School Lunches

So one factor I wasn't banking on when Lucy started kindergarten was the whole "Your kid has to have a lunch at school each day" thing.  I guess after paying tens of thousands of dollars for her pre-school to serve her a hot meal each day, I sort of thought the basic public education school lunch might have been satisfactory for her.  It is not.  Stupid move #1-I got her a cute lunchbox.  Stupid move #2-Actually voicing that she may not like the food everyday, but I'd print the menu and she could decide which days to buy a lunch and which days we would pack one.  NEVER GIVE THEM A CHOICE PEOPLE.  GIRLY GIRLS WILL ALWAYS CHOOSE THE CUTE LUNCHBOX.

So each afternoon, after working 10 hours, we come home from school and pack a lunch.  Let me ask you this, just how unhealthy is it to eat Lunchables every single day?  Those things make my life so easy, but I swear when I'm packing it I can hear all the stay at home moms yelling at me about how many nitrates and other unhealthy crap are in those things.  And how could we forget the little fermented Capri Sun debacle The company had a few years ago?  But seriously, those things are EASY!

Lu has mentioned me coming to eat with her in the cafeteria.  Um, you want me to come in there and sit with you while all the ladies working in the lunchroom, parent volunteers, and stay at home moms WITNESS you eating a Lunchable?!?!  Oh man.  I am just not sure I am up to that.

 I am sitting here, after looking at Pinterest and its stupid "101 School Lunch Ideas" pin thinking, my poor kid.  She will never have a super well-balanced lunch.  She will probably just get Lunchables but maybe just a few days a week.  At least she has a cute lunchbox.               
                                                              

Kindergarten!

Our child has grown up.  Somehow, she is now in KINDERGARTEN!  The night before her first day, I sat and remembered all the sleepless nights, the screaming and crying (both of ours), and how quickly those first few years passed.  When we were in the middle of her "babyhood", it seemed like it was never going to end.  There were all the milestones and stages that changed every week it seemed.  Don't get me wrong, there are still PHASES now that we have to get through, but how did this happen?!?!   I'd really like keep my little girl LITTLE for a bit longer.  Now that she's 5 and quite feisty, I really do miss that baby (which is why I sometimes sneak into her bed at night and scoop her up and watch t.v. while she sleeps soundly, spread across the couch).  She's huge.  She's not my baby anymore.

Unfortunately, I cannot stop time.  Man, I'd be so much skinner if I could!  I would freeze myself in 2002 when I weighed 125 pounds.  I'd scream, "Don't eat the cupcake!"  But I digress...Fortunately I guess, she was so ready when the day arrived for her to go to "big school."  Having your child in daycare, or "Baby School" was what we called it, is hard and trying on a mom.  You have that guilt, that fear that something will happen, and when the school phone number pops up on your phone when you are hard at work, you think you might be having a heart attack.  But, having your child in daycare makes them prepared and ready for the transition to kindergarten.  It was so EASY! 

Lucky for me, I get to cheat and have my kid with me at my workplace now.  I won't say it was easy for ME though, even if she was right upstairs.  As Bryan and I walked her to her classroom, I got the hand drop.  She said, "Mom, I know where I'm going."  EEEK!  I guess that was good, but I thought she'd be at least 10 before I got the hand drop.  We were pretty nervous, as the night before.  Our brave and usually fearless child had been quite neurotic about the whole deal.  When she woke up on the big day, she was fine.  And when we walked into her classroom, she didn't care one bit when we left.  HUGE RELIEF, but I was still in a fog.  How could this be real?  My INFANT is in kindergarten!

Her first day, I got to see her in the hallway--TWICE!  We have a secret signal to each other (thank you Carol Burnett for the idea) that we do so we can stay in line and stay quiet.  When her day was over, she told me that things were F-U-N and she thought she'd go back.  Good choice Lu.  Her teacher is WONDERFUL and full of life and creativity.  She also thinks outside the box a lot, which is where Lucy stands most of the time.  She's not in the "box" a lot.  She's a frequent flier in time-out, but not the box.  I think it will be a good fit.  

This kid has kept us on our toes for 5.5 years.  I cannot imagine what the next 13 will be like with her in school.  I'm going to try my best to chronicle our adventures here.  Hopefully they will be filled with moments of success, and times where we have all learned from our mistakes.  I will take pictures and share crazy stories.  And we will always be dressed to kill, because as Lucy says, "Always dress well.  You never know when you'll want to jet off to Paris...or the backyard."