Adjustments
A little over a week since we got to Tampa (though only about 3 days since we got our furniture). How are things going? Eh.
The good:
Fiona has moved to a twin bed with no guardrails (we left the toddler bed in a heap in NYC) and has yet to fall out (I just jinxed this evening, I'm sure). She's got a big wheel she can ride around our porch or out on the sidewalk when we're around. She loves going over to see her Tia, Tio and AJ; Tia even helped her pick out butterflies to decorate her room. She has her own bathroom and gets very upset with me when she catches me using it (I try to explain that it's a lot closer to my office than walking all the way through the house to the master bedroom, but Fiona's not buying).
The bad:
Fiona's always been so easy to adjust to things that we've been caught off guard by just how hard the move has been on her. For the first few nights in the house she woke up crying a few times because she missed her old home and wanted to go back to New York. Once the furniture arrived (and her room didn't look quite so barren) she started doing a lot better around the house, but she's not wild about the day camp we've put her in.
It's been a tough position--we had to get down here when we did because of Andrea's job, but we have a month to go before Fiona's preschool starts. So we found a series of day camps going on at one of the Tampa museums. Unfortunately, camp isn't really the same as preschool -- the programs change every week, which means she isn't getting to bond with a teacher, and there isn't the same type of free play that she was getting at her old school. Mainly, I think it's the unavoidable problem with moving with a child over the summer--during that first summer in a new home, the kid isn't going to have friends yet, which makes the waiting for the school year tough to bear.
Anyway, we're trying to walk that impossible-to-figure-out supportive line, letting her know that it's okay to miss New York, and to be anxious about meeting new kids, but that there's a lot to look forward to here and that we aren't going to be going back to the old house. Easy to say, right? Fiona will be fine (she really is resilient), but I'm sure she's not going to look back on July 2008 as her favorite month of all time.
The good:
Fiona has moved to a twin bed with no guardrails (we left the toddler bed in a heap in NYC) and has yet to fall out (I just jinxed this evening, I'm sure). She's got a big wheel she can ride around our porch or out on the sidewalk when we're around. She loves going over to see her Tia, Tio and AJ; Tia even helped her pick out butterflies to decorate her room. She has her own bathroom and gets very upset with me when she catches me using it (I try to explain that it's a lot closer to my office than walking all the way through the house to the master bedroom, but Fiona's not buying).
The bad:
Fiona's always been so easy to adjust to things that we've been caught off guard by just how hard the move has been on her. For the first few nights in the house she woke up crying a few times because she missed her old home and wanted to go back to New York. Once the furniture arrived (and her room didn't look quite so barren) she started doing a lot better around the house, but she's not wild about the day camp we've put her in.
It's been a tough position--we had to get down here when we did because of Andrea's job, but we have a month to go before Fiona's preschool starts. So we found a series of day camps going on at one of the Tampa museums. Unfortunately, camp isn't really the same as preschool -- the programs change every week, which means she isn't getting to bond with a teacher, and there isn't the same type of free play that she was getting at her old school. Mainly, I think it's the unavoidable problem with moving with a child over the summer--during that first summer in a new home, the kid isn't going to have friends yet, which makes the waiting for the school year tough to bear.
Anyway, we're trying to walk that impossible-to-figure-out supportive line, letting her know that it's okay to miss New York, and to be anxious about meeting new kids, but that there's a lot to look forward to here and that we aren't going to be going back to the old house. Easy to say, right? Fiona will be fine (she really is resilient), but I'm sure she's not going to look back on July 2008 as her favorite month of all time.
posted by BWC at
10:38 PM
2 Comments:
Congrats on the move. I've been checking in to see an update and I am glad I caught one.
I hope Fiona adjusts and the school year brings her great friends and nice teachers.
Do you have a house now, with a lawn and everything? How do you like it?
Yes, a house with a lawn, garage, porch, the works. Of course, it's summer in Florida, so we're barely using it, but it's nice to have around.
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