The Sticker Ninja

Yesterday was my first day as a classroom volunteer at Greta's school and though my inner child was kinda wigging out at the prospect of returning to the classroom after twenty-plus years away, I gotta tell ya, it was awesome!

I helped the kids with a craft project, Clorox wiped the tables after play time, and organized next week's math homework, but the highlight of the day was playing Sticker Ninja during quiet reading time. While the kids “read” books at their tables, my job was to walk around the room and place stickers on the hands of those that were being the most quiet. It was adorable! Even the pushy kids that kept thrusting their hands at me, silently pleading for stickers, were cute. They didn't get as many stickers as the kids who were actually quietly enjoying their books, but, trust me, everyone had stickers to spare by the time my “shift” ended.

I'm hoping to make the Thursday volunteer gig a regular thing, and in the meantime, I've also helped pass out donunts and bagels (at 7:45AM!) for a Breakfast with Buddies event and helped the kids work on a cool ocean mural on the back wall of the auditorium. It's been a lot of work but the parents, teachers and kids I've met along the way have all been awesome and Greta and I have been having a lot of fun. Even if we do collapse the minute we get home every day!

Speaking of things that exhaust me, one mom who I've seen at almost every event jokingly asked me when I was running for PTA president. Ha! Probably not in this lifetime, but, then again, President Yeti does have kind of a nice ring to it…

 

 

 

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Picture Day (2014)

After much heated debate, lots of tears and one hysterical meltdown, Mrs. Yeti and I finally got Greta out the front door today in an outfit we both approved of. And it's a good thing, because today was Greta's first picture day at school. Hooray!

I'll try and post a few of the official studio portraits when we get them back, but for now, here is my favorite new picture of my favorite kindergartner in the world. Enjoy!

 

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Kindergarten Week One: The New World Order

Yesterday marked the end of the first full week of kindergarten and let me tell ya, whoever said I’d have more time on my hands once Greta started school is full of shit. I haven’t felt this frazzled and out-of-my-element since those first few days after we brought Greta home from the hospital. Seriously, it’s been non-stop since Monday morning.

One of my new mom friends equated this week with starting a new job, and she’s not far off. I was anxious, way too concerned with my hair and what I was wearing, tired as fuck (sorry, but my usual F-word substitute, “fudge,” just didn’t seem to express how truly exhausting this week has been) and completely overwhelmed with paperwork. Insanity!

And though there have been definite highlights and I’ve made fast friends with several very chill moms and dads of students in Greta’s class, I think all three of us are a little overwhelmed by the sweeping sea change washing over us right now.

So far, Greta has been loving school but it’s the getting up in the morning and going there that kills her. However, aside from Wednesday morning, which was just horrific — at one point I was literally dragging her to class! — she really loves her teacher and each new day was better than the last. So, that’s progress in my book.

Personally, I found myself finally getting into the groove around Thursday, which is great because it ended up being one of the longest days of my life. I got up at 7:15 (which, believe it or not, has been my start time all week!), got Greta ready, dropped her off at school at 8:25 and then headed to my first PTA meeting at 8:30. Luckily for me, I managed to squeeze in some breakfast, because it turned out to be a three hour meeting! Yikes…who knew?

Fortunately, the meeting got out a little early (at around 11:00) so I had time to run to Costco and Trader Joe’s before heading back to school to pick up Greta at 1:30. We then headed to the park for a mini reunion with some of our old friends from Greta’s pre-school days, and then headed from there straight to ballet class, where we shared an emotional goodbye with Greta’s beloved ballet teacher who started her maternity leave today.

After ballet, we ran home to change and pick up Mrs. Yeti and then hurried back to Greta’s school for a massive “Back-to-School” picnic. They had food trucks, music, a farmer’s market selling produce grown at the school’s onsite garden (!) and again, many chances to meet new parent friends. Simply put, it was awesome. If all the parents at Stevenson are as hip, artsy and totally diverse as the ones we met this week, this new world order might not be so bad after all!

Now, if we could just get a handle on the constant flow of paperwork coming our way, I think we might be ready to face week two. Wish us luck!

 

 

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Greta’s First Day of School

Yesterday was Greta’s first day of kindergarten and though it was a long, trying day for us as parents, Greta’s biggest complaint was that she only made one new friend and could not remember her name. Ha! And though I’m usually bad with names as well, Mrs. Yeti and I managed to make a few friends at the Parent Mixer held in the lunch area right after school started as well. And better yet, all of the parents we met (and liked!) have kids in Greta’s class. So, here’s to new friends for everyone!

We’re all still getting used to this new schedule — lemme tell ya, getting up early after a lifetime spent staying up to the wee hours sucks ass, man! — but, day two was already much easier than Monday, so, progress is definitely being made.

Now, if I could just stop yawning all the damn time…all would be right with the world.

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The last day of school…

Thursday is Greta’s last official day of Parks & Rec. pre-school and I gotta admit, I’m kind of dreading it. And not just because we have to cook a lasagne for the last day potluck, which means Mrs. Yeti and I will be popping a homemade (or more likely frozen) lasagne in the over at like, 8:00AM, so it’s ready in time. The real reason I’m dreading it is because, well, I’ve grown kinda used to the routine of it all over the past eight weeks.

Honestly, it’s been kinda nice having Greta go to “school” (call it anything other than that at your own peril, she is obsessed with the idea of going to school because that’s “what big kids do”) twice a week. I know three hours of truly alone, alone time every week doesn’t sound like much, but, trust me, it’s been amazing. I made a deal with myself early on that I wouldn’t do anything to do with cleaning or cooking during my sacred hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday. It was my time to work on whatever I wanted (or needed!) to work on or even just sip my coffee and catch up on “my stories” on Tivo. And, man alive, who knew you could get so much shit done in an hour and a half without a toddler tugging at you the whole time. Wow, if this is a sample of what her being in real school is like, sign my ass up! Just kidding. Kind of.

Anyway, speaking of school, another cool thing about Greta’s preschool is that she’s met loads of new friends, several of whom will be going to the same school as she does when she starts Kindergarten next year. And the best thing about that is that aside from liking all of her new friends (except for that one creepy, greasy-haired boy, he knows who he is) I genuinely enjoy the company of their moms as well.

And though I’ll miss my free time, the thing I’ll probably miss even more are the good times I had hanging with the other moms. And, just so you know, I’m using the term “moms” here like hipster thespians use the word “actor” to describe both male and female actors. As in: “Yeti9000’s well stocked snack bag was the envy of the other moms at the park.” Which it often is, by the way. Anyway, immediately following “school”, myself and the other moms would hang out for an hour or so and chat while the kids wore themselves out on the playground. We didn’t always agree on everything and as a rule they tended much more towards the “helicopter parent” school of thought than I do. Except for the “stripper mom” who arrived late every morning in her vintage muscle car with her blonde hair tousled just so. She was always very chill, but, that’s probably because she was tired from working all night. I’m just saying…

And even though there was some spirited parental judgement tossed around initially — some of the moms still comment on some of the stuff we let Greta watch on TV — I can’t say that I didn’t judge back (see above comments re: “stripper mom”), so, it was all good and, overall, this new group of compadres in the parenting wars was a pretty fun bunch.

Several of the Moms were Indian too, so, aside from talking about Indian food all the time, one Mom actually brought some for us all to share one day! Which was awesome! But mostly we just talked about our kids. Because of the age requirement for “school”, all of our kids were pretty much the same age, and almost all of them were girls, so, we had a lot in common.

So, until next fall when the cheapie Parks & Rec. pre-school classes start back up again in earnest…farewell, mis amigas. May the summer be good to you and may you find other bearded fat dudes to chat with in the park while your children play. Oh, and in case you were wondering how Greta’s dealing with the end of “school”, she’s totally cool with it. I asked her today if she was sad that she only had one more day of school and she said: “No, because that mean swimming class is starting!” Ha! I wish I shared her enthusiasm. If you remember, last year’s batch of swim moms sucked ass. Meanest women on the planet.

Luckily we’re at a new pool this year, so, hopefully that means a whole new crop of cool moms (and maybe even dads!) and kids to hang out with. Who knows, maybe stripper mom will be there too!