August: You better believe we are killing it instead of being killed by it! So far. Gods of Fate, don't hear me I didn't say anything carry on carry on. I feel like I've been holding off on posting this until we're at least one foot in September, but heck. Life just keeps on going!
With the exception of last year, August has always been pretty wild and crazy hectic. This year was no exception because yeah we know the Delta is bad, but we're also burned out as heck and bracing for another kind of locked down autumn. But also just... that's how August is.
It's been good for Allan.
Striaght off, she made a friend in soccer. By "friend" I mean "fellow girl who also has cool socks and shoes and who is significanty less of a space cadet than our darling but who still isn't crazy aggro about sliding into other kids to kick the soccer ball somewhere even if they aren't sure where" You know. A kid you can sit in the goal with while piling grass on soccer balls. That level of tight.
No idea what her name is. But she's adorable.
Wait wait, I have it on good authority that I was wrong when I guess Kaylyn and that it's Jaylyn. Which... maybe?
Allan has also been going to "Summer Camp" (which is basically like school but by the week and vaguely themed). She has friends who come in and out of that and she doesn't know any of their names, but she loves them all, so... that's a win. One of them had a Paw Patrol shirt on one time. And all the girls also wear dresses. So clearly they are TIGHT! (the friends, not the dresses)
In other major social excursions, Allan and her mommy and daddy had a play date at the Woodland Park Zoo with a very cool family a couple weekends ago. They have boys: one Allan's age and slightly younger. Precocious, adorable, generally kidlike boys who give their parents appreciably enough trouble that we all can rapidly relate to each other with a small little look that all similarly situated parents know.
The parents are very cool. They're adventurous, well travelled, thoughtful, funny, and ... well i actually can't say as much more about them as I would like because we were at a flippin' zoo and had a total of three children between us. We waved and nodded at each other a lot with the occasional pass at conversation. But they waved and nodded in a way that makes me think they'd be fun to hang out with.
No no, we got further confirmation at a subsquent birthday party they hosted. They can definitely nod, wave, and generally throw a good children's birthday party. And they buy really nice cupcakes. So... BFFs for life!
I'm not gonna lie. We totally want to get to know them better and it's like OMG friend-dating for couples friends is just as full of emotional ups and downs as dating-dating! Will they actually think we're cool if they hear us talk more than two words at a time? Will my weird allergies cause me to burst into some kind of freakish flame ball at whatever locale makes sense for us to hang at again. Will Andrew bury his face in some chocolate dessert and spend the rest of the evening looking like he has poo on his forehead?? You know all the alls. We're planning to have a "parent's night out" next weekend and OMG what am I gonna wear??
Allan would get along with their elder son, but of course we were at the zoo and they maybe said three words to each other. I think at the birthday party, Sebastian (the son) spent a good amount of time yelling at Allan that she was playing some party game wrong while she smiled and ignored him and generally continued to cheat shamelessly. He seemed amused at least. It's a start.
But back to the zoo and ... more... dinosaurs! The dinos were a hit. Nobody got eaten.
The following week was a pleasant entry into the exciting explosion that was half smoke and half family excitement. This is also the week that Allan started going to summer camp. She loved it from day one even if she occasionally commented that other kids won't play with her or she can't say things she wants because it's too loud. I hear these things but she seems to focus on the happy. She's referred to a few moments of crying that seem emotionally appropriate and it's cool to hear that she self-regulated or things like another child saying "it's ok" were effective. It gives me some confidence about her charge into the grand world of school this fall.
Other than that, we had a few calm days at the beginning of the week.
Time enough to fly a kite Allan got for her birthday even
But of course the real staples of August hadn't hit yet. That's right. The always happening. Always exciting.
1. SMOKE BOMB - we got smoke finally after a summer of somehow avoiding it. The air was grimey and unbreathable. The sun was that weary ruddy hue of apocalypse. Our air purifiers earned their keep. We are actually hugely fortunate in that it seems like we got the whole misery out of the way (knock on wood) in a single week. And only about 3 particularly bad days.
but also...
2. The Falconer visit! Most of them. My eldest nephew stayed behind to attend some kind of dive camp. But the rest were there, so it generally worked ok. They first ventured out to Bellingham for a few days and then stayed in an Air BnB just as the air turned to junk and the heat amped up. But they're from Jersey so did they even notice a difference? Har har.
and of course
3. Allan's (and my) birthday week.
Allan celebrated so grandly and so many days in a row that she's probably old enough for that covid vaccine finally.
We had pizza, ice cream, cupcakes, shaved ice...
We "played" a million new board games that a friend had sent over. Andrew was pretty determined to play Kids of Catan according to the rules, but Allan was pretty clear that the whole point was cool game pieces and infinite possibilities.
Someday he'll get to play grownup Settlers of Catan and scratch that itch. It was fun though. Not to mention some game involving snakes (big hit because Allan adores snakes). And a few more.
The air cleared after a few days and we got to spend some time showing Aunt Rachel around our neighborhood. Just Aunt Rachel. The boys found out that Americans can get into Canada again and bolted for my dad's island house (he didn't get to go, but hey somebody at least is there!). Some shenanigans involved in finding the right Covid test, because it turns out that there are many many different kinds. And apparently Sam had to take a second test that was latere picked up via seaplane by a government official. Sounds exciting.
But we had our nice little neighborhood.
And the aquarium! Supposed to be the grand finale in a week of partying. Allan and I had discussed that i would buy her one toy at the end. And she bolted through that darned aquarium in no time at all. I'm not sure she saw much of anything!
Ok there were brief pauses. We saw a seal. We saw Jelly Fish. We touched sea stars. It was a full and proper aquarium visit on triple speed. Of course the visit to the gift shop was both the greatest and worst of times. Allan found three things she wanted with equal fervor. Well a book she wanted a lot and a shark toy and mermaid doll that she had to have on pain of immortal damnation.
(She'll get the other toys later - her generous aunt and grandma snuck back to buy the rejected ones and we're planning to give them to her in honor of her first day of school. Will she even remember them? Well, we'll see!)
As always, by the time my birthday came around, I was pretty spent. Since I am the keeper of the holiday in our particular household, if I don't throw an occasion, there is no occasion. So... I requested a card. Andrew said "hey Allan want to make a card for mommy?" Allan did. And she just sat down and mostly made it. Andrew helped a bit and voila: a card.
It was incredible.
And that pretty much made the day.
But just for frivolity, I also bought myself some "birthday cake" themed treats. Mostly white chocolate (which I can sort of eat) and these birthday cake marshmallows that fit a candle at least well enough for a song and a wish.
And with that we were all another year older! But I'm not 40... yet. Weird. I am pretty ready to be mid-forties. I've been middle aged for decades, feels like.
And August continued on.
August is gonna August. Of course we couldn't just follow up a crazy birthday Bacchanalia without... TWO MORE BIRTHDAYS!
Wait, three. One was a joint sibling party for the kids from the zoo. It was rad. Cool park, little forest behind the park, a creek. Kids roaming around in packs like wolves. And, of course, cupcakes. Really really choice cupcakes.
With bonus cupcakes for the kiddo to drop smack dab into the tiny cup(cake) holder on her carseat. Believe it or not, I got this out in one piece. I am a master!
But wait there's more!!! Our friend, Justin
also had a birthday, which he decided to observe by camping out at the Renn Faire in Bonney Lake. A weekend long creatively anachronistic Burning Man type event. We joined on Sunday after soccer. Dressed as our favorite time travelers...
The hair is lacking. I was going for Ted of Bill and Ted. Don't think this won't be making a come back on Halloween.
It was... cool.
There was jousting and yelling and fair (faire?) food.
And... Allan was SPENT!
(me too, but I don't pass out in nearly as glorious a fashion and my kiddo and her daddy)
Just to make sure she stayed tired (because we hate ourselves!!!), we began our experimental plan of waking Allan up earlier every day without really giving her space to fall asleep earlier.
I mean, we put her to bed at a perfectly wonderful time for her new wake up time, but she requires an additional several hours of futzing about, snuggling with me in my bed, and then having daddy stay with her in her room, and all this ceremony occurs after official bed time. I honestly am sleepy enough I could stand to go to bed earlier (say 5?) if that's what it takes, but Andrew and I suddenly have a whole lot less time together between our morning breakfasts and the post bedtime downtime we used to get.
But she's gotta do it because SCHOOL IS COMING!!! While camps are a tidy 9 a.m., actual Kindergarten will be beginning at 8 a.m. At a school that's further away than we originally anticipated. I have no idea how long it'll actually take to drop her off what with all the other cars, but I'm guessing we'll have to leave her pretty promptly after breakfast and breakfast will also have to be pretty darned prompt.
Which school? Well... we're not sure.
We were all set to put Allan in the nearby public school. I mean it was part of the appeal of this place, being right next to the school. But yeah, we were those nice white parents who tried to get her transferred to the better school that honestly all the nice white parents shift their kids to from this neighborhood (it's such a cliche, but Madison is an obectivelly better school on every level and I'm not talking abotu test performance and grades in the slightest as much as positive experiences with learning and emotional support and creative experiences and so on). She did not make it to Madison.
We were ok with West Seattle. Warily as delta resurged, for sure. More warily as repeated attempts at finding out any information about her upcoming school year were frustrated and unsatisfied and more and more reports of frustrated staff and totally messed up planning came out. We were definitely nonplussed when the information night we thought we were attending based on a robocall from the school turned out to be a back-to-school school supplies giveaway for indigent families sponsored by the housing authority and having no association with the school.
Anyways. After a series of more and more maddening miscues and non-interactions, we were starting to build homeschooling cooperatives in the sky. Got as far as almost getting Allan's original preschool headmaster to browse some real estate (she thought better of it, but it would have been grand!).
But ultimately, I found information on my mom's group about a private school (for shame! but here we are) that is, well, f-ing incredible It started off as a parent co-op, but has evolved into this beautiful bastion of joyful deeply layered multidimensional learning aimed at kids of all levels and abilities, incredible communication and extremely well thought out covid precautions.
Needless to say the chances of such a school having openings two weeks before... actually not bad. They had such a large incoming class that they divided the class into two classrooms and this created about 2 extra spots. One of which we are desperately hoping to fill.
Friday was a mad dash through a 90 minute orientation of the school, a handful of parental essays, about 5 different videos showing our kid do different skills and communicationgs things, and some family photos. We have an interview on Monday and then we leave it to the fates.
Wish us luck, however it's meant to pan out. We are seriously talking about home-schooling cooperatives if this doesn't work out and I'm not sure I can handle that!
I think August has had it's fill, but honestly our September is surprisingly filling up as well. Covid or no, the outdoors is habitable and breathable, so let the games continues.
Happy countdown to fall!
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