It was the week before kindergarten and everyone at Kylie’s house was very busy.

On Monday, Mommy took Kylie shopping.  Kylie carefully chose a pink backpack with green and blue flowers and she even found a matching lunch box.  She could just imagine all the wonderful things she would carry in her backpack and oh, what tasty things her Mommy would pack her to eat.  She was thrilled!

 Mommy thought the backpack and lunchbox were beautiful choices, but looking at the pretty lunchbox she began to worry about how Kylie was going to open her juice box and cut her sandwich by herself.  Daddy wondered if Kylie was really old enough to go to school?

 On Tuesday, Kylie laid out her all-important first day of school outfit.  She chose a pink ruffle shirt with a purple skirt.  She couldn’t wait to wear her new clothes.  She and her best friend were going to be twins on the first day!  They had planned it all summer.

 Mommy and Daddy thought Kylie would look like a big schoolgirl in her new outfit, and remembered the pink ruffle dress they first put on Kylie to bring her home from the hospital.  She had been so tiny and sweet that day.  It seemed like just yesterday. Daddy said maybe kindergarten could wait a year.

On Wednesday, the whole family took a tour of the school.  Little sister ran down the hallways and helped Kylie find her classroom.  Kylie was so happy to learn that her best friend was also in her room.  There were blocks and puzzles and lots and lots of books.  She even had her own desk!

 Mommy thought the classroom was beautiful and Daddy noticed the new computers.  But, Mommy was a little sad that Kylie would be playing at school all day instead of in the sunny playroom at home with little sister.  Daddy said he’d ask the principal if kindergarten could wait a year.

On Thursday, Kylie carefully put her name on all of her new notebooks and pencils and then tucked them safely into her new backpack.  She was glad Mommy had bought the sparkly pencils instead of the plain yellow ones.

Mommy helped Kylie with her packing and couldn’t help but smell that new crayon smell and remember packing her own crayons for the first day of school.  Wasn’t that just last year?  Daddy said there were plenty of crayons and pencils at home and maybe kindergarten could wait a year.

 On Friday, Mommy and Kylie spent the day at the park.  They swung on the swings and hung from the monkey bars.  They raced down the slides and tumbled onto the grass.  Kylie said that she couldn’t wait for recess with her best friend.  Mommy said that recess with your best friend is the most fun.  Kylie asked, “Mommy, who’s your best friend?”  And Mommy said, “You of course!”

Soon it was the night before kindergarten.  Kylie was a little quieter than usual.  She had a lot to think about.  Would she know any of the other kids in her class?  How soon would she get to use her sparkly pencils?  Would she have PE or Art on the first day of class and what if her best friend forgot to wear her matching outfit? 

Mommy was a little quieter than usual too.  She had a lot to think about.  Would Kylie remember her teacher’s name?  What if Kylie got lost trying to find her classroom?  Should she cut Kylie’s sandwich or leave it whole like a big girl?  And where in the world had the last five years with her little girl gone?  Daddy said he was certain that kindergarten could wait another year.  Mommy and Daddy and Kylie tossed and turned all night long.

 The next morning, Kylie excitedly put on her pink ruffle shirt and walked out the door carrying her new backpack and lunchbox (with a cut sandwich).  With a huge smile on her face she waved goodbye and when the bus pulled away there were only a few tears . . . but Mommy and Daddy wiped their faces clean and waved till the bus was out of sight!

Kylie standing outside her classroom on the first day of kindergarten.

Thanks to Mendy Smith’s facebook status about crying while watching the bus leave on the first day of school!  Brad and I cried too but we were hurrying down the hall of Sterling Grade School so that Kylie wouldn’t see us!

Last night Kylie bit into an apple and her tooth began to bleed.  She got a washcloth to hold on it and a few minutes later she yelled, “It fell out!”  She was perfectly fine until she felt the hole with her tongue and then she panicked.  She screamed hysterically for, well, a long time.  She would calm down and then feel the hole again and start screaming again.  I’m holding her and laughing and crying at the same time.  I was remembering vividly the day I first saw that little tooth coming in.  She was 7 months old and to my surprise, she bit me and it hurt!   That day I was sad to lose her toothless grin and last night I was sad to lose her perfect little baby-toothed smile.  I’m happy to report that after a visit from the tooth fairy last night, Kylie is proudly displaying the hole in her smile and I am resigned to the fact that our Easter pictures will look a little different than I had thought.

Enter Mommy and her great ideas.  How sweet, I thought, if I move Sarah into a real bed and put it in Kylie’s room, then they could really be together. 

I was so wrong. 

 The first two nights were fine.  Then things went terribly wrong!  The big girl bed has apparently traumatized Sarah.  When I say “It’s time for bed”  she doesn’t happily run to the stairs anymore.  There’s no more sister talk or laughing or singing.  There’s only screaming and crying and refusing to stay in bed And when I say screaming and crying I mean all night long!

Last night I accepted defeat and put Sarah back into the crib (I had to put it back together and take it off of Craigslist where I was trying to sell it)  There was still crying and screaming but at least Sarah was contained and I didn’t have to worry about her wondering around upstairs. 

I’m praying our happy bedtime routine will return soon.  I will let her stay in that crib till kindergarten if she’ll just stop screaming and start laughing again!

Last week I took the girls shopping.  Brad was on a week-long choir tour so I was already feeling a little “nervy.”  Wal-Mart went as expected.  Sarah screamed through the whole store because she wanted to walk just like Kylie.  The problem is that Sarah is fearless so she will wander off.  So, I buckle her into the cart and she screams.  It’s that simple.  Of course it is also 1000 degrees in the store.  It was fun.

After lunch we made a trip to Target where we bought Easter dresses and Sarah didn’t scream.  I was feeling good.

Groceries were last.  About half way through the grocery store, Sarah throws up.  I catch the offending mess in a cloth diaper and smile and apologize to shoppers as they walk past us on the produce aisle.  I mean what do you do in a situation like that?  If you run to the restroom you’re just going to spread the love all over the store. 

We left the store as quickly as possible.  As we were walking across the parking lot an apple rolled past me.  Strange, I thought.  Then another one rolled by and then a jar of parsley.  It all looked a little familiar.  My reusable, earth friendly grocery bags had turned over and my groceries were leaving a trail of bread crumbs across the parking lot!  I strapped Sarah into the van and Kylie helped me collect our wayward groceries.  She said, “Mommy, this is really funny!”  “Yes,” I said,  ”It’s hilarious.”

Today, Sarah threw up while playing in her room.  She was conveniently located next to her toy box so she grabbed the sides and leaned over just like it was a toilet.  I won’t go into details but know that I really considered throwing away a large amount of toys today.   Instead I dumped them into the bathtub and washed them.  This was also fun.  I’m hoping all this ends soon, because I don’t know how much more fun I can handle. 

On a brighter note.  Here is a picture of Sarah napping in her new big girl bed.   She and Kylie are now sleeping in the same room and they love being together!

I just had to share this link.  I mean if you’re going to eat cheese made with milk from a nasty farm animal, why not from your wife.  But, something about it just “ain’t right” and that’s coming from someone who nursed both my babies until they were 17 months old.

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter that I found particularly profound.  Feel free to share your thoughts.

“God designed your child to function independently of you.  This is what is so difficult about parenting:  It’s the only relationship designed by God that measures success by how well in ends.  You are investing in helping your child leave you.  In the biblical teaching that children should leave their father and mother, the meaning of leave is ‘to forsake.’  Every mom and dad who have sacrificed for and loved a child suffer a real parent-wound when their child grows us and leaves.  And yet mature parents gladly suffer this wound, because they know the benefits the child will receive from their investment.”

Tough words for a mom of pre-schoolers.   I don’t really like how he uses the word “end” because the parent-child relationship doesn’t end but I understand that it certainly changes.  I know that I will lose my influence over these girls one day so I have to make the best of the precious days that I have.

I am still writing, just not online.  I’ve finished two books for my girls.  One is titled Big Sister, Little Sister, a tale of opposites, and one is titled We Don’t Want Mommy to be Alone.   Kylie loves reading stories about herself and Sarah!  I’ve even illustrated them (no one will ever see those pictures!) and made copies so that Kylie could color the pictures. 

Enough apologies for one day.  I hear Sarah waking up and Kylie is climbing on the back of the couch which means I don’t have time to spell check either

The flu is the flu when you are little no matter what the government is calling it.  We’ve suffered with high temperatures, chesty coughs, runny noses, vomiting and general achiness.  I had to change Sarah’s sheets four nights in a row because she kept throwing up in her sleep.  Let me tell you, that’s some real fun, compared only to changing wet sheets in the middle of the night!! 

Hopefully we are over the worst of it now.  Fevers are gone and coughs are beginning to subside.  I’m anxiously waiting to see if it hits Brad and me.  Not sure who’s going to take care of my babies if I’m sick

We start off the morning wishing we had a wheelbarrow.  If you have a wheelbarrow you really can’t understand how difficult yard work is without one.  We improvised and used our poor child’s wagon to haul yard clippings and branches.  We have used a laundry basket in the past Besides not wanting to mess up the wagon we looked pretty silly pulling that wagon around the yard.  Let me remind you that we are surrounded by real farmers with real farm equipment.

Then, Brad did something to the lawn mower that bent the blade.  Don’t know how he did that but he couldn’t finish cutting the grass with a bent blade.  So, we decided to go to Walmart and buy a real wheelbarrow and a lawn mower blade.

While we are at Walmart we pick up a few other yard work aids – bug spray, gloves etc.  then we try to fit the newly bought wheelbarrow into the trunk of our Altima – it’s ok you can laugh.  Of course it didn’t fit.  The Walmart guy took the wheelbarrow apart and most of it fit into the trunk.  The very long handle bars and wheel had to go in the back seat with our two children.

Our next challenge was to put the wheelbarrow back together without any real tools.  We own one wrench, a hammer and a screw driver.  None of these were very helpful.  I’m sure we will be pushing the wheelbarrow across the yard oneday and the wheel will fall off.  But, at least we have a real wheelbarrow and don’t have to use the wagon anymore. 

We could not however, put the new blade on the lawn mower with our pitiful tools.  And by the time we borrowed a socket wrench (thanks Blair) it was too late to mow the grass.  All was not lost though because Brad weed eated (is that a word?), I pulled weeds and we took turns pushing our new wheelbarrow around the yard!

If anybody out there has tools you need to get rid of, I know a great home for them :0)