First Days.

Marley started school yesterday, and dance class last weekend, and gymnastics the weekend before that. And yesterday morning, after the In-Front-Of-The-School-Pictures and the hugs and kisses goodbye beside the preschool cubbies and sinks, Toot and I strolled to the car to began an intense and lengthy series of errands.

That kid is still so laid-back. She is polite, and she says an adorable "Thank you," when she gets her milk, or as she calls it, "num-num," but she's not so into "yes." If Rudy wants to voice her approval, she says, "Yup." Sometimes an even more casual drawl: "Yuuuup." And from the backseat yesterday, while I kept updating her on our itinerary in Enthusiastic-Mom-Voice, as in, "Now we get to stop by the bank!" Or, "Should we pick up some waffles at the grocery store?" Rudy, all chill, was, "Yup." As in, "Whatever, Mom. You're out of your mind."

I am. I am an especially frenzied tornado from one o'clock until I leave for field hockey just after two-thirty, attempting to accomplish three hours worth of naptime achievements in half that time. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes not. And now that our school schedule has begun in earnest, this race for organization and task completion is just part of the daily routine. Thank goodness I have a Rudy to remind me that really, it doesn't have to matter so much. Yup.