More Aunt Frances!!

Aunt Frances visited us in New York this weekend! Two visits with her with her in two weeks is heaven! :) She had a Bikram Yoga training recertification to do, so she stayed with us. & Kiana remembered her!! She just stayed for the weekend, but it was awesome.


On Sunday morning, we went to Aidan's friend Eme's birthday party, and then afterward, my cousin Heather drove over for lunch. It was great!


I am in the middle of sending off a real round of academic job applications, and I think the blog is going to be inconsistent for the next month. I've just got too much on my plate right now. But hopefully it will pay off! Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

SCHOOL

This week was a really big week! After getting back from Seattle on Tuesday night, Kiana had her first day of daycare on Wednesday! And then Aidan had his first day of pre-K on Thursday! At the same time, we also have gotten rid of a box-spring that was taking up space, and have moved Kiana onto sleeping on a mattress on the floor in me and Alex's room (not in our bed anymore). Aidan continues to be totally fine sleeping on his top bunk bed. And on Saturday, Kiana's 8th tooth finally - FINALLY - cut through! (I feel like this one has taken 6 months to get through!) So, there's a lot happening.


Kiana is starting up at a daycare called Sunshine Playhouse, just north of Bennett Park, which is about two blocks from our house and in between our house and Aidan's playschool. (Nana's wasn't accepting below age 2 when we were looking, so we had to find somewhere else.) It's a place where we know three other kids who have gone there and loved it, including Aidan's friend Eme, who is now at his playschool. Kiana had a hard time on the first couple of days, especially since she knew from Kiddie Corp last week what it meant to say goodbye and go to "school." That made for some increased stress for everyone, and an extremely late (midnight!) overstimulated night on Wednesday for her. However, by Friday, Gladys (the lady in charge at Kiana's daycare) said that Kiana was doing much better, and even napped while she was there! So, things are changing for the better.


Aidan started pre-K at the "big kids school" - PS 187, which is right next door to our house (we can see into his classroom window from our living room). It is going to be a part day program, and he is in the afternoon slot which will generally run 12:20-2:50PM. So, he will be continuing to attend Nana's Blessings daycare in the morning (8/9-12PM), and then our babysitter Laurie will be picking up him and his friend Eme there and taking them to PS 187 for the afternoon. However, the first two days were "half days" at PS 187, which meant Aidan went with half of the kids (9 of 18) for half the time (1:40-2:45PM) - quite a short "day"!!! He was totally fine with being dropped off, and likes his new teachers (Miss Dorothy and Miss Narcissa). His first day he came home with a paper where he had written his own name himself. And his second day he said he did a self portrait: a picture of himself in his favorite color: a yellow picture on yellow construction paper!!! He has been more tired and grumpy in the afternoon, but change is tough, and he is doing really well.


This weekend, we drove up to the Catskills to see Grandma and Grandpa Ruane (Gma and Gpa). Daddy was thrilled to come because he hasn't really been here all summer, and Gma and Gpa are thrilled to see the kids. I'm happy because I'm going to have a chance to put together a job packet - or at least as much as possible! And, of course, the very belated blog. :p

Conference & Aunt Frances

So much has been going on in the last couple of weeks that I just haven't felt up to staying on top of the blog! So this week, we'll have a double-feature!


Last week, Kiana and I flew to Seattle, WA, so that I could attend the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) conference and receive APSA's Human Rights Section Best Dissertation Award. (!!!!) It was a last minute trip, but it went great! Kiana was a fantastic traveler on the plane, and then managed to survive being in KiddieCorp while I was in meetings, at panels, and visiting with colleagues. We stayed with Aunt Frances, who was AMAZING: she saved Kiana from being in KiddieCorp too long with walks through the city and the parks and a visit to the zoo (though KiddieCorp was - again - really well done), cooked us meals and cleaned up after us, and drove us back and forth between her house and the conference. I had a fantastic time being an adult at the conference and have come back with more confidence in job prospects. I also just LOVE hanging out with Frances, and was sooooooooooooooooooooo happy for that as well!


After the conference was over, Frances and I spent most of a day painting artistically (I don't remember the last time I did that!), and I even got to visit with a childhood friend - Nicole Wong, who I was best friends with when I was 12 but haven't really seen since then. That was amazing, too!


Kiana and I were gone for a full week (Tuesday through Tuesday), and the kids were thrilled to be reunited when we got back. Aidan shyly told me that he missed me SO MUCH that he would do WHATEVER I asked him (I asked him for a hug, and he demurred: "maybe AFTER I eat my cereal!"); and he missed Kiana SO MUCH that he would let her play with WHATEVER she wanted. It was very sweet!



It was great to be reunited as well, but I have come back determined to switch tracks and really start my career. Being a stay-at-home mom puts me in the doldrums, and I think I - and therefore everyone - will be happier when I can work outside the home. It's nice to miss each other and be happy to see each other afterwards. And it's important for me to not give up the old me entirely by being a mom - and working on intellectually interesting projects with other adults is a big part of that for me. I've put a big investment in being at home so far with the kids, and that's probably a good thing. But I want more balance in my life. & I'm looking forward to making that happen!