Bye preschool!!! Can I still pop by for drop off and pick up just to chat with my favorite people?

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Good Times with Jess

Everyday last week I was crying or on the verge of crying. My baby graduated from pre-k. We said goodbye to our beloved preschool where I’ve been taking both of our babies for six years.

All I have to do is look at a piece of art work and tears come to my eyes. And there is so much art work.

Although there’s one piece of art work that does NOT bring tears to my eyes:

Hard to say what Captain has done to edge me out for this win, but if it’s lifting up legos, I’d like to point out I’m also very capable of that. I have lifted many a lego.

The cut off for kindergarten is September 1st. RB is a fall birthday so she’s well on her way to 6. She would’ve gotten on the bus a year ago if someone had let her.

Last year the alphabet and her name were still very mysterious, so it was nice to make some progress there.

RB is ready. I’m ready. IT’S JUST SO NOSTALGIC!

After six years at this wonderful school, I feel a little beside myself. My baby is not a baby and I said goodbye to some of our favorite people.

When RB started, she was two and still in pull-ups. Now she thinks she’s ready for high school.

Meanwhile BB just finished her best year yet and got teary when she needed to say goodbye to her amazing teacher. Yes, I may have gotten a little teary too. It was A WEEK.

I don’t remember having any tears on the last day of school when I was 8. I just remember pure peace-out energy. So that’s a testament to her 3rd grade teacher!

The sweet, emotional tears are over and we’ve moved onto the banshee cries of the wronged sibling.

I’m not sure what this summer will bring. We’re functioning on a week to week basis. We’ve decamped for the Cape, but have already been back home twice. I haven’t booked any summer camps, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. We’re going sailing, but only if my kids can agree to not tear each other apart.

BB says,

“I need my alone time.”

RB follows her around for the next hour.

They both whine and complain.

I say,

“BEDTIME!”

BB says,

“Can we have a sleepover?”

“Really? You just spent the last hour trying to get away from your sister.”

“I know. I still want a sleepover with her.”

Three hours later everyone is asleep.

I’ve instituted a No-Tattling Policy. It really seems to have helped. But ask me again in August.

And as teary as I am about my babies growing up, it’ll be a beautiful thing to put both kiddos on the 8am bus in September.

Until then, Happy Summer!!!

What is going on with that leg? Is that a high-school leg?

That’s my beach bag on the kitchen table. This is how I solved the never-ending conundrum of “SHE’S LOOKING AT ME!!!”

Bye magical, outdoor classroom at preschool 🥹😭😭

Back to school! I’m not crying, you’re crying. I’m really not crying

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Good Times with Jess

And then there was quiet.

THANK GOODNESS.

I adore our summers at the beach. But I can’t say enough good things about being home alone.

This is my unicorn week: Kids at school and Captain at the office. It hasn’t happened since June. And it won’t happen again until October.

I’m soaking in the solo vibes. Vacuuming whenever wherever. Reading my blog out loud without anyone asking me what the heck I’m talking about. (Reading out loud is really the best way to edit.)

And having the run of the place without being scared to death every time I turn a corner and bump into Captain. You’d think by now I’d remember that he lives here too.

Which is what he says when I scream. He reminds me,

“I live here too.”

Maybe he’ll learn to stay at his desk.

BB is thrilled to be in second grade, in part or in whole because she gets her own locker. RB is happy to be in the same pre-school class as last year, but her friends all moved up to pre-k.

In theory this sounded fine to her. Last week she kept exclaiming,

“I’m in the same room, with my same teachers, but with new friends!”

“Yes!”

“I’m excited to see A!”

“A isn’t in your class anymore.”

“Oh.”

We walked into her classroom this morning and she went to put her lunchbox away. She declared,

“I put it next to A’s.”

Hmmm. Maybe it looks like A’s…

RB runs off to play and I chat with her teachers. On my way out, RB gives me a concerned look and mutters under her breath to me,

“These are baby kids.”

She’s not wrong.

Last year she was a baby kid. She was still two and one of the youngest. Now she’s almost four and one of the oldest. I reassure her about what a big kid she is.

That seems to do the trick. She had a wonderful day and was very chatty on the way home. She told me all about her new friends, including one still wearing a diaper. She doesn’t seem to be holding it against her.

Now RB is home and it’s still quiet. There’s no one for her to fight with and there’s no one to scare me. There’s a little bit of peace.

Cheetah mom ready for a cat nap

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Good Times with Jess

T minus one day and I will be home alone.

Two years ago, mid-pandemic, mid-new baby, this seemed so out of reach I didn’t even dare daydream about it.

Now Captain is required to go to the office three days a month, but somehow he’s only doing two days this month. BB started first grade today and RB starts preschool tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the perfect storm. I will be home alone and it won’t happen again for another month.

It feels like one of those celestial events that the news mentions: THIS WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN IN OUR LIFETIMES. Or for several years. Or it’ll happen every 30 days give or take a recalcitrant employee.

The stars have aligned in my favor. I would usually go to zumba Wednesday morning, but part of me feels like I should just stay home and marvel at my aloneness.

I’ve been on a tear reorganizing the house. RB, the most OCD organized two-year-old I’ve ever met, surveys what I’ve done to the playroom/livingroom. She demands,

“Who put the toys away?”

“I did.”

She walks off.

That was easy.

“She seems easy going” says no one who knows RB. But so said her future preschool teacher.

I wasn’t about to throw RB under the bus. I’ll see how long it takes her teacher to change her assumption.

RB is outgoing, has a disarming smile and a flirtatious shoulder shrug, which could lead anyone to think she goes with the flow. SHE DOES NOT.

And if you’re thinking flirtatious is not an adjective to be applied to a 2.11 year old, maybe it’s charm or personality, but whatever it is, it is enough for me to understand how some people are born con artists.

Her adorableness may be keeping her alive as her OCD challenges my ability to not scream right along with her.

Over the summer, she insisted that her beach towel be spread out on the sand for her. I obliged. If there was one corner folded over, she screamed,

“It’s not right!”

When BB left her dress-up shoes on the front mat with the regular shoes, RB yelled,

“This is not good!”

When there was seaweed stuck to the wheel of my beach cart that I didn’t even notice. Who would? RB badgers me,

“It’s dirty.”

“It’s ok.”

“It’s dirty!”

“What’s dirty?”

“The wheel!”

“It’s okay for the wheel to be dirty.”

She looks doubtful. I ask a fellow adult for backup,

“Are you worried about the seaweed on the wheel of my beach cart?” Wink. Wink.

“Not at all!!!”

RB sways. She seems unconvinced. I ask her,

“Do you want to go play with the kids?”

“Oh yeah!”

If I can get RB in weather appropriate clothing tomorrow, that will be a win. We’ve been landlocked for over a week and RB is still insisting on wearing her bathing suit every morning.

I walk in her room and I’m greeted with,

“Is it a beach day?!”

Today she agreed to wear clothing, but added flippers:

A few weeks ago I gave BB the internet’s worth of sneaker options. She zeroed in on the rainbow animal prints. She drew a picture of herself and declared,

“Cheetah power!!”

I had my misgivings and did some online sleuthing. I delivered the potential death blow to this shoe choice,

“I think those might be leopard spots.”

“Oh. That’s ok!”

This morning BB channelled her cheetah power all the same.

First grade here we go!

First day of school EVER

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Good Times with Jess

Gearing up for back to school. It’s our first time. And by gearing up I mean filling out all the forms I’ve had for weeks and buying BB a new pair of sneakers.

I have all the feels: excitement, nostalgia… that’s it. No anxiety. It’s going to be great! It’s like leaving her at the Y, but for 2 more hours and they’ll feed her lunch.

At home BB is a non-stop chatter box. Among new people she could very well remain silent all day. It’s anyone’s guess when she’ll decide to let loose.

I fill out the online forms which have big open boxes for personality description, fears, hopes and dreams and then there’s the toilet section. It has an impossibly small character limit: either 2 simple sentences or one long one.

Yes I could use one of the other large data fields to explain how we’re peeing fine and pooping in a pull-up. But as you can see, one complex sentence just about covers it. If they want to know more, I’m sure they’ll find out.

BB has a backpack and lunchbox she picked out. She told me,

“It needs to have horses on it.”

This was not a super-simple find. Unicorns are having a moment. They’re dominating gear where horses might once have stood a chance. I show BB a unicorn backpack. She shakes her head at me and repeats slowly,

“H O R S E S.”

I find one! Not just horses, glittery horses! BB is thrilled. I’m pretty pleased with myself. My mom has contributed a bullet-proof insert. This feels useful and makes me cry.

BB tells me,

“I need green, light-up sneakers.”

I mention this to Captain. He’s surprised.

“How does she know about those?”

I ask BB,

“How do you know about light-up sneakers?”

She looks at us like she can’t believe this is what she has to deal with and explains,

“Other kids.”

We’re kinda obsessed with Toy Story right now. So much so that BB wants to be a space ranger when she grows up. She is the master of putting toys places I’d never suspect and often can’t find for months. Buzz either really needs coffee or has had his coffee and is ready for blast off.