Ten on Thursday

Yeah, I know I'm jacking with the delightful alliteration of the title. But three wasn't enough, thirteen is unlucky, and there's nowayinhell I could get to thirty. It is what it is. You'll live.

1. We had our first parent-teacher conference yesterday. I know I ended that sentence with a period, but I really want to end it with ten thousand !!!!!!. How on earth am I old enough to have a child who is old enough to have a parent-teacher conference?? It makes me feel like giggling maniacally when I think about it. Is that natural?

2. At aforementioned parent-teacher conference, I got to hear all about my daughter's strengths in the various areas of achievement. She is vocal. She is social. She is protective of her belongings. (ha!) She is strong-willed and definitely knows what she wants and doesn't want. (ha ha!) She is a social leader and wants to make sure her friends are being taken care of (an example given was wanting to make sure all the kids in the class got a snack when she was eating--awwww). The two areas they wanted us to work on is showing her how to stand from a squat (oh Lord, they're asking this pregnant woman to stand from a squat unsupported?? This will likely become a Daddy task) and showing her pictures of other girls and talking about how she is like these girls (I found this one interesting--she has long been the only girl in her class, but I never thought about needing to socialize her to identify with females. Huh.).

3. We also talked about transitioning her up to the toddler room. The TODDLER room. Where they take naps on the floor on a nap mat. ONE nap a day. eeek! That's a lot of changes for baby girl. The idea of her laying down on a nap mat and sleeping with a blanket is so foreign to me, I can't even imagine her doing it. And apparently, if a kid wakes up before the end of nap time, they are expected to sit quietly on their mat and read a book. :::blank stare::: I asked her teacher if she could imagine Ali sitting quietly on a mat and reading a book. She laughed. Yep, that was about my reaction, too.

4. Yesterday was also school picture day (awwww) AND her school's Fall Festival. TH and I met at her school after work, ate spaghetti dinners, and traveled from room to room, getting face painted and making foam frames for our family picture. Baby girl was NOT a fan of the face painting, so the attempted purple butterfly turned into the purple outline of a flower on her cheek. It's a start. She was really much more concerned that we were still at school when it was dinner time than enjoying the festivities.

5. Yesterday ALSO marked the official beginning of my second trimester. Parent-teacher conferences. A daughter in the toddler room. The 2nd tri. When did life start moving in fast forward?

6. I was enjoying the glorious 2nd tri earlier this week. A return of my energy. The departure of all food aversions and nausea. The resurgence of my sex drive (woohoo!). And then the last two days hit and brought with it exhaustion, food aversions, and nausea. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. My body must not have gotten the memo. 2nd tri! Move along, first tri symptoms! The gig is up!

7. I was snacking on potato chips while writing the beginning of this. I just looked down and there was an errant chip sitting on my shirt, just above my left boob. It must have been there for at least ten minutes. I'm so classy.

8. Baby girl is a walking machine now. This might be my most favorite stage yet. It's for sure the most adorable. I love love LOVE her toddling steps, mechanical, robot-like, her little arms held out to the side and a bit in front for balance, her lips pursed in concentration. Melts. My. Heart.

9. She also picked out her own outfit today. I was holding her in her jammies, flipping through the shirts in her closet. We flipped by a blue one with a heart on the front and she said, "More! More!" (she signs at the same time for emphasis.) To test her, I flipped to the next shirt, and she shook her head and said "No!" I went back to the blue one and she smiled and said "More!" Well alrighty then. Blue shirt it is. I know this could (will) come back to bite me in the butt at some point, but my heart just about burst at having a kid who knows what she wants to wear. You want the blue shirt, baby girl? You got it.

10. Molars. I was sitting here, wracking my brain for what else is going on in our merry little lives, and then it hit me. Molars. Molars are going on. She's got one officially in (damn those things are huge), and THREE OTHERS breaking at the same time. Poor baby. Molars can officially suck it.