On a Monday night

I just got Harper down for the night (well, hopefully -- though she's usually pretty breezy about bedtime, there are nights such as tonight where there's a lot of "I miss you so much when you're away from me and I care about you all the time and you should stay near me all day" and that can result in a few up and downs on ye 250-year-olde staircase) and my throat is so dry and sore. From the talking. So much talking.

Not only are there the normal 4-year-old things I must go through of word definitions and world explanations and such, there's just so much extra wordage with her -- because of her special her-ness. An example:

"Would you like a piece of Halloween candy after dinner?"
"Maybe."
"Okay cool, keep me posted."
"I said...MAYBE."
"Gotcha. No prob. Let me know."
"I didn't say YES or NO. I'm not sure! I don't know if I want candy!"
*I naively try silence*
"Hello! I said I'm not sure!"
"Right. You're not sure. That sounds good. Sometimes I'm not sure and I let people know and it helps just to talk about it. There's so much to decide in the decision of whether or not to have candy! I really see why this is a little stressful. I'm here if you need me. Okay?"
"Yeah. Okay."

Not in any way an exaggeration. And applies to myriad daily situations.

So when I think about the upcoming winter, and how she won't be in school, how we'll "homeschool" ... I might feel a little squirrelly. She'll do public kindergarten in September 2015, but since there'll only be 5ish months left of this school year once we're settled in Brooklyn (I love typing those words!!), and I don't want her to deal with too many back-and-forth transitions (and because she'll be THRILLED to be home and because it's f-r-e-e and because it's kind of awesome to stay snuggled inside during the polar vortex) it's just easier to to keep her out of school.

We'll sign up for art and dance and be busy exploring our new 'hood and all that, so I know we'll be fine and good. I just... think I'll need a lot of lozenges.