Success Here & There

Well, I have good news to report: We have had success at preschool. I was starting to lose hope. Wednesday both Ryan and I went with Zachary to school. I left first, but Zachary was immersed in play and made no reaction. He did start to cry when Ryan left shortly after I did, but quickly calmed down and participated in the class. Thursday I took him (it was quite the sight to be dressed in my belly dance clothes at the Baptist Church!) but I had to leave fairly quickly because I had to teach my class. He was crying when I left, but the teacher said he was fine about 5 minutes later. When I picked him up Wednesday he was so happy - he hugged all his classmates and the teacher. When Ryan picked him up Thursday he was giving a girl in his class an 'eskimo kiss' by rubbing his nose to hers. So all is improving with preschool.

Some other changes that are not so pleasant, Zachary's suddenly developed sleeping issues. He's precariously close to giving up his nap, but I'm hoping to delay that a little while longer. Michele told me she's waiting until the time change to drop her kids' naps, I think I'll do it that way too. I like him napping for many reasons: 1. It gives me a break and I can get a surprising amount of things done; 2. Because he's napping his bedtime has been pushed back to 8:00 or 8:30, giving us time after dinner to do something fun like ride around in the little boat looking for the dolphins; and 3. We can go places as a family (like Friday Fest we went to last night) and have dinner out. Once he gives up his nap I'll have to push his bedtime back to 7:30 or so, because I have to get him up by 7:30 a.m. for school. An early bedtime shortens our evening family time, but then again with the time change it will get dark around 5:30 so there won't be as much to do as there is in the summertime. Ok, so anyway, back to his sleeping issues. Thursday night he started crying when I put him down. This is extremely unusual, I don't even remember the last time this happened (he didn't even do that as a baby). I know what the problem is, we are in a state of flux between the big boy bed and the crib and all this change has happened way too fast for him. Poor little guy! There are SO many changes he's been through the last few months: potty training, preschool, me being gone a week, and now a bed. Every night I ask him if he wants to sleep in the bed or the crib, and he says the crib. So we carry on our routine as usual, yet he still cries when I leave the room. It took me an hour and 1/2 to get him down Thursday (boy was that exhausting - I had a week of not enough sleep and I thought I would get to bed early that night - oh well!). Last night we went downtown to Friday Fest, and after the heat and the blissful time in the jumpy house (run by a chain smoking county fair reject, ugh!) he was exhausted and went straight to sleep at 8:00 p.m. Tonight he cried for a minute, but he settled down before I could go back in. I hate that our smooth, happy nighttime routine has changed. I hope we can get it back soon, I just hate the thought of him being sad before he goes to sleep.

On to my issues. My website is up and running, and it's surprisingly easy to update. I even found myself offering to help a friend of mine with a website he wants to do (what the hell am I thinking???). I have Tamra-henna, Belly Dance Superstar, booked for a workshop and performance in October. In my agreement with her agent, I have to have a minimum of 20 participants registered for her workshop a week prior to the event. Right now I have 4. Geez. If I don't get the minimum then they'll cancel. I won't have to pay anything, but I will be a huge failure in local belly dance scene. I'm sure that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is to me. It's keeping me up at night and beginning to affect my health. I'm working on getting the word out, but I'm starting to worry I won't make the minimum.

BUT, it is Saturday night, and it's College Football season. And there is a night race at Richmond. And the U.S. Open men's finals are tomorrow. And preschool is Monday, hopefully that continues to go well. The belly dance workshop is out of my control, so I shouldn't worry about it. Tonight I won't.