Stroheker/Woodpecker and mommy's soft belly

We are trying to get into a sort of routine. Wake up at 7:00am (!!!), have breakfast, drop Catalina off to school, go to work, come back, play, sleep, repeat. Problem is sometimes works goes on late, sometimes breakfast is sloow and we're almost late for school, sometimes playing at home is mostly watching TV, and sometimes sleep comes late in the night. Here is my cute kid walking to school!

Patriot's Day

Last night somehow we managed to get in bed early, so I had a lot of time to talk to my little girl. She likes some things at school, some things not that much. In our rush conversations she mentions only what's good and then shuts down. But at night, in dark, in the safety of our warm bed sometimes she tells me little secrets about things that went wrong.
- how on the first day everybody had a plain color folder, but hers had princesses on it and everybody looked "stupid" at her
- how one day an older boy scared her during after care and she cried a little. Just a little...
- how one day she wanted to be picked up early, but daddy got there after snack and she was sad so she cried again. Just a little...

She always mentions "just a little". I don't know if she wants to show she's brave (and oh my goodness, SHE IS!), if she is trying to encourage herself, or maybe she doesn't want mommy and daddy to worry that their daughter cannot handle herself. We know it's been hard, the aftercare is chaotic, kids of all ages are mixed together and some overwhelmed teacher yell at the top their lungs to get them to behave. So, now we're trying to pick her up as early as possible, so she doesn't have to be in that jungle for too long.

Well, going back to last night. Catalina was telling all the fun things they do. How they have music, art and gym class. She told me the name of all the teachers, and at the art teacher she stumbled a bit. Then she says it clearly: oh, yeah, Stroheker! I mommy thinks it sounds funny so she laughs. Then Catalina laughs too: yeah, Stroheker-Woodpecker. Then mommy laughs really really hard. I asked her if heard anyone call the teacher that and she said no, I just came up with it. Then I told her NEVER to say that on school, because it is not nice. But still, I could not stop myself laughing :). I could remember all the silly jokes we had for teachers in school, all the naive smiles that made school fun.

We had a nice chat. There was no secret last night, so when the eyes were tired Catalina asked me: mommy, can I sleep on your belly? My amazing little kindergartner was tired, baby Catalina was back again! She always liked to sleep on my belly. When she was sick that was comfort for her, when she grew bigger it was safety. She is big now, so only her beautiful little head can lay on my belly. There is no weight sweeter than this!

Kindergarten

     Somehow, I have no idea how, my daughter grew up to be 5 years old. A whole half a decade passed since I gave birth to a cute, wrinkled little miracle. Well, at 5 years old it seems that my innocent girl should be ready to take on the world full frontal. She should be able to:
- let go of mommy,
- follow orders from a teacher she does not know,
- share 6 hours daily with 24 other kids she has never met,
- be completely independent in the bathroom,
- feed herself while seating with some other hundred kids, with minuscule adult supervision (one adult per a hundred kids),
- move to the after school program where she will meet other 100-200 kids, most of whom are older than her
- listen to other orders from other adults she has never met, and
- BE HAPPY at the end of the day.

What can I say, I was confident she will do great with all the things on the list, but the last one. I could not see how she could be happy while undergoing such major transitions. It would be a tremendous strain for me to meet so many new people, to be treated as an adult at my marvelous age of 37! But to be 5 years old and be happy to to all those things? No way, no how...

So, with this in mind, I started preparing Catalina for the first day of kindergarten. We packed her lunch, her backpack. We put aside her new pretty dress for the next morning.

We went to sleep, just to wake up for the first day of kindergarten!

We walked to school on a sunny, wonderful morning. Catalina picked a yellow leaf and started being silly. And somehow I remembered a fragment from a well known romanian novel, "Morometii" with a little boy who walks to school and notices the fallen leaves, how summer is ending and fall is coming. I remember writing essays for our literature class on how smart that boy was, how observant he was, and how starting school resembles the coming of the fall. Gone is the careless summer of the childhood, present is the more solemn fall of school, with higher expectations and challenges.

Kindergarten, here I come!

We got to school just a little early, to have 5-10 minutes for pictures, some last hugs and maybe to meet some new friends.

One last hug for mommy

So, the good bye time came fast. Without blinking, Catalina waved good bye and followed her teacher. She did not cry, she did not cling to mommy. My tiny girl was ready to take on the world!

Bye bye mommy, I'm a big girl now

Once again, my daughter teaches me strength. I cried, but she didn't. I worried for her, but I should have worried for myself. She is fine. She is better than fine. She is perfect.

Coming back home she was full of stories. How the teacher does this and that. How she went to the cafeteria and the teacher left, but she was ok. How she used a big person toilet and she was just fine. How she made a new friend. How she never cried because kindergarten is so much fun. How she wants to go back because they will have music class and art class. How, at the end of the day, SHE WAS HAPPY.

I could not be prouder. I could not love her more. I just have lo learn how not to burden her with all this love. She can't carry this load, she needs her arms and spirit free so she can run and fly and become the amazing lady I know she will be.

Chasing the summer

I don't know if it was the long winter, the long spring, the fact that I need more sunlight, or maybe the fact that we did not have a long vacation anywhere, but this year in particular I am not ready to let the summer go. As hot and humid as it gets, I don't care, I don't want the summer to end. I am not defrosted yet, I still need heat and sunshine.

Here in US the Labor Day weekend is just that. A celebration of the end of summer, the end of summer vacation and I guess a celebration of...labor. I chose to think of it as a very nice opportunity to prolong the summer, so we went on another camping trip, this time on the New Jersey shore.

Here we are, Friday night around the grill.

A lot of smoke, not that much fire...

We started with grilled meat and s'mores. The fire did not really pick up fast, so the meat took a long time to cook. But boy, the s'mores were fast and yummy!! :)

We took our time to relax this time. We were never in a hurry, and that was great. Second morning we had hot coffee, hot tea and enjoyed ourselves around the tent.

Then, we went to the beach! A small beach town with clean sand is all Catalina needs to be happy. It worked for us too, especially since we found some salt water taffy. A first for Catalina!

Truthfully chasing the summer...

Attention!! Diva on the beach :D

Once we had enough sand and waves we went back to the "resort". The first night there Catalina saw a mini golf course and told us we NEED to go. So, at 6pm when the course opened we were there! This little girl LOVES mini golf. It's cheap, keeps her entertained without much effort on mommy's part, so why not?

After each hole was played at least 3 times (rules were very flexible on this golf course), we hopped on a mini train and took a tour of the campground. It was getting just a tiny bit chilly, so mommy and Catalina bundled up :)

We were tired after being in the sun the whole day. We still had s'mores and a fire, but we went to sleep early. Next day, once again hot coffee and hot tea in the morning! Then we decided to try the lake beach at our resort, and I have to be honest I did not expect much. Oh my goodness!! It was the best part of our trip!! The lake was absolutely sparkling clean, the sand amazing, water blue, transparent and virtually no waves. The water was bathtub warm. Perfect spot for Catalina to play in the water!

Friendship tunnel: Catalina and daddy shake hands :)

Yeap! Catalina was able to play on her own, bring water on her own, no more scary waves!

Yummy sand soup

 After we roasted ourselves once again, we took a trip on a paddle boat. Mommy and daddy were very excited, but Catalina scratched her knee a little and was very crossed that she needs to be in boat.

Once again, the sun got to us so we spent the rest of the day around the tent. The fire this time rose proudly to the sky and made for a very nice grilling session. The hot dogs were awesome!

Mommy and Catalina burnt some of the calories by jumping on a hop scotch. Good, soft fun :)

Last night in the tent, happy and calm.

Daddy slept on the first floor, which was actually "the" floor :)

Next day we decided to take a trip to Atlantic City. Catalina has never been there, we were imagining a nice stroll on the boardwalk, buying some useless things from shinny stores that sell useless things. Well, AC as mommy remembers it, is not there anymore. Lots of stores are closed, the boardwalk resembled a deserted town.

The trip started poorly from the beginning, mommy's shoe broke and we had to start with flip flop shopping...

Bye bye, AC! 

We headed home early, which was very much to Catalina's liking. She was happy to see her toys again, and mommy and daddy had time to put things in order for the first day of kindergarten.
Where did the summer go? I have no idea? When did my baby girl grow to be of school age? That, I really have no idea.