On Tuesday the 2 week countdown will begin. My little one and only will be starting Preschool. Cue the flash flood of tears and the crazy rocking back and forth. Wasn’t I just in the Walnut Creek Kaiser preparing for a C-section? Oh, wait…that was almost 4 years ago. How in the hell did this happen? Why did time suddenly decide to speed up? It feels like the world is spinning out of control and all I can do is throw my arms out into the air and desperately grasp onto anything I can and hold on tight. Even as I type this I am fighting back the tears.
As a first time mom, even though I’m sure I’d be the same if it was my 30th, the fear of someone else being responsible for my child is frightening to me. She has only ever been left with family. In 2 weeks people I don’t even know will be with my little girl from 8-11:45. I am totally going to be one of those moms the first few weeks (possibly more cuz I’m crazy) having someone from the office run down to the classroom to give me a report as to how she is doing. Does she really have to go? Home schooling isn’t that bad, right?
What makes my anxiety even worse is that I am no longer able to work from home a few days a week, which means I can’t take my baby to school or pick her up. This is like a knife straight into my heart. I was really looking forward to at least picking her up into my arms when class ended and having discussions as to how her day was.
You would think this whole process would get easier as they got older, but I have been made aware by my lovely Twitter Mama friends that this is not the case. What the heck? I gotta go through this gut wrenching torment EVERY year?!?
I know this is good for her and she is probably going to have a great time. Just don’t mind me, I’ll be curled up on her bed with her little stuffed doggy for the next month (at least).
My daughter has always been interested in music. Heck when she was in the womb my husband and I use to put headphones on my belly and subject her to different kinds of music. When she heard Hank Williams or My Morning Jacket she would move around like crazy. When we changed the music to (my husband’s favorite) Ween or some other groups (can’t remember them now) she was completely still. It was actually pretty amazing to witness. When she was born and would get really fussy, my husband would play the same music she bounced around to in the womb and it would calm her down.
When she was a little bit older, still a baby, she LOVED guitars, violins, really anything with strings. It would even look like she would have the finger placement perfect when she was just playing around with it.
Most of this I can attribute to my husband’s genes. He plays guitar, bass, mandolin and the list goes on. His mom can play the violin. Me? I can play a pretty mean kazoo. I wish I was talented enough to play a musical instrument. I LOVE music, just not the sound of me playing music.
On her 3rd birthday, my husband’s mom bought her a violin. She knows the pieces of the violin and can play a note without sounding like you are killing a cat (which oddly enough is the sound I make when I’m trying to play it). The patience isn’t quite there yet to sit still long enough, but she is only 3.
The other thing that has helped her love of music grow is a kid rock band called The Imagination Movers. It is made up of a very talented group of four men who teach children how to think outside of the box to solve problems or as they call them “idea emergencies” . She has always loved the show, but when she hears the music she’s completely captivated. She can hear their songs just a few times and then she’s singing them around the house. At about 13 months she could name each Mover and at about 15 months she could pick out their voices just by listening to the songs. Needless to say, the Imagination Movers have been a BIG part of her life thus far, and subsequently mine as well. I’m just thankful she has good taste in music because in all honesty I like the songs too.
For her birthday last year we took her to their concert in Santa Rosa, CA. She was so excited! Mover Scott waved to her from behind the stage before the concert started (whom she has a little crush on) and Mover Smitty jumped off the stage and came right up to her as he played to her and held her hand (sweetest moment ever in this mama’s book). She still talks about that experience and I still get scolded that I didn’t get VIP passes to meet them. I explained to her that you do what you can with the money you have at the time. We did have pretty sweet seats though (3rd row, which after the concert started changed to the front).
I honestly can’t be grateful enough that she has this love and appreciation for music at such a young age. She has such an interest to learn it and she really has a good ear for it. All thanks to my husband’s genes and the Imagination Movers!
Ladies and gentleman…it’s that time again to play ketchup with our lovely, talented ketchup ladies mel and michele. This time we are blogging about…
In 57 words or less, tell us about a significant first day in your life … of school, work, parenthood, rehab, veganism, prison, whatever you want.
October 10th, 2009: After 5 days in the hospital, we finally go to bring this little love home…
This was the most terrifying evening of my life. It was the first time I realized how deep a love for someone can go and how overwhelming the feeling can be to protect something you love so much. There is no better way to explain it than this…
Jim Breuer: The Joy of Parenting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbk1Bv-siA
‘KETCHUP WITH US’ – Prompt 23
Easiest link-up ever. All we want is a picture. Give us your best bitchy/asshole resting face. Blog-less? Email it to olddognewtits@gmail.com and we’ll create a post of these entries. Want to remain anonymous? Find one in a magazine. Models are notoriously plagued with this disease
I have to say I was a wee bit excited about this one. Super easy, just had to give the face I give my hubs when his logic is, well, flawed. Em is even learning. 🙂
The Graying Chronicles 