First Day: Take Two!

So after last week's rocky start, it felt like we had a do-over after not returning to school for 4 days! Yesterday I got Grace to school in plenty of time, and on the way there I asked her if she wanted me to walk her to her class or if I should drop her off in the carpool lane.

"You can just drop me off!"

I tried to take a picture without her looking as she went inside, but some of the volunteers spotted me and started shouting, "Camera! camera!" (mamarazzi!), so Grace gave me one of her beautiful smiles and a wave, and off she went! Yes, it tugged at my heart, but no, I didn't cry. We might have to save the tears for next year when Grace starts kindergarten and Rachael starts preschool.

I didn't have any big plans or errands to run, so Rachael and I had our first morning alone together in a while.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't she? Casually checking out a book?

Don't be fooled!
Rachael's effort to play with every single thing that she could get her hands on:

One of my good friends sent me a picture she'd taken at the zoo a couple of weeks ago. It was right after Rachael fed the giraffe -- she's giving the little "rock on" hand gesture, notice.

The scene looked familiar to me, and I found this from 2005 (please disregard the bad hair):

Notice: 1) The girls are about the same age in these pictures! They were both right around 18 months old -- look how different they are! I don't know, it's just fascinating to me, because at the same time I see some similarities. And 2) I have the same exact expression on my face each time.

So much for no tears from Mommy though! This morning Rachael and I did run some errands -- to the church, to vote, and then to the library. As I was talking to the librarian about renewing Grace's treasured Peep DVD, Rachael made a beeline for the sliding doors. I darted after her, but the door was sliding open, and she kept her hand on the glass. Before I could grab her, she was stuck between the doors up to her elbow. :-( She cried a more scared cry than a hurt cry, but I couldn't budge her and I didn't want to tug at her, so I just held her until two of the librarians came to hold open the doors so she could slip out.

She bounced back quickly though, barely a scratch on her, and used the water they gave her to dip her hand in rather to drink. It definitely took me longer to recover, and it was all I could do to not break down right in front of the check-in desk!

All is well now though! Just a little more excitement than we're used to!