Yesterday we went on a family outing to Target with a mission to buy lunch boxes for the kids because here in Texas the kids eat lunch at school since preschool is from 9 AM until 1PM--an amazing hour and a half longer than Bracken's class in Virginia! Anyway, at first I wanted to sneakily choose the kids lunch boxes on my own so that I didn't have to deal with whatever hideous ones they chose for themselves, but then I remembered something that my Aunt Christena always says about letting her kids choose their own clothes on picture day (she let them choose everyday but a parent letting a child choose on picture day was a completely novel idea to me), she says that she lets them choose for themselves because it bolsters their self esteem to allow them to make such important decisions for themselves. She also says that she then has proof of their heinous taste and what she had to suffer through in order to allow them to become their own person. My personal favorite picture in the hallway of amazingly beautiful pictures in their home is of her youngest, Nicole, on a preschool picture day when I was living with them. For those of you who don't know Nicole, she is an extremely smart little girl who was not keen on everyone while she was growing up and was more likely to be found scowling than smiling. She did not want her mom to brush her hair that morning, so Christena didn't, and Nicole chose to wear a white sleeveless shirt and a shark tooth necklace (Crocodile Hunter style). The awesome outfit combined with the wild flaming red hair and scowl made for a fabulous picture, which Christena and I got a huge laugh at when it was sent home in her backpack weeks later.
Anyway, that was a huge deviation from my lunch box story, but it's always what I think of when I try to allow my kids to become their own people. Luckily Abbie chose a darling pink lunch box with a cupcake and polka dots on it, and Bracken chose a black one with a silver Transformers insignia. I was overcome with relief that Abbie did not choose the Camp Rock or High School Musical ones--which would ordinarily be her top picks--but since she is not yet even three and a half I am trying to reinforce the Disney princess obsession and avoid Disney teen dramas. She will have plenty of time to obsess over such things in her tween years. As is she already squeals and shrieks (Beatlemania style) when she sees anything Hannah Montana. I guess Abbie must just think that Hannah Montana is a super cool babe and that is the root of her excitement because she doesn't even know that it's a TV show, or that Mylie Cyrus (sp?) is a singer.
The kids carried their lunch boxes around the entire afternoon yesterday, Bracken even tied his to his shorts using his church belt. It was excellent. Abbie will only drink water from her lunch box water bottle. I had a swig and it tasted like drinking melted plastic but she doesn't seem to mind.
After school their teachers each gave solid reviews that the kids had enjoyed their time and had acted as though they had been there all year. Bracken has been waiting anxiously for school to start but I thought surely after an hour or so Abbie would have had enough, thankfully that was not the case. Abbie said that there are two girls in her class named Brooke and that "that is very silly because that is only for mommy's). Bracken said that he made a friend (not multiple, a friend) who showed him around and played with him on the playground. They pretended to be storm troopers but Bracken can't remember his name (and doesn't know what a "storm trooper" is).
All in all it was a success, unfortunately though we learned that Bracken was one shot short of a full set of immunizations so we had to track someone down willing to shoot him with the Hep A vaccine before the next school day. Luckily they are very accommodating here in Texas and you can get a shot, or any host of other medical needs met, at the grocery store before buying your weeks groceries. Convenient!
They are growing up too fast but provide quite the entertainment in the process.
