Eugenious

[A post from the past. Explanation here.]

This one is from way in the past. March, 2009. I told you I had a stack of these things.

For the first few months of Elena’s life, she spent all of her time with her family. She was a pretty good-natured baby, so Julie even took her to work with her. Elena would hang out while Julie worked, occasionally asking politely for some attention.

At about six months, however, she started to be self-propelled. And to grab things. This new activity, while developmentally appropriate, was incompatible with an office environment, so it was time for Elena to start going to “school,” which is what everyone calls the kids’ preschool around here.

So we packed the kids into our newly-purchased double jogger (thanks Craigslist!) and rolled them over to school.

All smiles.

Elena napped in the jogger on the way over to school, saving her energy for the big day. When she got there, she met one of our favorite people in the whole world: Lori! Lori had been Sylvan’s preschool teacher when he started going to school, and she ended up being Elena’s teacher from the age of six months to almost three years.

OK Dad, I'll try this.

Lori predicted that Elena would be so excited that she would only nap about 20 minutes, instead of her usual hour and a half or two hours. She ate and drank everything that was offered. When she woke up from her nap (20 minutes, as Lori predicted), she was very sad. It was the first time she had ever woken up and not found a family member around. Lori, in her infinite wisdom, took Elena to visit Sylvan in his classroom.  He touched her gently, introduced her around, and told his friends that he loved her very much, and she calmed down. Big brothers can be useful.

Elena’s first big day at preschool ended at 2:30 when Julie picked her up. She’s been going a couple of days a week since then. She’s in the “big kids” classroom now, with three- and four-year-olds. She is still sometimes sad when she wakes up from her nap, but she’s solving that problem by deciding not to nap at all. Ingenious.

“Who is Clive?” read the note that was in Elena’s mailbox at school last week.

“You may be wondering why you have a ‘Winnie the Pooh’ bag hanging on your child’s hook! That bag is the traveling home for our classroom friend, Clive.”

And so began the adventure. Clive has been traveling home with children at the kids’ preschool since 2000. He has been all over the world: South Africa, Taiwan, Disneyland, and all over Eugene and Springfield. Children take turns hosting Clive, introducing him to friends and family, and taking him on adventures.

When Clive returns to school, the children talk about his latest adventures during circle time.

Today was Elena’s day to host Clive, and to take him on adventures.

We started with a trip to the store. We needed some cheese!

Hmm, Montzarella? Cheddar? Maybe some smoked gouda?

Then it was off to Edison School to pick up big brother Sylvan! (Fair warning: there are lots of exclamation points in this adventure.)

Waiting for Sylvan to finish his day at kindergarten. Someday soon I'll get to go to this big kid school too.

We traveled in style to our next destination….

Clive, where's your helmet?

… the playground!

Clive is HEAVY.

Zoom!

Then it was off to Sylvan’s karate class, where Clive brushed up on his equestrian skills.

Is that your saddle horn, or...

Whew! It was an exhausting day!

Close your eyes, Clive. Good night!

P.S. Not shown: Clive and Elena watching a Princess Movie(!!!!!!) while Mommy makes dinner. No photographs of this alleged event are known to exist, and Mommy will deny that it ever happened.  She is a Good Mommy, after all. Isn’t she? Good night, Mommy.