1st Day of School

So this morning went even worse than expected.

Last night Rebecca refused to sleep--she kept popping up and shouting, "Is the sun out yet?" She wanted to go out and play. Up until 10:40, and calling for me again at 3 am. Normally we'd just let her sleep in, but not on her first day . . . so in came Rich at 8:10 to wake us, and the screaming commenced. Forty minutes of screaming and crying, refusing to use the bathroom, eat, or let me dress her. Finally Rich got her to gulp at a drinkable yogurt (her newest obsession) and took her out to feed the ducks. (Side note: We never feed the ducks in our own lake--that would just add to the polution--but today we would have tried anything.) Through muffled sobs she explained that we couldn't feed the ducks because we didn't have any popcorn (Disneyland--I told you we never feed them at home) but we tried stale puffies instead. "What if they don't like them??!!!!" More sobbing. But the duckies did the trick, and soon we were trying to gather a car breakfast and head out the door.

Of course, however, Rich set the food on the floor of my car while buckling her in and I, trying to be helpful and make room for Rich to sit in the back and feed her, pushed the car/baby stuff bag right into it, smashing Rebecca's favorite bowl (the sugar bowl) against the driveway and sending grapes, crockery, and goldfish crackers everywhere, and drinkable yogurt under the passenger seat. Yum. And the crying was back on.

I ran into the house for more grapes/yogurt, and came back just in time to have Rich tell me to turn off the radio already, as Pink Floyd belted "We Don't Need No Education." Seriously? It was that kind of morning.

But, despite the fact that we only have one red light between our house and the school, and despite the fact there'd been an accident there that morning and the police had a lane blocked and were in the process of loading a smashed F150 onto a tow truck, we managed to get there without any more tears.

Of course I cried when we left, and watched the clock for the next three hours while Rich went into work/got a haircut (notice the difference?). But she was all smiles when we picked her up.

We went to McDonald's for a celebratory lunch, home for nap, the to Leo's for ice cream and Yum Yum after nap.

And what do you think it means when a preschool teacher, who's been teaching for twenty years now, comments that your kid sure asks, "Why?" a whole lot?