The Accidental Expert
For some reason, a mother of three seems to be considered by many people as an expert in parenthood.  I am suddenly being asked by many people- friends, colleagues, complete strangers- how one "does it".  This is NOT an exaggeration. 
Store cashiers have asked me for labor advice, how to lose baby weight, and about strollers. At one store, the cashier really wanted to discuss her boyfriends ambivalent reaction to her pregnancy... and this was with a line of 5 people behind me.  
Colleagues want to know how to balance work and kids (My answer: there is no such thing as balance in your life.  And if there was, it is likely that you are not a well calibrated scale, anyway).   How to decide what is the best job for them? (Oddly, my answer is that the best job for them is actually up to them to determine, and has nothing to do with what anyone else thinks.  Given our professional obsession with what other people think, this is NOT the acceptable answer in academia.)
 But here is the question: Why does the third child, who is really just born and has not yet given me too much trouble, make me an expert?  I did not get all of these questions with two kids, and certainly not from strangers.  All that I have proven by, say, going to the grocery store with three kiddos in tow, is that I am both fertile and still capable of going out in public... is our bar for parenting so low that this counts as an accomplishment? 
At a conference last week I met a well known scholar who in a panel discussion mentioned the question of balancing work and family.  Her next comment was something about her eight kids.  I'm sorry, eight?  I think that the next time someone asks me for advice, I will refer them to her.

Does this count as modern art?

Mariel enjoyed her first week of kindergarten and was very happy to go back this morning.  She literally ran down the block to get to school.
She must have seen a puppet show or learned something about plays, because she spent most of the evening staging shows in our front room.  While some of the plays were very understandable and reasonably scripted...

Mariel: DAD.  This is going to be a grandmother and a granddaughter.
Dad: OK
(Scene begins)
Barbie 1: Hi! I am the grandmother.
Barbie 2: Hi Grandmother.  I am the granddaughter.

....others were a bit different:

Mariel: Is everyone ready?
Mom, Holden, Noella, Noella's baby doll, and Dad, all sitting in the audience: Yes!
Mariel: OK
(tiny stuffed pig rises over the back of a chair)
Pig: OINK.  oink oink. OINKY.  oink. (this continues for some time)
(tiny pig disappears, large stuffed frog purse appears)
Frog: Ribbet.  Ribbet.  RIBBET RIBBET. (and so on)
(Frog disappears to subdued laughter from the audience.  Tiny blue fairy appears)
Fairy: I am a fairy. I sit (fairy falls off the chair, reappears).  LA LA LA.
(fairy flies away.  pig emerges briefly, then disappears)
Pig: Oink! oink.

We are undecided as reviewers.  Is this modern art?  Avant garde? Or a production in clear need of subtitles?

The Last Day and the First Day

For Mariel's last day before school started she got to stay home with me.  We started out with a "big kid" breakfast of a cheese omelet and coffee milk.

Then she got to decide what we would do for the day.  She picked the zoo, with a very specific combination of birds, butterflies, and zebras.  She also got to try taking some pictures with my camera. 

 The Bird House at the zoo, like several of their structures, is a beautiful old building.  Depending on the mood of the toucans, it can also be exceptionally loud inside.  Monday was a loud day, and I think two of them may have been having an argument.

 When we walked out, we were surprised to see a peacock looking in.  I am not sure if he was teasing the birds inside or wishing he were one of them.

 Tuesday morning was the first day of school! 

It is hard to take an individual shot of anyone when there are younger siblings involved. Noella insisted that she should get to do her hair in a headband AND have her picture taken in front of the door with Mariel for the first day.

 Here is Mariel on her own:

 And the lunch, which she ate most of.  Their lunch time is so short, she said she ran out of time and ended up eating most of it at snack time in her classroom later.

 In front of the door, but with her backpack on:

 And then outside by the Avery sign.  At this point, I should mention, it was about 7am.  School does not start until 8:15 or 8:25, and you absolutely cannot be there until after 8...

 To kill some time, she drew this picture of herself on the first day of school:

 Finally, it was time to walk over to school with her friend, Simon.

 Students go to the gym for a morning meeting everyday.  Parents are forbidden from entering the gym; only kids and teachers and staff.  So, she and Simon held hands and marched themselves in. 

 She was so excited, she almost forgot to say good bye!  No tears from her, that is for sure.

And when I picked her up from the after school program, she asked if she could stay and play longer.  It sounds like the first day of school was a success!

Hey Big Boy!

Holden turned 3 months old on Wednesday.  Here is he- running a mile a minute. His little legs don't seem to stop much, unless he is alseep.  He is crazy in the bathtub- his kicking splashes the entire bathroom (and the parent and siblings giving him a bath).  His unofficial weigh in via our bathroom scale: 16 lbs.  He is a VERY big boy!

 And tall, too- here is a better picture with him measured up to Puffalump.

 For a comparison, here is Noella at 3 months:

And a gratuitous shot of Noella today (with an excellent shampoo mohawk sculpted by her father)

 Meet the Teacher!

Mariel had the meet the teacher day at her school on Thursday- we walked over with our friend, Simon, who is also starting school.  They are not in the same classroom, but I think that both (very talkative) children will make some new friends in no time. 

 Preschool Graduation!

On the same afternoon, Downtown Childrens Center had the Preschool Gradution Carnival to celebrate those kiddos moving up.  Here is Mariel's class with their very energetic (and patient!) teachers, Hillary and Lindsey.

 Noella got to come and enjoy the big kid crafts, too.

Tune in next week, for the first day of "big kid" school!

Noella's New Do

Miss Noella got her first real haircut when we returned from New York.  I had been wanting to take her somewhere for a while, as my skills were clearly not sufficient.  The final push came after our 17 hour car ride, when she managed to twirl her hair into knots that I absolutely could not get out.  So, the next day at 9 am we were at Great Clips.  The thing that amazes me is that somehow cutting her hair short has made it actually lie flat (or at least flatter than ever before), rather than sticking up or out all of the time.  She looks very grown up!

 The kids all went to daycare when we got back, so I could begin to recover from a month away and prep for the semester as well as a conference paper that I have to present in (gulp) a few weeks.  Everyone is having a great time.  Noella is back in charge of the Turtle classroom, telling all of the rules to her new friends that moved up over the summer.  Mariel is clear that she is ONLY in the All Stars until Kindergarden starts, and that she really does not have to do things like nap. 

And Holden, while he might not have known what to expect (as can be seen above), has been doing great.  He does not nap too well there, but that means he sleeps very well at night when he gets home!  He eats like a champ and coos and smiles at whoever wants to talk to him.  They just got a Moby Wrap in the classroom and have been experimenting with wearing him around.  One teacher has confessed that she may be spoiling him, but I sure don't mind!