Back to school?

Or is it just "to school" if this is your baby's first time?

I realize this isn't kindergarten so I'll try not to be too dramatic. We got the info packet from Molly's preschool on Friday, though, and it's launched us into full-on school prep mode. I still have such mixed emotions about it. I'm excited for Molly, who is begging me every day to find kids for her to play with. And I'm excited for me. Despite the fact that I've witnessed several moms fail to suddenly have oodles of time to read magazines, get pedicures and buy groceries leisurely once their child starts preschool, the fantasy persists. It seems impossible that having somebody else watch your 3-year-old a few mornings a week doesn't somehow make life easier. It clearly hasn't for so many of my friends and neighbors, but I have that foolish first-timer optimism that, like everything in parenting, my experience will be different.

Anywho, my calendar is now full of appointments for things like parent orientation and form day. I just signed my first permission slip. That made me feel old in a whole new way.

Mostly, I just can't imagine my days without Molly. It's so abstract and depressing I refuse to think about it.  The parent handbook warns that a couple weeks in most kids go through a phase where the realize preschool goes on and on -- it's not just a one-time thing -- and they want to stop going. I'm afraid I'm going to go through that, too.

So far Molly's nothing but excited. She has already told me she doesn't want me hanging around at all, even for the first two days when parents come in with the kids. We'll see. I may be the only mom banished to the lobby while the rest of the moms try to pry their little children off their bodies and escape.

Anyway, here are some scenes from our week.

It's been raining a lot and Molly likes to play on the deck in the rain. She's been into doing grown-up chores lately, too, and on this particular day she decided to wash the deck windows from the outside.

Ah, the plight of the second child. I assure you, Molly never would have been allowed to roll around on the bathroom floor sucking on old bath toys while Mommy gave somebody else a bath. :)

Sisters hanging out. Molly has been "reading" her books to Kate lately. Kate is the perfect audience for anything Molly wants to show her or perform for her. Turns out the repetitious nature of 3-year-old antics are a perfect match for a baby who can't get around yet and is desperate to be entertained.

This is a school bus. Molly unloaded all the critters at school (aka a book shelf) last night and this morning returned each one to its seat on the bus.

Totally unrelated to children, we made chocolate-covered frozen bananas yesterday while the kids napped and then ate the first sample after the kids went to bed. (Not intentionally, that's just how the timing worked out) Yum!!!