And then, there are mornings like this – when the girls are cuddly and sweet and not at all sad when I drop them off at school. (These pics were taken just moments before we got into the car this morning.) Hooray.
-M
Ninety percent of the time, I’m a-okay about the working-mom thing: the juggles and demands, and the fact that I spend less time with the girls than I otherwise would. And, as I’ve written before, I don’t usually feel guilty about the choices I’ve made – with the exception being mornings like today.
At drop-off this morning, both girls were uncharacteristically clingy and sad to say good-bye to me. (“Why does Zoe have an unhappy face?â€one of her classmates asked, as Zoe buried her head in my coat.) Zoe eventually let me go with a smile, but Avery was another story: She didn’t want me to leave and at one point handed me a book, asking with her big eyes for me to read it to her. The problem? I just didn’t have the time: I had a 10 AM work meeting to get to, and even a few extra minutes at the school would have made me late. I had to tell her no and hand her off to one of her teachers, who walked her to the window so they could wave to me, and I left the school with tears pooling in my eyes (not unlike I would do during her first few days at the school).
“I feel like such a bad mom,†I said to a friend walking out. “Don’t do that to yourself, she’s going to be fine,†she responded – and she was right. Both girls love school and were probably bouncing around, not thinking of me or our drop-off, minutes after I left them. But the thought of not being able to sit there with Avery for a few extra minutes (something I could do, say, on a Friday when I’m not working) was a difficult pill to swallow.
Here’s hoping for a better (guilt-free!) tomorrow.
-M
Zoe was lucky enough to have two playdates this weekend: one with her old buddies Zander and Miles, and another at her best girlfriend Mira’s house. The first three used to get together every week as babies – boy, have they grown!!
-M
Zoe often says sweet and loving things to her family – and it seems to be rubbing off on her sister. The other morning, Avery was lying in bed with us when Zoe walked in; as soon as Zoe climbed up to join us, Avery crawled over to her, gave her a kiss and said, “Love you.” (Q commented that this was the first he has heard Avery say that to Zoe, unprompted.) Then, when we got home from school yesterday afternoon Avery told me, “I missed you, Mommy.” This is something I often tell the girls, but it was nice to have it said to me!
-M
I asked Zoe the other day what the best thing about being a kid was. Her answer surprised me: “That I get to play a mom and be a mom.” When I asked if she wanted to be a mom (for real) in the future, she told me yes, and then: “I want to get married to Leo someday. He might want a baby, and boys can’t have babies, so we’ll get married.”
-M
I knew Avery was a fan of airplanes – she gets excited and calls out “Airplane, airplane!” whenever she sees one – but I didn’t realize how much she liked flying. Yesterday, though, after we arrived home from dropping off Angela at the airport, Avery started crying. “Wanna go on an airplane!” she said, with her lower lip quivering and big tears rolling down her cheeks. Apparently, when we told her we were going to the airport, she thought we were the ones leaving!
-M
Angela wasn’t our only weekend visitor; on Saturday Q’s Uncle Craig came to San Francisco to spend time with us. It was a cold and rainy day, but Craig, Q and Zoe braved the elements and headed to Golden Gate Park for a Chinese New Year celebration (notice Zoe’s green dragon, which was made in honor of the Year of the Dragon) and a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden. I was told they had a blast…
-M
Zia Angela is visiting this weekend, and it turns out she gives great horsie rides…
-M
I’m several weeks late on this (I forgot all about it and re-discovered it this morning) – but I thought this video of Zoe was too entertaining to not post. Someone likes Hanukkah!
-M
This week marks a milestone of sorts: Avery (who turns two years, seven months today) is now the age that Zoe was when Avery was born. It’s a difficult thing for me to wrap my head around: Though I remember like it was yesterday when Zoe walked into our hospital room in her Big Sister shirt, carrying four pink balloons (and later, holding her sister), in my mind she was somehow older, taller, and more mature than Avery is now. And I can’t imagine having a demanding newborn at home – not when Avery still needs us so much (“C’mon,” she’ll say to us, grabbing and pulling on our index finger) and still does things like put her hands up, look at me with big eyes and say, “Baby up, Mommy.”
Avery may be an active, verbal and now potty-trained (yea!) preschooler, but – either because of birth order or personality, or both - I still consider her my baby. (Then again, I suppose I always will.)
-M
A few recent pictures of Avery that I haven’t yet shared…
-M
There’s one more picture to share from Saturday – and it’s one of my new favorites. Zoe just looks so… happy.
-M
Zoe and Avery are usually quite talkative on our way home from school, and my head sometimes hurts when both of them talk, loudly, over one another. To remedy the situation I recently taught Avery to use “Excuse me” if she wanted to say something when someone else was talking. She quickly learned the phrase, but it hasn’t helped much. Now instead of hearing lots of whines and “Mommy!”s from the backseat, I hear countless times, “Coob me, Mommy. Coob me!”
-M
For the last several years (dating back to when Zoe was younger than Avery), Q’s birthday has meant a trip to the track – and Golden Gate Fields was our destination this afternoon. “I’m sorry you didn’t win, since you were the birthday boy,” the ever-thoughtful Zoe told her dad on our way home – but Q actually did win several times. And all of us had a fun time placing bets, watching the horses and hanging out with friends.
-M
