Preschool and other updates...

I love this picture. It was taken on the third morning that Elisa went to preschool and it sort of captures her whole attitude to the new routine...my eyes may be sleepy, but I have my backpack on and I just need to play the bongos one time before I can leave. Seriously, it's been that easy. The first week, in fact, I was sort of floating on air each morning after drop off. Three hours to myself to do whatever I needed or wanted to do or nothing at all. It was so nice to have that time away from her and to know that she was loving it too. There was a lot of painting and playing outside and of course, the breakfasts that she had to recount in full. A total win-win. And except for one teary goodbye with Papa and a morning of clinginess with me the second week, she has bounced right back into the routine on week 3. I won't credit anything but her own personality for this transition to school, since I really think Elisa is just one of those kids that thrives around lots of people. She is a total extrovert and as she gets older, it shows more and more that she adapts to new situations with new people with ease.

And sometimes, it's a little too easy like the other night at dinner at our neighborhood Mexican joint. She was sitting at the table with us across the aisle from a nice gray-haired grandfather out with his son and two granddaughters. He smiled and started talking to Elisa and she played coy for a few minutes before talking a bit. As he got up to leave, he shook her hand and told us what a lovely girl she was, and Elisa was clearly smitten. She started spewing out a whole series of non sequiturs that seemed to amuse him to no end. When he said goodbye and walked away though, Elisa turned to us and said, "Where he go? I want to go with him." Uh, no. Let's leave the old men alone. Jeesh. Like I said, I'm happy she's such a personable child, but sometimes I think the hard part with Elisa is finding suitable outlets for all her enthusiasm. So for now, preschool is a good start, and I couldn't be more pleased with the way she is responding to the classroom and her teachers at Amazing Magic Beans. It's a short walk from our place to those 9 hours of freedom every week, but what a difference already.

BABY GIRL #2 UPDATE:

So I went in today for my 38 week appointment, and there appear to be some good signs that this pregnancy is nearing its end. I'm dilated to about a 2 1/2 or even 3 cm, up from 1 two weeks ago, and the baby seems to be a little further down. (This is in contrast to the steady 1 cm I was with Elisa, up until about 20 hours into labor when I reluctantly agreed to pitocin to get the whole thing going). My doctor has had a tentative induction date on the calendar for July 28 for weeks now, despite my hesitations and not even asking for it. I was a bit surprised and then annoyed about her matter-of-fact-why-the-heck-not attitude to elective inductions, since she never really adequately spelled out why I would need it. But now that we've come this far and I told her I wasn't coming in for that next week, she cancelled it with no problems. I just don't think I can pick the day like that when there isn't a good enough reason to do it. And despite her swearing that second time inductions are "waaay" easier, I just don't feel that's a good enough answer. I really like the idea of things happening naturally (for lack of a better word) at least as much as they can. And yes, it means I have a few more days with Nacho working and no relatives in town yet. But I have some contingency plans and a whole neighborhood full of friends that could pitch in if things get tricky. So we'll see. I'm hoping that by my next appointment on Wednesday, I'll have more good news that the baby is progressing and still hanging tough. And hopefully by then I'll be packed and ready to head to the hospital if we need to. Nacho is taking off after the 27th, so here's to hoping he's not out of town when my water breaks this time. Yeah, that would be nice.