…but we’ll get to that in a minute.
First, I updated pictures. New pictures in Mallory – 22 Months and Kylie 2009. New folders for Easter.
As I pointed out in my last post, Dad and Kathy were in town. They had Mallory for three days. Yes, she is spoiled. “Katnanny” is really hard to say, so she calls her “KaKaKuh”. Then, she starts saying “Poppa” and you can’t get her to shut up. But it sure is cute. It was sad to say goodbye to them this morning.
Little Bit had a big weekend. On Saturday, we had a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It was chillier than we anticipated, but I think the kids had fun. Mallory has gotten so bashful, that when we tried to get her to stand up to get ready for the hunt, she started playing opossum. The child closed her eyes, arched her back and went completely limp. It was a good thing that Johnathan had one hand and I had the other or she could have cracked her skull on the pavement. As you’ll see in the pictures, we finally were able to coerce her into picking up eggs (all it took was opening one up to find jelly beans inside). Unfortunately, by that time, most of them were gone. But our neighbor, who coordinated the day, was wise to keep some to the side for just that occasion. Rest assured, Mallory left with plenty of eggs.
After that, we went to pick Kylie up at the airport. She had a really good time visiting her family. You can tell in her voice and demeanor when she talks to them or about them that she is really excited to be back in touch with them. And Mallory was happy to see her. Funny story. The normal course of action on a weekday is that Johnathan gets Mallory up, and they knock on Kylie’s door to wake her up before coming downstairs. At one point during the week, Johnathan had Mallory and they were about halfway down the stairs when Mallory started saying “up..up”. Johnathan had no idea what she was talking about so he said, “Show me.” She pointed upstairs. He “followed the finger” and she pointed to Kylie’s door. She wanted to wake up Kai. :) Too cute. I think she was very disappointed that Kylie wasn’t there.
On Sunday, Mallory woke up crying so I raced upstairs…forgetting all about the Easter Bunny’s overnight visit. As soon as we stepped out onto the catwalk, Mallory pointed at the living room table and said, “What’s that?” She ate chocolate and a candy necklace. Soon she was all sugared up and ready for church. :) Kathy’s kids and grandkids came with us to church. It was so nice to have a great, big family presence. Then, we met our small group for a potluck Easter dinner. This time Mallory was all geared up. She knew exactly what to do with the eggs. :) We ate, hunted eggs and girlfriend played hard. Her big sis had her on the slide and the swings. She chased a cat and played in gravel. No rest for the weary…and no nap. She crashed in the car about a mile into the ride home (her daddy was trying to get home before Tiger and Phil finished the 18th…haha). She only slept for about 45 minutes and then she was off and running again. Just from all of the excitement of the day, and Poppa and Katnanny still in the house, she went to bed over an hour late (note a hint of foreshadowing).
Now, to the real drama…
Johnathan left for New York early this morning for an overnight trip. Normally, he gets Mallory up around 6:15, but that’s after she has been awake and playing in her crib for a while. I went to her room at 6:30 this morning and had to wake the child from the dead. She was no where near being ready to get up. But it was her first day at her new school. I wanted to be there early enough to spend a few minutes before leaving her in a room full of total strangers (guilt? me? what gives you that idea?) Her teachers don’t get in until 9:00. So I dropped her off in a different classroom with different teachers than we met last week. Of course, she stayed latched to my leg…even as I walked across the room to get a book. The teacher told me to let her know when I was ready. (Me? Ready? Okay, let’s try tomorrow.) I said, “You can go ahead and pick her up. She’s not going to get any better.” Well, the minute she touched her, Mallory arched her back, went limp and got tears in her eyes. Of course, I lost it. I had big tears filling up my eyes. Then, another teacher handed me a “First Day Survival Kit”. That was so touching, I cried even more. It had a little note on the outside. On the inside, there was a pack of tissues…with a note, a green tea bag…with a note…and a little bag of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses…with a note. So sweet of them to think of the parents like that (pretty sure I’m going to love this school). I put the tissues to immediate use. I went across the room so Mallory wouldn’t see me crying. I don’t think I fooled her at all. Finally, I just had to go say goodbye. I kissed her on her head and said bye. As I walked away, she had this pitiful look on her face. Her lip was poked out, and she had tears running down her cheeks. I was miserable, but I had to go. That was best for both of us. I handed in our paperwork and cried in the lobby. When I left, I could see on the classroom monitor that the teacher was still holding her. They told me to call as many times as I needed to. Big mistake. :)
So I called about an hour and a half later. They said she was doing fine. The teacher that I handed her over to this morning said that she stopped crying as soon as I left. She had even eaten her morning snack really well. The director and I tried to get my web cam access set up so I could see for myself. Stupid firewalls. We never could get it right, so I decided to stop by there when I went out to grab lunch. She was sleeping (with another child screaming right next to her…I’ll never understand how they do that). I walked in and stood over her. She looked so peaceful. They told me that she was doing well…up until lunch time. She had a complete meltdown and didn’t eat anything. Miss Samantha (Mallory’s new favorite teacher) said she thought she was just tired (go figure). When they were out on the playground, she would go play…then hang on to Samantha’s leg…then go play…then hang on to Samantha’s leg. :) She ate her entire afternoon snack (cupcakes, cheese and crackers). Poor kid was starving. When I got there to pick her up, she was playing with Samantha and a little girl…and she was fine. She was very happy to see me. But she wasn’t ridiculously clingy. She just wanted my keys. That tells me that she was okay. No trauma. This probably won’t even make the top 10 in the list of things that she’ll cover with her therapist years from now. I was the one with the issue. I had more trouble with this one today than the first time I dropped her off at 3 months old. The difference is that at 3 months old, she has no knowledge of her environment. Now, she does. And she has an opinion. Tomorrow, I promise to do better. If I’m not upset, then she probably won’t be either. It’s hard to keep a stiff upper lip when your mom is a basket case. :)