Alone time! What, it's over?!

A with Miss Mindy on her first day of preschool

Yesterday was A's first day of preschool! Yeah! At first Mommy didn't know what to do with herself (in retrospect, why not clean the bathrooms?). Should I celebrate, try to meet a friend for coffee, treat myself to something (like a manicure), or get some work done? I hummed and hawed at home for about an hour, noticed my to-do list, then left the house to get errands done. In the end I wasted so much time dismayed about really being alone for the first time I only got 2/6 things done on my list! When I picked her up she was adamant about staying. Yes, you got it right, she wanted to stay! She said she had met some new friends. When I asked her who, she waves her arms around said, "Look, my friends are all around me!" Like, duh! So I said, "What are your friends names?"
"I don't know," she says. I prompted her with one boy's name who had attended E's birthday party in May. After having to pick her up and carry her to the car, crying (hello, most kids cry when you leave them), the rest of the afternoon it was all about Jonas. (after an hour, the name morphed into Josan.) So then I calmly and coolly arrive to pick up the older kids from (minimum day) elementary school at 1:22. I arrive a few minutes early, only to find everyone pouring out onto the streets-exit only. For the second time in one day I find myself dismayed. I head up to pick up the kids, E is the last kindergartner waiting for pickup. My neighbor tells me she was about to walk the kids home herself. I am still clueless as to why I am the last parent to pick up kids. Well, it turns out on Wednesdays they get released at 1:14, not 1:22. Now I'm embarrassed. For some reason, I don't think Kat believed me.

We were enjoying a little outdoor time watching the two older kids at their soccer practices, when she started sneezing and coughing, wiping her runny nose on everything. Allergies? I thought, but I wondered when my throat started to feel sore. Today she left a trail of snot just about everywhere she's been, including dance class (I know... I should have kept her home, but I gave her Benadryl (to dry up her nose) and did wash her hands really good and use hand sanitizer). Tonight after her bath she felt a little warm, so I took her temp and she had a fever of 101.9. I guess this means she'll have to miss her second day of school tomorrow! I think I'll just keep things quiet and hope she doesn't realize it.

Wow! Ants! Is it ant season or something? Because for the first time in a year and a half, we have little critters crawling all over our kitchen. Just wandering around aimlessly. They are all in one section near the stove top (not the pantry, thank God for that). It's very peculiar because we just had the pest prevention service come about three weeks ago. I wonder if they really came?
E keeps telling me she is a singer. She sings all the time. She says she even sings in the shower (No, I don't think so). She sings every song she hears. So today I signed her up for a six-week course of group singing lessons again. They start Monday. I know its a lot for a five year old to do, kindergarten, soccer, gymnastics and singing-but she really does sing all the time, and the classes are only half an hour once a week. If she's going to do it, she might as well learn how to do it right. I told her if she was really good, when she was a teenager she could volunteer to sing at church services. Wishful thinking? What I'd really like is for her to be a piano player like my dear Grandma. My dream, not hers.

Tiny Tap Dancer