Observation.

Above is a picture of Elsie on her way to preschool for the first time. This was yesterday. It was a Tuesday. 

She was very well behaved and attentive, albeit a little over eager.

Right now, i am on my second day of observation of her class. 

I am sitting at a long counter behind a one way mirror, looking over a room full of preschoolers and their wares. 

Terri and i spent the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes here yesterday.

I am spending the final hour here today, before i release Elsie into the staff's more than capable hands. 

I am not going to lie: i am here because i aldready miss Elsie and am having trouble detaching myself from the 3 plus years we spent mornings together.

But this will be the last of it, as i will only come to puck her up and shuttle her to her grandparents homes, while i go to work. 

This is Elsie's time to learn and to develop.

And in some ways it is mine too. 

Solidarity.

As someone who has self published since 1990, and most of it being semi political satire, i offer this:

Visuals 11.

endofyeareview.

I do this stuff every year on the blog.

If you are new here: turn around and run.  This place is full of great things, like photos of my daughter.  BUT it's also full of mundane tripe, that my sometimes overzealous imagination can help spiral into over inundated nonsense rabble that i consider intellect.

ANYWAY, i like to offer up the best of what i thought happened this year to myself and those close to me. In no order.

Best read this year:  

Gateways to Abomination By Matthew M. Bartlett 

I am afraid of this anthology.  Still. After three readings.  More, please!

http://www.matthewmbartlett.com/

Best music of this year:

David Lynch: http://davidlynch.com/

Godflesh:  http://www.godflesh.com/

Ghost and Ghost BC: http://www.infestissumam.com/

(sorry grandma)

Best time i had this year:

Elsie was accepted at The Clark School for the Deaf.  Now, she has full hearing.  They accept children for preschool to help integrate with the half hearing and non hearing children.

The price is a bit up there, but Elsie is getting a Montessori curriculum education, which is five days a week.  

http://www.montessoritraining.net/curriculum_materials/preschool_kindergarten_program.htm

The place is magical, to say the least.

Terri's 40th birthday.  You had to be here to see it.

The Sunday walks with Elsie, Terri and Jackson.  Again: magical.

The Smith College Botanical Gardens: http://www.smith.edu/garden/home.html

Returning to offsite:  I work for a major candle company in the valley.  I celebrated 15 years in this company by going back to offsite, which is a smaller yet dutiful division of the company. I became an interim supervisor and have been re integrated into a more one on one atmosphere within my company.  

I am looking forward to many more challenges and surpassing my own initiatives within this environment.

It is better to be a bigger link in a smaller chain, than a smaller link in a bigger chain.

I've been getting up earlier. I have been putting the damn infernal phone away and have looked around at life unfolding around me.  I have escaped the grasp of my own self prescribed asylum and have begun to flourish into my middle age.

And i have my entire family to thank for this.

This post is dedicated to:

Great Aunt Edna.  You will always be in my heart.

Aunt Joan.  I'm sorry we weren't closer.

Uncle Bruce.  Forever the class clown.

.

DANCE!

I am sitting with some other parents, while El is in dance class.

We have been bringing her for at least three months, and it's been great for her.

I bring this up, because there is a subject thst comes up among other parents, here at play group (ours is with parents)

and in any other general area where parental units will congregate and wait.

The subject is: parenting and identity.

I know i'm a parent. I know i have a child. I like to raise my child utilizing many physicsl and mental tools in order to build a healthy and sane human. 

I also know that i am who i am, still, as an individual. The two things enrich each other and yet remain seperate.

Why? 

Sanity. 

Plain and simple. 

I have interests that will hopefully open El's world up. 

At the same time, she may not want to share ANY of these things with me.

Cool.

So:

Other parents. 

I ask you this:

WHY DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO JUST TALK ABOUT BEING A PARENT WITH OTHER PARENTS?!

I don't need to hear about what diaper you use, what your kid does, what a mess everything is or any other inanity that you forced upon your self by thinking 'I'm a parent now. This is what parents do and talk about.'

I don't care how many times your kid saw The Lego Movie, or how she loves 'her' macaroni and cheese.

Tell me about the cool thing you saw, some idea you had, something to let me know that this false indoctrination hasn't killed YOUR inner child or your spirit!

Or don't.

You know what, don't. You're aldreay lost to your own mediocrity and i'll just continue to dream and live instead of exist.

8.

This is: Eight photos in eight hours. Starting with 2:00pm and ending around 10pm. 

I used an iPhone 4 with the 7.2 iOS update. This provided more vivid shots, as these were the first few i took. 

I used the photo editor to crop and enhance the photos. 

These were taken in a functioning, yet aged warehouse. 

Harvest.

Elsie went to dance class again today, she did very well again.  We came home and are some food, watched a movie.

It was rainy all morning but the sun peeked out.  We decided to go to the Harvest Festival at the local park. 

The highlight was the 'train' ride.  We went on the huge slude twice but it started to rain. 

We still had fun and i'm so glad i had time with ger today, because Terri and i are slways very busy.