Matching Bikinis

Anybody Doesn't Want Me! (and Rhubarb Muffins)

It is the oddest thing -- when Emilia started pre-school this past year she cried and cried, and I cried and cried and cried, too.  She cried because she was nervous, scared, excited, and had never been away from me before (apart from three or so brief times with a babysitter).  I cried because I knew things would never ever be the same again.  (Yes, I sound melodramatic, but you'll just have to deal with it.)  Anyway, I knew that once Emilia started school, she would love it -- and, eventually, she would stay longer and longer and, egads, go five days a week (as opposed to the two and a half hour/two days a week that she did this past year).  And then one day she would move out of the house and get married and all that.  And to be perfectly honest, it was hard for me to take when I looked at her little self.

So how on earth did we both go from crying when school started to nearly sobbing when school ended?  Emilia loves school -- she is incredibly social and loves her little friends.  And it has been amazing watching her blossom the way that she has.  It has also been amazing to have those few short hours each week to spend with Leo and to go running.  Our schedule was this: drop the girl off, drive home as fast as we could, hop in the house, change into a variety of spandex and lycra, feed Leo lunch (usually a yogurt while we both sat on the kitchen floor), plonk him in the jogger, load him up with blankets and/or the handy-dandy rain shield, and get moving -- my i-pod (blasting some of the worst music ever created) and a few intermittent shouts to Leo, 'You doing alright, baby?', to which he always responds, 'Uh, yeah!' -- then back to school to pick up the girl as fast as we could.  And there you go -- our Tuesday and Thursday afternoons of yore. 

And now it is gone!  (sniff sniff)  Even Emilia voiced concern a week or so before school ended, 'Mama, what ARE you going to do about your running?'  The problem has been solved, though.  It is called waking up at an unnatural hour and going before Michael leaves for work and before kids are out of bed.  Oddly, this has been working just fine.  I have been very happy being outside and all by myself for awhile.  I am never all by myself.  In fact, Emilia just made a sign and put it on the door of the bathroom to remind her that it really is best to just let someone be in the bathroom by themselves, for pete's sake -- this includes her: 'I'm taking privacy!'