Quiet

It's quiet in my house. Both big kids are at school, and Xander's incoming tooth doesn't seem to be bothering him yet today, so it's quiet.
Aaric's first day was rather ho-hum. I mean, he just fell right back into the routine without skipping a beat. Not overly excited, not sad, just like, "yeah, school again. Good times." Mikayla had orientation that day, which went well. I was sitting in a tiny chair right in front of the teacher's desk, which had a box with about 50 markers in it, which Xander reached up and pulled down. Markers cascaded all down my back and onto the floor. I spent the rest of the time trying to keep him occupied and his fingers off the supplies.
Her first day also went very smoothly. Well, except that I forgot to give her the antibiotics, so I had to interrupt class to do it an hour later. I wondered how she'd do though. I went back to work when Aaric was four weeks old, and while I always had a schedule that allowed me to see him a good bit, I kept working full time until he was nearly 2. And then, my attention wasn't on him as much because I had a tiny newborn. Mikayla, though, has never left my side other than to spend a week at Grandma's every once in a while. And, I've always suspected that she likes Grandma more than me anyway, so that was totally no big deal. (She really did ask me a while back why she can't just go live with Grandma.) But I wondered how she'd deal with actually being away from me, with people she doesn't really know, for 6 hours a day. And she did just fine. Not a hint of nervousness. Cautiously excited. It helps that we stopped by the school often last year, so she was already familiar with her teacher. She really wanted Aaric's K teacher this year, and is still a bit mad that she doesn't have her, but she's settling in just fine.
Monday, while Aaric and I walked together, she raced another kid almost all the way to the school. We come from the back of the school, and I watched her round the corner to the front of the school and thought that was it. My 5 year old baby just ran off to her second day of school without saying goodbye or even looking back. Then I rounded the corner myself and saw her walking back to me, giggling. "I don't know if I know how to get to my class!" I walked her to the front door and reminded her that there are people standing inside to help them find their way, and off she bounced. That night, I said, "this morning I thought you went in without saying goodbye." She laughed and said, "I'd never do that!! That's because I love you!"
Then today she told me goodbye when we were about halfway there, so she wouldn't have to do it later. Please tell me we haven't already hit the "embarrassed to be seen with mom" stage.

Xander is now not only walking, but also preparing for a career as a professional daredevil. We know that he can get down from the bed without injury. We know this because we've left him on the bed a couple times, only to find him happily playing on the floor. So I wanted to catch him in the act so I could see how he does it. After I caught him in the act once, I decided I don't want to see it. It seems that he starts out sitting, then scoots forward to the edge until his legs are dangling off, then he lunges forward. So far, I've always jumped up to catch him as he starts to lunge, because I can just see him breaking a leg or a spine. So, whatever it is that he does, I have no desire to see it. I've started teaching him to roll over and slide down. Same with the stairs, which he can climb. But at the top, he sits there peering downward with a look that says, "that's a LONG way down, I think I'll just sit right here."

Today, we're going to eat lunch at the school. The kids say they only get 10 minutes to eat, and neither has finished the food I send with them, so I'm going to check out the situation for myself. Surely they get more than 10 minutes, right?