In Which We Start School

Earlier this summer I made the choice to leave my job and pull the kids out of daycare. It's been... yeah. They are the most entertaining pair of children, and of course they entertain each other. They also know each other's buttons! Gavin is not a morning person - much like his mother. Shocking. Gabby bounds out of bed ready to take on the world. Most days she leaves him alone, but others she will stare at him and try to hug him, which drives him batshit.

Then he retaliates. He chases her around the house, roaring like some kind of demented mini lion. Oh siblings...

Soon enough came time for back to school shopping. Equipped with special lunchbox and shoes from Granny, new outfit and a stocked backpack, we were on our way. P.G. County schools in my district have a very early start: bell at 7:45 AM and dismissal at 1:55 PM. Fortunately we live right around the corner from the school, so a 7:00 AM wake time still means on-time arrival. Gabby had requested a 5:30 AM wake up call, which I denied for the sake of everyone's sanity. Still, at 7:08, I was being pestered to hurry because she didn't want to be late. Reassured that would not be the case, she consented to pose for some photos.

Of course there was a traffic jam. Our sixty second car ride turned into spending more than five minutes parked at the stop sign to exit the subdivision. No matter, we parked and walked in. At the classroom, Gabby discovers her desk with her name on it is right next to one of her old buddies from daycare. We are dismissed with perfunctory hugs and kisses. It's at this point that Gavin realizes that we are leaving his beloved tormentor behind. 

"Gaaaabbbbyyyyyy! Gaaabby... " The wailing was heartbreakingly pathetic. He kept this up the whole walk back to the car, through a conversation with Granny and with Daddy, and for the ride home.

 I had to console him with a slide show of pics of Gabby. That calmed him down. We puttered about for a bit, got lunch, took a nap, and walked over to pick her up. They ran at each other like they had been separated for a year instead of a day... then it was back to business as usual. This morning when we rolled up to school, I was informed that there was no need to walk her all the way to her classroom. She left us at the end of the hallway to go off by herself, kissing and hugging even more abrupt than yesterday. 

Gavin cried for one minute and was over it.

We Ready for the Road!

We have been so blessed to have two children who are such world-class travelers. Gabby has been flying since she was seven months old, and I can think of just one time where she had a meltdown while we were traveling. Gavin started a little older, at eleven months, but he's also taken to flying like a champ. The pressure changes don't seem to bother them too much, and they like the relative excitement of getting on that plane and going to a different country!

Gratuitous cute shot

This year's trip was no exception. We had a flight that put us in Trinidad right around 11 PM. We had to stand in very long lines, but both kids behaved like champs despite the late hour. There was the usual age-appropriate misbehavior, but taken as a whole I know that *I* wanted to curl up in a ball and be left alone. But there was Gabby, chatting with the Immigration officer as though she'd met him before, and Gavin exclaiming "Look Mommy!" at each new thing.

(sideways photos are a new thing)

The family was excited to see them as usual, and Gabby disappeared to Auntie Heather's house to be seen occasionally for meal times and random hugs. For the most part Gavin stuck close. He did, after all, get the last Mommy at the Mommy Store.

More sideways photos. Don't judge.

Gabby played mas! The week before we left, my friend Dina asked me if she wanted to play. I asked: Hey Gabs, do you want to dress up in a costume and be in a parade? Silly me. Of course the answer was a resounding yes! This pandered to her nascent vanity, after all. She was to be a chocolate cupcake, so we bought the materials and Auntie Heather sewed the costume for her:

Carnival Saturday dawned bright and hot. We were supposed to meet the band for 7:30 or something ridiculous. As I had just returned from a fete at 5:30 this was just not happening. We eventually met up with them around 9. Gabby was excited at first but then we hit up the red tape that governs crossing the Savannah Stage. It seems that it had not yet been cleared from the previous night. So, here we are, second band in line to cross and we are stopped in one area. For. Ever. Okay, not forever, but close to an hour, which was ridiculous considering the ages of the children involved and the heat of the morning. Gabby had a couple of meltdowns and when we got to the stage, she, um, staged a mutiny:

Sat down. On the stage. In front of the judging station. In hindsight I can just laugh. It wasn't so amusing on 1 hour of sleep though. Eventually we bribed her to get up and the conversation in the car revolved around her suggestion that she didn't want to do this next year but maybe we should wait until she's a little older.

Good call, Oh Wise Pumpkin.

Gavin spent his time in other pursuits. He remained barebacked, ate a lot, and talked on the phone to anyone who called.

He also learned a new skill: cat herding. I think he'll make a fabulous nonprofit employee one day. Auntie Judy's cats, however, did not think much of his new talents, and avoided him like the plague when they saw him coming. "Snoopy! Mia! Caesar! Where are you?!" was a new phrase he added to his vocabulary while he was in Trinidad. Not to be outdone, Gabby also made friends with the  neighbors' kids. She also learned to climb walls, a time-honored family skill.

We did find the time to visit the beach too. Bake and shark is a must, and it was nice to hang out with Derrick and Rae-Ann. Gavin loved the beach. Loved. Too bad the surf was a little rough so we didn't get in the water too much.

We left on an early Sunday flight and came back to the same miserably cold weather as the day we left. Until next year, Trinis!

There are lots of photos to go with this post, but blogger was being a pain in the ass. So here it is, six months later... sans photos. Use your imagination!