Personalized Stools... encouraging independence one stool at a time!

Dear Diary,

Just finished another personalized stool today. This one was ordered from someone I don't know- that's fun:)  I've been too busy with the new school year starting to really find out how this person came to me but I think I met her at a craft fair or ladies night event last winter. She ordered this stool for her grandson. How precious;)

I think one of the reasons I like making these stools is because they always come along with a little story.  A good friend of mine ordered this one.  She said it was for a soon to be "Quinn Rita". She was giving it to her co-worker/girlfriend who was having a baby :)   She talked about this friend as a "farm girl... sweetest person she knows"  She was pregnant with her first child and I got the pleasure to meet Quinn's mom a few days before she went into labor.  I have to say, she was WAY too cute to be that close to labor!  In fact, she was mentioning inductions and I said WAY too much about how I feel about premature inductions (foot in mouth)... afterall, I think I am an expert with 2 induced labors.  But I got a call the next day that she naturally went into labor and had a wonderful delivery.  Maybe the new stool put her into labor.  Quinn couldn't wait to come out and sit on it! This is all silly- I haven't been on the computer in a while and I have some weird writing energy that I have to get out.  I wonder where this stool sits in her little farm house.     

  

These little projects don't make me rich but they are therapeutic and I imagine all the ways the stools might be used for years to come.  Little feet climb up to reaching the sink to wash hands and brush teeth... or decide they want to wet their whole head of hair and get the entire bathroom wet (that's what Eva likes to do at the sink).

Love,
Sarah

Baby-Girl is Going to Kindergarten!

Dear Diary,

Ravioli dinner, shower, pajamas, settle down, good night kisses and "let's go read some books"... seems like a normal night around here but oh contraire mon frair! Tomorrow is Mea's first day of kindergarten.  The nervous tension in this Mama has been brewing for weeks and now it's coming out my ears!  I should just warn y'all right off the bat that this is gonna be ridiculously dramtic.  You'd think something really serious was happening. I know, its just kindergarten. 

All day, well, all weekend ... aw heck... all summer long- everyone is SO excited for Mea to start kindergarten.  They ask her "How excited are you? Did you meet your teacher?! Are you gonna ride the bus?" I think each time those questions were asked, I cried a little inside.  Earlier today, my nerves started to get the best of me.  The edge broke off when Mea's Godmother called (in tears herself).  I pleaded, "Keep it short. We are barely keeping it together here." I think "we" all knew who "we" were talking about.  She wished her well and that is about where my neurological system called it quits on me.  There is a slim chance, a very slight possibility, I may have made it to tomorrow without any tears until we read the "super secret" note from the teacher.  Those darn teachers really know what they are doing. Stupid... super sweet poem! 

"Mom, what's wrong? Are you laughing or crying?"

BOTH! I couldn't stop. I'm a crazy lady.  I CAN'T stop to be more accurate. What am I crying about? I have no idea. She is ready for it. We are ready for it. Like I said though,it has been brewing for weeks.  I have been seriously nesting.  Obsessing on getting things ready... just getting things done, ya know, doing things and somehow all the while not really getting ready at all.  It has been a looming summer finish line... or have we been approaching the starting line?

I recently witnessed nesting at its best as one of my sisters prepared for her second child.  Everyday for a month she would say, "as soon as (some random thing) is done, I will really really be ready for this baby to come."  Now that she has had her baby... she passed the baton in the nesting relay to me.  I ran with it.  I have been feeling as though, once my Mea starts school, nothing will ever be the same again. Oh lord, will it? Is that why I am crying? Breathe. Rationalize: Change is good. Growth is beautiful.  Every new age and discovery has been as awesome as the one before.  oh crap... That'll get me thinking.. oh here we go again..Wahh! Boo Hoo:(

Preschool was one thing... it was a few hours for 3 days a week. This kindergarten is 5 FULL days!  UGH I've been so lucky to be able to be home with my girls (working a perfectly part-time schedule).  Maybe that's it... I've been there and now she will be with someone else for so much of the day and week. What will she learn? How will she change?  Will she be herself and will people listen? Will she be kind and will others be kind to her? YES YES AND YES

Like I mentioned, we are ready for this. The summer has been a marathon of parties.  Everyday felt like a celebration of one thing or another. We swam. We rode bikes. We traveled.  We spent tons of time with family and friends.  The girls really grew up a lot this summer and recently the 2 years that separate Mea and Eva started to really show. Little things like Mea wanting to shower and Eva likes baths.  I could see Eva gravitating toward other kids where she could be the "older one" for a change.  I saw Mea getting tired of always being the voice of reason for her little sister and giving up whatever she had for her to stay happy.  We are ready for school and schedule and... WE are ready for kindergarten.  There is a real silver lining here in the fact that tomorrow will start a whole lots of NEW things! One thing in particular that I am looking forward to is this one on one thing with just me and Eva. That should be interesting.

Tonight, we read the teacher's note and then a Fancy Nancy book and I made it through my usual rendition of Twinkle Twinkle and You are My Sunshine before the tears came up again. Flowing like the Nile River.        

So tomorrow, our baby girl is going to kindergarten and I need to get some sleep.  Find a happy place.  The mantra I'll focus on comes from another one of my sisters... she texted me...
"Roots and Wings". 
Yup. Balance. We have given Mea roots and it is time to fly.  It was the same sweet subtle advice that this wise sister gave me at my baby shower when I was pregnant with Mea. Six years ago she gave it to me in the form of a mixed CD.... It had songs that were new to us and hilarious:

"Victor Vito and Freddy Fasco...
They liked to eat fast, they never eat slow...
oh they ate their rice, they ate their beans.
They ate their rutabaga and they ate their collard greens."

The CD had other songs that were real oldies and goodies...Cat Stevens..."Wild World"
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile, girl
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl

My aunt sang that to me as I went away to college. Thank heavens this is only kindergarten! and GOOD thing I have all these sisters in my life.

Roots and Wings
Sweet dreams