School Stories

Rachel's first day ended just about as well as it started: with me a worried mess inside. I had worked from home and around 3:00 it dawned on me: I have NO idea what time her bus picks her up at the Goddard School and when she arrives back again. Around 3:30 I heard buses in the neighborhood and just wanting to make sure my child arrived back home safe and sound after being with "strangers" all day (Because I don't know these people yet!!) I hopped in the car and drove to Goddard. And she wasn't there. And I felt ridiculous. So I asked and was told the buses usually come around 4:10. I was more than 30 minutes early. I live 2 minutes away, so I went home and tried to find something to distract myself (online shopping). At 4 I arrive back at the school on pins and needles. The "bus lady" (is what I call her in my head.....I've seen her before taking attendance of the kids the get off the buses each day) is waiting in the foyer of the Goddard School. They tell me I'm early so I decide to wait.

4:15 rolls around.....no buses. For them, it's just another normal day at work. The buses are running late, which is to be expected. I mean, first day and getting kids used to where they're supposed to go. One can only assume they'd be late.

4:25 rolls around. No buses.

4:30 - BUSES!!!!!! Up pulls bus #3 and guess who got off first?!

She sees me and runs into my waiting arms where I hold her tightly for just a little longer than usual. She had a big smile on her face. As if the day were exciting the whole time. I was so proud of her. Not so much myself.....I mean....I almost kept from panicking....but not quite.

Before we leave to get in the car she dives into a story that was about lunch time. Of course. The first memory of her first day of Kindergarten is going to be lunch. With big eyes and lots of excitement she tells me that she got a tray, with noodles on it and there was bread on top of that and berries and CHOCOLATE MILK! (noodles = spaghetti in our house for some reason). And she carried it ALL BY HERSELF and didn't drop it!!

She then told me she got to play outside with Bentley, who is apparently a little boy in her classroom and they had a good time.

Later she told her lunch story to my parents as we had dinner at their house and instead of the word tray she kept saying she ate on a "board". Later that evening at home we talked with Aunt Gail and she used the word "Board" again. Props for vocabulary, but to anyone else it sounds like we're neanderthals and don't have plates.,

Her second day was less exciting than the first, and her favorite part of the day was recess where she again played with Bentley. She also said she saw the "girl with the pony tail" (I think she meant my friend's daughter Lizzy, whom we met at the Ice Cream Social.)

On the morning of her second day she begged to take her lunch box with her that Aunt Gail got her. It's a My Little Pony Lunch Box and I would be excited too if I were her! But the teacher had asked that we allow the kids to eat school lunch so they can get used to the process. Starting next week I'll probably pack a lunch for a day or two so she can use her new lunch box and Minions thermos.

I wanted to document a non school story here. Last night after her second day she was in the tub and began singing a song, which isn't unusual. She sings a lot. If you've not seen the movie "Home" with Jim Parsons and Rhianna I recommend it. It's adorable. In it there are these little aliens called "Boov" that take over Earth. Rachel begins singing "Boov has got it oooooooooooooh. oooooooooh. Boov has got it oooooooooh. ooooooooooh." I realize she's actually singing an Adele song (Rumor has it). I laughed heartily about that one.

Today we've finished up day 3, thereby ending our first week of school. Monday things should feel somewhat normal and less awkward. This morning Rachel was acting a little off.....she wasn't hungry for breakfast so I packed it to take with us to the Goddard School. I also had put her to bed kind of early last night and after several protests I noticed she was sound asleep fairly quickly. So something told me she was off, but I moved on with our day. When she got off the school bus this afternoon (because I was early again) I hugged her and she was way too warm. I know buses may not have air conditioning, but egad. She felt like she'd been in a sauna. As soon as we got home she put on pajamas then headed to the couch where she curled up and promptly fell asleep. Sure enough: 101.9° temperature. She slept for about an hour and I've just given her some Tylenol. I'm not sure if it's all the excitement of everything changing or if she's picked up new kids germs. Either way....I'm glad we made it through her first week. I would have no clue how to call the school and let them know she wasn't coming in due to being sick.

I have so many new rules to learn. And for a 36 year old with a Kindergartner, I shouldn't feel this old. For example: I have been advised to get a twitter account to keep up with school announcements. Are. You. Kidding. Me? I don't tweet. I have Facebook against my will as it's the only way to keep in contact with some friends and families. BOO. And tonight as I tried to look up school lunch ideas....because I haven't ever had to pack a school lunch for my child.....I realized there's this whole new lingo out there I'm not up on. Let me school you with what I found out.

OAMC - Once A Month Cooking
......The heck?! There are people out there that cook once a month? I......I can't.

DD, DS, DH
Dear Daughter
Dear Son
Dear Husband
I cannot believe these are abbreviations. I cannot believe this is lingo. People talk like this. What is happening to our world? I know I've stopped reading the news and really stay away from a lot of the mainstream stuff. But this is what I'm being brought back to? Let me use one in an example. I found a recipe for peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches (YES. Someone wrote out how to make a PB&J) but the point was to talk about freezing them ahead of time....for their OAMC.....and their DH loves them and takes them to work! I've honestly never thought about freezing the sandwiches, so I appreciate this person actually writing out the instructions on the best way to do this. And I'm glad that DD loves them in her lunch box.

And this is what I've learned just this evening with about 15 minutes of lunch idea search time. Most of the ideas are absolutely ludicrous. I wouldn't even eat them. Why would my picky 5 year old? So sandwiches/fruit/veggies she shall have. And if that's not good enough? SCHOOL LUNCH.

I am going to learn a lot on this journey. Possibly more than my elementary aged child.

The First Stay Send Off

Full of anxiety that something will inevitably go wrong, I pulled myself out of bed at the usual time and got Rachel up just like I do every day. Except today was different. We had a special dress picked out to wear. And a backpack to remember that we don't usually have. Today was different.

Willing my feet to take me into Rachel's bedroom I suddenly got the idea to make pancakes. I rarely have time to make them and this morning was different.

I woke up Rachel like I do every morning but this time with the promise of pancakes. She seemed unphased. The excitement of Kindergarten finally arriving and the promise of pancakes didn't seem exciting. I am a morning person with a non-morning person for a daughter. I have extra time allotted in our morning to gently wake her up and get her moving. I need each and every second of that extra allotted time. Every. Morning.

I make pancakes.....and I don't get them made well. There's chunks of pancake batter that didn't quite get mixed right in the pancake I serve her. So much for the perfect start to her first day!!! I try to shrug it off as no big deal. Because it does happen. Even to the superest of moms.

Then we get dressed. I can tell she's shrugging off the sleepies. She is becoming excited about getting her pretty dress on. She likes playing dress up, but today is special. Because usually I don't allow fun dresses to be worn to school. (WHY?! Because my kid's favorite activities are paint and markers. Therefore: frequently ruined clothing). Today? I'm willing to relax that rule knowing this dress might come home stained. (WHY? Because today may not be as special to her as it is to me and I want her in a dress, dang it.)

Whew. We're dressed., Extra clothes are in her backpack. What does a Kindergartner take to school in a backpack? 'Cuz I'm kind of feeling silly sending this kid to school with an empty bag that's about the same size that she is. Her school supplies are already at school. Should I put something in there to take up space? Like  blanket or pillow so her bag is all poofed out? No.....let's put the nonsense aside, Allison. Logic must prevail. Keep it together. *Deep Breath.*

Time to walk out the door. I carefully pick up the little chalk board I'd painstakingly wrote on the night before so it would be all ready.

SIDE BAR - this chalk board.
You know how everyone keeps posting pictures of their kids first days and they're holding signs of all variations? I decided (at the last minute of course) that I wanted one too. And a special outfit for her to wear. I went away last weekend owning neither. So I reached out to a friend of mine and asked her if she might have time to make one. She'd made a similar sign for her daughter's 1st birthday a few years ago and is pretty artsy. She told me she'd take care of it. Tuesday evening I get a text from her that it was done and delivered to my door. She refused to let me pay her for it. I cannot tell you what this gesture meant to me. I have a chalk board I didn't make (and therefore wouldn't criticize) and it was as adorable as I had wanted. I wouldn't have been happy with one I made myself and couldn't really decide on what I wanted anyway. It was perfect and was one more detail that made this first day a little easier for me.

So we head out to a tree we had planted about a month ago to take her picture. My aunt planted a gorgeous tree in her front yard the year I started Kindergarten. It's still there. And I have photos of me with it around the time I started Kindergarten. Now we also have a tree that was planted the year Rachel goes to Kindergarten and I hope we get to take photos there every year.

Ok ok ok.....photos. Here you go.

Look at how big the backpack looks on her!!!

The Life Guard thing? This is the sweetest story.

Monday they had an ice cream social at school for the kids to meet their teachers, see their classrooms, find their way around, etc. I left work a little late and ran through the drive thru for dinner. We sat in the parking lot of the school eating before the event began. Knowing the chalk board was coming I asked some random questions.....such as what is your favorite color, what's the name of your teacher (to make sure she knew) and then asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Her response was immediately to pause and think. After a moment she looked at me and said, "A swimmer."

???????? Um........huh? How are you supposed to react? I tried to remain calm and nonreactive.

"Oh. Ok. Sure! Why do you want to be a swimmer?"

"So I can jump in the pool and help people when they can't swim and give them floaties".

My heart be still. This stems from an event that happened last summer. We were at a public pool and Jason and I were sitting on chairs talking while Rachel played in the kiddie pool. She got to the other end and it was deeper than I had thought and she couldn't swim. She didn't have her life jacket on yet as we hadn't been there that long. Jason noticed her in distress and I jumped up and flew across the pool, floundering to get to her quicker than humanly possible. The lifeguard near her did nothing. Didn't react. Another parent near me saw what happened and asked the Lifeguard why she didn't help. The Life guard didn't react. Another parent reported this teenage kid....and I'm sure nothing came about of it. Rachel was terrified the rest of the summer of the water (and we didn't go back to that pool again). In January I signed her up for swim classes to have someone else help her be ok with being in the water. It worked. This summer, with the help of noodles and water wings this kid is fearless when it comes to swimming. We visited a nearby neighborhood pool that has a lifeguard and Rachel was intrigued by this girl for some reason. They take a 15 minute break every hour and Rachel wanted to know what she was doing the whole time. Even talking to the lifeguard while she was watching the water.

Now, here we are a year later and this kid wants to grow up to help other kids not be scared of the water like she was. Amazing I tell you.

Back to the first day of school......

I drop her off at her Day Care and the teachers are more chatty than usual, and I appreciate it. I think they're all anxious about the first day of school and the changes to the routine that will happen as a result of it.

Then I drop her off, grit my teeth, and walk back out the door. But I keep it together! Noooooooooooooo tears for me. (of course none for her. She gets to ride the school bus and finally carry her backpack.)

I get home and begin working.....kind of not sure what to do with myself as my list is a mile long. My phone has been going off with texts from friends and family members who are enjoying the photos I've sent or asking me how it went.

I notice a text from a lady whose child also went to Goddard and we've had a play date before. She was dropping her daughter off at school and saw Rachel. She snapped these pictures and sent them to me:

She told me the process to get the kids in the building was pretty organized and everyone seemed to be doing ok. For some reason that squashed some of my anxiety about the whole idea of letting strangers take care of my kid. Honestly.....I REALLY don't know these people. But we've done it. We've gotten over the hump of dealing with the first day. I'll be anxious to hear how it went! I'll try to post again when I have details on everything.

Preparing for Kindergarten

The time is quickly approaching where Rachel will officially be a "Big Kid", in my opinion. Tomorrow is her last full day before she crosses another milestone. The process for preparing her for school has been lengthy. At least from a parents' perspective. For her, she's excited to go to a big school with a new classroom. She's still innocent and oblivious to what's going on around her. And for the most part, this is good.

For her, emotionally, this week isn't that big of a deal. For me, it is. Last week I was completely logical. This isn't a big deal, we'll have a couple of days of transition and boom: we'll fall into a routine. Today as we attended the ice cream social where literally 600 people descend on the school to meet the teacher, drop off school supplies, wait in a L-O-N-G line for cheap ice cream and then run into other families doing the same I began to sunk in: my kid's growing up. And while that is sad for me, I'm also thrilled.

Some milestones in Rachel's short life I feel have been me dragging her kicking and screaming to cross them. Like potty training. Can I get an Amen that she's attending school potty trained?! Anyone else remember me commenting about how at the age of 3 she was showing ZERO interest in the matter and therefore I was afraid I'd be dealing with that at the last minute?

And the pacifier? Without the help of my in-laws who mistakenly (and with all honesty) lost her "night night" under a piece of unknown furniture that little device would still be in our lives and braces would cost us a fortune way ahead of time. And yet, here we are....sans pacifier.

Which brings me to now. She may not be able to tie her shoes or read many words. But I am honestly humbled that each time I take this child somewhere new or introduce her to someone else she is so well behaved. She gave her teacher a hug as she met her for the first time tonight and I could tell the teacher melted a little. She'll hug anyone I introduce her to as a way of saying goodbye because I insist she do that to our family members and she's just become comfortable with doing so.

Although her follow through sometimes needs a bit of work, her heart is tender and she is aware of the emotional atmosphere in the room around her. She is constantly thinking of others and asking how to help.

No, we don't get to go to the playground as often as either she or I would like. No, we don't run all over the place experiencing a ton of new places and things right now either. Unfortunately, we have too much going on.

But this kid takes joy in the little things. She will innocently ask for something (A birthday party, a new toy, a trip to this or that) and when I explain to her why we can't/won't/shouldn't or even might, there's no whining or tears anymore. I can take her to the toy store and let her look at the toys now without fear I'll have to buy something or suffer a melt down.

For being 5, this is a pretty phenomenal kid. So.....here we go. Ready to pull her though, one milestone at a time....to graduate in 2029.

Learning to Give

Dang it, I wanted to post this memory earlier than the Christmas posts, but alas. At least I'm capturing it.

A few weeks before Christmas I needed to run to Walmart....something I try not to do between Thanksgiving and about the middle of January because that's Christmas shopping season and people tend to be more crazy than usual. However, whatever it was I needed couldn't wait.

It was just Rachel and I and on our way into the store we saw a Santa standing out front. Rachel was thrilled to see him and he handed her a small candy cane (candy cone as she calls them) which she ate as we went through the store. The Santa was there collecting toys for the Toys for Tots drive. Something that we as a family like to support since it's sponsored by the Marine Corps. I decided it was time to start teaching Rachel how to be thoughtful of the needs of others.

I'll throw out the disclaimer that I am not posting this in any way to brag. Usually when I do acts of kindness I prefer to do them anonymously. However, this was a very touching moment for me and since this is a blog where I want to capture memories I have of Rachel, it's being posted.

I tried to explain to my very distracted 4 yr old why Santa was out front and that we were going to pick out a couple of toys to give to Santa. We aren't going to take them home, we're going to give them to Santa.

"Why?"

"Because some kids don't have any toys. And this Santa is going to make sure those kids get nice toys."

I don't think she comprehended, and that's okay. She was thrilled we were going to the toy aisle because we don't always do that when we go to the store.

Up and down we went and stopped in the Barbie aisle. They had two Barbies for $5 each and I decided that would make a good statement. Rachel loves her Barbies. I figured purchasing something she actually liked and giving it away would make more of a statement.

We finished our shopping and paid for everything. I got her out of the cart and handed her the toys. I told her it's time to walk outside and hand the toys to Santa.

There was no whining about why the toys were coming home. There were no questions about what we were doing. She seemed genuinely excited to GIVE Santa the toys. My heart melted and I got tears in her eyes. I stood in the doorway of the store and let her walk up to Santa and give him the toys. I captured what I felt was one of the proudest moments I've had as a parent up to now:

Reeling quite a bit emotionally and trying to keep it together I was frozen where I stood. The lady standing there helping Santa motioned for me to come out and get a photo with Santa. Sad the moment was ending, I moved.

Rachel hopped back to the car with me and I shed a few tears of thankfulness. As I put her in the car and closed the door I happened to notice a penny on the ground. I typically look on the ground as I get out of the car or pretty much am anywhere because I find so many pennies that way. My mom taught me that. Right around Rachel's 4th birthday she happened to find a penny all on her own. So finding a penny on the ground right after that moment? Kind of powerful for me.
 

Christmas Day 2015

Christmas was a little difficult for me this year. I've struggled with the concept of Santa and whether we should....the Elf on the Shelf movement.....and how to handle adding more toys to a mix that is already overflowing.

I think the solutions we came up with all of those concerns turned out pretty well.

Santa - while I have worked VERY hard to keep from lying to Rachel in any capacity....even insofar as to tell her the truth knowing it would result in a complete meltdown at a toddler....I've tried to stick with the truth. And it's been tough. So this Santa business has left me feeling uneasy. However....I'm allowing her to be a normal child and experience the excitement of Christmas in the same way that Jason and I did growing up. Looking back I'm thankful my parents let me enjoy that. Now I hope next year she asks if Santa's real and I can tell her the truth. But we'll see. Regardless....I have to remind myself that we're not lying to her for our enjoyment and I have every intention of telling her the truth, so it's okay for now.

Elf on the Shelf....I won't dive into this. What I thought would be innocent fun is apparently being harshly criticized in some circles and some of their arguments are valid. Regardless......instead of this being used as a tool to enforce good behavior, I intend to allow it to be fun and view the Elf as a guardian "elf" sent by Santa to encourage more fun during the season. Rachel is well behaved enough that we don't need a 3rd party to encourage better behavior. Some households do. So I carried through to the end of the year Albert the elf and will be weighing this year whether or not we'll do it again in 2015.

The toys. Ok. Let's be realistic. We've downsized and I feel that as soon as I get rid of a nice pile of toys they are instantly backfilled with birthday or every day gifts. Since there are no other grandkids on Jason's side of the family right now I know that everyone LOVES to buy her stuff. I do too! And I don't want to deny them that blessing.

But we're getting ready to move into an even smaller space and we do NOT have room for anything else. Rachel rotates through nearly every single toy she has on an almost weekly basis. There is nothing left for me to get rid of. And more importantly, I want to set a realistic expectation. Could we have placed dozens of gifts under the tree for her? Absolutely. Did I want to? Vehemently, yes. But one of the things that is starting to get under my skin about Christmas is the sheer commercialization of everything. So I want to set a very realistic expectation now. Christmas is a special time of year and presents are super fun. However, she doesn't need to be showered with a ton of gifts. Instead, Jason and I bought her one big gift that we knew she'd enjoy and encouraged others to help us with it. It's a leap pad tablet that functions somewhat similarly and look like an iPad. (in fact, that's what she calls it. Meh, semantics). So she didn't feel cheated, I wrapped this present about 6 times. Ah the joy of being in shipping and having a ton of different sized boxes laying around!

She instantly curled up with Jason and he taught her how to play with it. (We'd already set it up so she had a profile and was connected to the Wi-Fi).

The games are expensive so we asked family to purchase more games for her than more toys. Did she get a bunch of toys from people? Yes. Thankfully small and not noisy ones!

The "iPad" has been a good gift. I've brought it with us so he can play with it while we work on the house. The games are fun, educational, and entertaining. She's starting to learn how to take photos with it and search for things on the internet (which is VERY limited and I appreciate!)

All in all, I think we had a good Christmas!
 

The Nutcracker

There were a lot of holiday events here in the Evansville area, most of which I had to miss while I was up in Indianapolis. However, there was a production of the Nutcracker being performed and Geri REALLY wanted to go to this and take Rachel.

I was apprehensive. I mean, that's a LONG production for a 4 year old to sit through. (That's a LONG production for ME to sit through).

However, I know I've had a very hard time getting out and doing anything since we've moved here. No one else wanted to go so I agreed to go and we'd take Rachel. Why not? I never get to dress her up because she's either going to school (where she comes home covered in dust/dirt, paint and/or foot) or we spend our weekends laying around the house or working at the new house. Regardless, I have to keep her in clothes I don't care what happens to them because she's a kid that plays hard. And I love that! But that means very rarely do we get to dress up and go out. (Does she wear her Belle dress around the house nearly ever weekend? YES. But I don't let her leave the house looking like that!)

The day came and we went. We all 3 headed to the theater and waited in the lobby for the doors to open so we could take our seats. Knowing we'd be sitting in there for a LONG time I opted to wait in the hallway and let Rachel run around. There was a little girl she recognized from her school so we let them run around in circle and be kids. The lobby was really dark and Rachel was really excited, so the photos didn't come out as well as I would have hoped....

The theatre was FULL of kids who talked a little too loudly, kicked the seat in front of them, bounced from one parents' lap to the other, etc. I was relieved. Rachel behaved SOOO well. Although every 5 minutes....and I mean EVERY 5 minutes...
"When does Cinderella come out on stage?"
"What are those mouse things?"
"Are they bad guys?"
"Are there monsters in this?"
"Where are the ballerinas?"
"I'm hungry."
"I'm sleepy."

So she's your typical 4 year old :) However, she was quiet and whispered these questions in my ear. At least she's very polite!

She enjoyed the show and afterwards we went out for dinner where she ate the first decent meal I'd seen her eat in over a week!

(My attempt at a selfie of all of us:)

 

Goodbye Night NIght

As I look back on photos of Rachel when she was little....I notice that most of them have her pacifier in them. And honestly, they've made me cringe. I know I've worried about every little thing with Rachel since she's our first and only. Did we start her on solid foods too soon or late? Should we have pushed her into potty training a little harder so since she so readily was ready for underwear when we finally made the leap? Should we encourage the lie about Santa? Do I tell her I love her enough? And certainly, those are NORMAL questions for a parent. Should we probably have worked harder to get rid of the pacifier? Perhaps. When we moved here last year there was NO way I was going to switch her schools, swap out diapers for big girl pants, settle her into a new house and new routine AND take away her pacifier. I even spoke with her teacher about it and we both agreed she needs something familiar and comforting at that young age. Even though that stupid pacifier has been a point of contention for both Jason and I, we just let that one slide.

Many nights I would try to encourage her to leave it on the dresser so I wasn't completely taken away. Offered to let her take it to the toy store and purchase a toy with it. Donate it to Baby Cara (My friend Crystal's daughter). But each morning it wouldn't be on the dresser any longer. So sadly, I just let it go and hoped that one day she'd just say, "Mommy. I don't need this thing. I want to throw it in the trash." Miracles can happen, right?

We did limit it to just when she was going to sleep. In the mornings I would put it high on a shelf where she could see it, but couldn't get to it. If she wanted to take a nap on the weekends, I'd get it for her (although she hasn't taken a nap on the weekends in MONTHS). And she has gone this whole year falling asleep at school without one.

I also noticed that one of her pacifiers had started to get a hole in it and she would ask for the second pacifier we had. But even the second one was starting to get holes. So I would tell her that if both of them had holes and didn't work that well, I was NOT buying anymore.

Then this past December something glorious happened. While Jason and I were away in Indy Rachel stayed with her Grandparents here in Newburgh. They'd run into an issue where they could NOT find her precious night-night to go to sleep. So the entire time I was gone Rachel would sleep at night without it.

I wish I could have purchased my in-laws a new car. I was SOOO excited. As soon as she told me that I instantly ran upstairs and HID the pacifiers.

The weekend while I was gone Geri and David had taken Rachel downtown Newburgh to see Santa again. Apparently this Santa gave out free beanie babies and Rachel had chosen a dragon that she loved.

That first night back at the house Rachel informed me that I had forgotten her night-night. I informed her that I think she's done a good job of sleeping without it at Grandma's house. And since Santa had given her this new little dragon that perhaps she could sleep with the dragon instead of her pacifier.

I tried SOOO hard not to make a big deal about it even though I wanted to throw a parade. And just as I had hoped, but keeping the pacifier a ho-hum no big deal, 2 or 3 nights later all talk of the pacifier disappeared.

So.....should we have just taken the pacifier away from her? NO. I'm not sorry we waited as long as we did. It didn't hurt anything. It allowed us to sleep at night and we've desperately needed that comfort as a family for the past few years.

I honestly don't know how else we would have been able to do this without horrible fits and hurt feelings. It's one thing if the lack of a pacifier is sincerely unavailable instead of someone hiding it and lying to her about it. Or blatantly telling her she can't have it and she knows that grown up knows where it is. In this situation no one lied to her or misled her about where it was. No one took it and told her she couldn't have it. It was sincerely and innocently lost. In my opinion, this was an answer to prayer. And it gave her so many lessons:

- How to survive without a pacifier - she survived!
- Adults lose things sometimes and we all just have to deal

Now....did she discover the pacifier later at her Grandparents' house while we were there? You betcha! She'd apparently thrown it and it had rolled under a table and due to the light color no one could see it! However, I told her she'd grown up enough she didn't need it again. (And it had been on the floor, so it was dirty and we needed to just throw it away).

Regardless, I owe my in-laws a big one on this one. Not only did they get us over that hurdle to get rid of the pacifier, they did a phenomenal job of dealing with Rachel and handled this situation VERY well!