Life-Changer

Fall is staring us in the face. Even though students don't start school until September 2nd, in my mind we're already there. My thoughts are constantly-constantly on Finley starting kindergarten. I'm becoming the panicked parent I never thought I'd be. I teach kindergarten, I know how quickly the kids adapt to our routines and figure the school-thing out. But it's different now. Now it's my turn to watch someone walk into the school while I stand outside. I'm worried. I'm excited. I'm blown away that kindergarten is us now. A life-changer.

Finley's new glasses came in, he cleans them many times/day and is very careful with them - that'll last a few more days ;) He refused a picture, but they're navy blue and very cute. Hadley was willing to pose.

Once upon a time, Auntie bought Hadley an outfit that was too big. It finally fits!

Potty training still isn't happening. I put Hadley in underwear for a day to see what would happen. After two wets and one mud she was back in a pull-up. How can a kid, especially a girl, have NO interest in it? She tells me, I want a diaper mom, I go in my diaper. Seriously, you speak in full sentences, you should be wearing underwear!! I decided I needed Target's help. We have a chart, we have an incentive to pick out any toy in Target...shit, I'll buy her Target!

Nope. She tries for 1/10 of a second and is done. 

Finley attended two birthday parties this weekend for 4K friends. He went bowling Friday night and slip-n-sliding on Saturday afternoon. Both were drop-off parties, it sounds like he had a ton of fun.

The neighbors came over to watch a movie, it's hard to tell, but there are five lounging kids in this picture. 

The kids & I went to the Farmer's Market. Finley loved the flowers and chose a bouquet to bring home.

We visited the Balloon Man, Finley got a Packer hat and Hadley wanted a sword.

By the time we got home, her sword had popped and turned into a _______. Yeah, I see it too.

Fresh carrots.

While Finley was off partying, Hadley & I had an afternoon treat - Dunkin' Donuts. Little did I know, late afternoon coffee keeps me up until 11 p.m.

We were all nominated for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, we accepted.

On Sunday I met David Kuhn. David is running 11,000 miles, the perimeter of the US. He's running to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis, a disease his granddaughter suffers from. What an incredible journey he's on, especially because David is blind and he relies on local communities to help him on his quest. I was connected to David by a high school classmate who is organizing David's schedule in town. They were looking for local runners to invite David over for meals, transport him and run - he runs 20 miles each day. I can hardly grasp that. Rachel & I ran 20 miles on Saturday, on Sunday morning the last thing I wanted to do was run it again. But each day he does it again. Why? Because running 20 miles blind is easier than fighting cystic fibrosis. He's running the Chicago and NY Marathons this fall and he's participating in Madison's Ironman on September 7th. If you're unfamiliar with an Ironman, it is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run, I can't imagine. As a blind athlete he'll swim tethered to his guide, ride a tandem bike and hold a rope during the run.

My plan was to run a teeny portion of this 11,000 mile journey with him. Unfortunately, the late afternoon heat prevented our run, but allowed us to have David over for dinner. He's not bashful about eating and can put down food.

We enjoyed listening to his experiences. Dinner was great, but after I dropped him off at his hotel, I still wanted to run with him. I'm hoping for another opportunity this evening, I'd love to put a droplet of miles into his bucket of running. A life-changer.

Oh man. This kid. I'm starting to grieve his absence already. I can't look at him without thinking, In two weeks, he won't be home to do _______ with us. Or, In two weeks, he'll be at school when we _______. And these thoughts are hurting my heart.

In the fall of 2008, Finley smiled for the first time. That smile immediately turned my 'wishful thinking' regarding job-sharing into 'how can we make this happen'. I wanted more home time with this baby. Then toddler. Now kid. (OK, some days I wanted more time than others, he was a tough toddler - ha!). So I did it. In fall of '09, I started job-sharing to be home more with him, best decision ever.

Now the roles are reversing, he's leaving me. It's weird to think Finley will "work" more hours / week than me. There have been many FB posts regarding school starting up - first day of school pics, teachers prepping their classrooms, etc. What I see? Crap, my first baby is leaving. 

I feel like he's going away-away, not three miles down the road for seven hours/day. It's the anticipation of something new. I have the same fears that many school parents have shared with me over the years - Will he make friends? Will he learn the lunch line? Will he get from before-school care (on my work days) to breakfast/playground? Will he be a good listener? Will he like school?  I sooooo want him to like school. I sooooo want him to be a nice friend and to make new friends. I think he will.

As sick as I really feel about this, I know he's ready. I know he's excited about his new backpack, tennis shoes, school supplies and teacher. He's got this. My heart is begging time to s-l-o-w and my mind is counting down the final home-days until I will cheer and wave as I drop him off. If all goes according to plan, I'll save my tears for walking back to our car. Tomorrow is my official last day of summer vacay and we're spending the day together just us, I can't wait.