Birthday Party and Mia's First Day of School

The girls' faces were pictured on this screen while they road a virtual roller coaster. Amazing!

Mom and Birthday girl

Joyce

Grandma (me), Mia and Jill

Jill and Mia

Mia and Jill went to a little friend's birthday party on Saturday. I'm posting a few pictures.
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Monday was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for Mia. She started at Headstart and she was very excited. A space opened up and Jaime only had two days to get all the paperwork done. I forgot my camera but Mia looked adorable with a little hat and her book bag. The building was completely plain on the outside but had the cutest little classrooms I ever saw on the inside. Jaime and I hung Mia's things in a cubbie with her name on it and she started playing with the toys. We said goodbye and she barely looked up.

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We waited anxiously to hear what she would have to say when the day was done. Well, here is what she said about 50 times. "I missed my mommy and I cried and he got away." (She still gets her pronouns mixed up sometimes.) We asked about the playground, the other kids, the food, etc. but this is all she would say.

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This morning was very different from yesterday. She cried and fought and didn't want to get dressed. She begged to go to Grandma's instead. She tried twice to run out of the room and finally they had to restrain her, screaming, while Jaime left. The worst possible scenario. Jaime called when she got to work and they said she was eating breakfast and being good. I plan to pick her up at the earliest possible time - 3:00. I think that will be long enough for today.

School Girl

If her birthday were before September 1st instead of in November, Mia would be starting VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) at Florida schools. Alas, her November birthday means she has to wait a whole year more. The lady at the school said, "No exceptions!" But she will be starting Headstart day care next week. She has a new backpack and lunch box (which I don't think she can actually take to school) and close-toed shoes (which are required). Could this really be my last week of watching her full time??? Transition time for both Grandma and child. It is time. Right now she is in the kitchen playing with the Play Doh Fun Factory and making linguine, spaghetti and rigatoni. Grandma came up with the food references. That thing reminds me of a bad experience with a pasta machine a few years ago.

Mia - warts and imaginary friends

Like all 3 year olds, Mia says a lot of funny things. For instance, I noticed some warts on her hand that looked kind of red. I said, "Oh, you have some warts on your hand." She said, "Yeah, I wanted to keep them, but mama says 'no'." I found out from Jaime that she has been treating the warts to get rid of them.

Yesterday Mia spent all day playing and arguing with imaginary friends. This is especially creepy because the kids have always insisted that there is a ghost in the kid bedroom. Mia says they won't be quiet and won't do what she tells them. Yesterday she said one was named Donald and he was with another little boy. She said they were "scaring themselves".

I have always discouraged the kids from talking about the little girl they say is in the closet. Jaime started it when she was little. She freaked Cory out so much that he would not sleep in that room. I have to say that I have never seen anything weird, though I do think about it a little on the nights I have slept in that room.

One night when Jonah was little, we were watching TV and the picture started rolling. He reached up and opened the blinds above the bed. I scolded him and asked what he was doing. He said, "There's a ghost out there." I closed the blinds quickly. Then he said, "He talks." Yuk! I did get some cold chills down my back.

I especially didn't want Jill to hear about this. She gets scared enough already. All the children do insist that the closet doors be closed at night and I tend to feel more comfortable myself when they are closed. One side doesn't fit very well and tends to come open a little bit. One day, Jonah came running in the kitchen and said, "Come see what is in the closet!" I was on the phone with Roger, who knew the stories. When I came back he asked, "What was it?" I said, "What do you think? NOTHING!"

These events have happened occasionally over twenty years. I even met the son of a previous owner one time and have talked to my neighbors. There is nothing I have found in the history of this house to give any credibility to these stories. But it does creep me out a little when Mia talks this way. If there are any children ghosts in this house they should be happy with what is generally a sunny happy little room.

Karin's Birthday - Cody's

Another happy occasion at Cody's on the patio. Karin's birthday celebration. Good music, pretty good food, fans blowing a mist around that left everyone and everything cool but slightly damp. Besides Karin and Alan, there was me and Roger, Peggy, Joyce, Cory, Rick and Darlene, Jaime, Aaron and Mia who somehow didn't get her picture taken for once. Mia enjoyed the free peanuts and asked her mother in a very grown up way, "Could you show me where the bathroom is?" Good girl! Fun!

History - Pics Karin's BD 2007

I love these pictures especially of Jaime, Jill and Mia in their matching dresses. What a difference 3 years makes!

Aaron

Just some random pictures of Aaron, delivering Mia and with his "new" Camaro.

Sweet Spot

After bouncing around like a frantic roulette ball for most of my life, I have landed. Life has become a cycle of small pleasures. I wonder about the meaning. Why these people? Why this place? It doesn't really matter. This is it. I don't feel the need to get somewhere. I am here. Now I want to maixmize on what is here: organize a corner, learn a new skill, find a way to volunteer. As for whatever is in store for me, I am not afraid. I do want to be healthy as long as possible so I can be around in 10 years - 20? to see how my grandchildren have grown up. Small pleasures, small ambitions perhaps, but my joy and gratitude are large.