I have a quick question for those of you out there with kids in preschool (particularly in California): do your preschools send home call lists from the kid’s class?

Sophia’s and Simon’s won’t. They said it’s against the law (or something—gotta ask them again what the rationale was). However, Sophia’s school in LA not only sent home call lists, they sent them home whenever the class roster changed, which in preschool is quite often. The current school recommended that I put one together for the class. Yes, I am Little Miss Organized; I’ll run right out and do that. (Needless to say: haven’t yet.)

We have two weeks off of school. I have a few other kids’ phone numbers, but Sophia always asks, “What about So-and-so?” And it’s always someone whose number I don’t have yet.

Two weeks. Sob. I could really use a call list.

Tamar, Dan, and Damian came to visit for a week, which is among the reasons I haven’t been posting. It’s exhausting having house guests, what with the socializing and walking and going places like the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s exhausting being a house guest.

Basically, vacation is just exhausting and you should think twice before setting foot outside your house.

Actually, it was great having them here. I really enjoyed having adult conversations with close friends, and we felt comfortable enough with each other so that we could do stuff together, or not, as the circumstances warranted. One of the best things about having them visit (beyond simply seeing friends from Los Angeles) was that Damian and Sophia get on so well. They immediately started having fun together, as though the last time they’d seen one another was last week instead of six months ago. The kids (with Simon in tow) were tearing through the house from morning til night, which was one big reason we didn’t get any sleep.

Anyhow, one game that Sophia and Damian came up with during one of our walks—was it in Monterey, walking back from the restaurant? Or before that?—was a variant on “Red light, green light.” You know this game: you yell, “Green light!” and everybody runs; then you yell, “Red light!” and everyone has to stop.

Well, evidently two lights were not enough for them. They added:

• yellow light: spin in place.
• orange light: take big steps
• blue light: travel by hopping.
• purple light: walk. (Sophia called out “Purple light!” a lot when she got tired.)

(I think there was another one too, but I don’t have Sophia with me right now to find out.)

What was amazing was that they played this game several days running, and they did the same motions depending on the color of the light.

I’m kind of a purple light girl myself.

We went out to dinner tonight at El Burro, a Mexican restaurant at the Pruneyard. Darin was sitting next to Sophia, and he accidentally spilled her glass of water on her. She immediately began hollering:

My dress! My beautiful dress!

I. Could. Not. Stop. Laughing.

Darin clamped his lips together tightly as he helped her dry off, but it was tough work as she quite dramatically bemoaned her dress, her bee-yoo-ti-ful dress, over and over.

(She was wearing a cotton sundress. Nothing happened to the dress, or to her, actually—we were sitting outside and it was a warm night.)

A litle while later Darin asked if I was going to make a MDMBD entry. After I figured out what he meant, I said, Oh you betcha.