Fall Friday Fondue

I don't know whether I'd say that Peeper's doing better with school or worse. The mornings have been progressively worse, but the actually school days seem to be getting better.

This morning, she was freaking out before she was even dressed, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get clothes on her. When we got to school. I took her right to the table, told her again that "I know you can do this," and "Okay, quick like a Band-Aid. I love you, bye-bye!" while Shrike dealt with her backpack and her "Mr. Mailbox" note.

Then we stood out in the hall, just around the corner, listening to her cry.

We could hear the teacher helping her to trace her name on the tag that she moves from her cubby to the "At School" board, and then heard her saying that one of the kids' dads was going to be bringing a kitty to visit, for Pet Week. Then, on our way out, we passed Mrs. D. with her doggy (and tipped her off that there was a kitty upstairs!), so we knew she'd like that.

Shrike and I ran errands all morning (Yucky couch to the dump! Fall clothes for Peeper! Lady clothes for me! Amazing breadsticks and mediocre stromboli!) and debated whether we're ruining her for life by making her go to preschool or would ruin her for life if we let her quit.

Either way, of course, ruined. For life.

Then I went to pick her up and it seems that she had a pretty good day. She did cry on the way back from the gym, but she had mentioned (very sadly) a couple of times since Wednesday that "I didn't take my picture to the gym!" so I suggested that it might help if she took it with her next time. Also, on Wednesday, I accidentally ran into her class on the way back from the gym, so she might have been expecting to see me then.

She was sad that I was there alone, because she "Didn't realize Mommy was going to go to work! I thought you were both going to pick me up!" but she got settled down pretty quickly, and when we called Shrike to check in, she told her, "I had a great day!"

WTF, kid?

So, after school, I took her over to the local "farm in the city" to feed the animals, check out the fall decor, and enjoy lots and lots of free samples, since this weekend is their fall open house. I think she kind of enjoyed it.

When we left, she was asking to go out to dinner, and we were right next door to a place that serves fondue, so I told her, "Hey, this place has something called 'fondue.' It's like a giant bowl of cheese dip, and you have fruits and veggies and bread, and you dip them in it and eat it. Would you like to try that?"

Her response? "Fondue? I thought that had something to do with chocolate."

Doh! I forgot about this (see 3:30).

So, I told her we'd have the cheese and then we could "discuss" the chocolate.

Yeah. Like I didn't know how that was going to turn out.