11/9/07 The sleepover

I tried leaving work "early" today, at 3pm. Which isn't early, since I'm thinking I'd like to try to leave at 2pm on Fridays to pick Gabriel up from school. Which means picking up Katrina last which means going back to San Jose again.

Uh-oh. Rethink. I did that today, and the pickups took an hour and 20 minutes, though that included some extra time retrieving Gabriel from a playground. I sure am spending a lot more time in my car now. And at gas stations!

Julian's first: he brought home homework!

He was very, very proud of it, and wanted to go straight to the table where Gabriel does his homework and do it. Unfortunately, it was "assigned" today and is "due" Monday?! I'd like to talk to his teacher and suggest that even kindergarten doesn't get homework over the weekend, though I'm sure the idea is not to add to parents' workweek. Pre-pre-K homework isn't really required or due or anything, so I could easily blow it off. But Julian really does take it seriously (thank you Older Brother), so I'd much rather it be done at a more realistic time. And I don't want to deal with weekend homework yet.

When I picked Julian up from Kids Inc, he gave one of the daycare ladies a huge full-body hug goodbye. I get a lot of big smiles and "awwww" faces about him, and everyone tells me what a sweet, sweet boy he is. On the whole, his behavior has been a thousand times better since starting at Kids Inc, but that could also be because he takes a nap every afternoon now.

After getting everyone home, and before whisking Julian and Katrina off to a sleepover,....wait. A sleepover? After my first week of work and having them all in daycare?! I know, it seems like a lot. But with a meeting with our insurance agent tonight, and with Dave and Gabriel leaving at 5:30am tomorrow morning, it seemed the prudent thing to do. And really, Julian and Katrina aren't the ones I feel bad about being away from me.

Especially Katrina -- she's turning into Miss Tough Stuff, starting to throw major fits if something doesn't go her way. I see the same sort of resistance...er, resiliance in her that Gabriel had. I've had a few people tell me "ohhh, a 13-month-old girl, yeah, that clingy and whiny phase." Not this one. Not yet, anyway. Screechy, insistent, demanding, yes. And, very playful and outgoing. She'll happily and almost aggressively sit and play with a book, pointing joyfully to pictures and blurting "Bay!" -- but GOD FORBID you have to disturb her to put her in the bath. No sad tears there, it's full-on furious FIT.

Oh! Melissa taught her about noses, and showed me: Melissa asked Katrina, "where's my nose?" and Katrina pointed to her own nose. Oh my goodness how cute!

...Anyway, I attempted a photo session with all three, to little avail. The best I got was one with Katrina's back turned. She got involved with the lemon tree, and once again, the world would stop turning and the sky would cave in if I tried to wrestle her attention away from it. (I can feel my past and future irritation creeping up at the advice to "distract" toddlers...past because that never worked on Gabriel, and future because.....oh....GOD!)


At least I got a few cute brother-sister shots.


I get to be single parent for the weekend...of two! Dave is taking Gabriel to St. Louis for a grandparent visit, on an early flight tomorrow. I'm excited for them, and Gabriel is thrilled about the upcoming trip. But I'll feel a lot better when everyone's back home!

11/9/07