersed
ourselves in work. We made jam with all the berries we’ve
been saving up over the summer, and while the jars cooled on the
racks we went out and drowned our sorrows with shopping.


Cora starts pre-school – and heck, for that matter, ANY kind
of school – next Monday, and I told her we’d hit the
Container Store and buy some more small, kid-friendly containers
for her lunch boxes. Cora was standing in the midst of the kitchen
department, earnestly trying out snapping lids and plastic covers
and debating between a couple different kinds, and let me tell you,
she was looking so adorable I couldn’t help myself.


“Cora,” I said playfully as I scooped her up in my
arms, “I have to tell you something.”
“What?” she asked, looking directly at me.
“I’ve decided that you’re not going to school
next week. I’m going to keep you home with me and
you’re never going to school.”

Maddie’s heading off to first grade
this morning, and I am, if it’s possible, more freaked out
about this first day of school than I was last year with
kindergarten. Sure, she’s much more relaxed this year and
even eager to start school; sure, we are pros at this; sure,
I’ve been there before and know what to expect.


That’s the problem.

Last week I asked the girls to make a list
of all the things they wanted to be sure we did before school
started. I told them they could each pick one restaurant to go, as
well as any other activities. Cora dictated, Maddie wrote, and
we’ve been working on our Summer Bucket List ever since.


Have a movie night at home – check. Breakfast at our favorite
Original Pancake House – check. Pool – check. Pool
again – check. (That one’s on the list twice more!)
We’re tearing gleefully through the list, and I seem to be
the only one misting over occasionally as we work on it.

I am now staring at the prospect of having
to pack two (TWO!) lunches and two (TWO!) snacks every day. Well,
not every day with Cora, but it sounds more dramatic to say it that
way. And Cora’s quite excited about getting a big-girl lunch
packed for her, having picked out a very nice princess lunch box
from the eco-friendly Crocodile Creek company, while Maddie has
said she wants to use her old backpack and lunch bag again this
year: “No use buying another one when we’ve got a
perfectly good one for me.”


Sometimes my kids make me quite happy.

Yesterday morning I returned home from
dropping Brian off at the train station to see Maddie’s cat
tearing down the stairs as if running from a room full of rocking
chairs. Maddie followed after her, shaking her head forgivingly and
saying, “Surely there is an adventurous spirit within that
cat this morning. I speak this with certainty.”


Coincidentally, Maddie is hard-pressed to be found without a book
within her hands.