Weekend
We had a really wonderful weekend all told. I got back from Big D Friday night. Saturday was mostly a day off, although I made a quick appearance at church for a Sunday School training event. Then a few errands.

Sunday was Christian Education kickoff. We had about 80 people in adult Sunday School, which for a church of 600-something is pretty exciting, especially since many children’s classes are being taught by teams of three, rather than two like last year. All told we are busting at the seams and there’s a great feeling of energy. I am teaching a class on “spiritual practices and the reformed tradition”—a theological, biblical and practical/experiential course. This will be good for me because it will encourage me to nurture my own spiritual life in the process, otherwise I’m just a big honkin’ hypocrite.

Our struggle against house entropy continued this weekend, with a few more minor projects completed. We are close to getting our lower level painted and have talked about replacing windows—pricey but very needed, and an environmentally responsible thing to do.

More potty news
C stayed dry from morning until naptime yesterday—and that was while she was out and about too! And she did it all herself, without being reminded! Oh frabjous day! The reminding had been driving me nuts, she was rebelling, so I said, screw it, what is this accomplishing?, and put her in pull-ups. I know, they are of the devil. We just needed to back off, and the BGPs (big-girl panties) were stressing us all out.

Preschool and daycare
C starts preschool this week, which she’s really excited about. She met her teacher last week and got a preschool totebag and T-shirt. She’s been using the T-shirt and bag to wrap various “gifts,” mainly stuff around the house, for us to open. I’ll let you know how preschool goes. It’s at the church and it will be fun to see her a couple mornings a week.

C is also in a new daycare which is down the street from our house. We walk her down the cul de sac and drop her off—ahhhh, so much easier. And she’s enjoying it a lot. Her caregiver, L, was a former lead teacher in a center, and she really runs her place like a mini-preschool.

L told us last week that C had been doing a puzzle, and after she’d finished, L swapped it out with an unfinished one. Our child is allergic to abruptness, so she began to cry. L didn’t know what was wrong; finally when C had composed herself she said, “I had a meltdown!” I guess emotional awareness is next on the toddler checklist. In the last week we’ve had “meltdown,” “having tears,” feeling “sad” and “mad.”

Case in point: one morning while I was gone last week, R brought C into our bed with a cup of milk, so she could drink it while he caught a couple more Zzzzz’s. She looked really disappointed that I was not there.
C: Mommy’s in the bathroom!
R: No, mommy’s still gone on her trip.
[Some time later… R realizes that C has finished her milk and isn’t in bed anymore. He finds her in our bathroom, forlornly sitting on the edge of the tub, holding her stuffed rabbit.]
C: Go back to bed!

Halloween
We’ve been talking about Halloween a little bit, because while I’m kinda interested in putting together a costume for her if I can, I will need some lead time. I also know that in spite of the lead time, my paltry working-mom attempts at a costume will pale in comparison to that of her preschool buddies, whose moms largely stay home and seem congenitally more crafty than I. Yet still I want to do this. We suggested a few things to her, a kitty or a rabbit (her two favorite animals at the moment). Out of the blue she suggested “cow.” Cow is the current favorite. I’m thinking white shirt and pants with Holstein patches (iron-on? fabric marker?), cowbell on a ribbon around the neck, knitted I-cord tail with a tassel on the end (maybe with a wire run through it to give it some lift). I can picture a headband with horns on it, but what to make the horns out of? And hooves? And of course, there’s the UDDER! Easy—rubber glove. But I’m tempted to forego that part, unless we could set it up to really milk, which would be a hoot. Then again, given the impending nursing situation around here, maybe that hits a little too close to home. (Hat tip to C’s g-mom for making that connection.)

That’s plenty of news for now.