Transition

These last few weeks we've all been in a major transition as Lil starts preschool and Teddy starts spending the three days a week she's not in school with her and Pansy, our sitter.

All I can say is, phew. Honestly, this transition has been more difficult than when we brought Teddy home from the hospital.

At first, Lil was having some separation anxiety about school. The first day (a half day), she did great. The second day we thought it had gone so well she could stay all day. Then we got a text from her teacher mid-morning saying Lil was upset and she thought we should come pick her up after lunch. The third day at school she cried a little bit in the morning but then had a great day. And the fourth day at school she ran up the stairs laughing. We high fived each other and thought it was all behind us. Then when I picked her up that afternoon the teacher said she had refused to say please when asking for her lunch and then ripped up a book during story time. [Cue the sad trumpets.]

The teacher said it was pretty normal for kids to test the limits of what's acceptable. And we talked to her at home about saying please and not breaking toys. Then this past Monday was her fifth day (or something, honestly I've lost count) and it was good all around. No acting out, no crying, just happy. Maybe we are finally on an upward swing at school. Fingers crossed.

But at home, the repurcussions are still really pronounced. At first Lil stopped napping and was barely eating. I think she was jacked up by all the changes, and that at bedtime her separation anxiety was really coming out. That has gradually gotten better but she's still prone to losing it on a moment's notice.

In other news, Teddy happily goes out with Lil and Pansy, but he has been waking up a lot more at night on the days he's with them. Not sure if he's not quite sleeping enough those days, or he's wanting to see mommy more at night, or what. And both of them have been waking up at 6 am like clockwork, even though it's still dark at that time.

And on the days the two kids are with Pansy I am going to work at the library at Pratt, which is right around the corner. But I seem to have lost my ability to work outside the house. I almost fainted from starvation the first day -- I'm so used to having the fridge with leftovers, and still basically need to eat two lunches since I'm up so early and still breastfeeding. Then there's the issue of pumping. Still haven't figured out what to do about that, but the first day I spent at the library I forgot my breast pads and ended up leaking all over the place. And I seem to have forgotten how to work when I have hours of time to myself. I'm so used to putting Teddy down and thinking "OK, I've got an hour and a half, must kick out the jams!" that I spent most of those first days cruising Facebook and staring out the window.

I know we'll all get it and at some point this period of time will feel like a blip. But I'm leaving you with this video clip to sum it all up.