One thing or another + Day 3 at Playschool

If it isn't one thing it is another, ya know? So, no, I am not anxious and I am not feeling the insomnia. But I have a cough that wakes me up until I finally really get up, take cough medicine and wait for it to start working. This isn't the first time we have been sick this year and, although it isn't serious, boy is it annoying!

Today was Odessa's first "full" day at Play School. I dropped her off at about 8:15 a.m. We go into the classroom and hang up her coat and hat and then I spend a couple minutes there talking to her teachers. I picked her back up after work at 2:30 p.m. When I walk into the classroom, I just watch to see what she is doing until she eventually spots me and runs up to give me a hug. She was just about to climb onto one of the toddler-size chairs at the toddler-size table when she saw me.

Her teachers say that it is one of the smoothest transitions into school they have ever seen and that there were no tears all day! Plus she did really well with nap time, going straight to sleep on the mat with the special blanket that Grandma gave to her. I am having a hard time believing that they are talking about my kid! So I have a couple theories: 1) they are pumping "special" air into the room filled with serotonin, 2) when I leave to go to work, my baby is replaced by an alien baby, and 3) the lunch is spiked with benadryl.

It isn't like I think O is a bad kid but she is intense and would have cried at home at least one time during the day. I have read that some toddlers won't release that kind of energy (crying) unless they feel very safe and comfortable so they often "save it up" for their parents. So that is probably it. Now I WANT her to cry at Play School.

Her teachers wrote on her take-home note that she is very explorative and has investigated every part of the room. She also has taken a liking to a little boy named Max who follows her around trying to make her laugh. How adorable! I told Larry about Max and immediately in a stern, dad-like voice he said "How old is this Max?" What did he think, like this baby boy in playschool is, like, 30 0r something?

So another successful day of play school. And, honestly, I don't think that I have felt this happy in the past 19 months. Just knowing that she can be okay in that kind of a situation and that I can pursue some other interests...

Odessa fell asleep relatively early tonight -- 8 p.m. It was nice because it gave Larry and I a chance to just sit on the couch and talk. Sadly, something that we have a hard time finding the time to do since O.

We talked about our days -- he was telling me something about wood products and I was half-listening and reading a magazine article. Then I told him about a new plan I thought up at 3:30 a.m. yesterday (which is the time that all the first-rate plans are produced). The plan is this: we start up regular family meetings which we take minutes at. We discuss items and create action plans. And then we follow-up on that item/action plan at the next family meeting -- just like at work! He seemed less than excited. But families can be run like businesses, no?

And then I diagnosed him with Dysthimia and PTSD. That is pretty much when he announced that he was going to bed. I will add "talk about mental health" to the family meeting minutes.