August

I can’t believe it is already August. This summer seems to have flown by in blur. Fi and I start school this week, so this is truly the end of our vacation. Fi is excited to start school and meet her new teacher and see her new classroom. We’ll see how excited she is when the first day of school arrives and she actually has to go without her dad or me. I start work the very same day, so she will have no choice and in fact, I’ll be leaving the house much earlier than she will.

I have mixed feelings about going back to work. On the one hand, it will be nice to have a familiar routine again, to have every day planned, to wear cute shoes and dress up a little, to have time to run an errand between finishing at work and picking up Fi. Also, I love teaching, so it will be nice to get back into it, feel productive, do some math, and see some familiar faces (students). On the other hand, it’s kind of stressful. I already planned the first units for the classes I’m teaching and written the first tests, and yet I feel behind. It’s hard to plan without knowing my students yet because I adapt what I do every year to make it relevant to the students and also because I don’t always know where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Also, I like wearing PJs for half the day if I want, not worrying about my hair, wearing flip flops, and going places in the middle of the day if need be. My mom is still recovering from her broken hip and is not driving yet, so I will have to pick up Fi at preschool every day. I’m sure Fiona will like that, but it means it will more stressful and tighter on time if I want to stay through lunch to be available for students. Then there is the whole learning new names thing while trying not to forget old names. And last, I really enjoyed the mornings this summer, eating breakfast in PJs with John and Fiona, reading the paper and drinking my tea from an actual mug, not a plastic or metal to-go cup. The thought of having to get dressed as soon as I get out of bed and eating breakfast in my classroom is not appealing.

So we’ll see. In the meantime, it’s been a great month so far.

We finished up swim lessons and spent some time swimming in Fillmore with Sophie and Eliza, and also played at the park:

Jen, Chris, Elliot, and Calliope came for a visit and we went to the fair. Fi loved petting the animals and going on rides while Jen and I explored the photography exhibit:

    

Fi and Elliot ran around screaming like banshees chasing the bubbles:

Fiona LOVES Calliope and renamed one of her dolls after her:

We had a great visit with Jen and family (as always) and can’t wait to see them again.

Fi discovered the climbing gym. It moved, became a bouldering only place, and added a great kids’ area. John took Fi and then I took her. She loves it!

 

Our garden has begun to produce tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as very small eggplants. I needed three pounds of tomatoes for a recipe. No problem:

 

We went back to the fair with my dad and Fi petted more animals and rode more rides:

 

A cow being vacuumed:

Cuddling piggies:

In typical Fi fashion, she decided to pass on the ice cream (so I had to eat it) in favor of riding a horse:

Are there other kids out there who are willing to pass on the treats in favor of other things? At any rate, here is Fi on a horse at the fair when she was 14 months old, and Fi this year, at four years old:

We tried petting the animals in the petting area, but a deer tried to eat Fi’s shirt and she sort of freaked out, so I held her for a while, then pet a fawn and a baby goat and left. And I met a very soft and patient llama.

This year marked a change for us at the fair. In the past, Fiona did not care that much what we did. This year, both trips were geared toward her. Luckily, I like the animals too. But we did not see the commercial exhibits (I like to see what people are selling), the landscaping, the crafts and quilting, or pretty much anything that wasn’t a ride or a farm animal.

In other news, Fiona’s strawberry plants produced one strawberry and there a few more on the way. She harvested it and got to eat it all by herself. I think it was well deserved because she was the one who planted it. She is turning into a regular little farmer. If I need something to make dinner, she can go out and get it for me.

Fiona and John were both sick. First Fiona slept badly, was cranky, then had a fever for two days, then John got it. Luckily for him, he had a really good doctor who was able to patch him up quickly:

   

Fiona is having fun dressing up my old Raggety Ann Doll:

 

After Jen visited and we went through some of Fi’s old clothes so Calliope can wear them, Fiona decided her baby clothes would be perfect for Raggedy Ann, and they really are. They fit well and she has lots of fun dressing and undressing the doll.

We went to a farm and Fi rode another pony and drove a mini tractor, as well as a large one:

 

One day I was making dinner, looked out the door, and saw this:

I think Grandpas are suckers for cute little girls.

We audited our medicine cabinets and recycled all of our old, or unused, or expired medications, shampoos, lotions, cleaning products, beauty products, etc. Our city does hazardous waste recycling collections once every month. All the drawers and cabinets are some much emptier and more organized now. It feels great!

A note about the recycling: When I called the company that does garbage collection, I was told to throw everything away because nothing was recyclable. When I asked about the plastic and glass container, because surely those are recyclable, the answer was that indeed they are, dump the contents in the garbage or down the drain and recycle the containers. Luckily, I am a little savvier than that and found the city’s hazardous waste disposal program on the city website. None of the things I was throwing away, other than maybe some really old shampoo, should be poured into the sink. The shampoo I might have accepted because, well, that is where it goes when I use it, so it is no more polluting than when I wash my hair. Still, it all went to the recycling program to be disposed of safely so nothing contaminates the water or soil. Don’t always believe the first person you talk to.

We purged Fiona’s closet of all the stained, torn, and too-small clothes that were still hanging there:

So many free hangers! She still has lots of clothes, but now we can see them all.

I did a little purge of my closet too. Fiona found this dress in the donate pile and put it on, then ran around telling us she was a princess or something like that. It was very entertaining:

 

Well, it’s teacher prep day tomorrow, then Fi and I are officially back to school/work, wish us luck!