I’m sitting on my porch, listening to the cacophony of birds, feeling the sun warm my legs, and feeling a gentle breeze. The maples on our street have finished flowering, and teeny tiny leaves have burst from the buds. Our driveway, sizewalk, and stret are covered with spring-green maple flowers. Dandelions have popped out on every lawn, and the kids are having a blast gathering them. Andrew declared (many times) that his favorite color is yellow. (Just so you know, that’s true today only.) Tulips are standing proud and colorful, the squirrels and birds are racing around with hormonal franticness…May, how I love you!
I am particularly enjoying this lovely morning because it is the last Thursday morning that Andrew is in preschool. Sylvie is napping, and I am momentarily free to get work done…or not! I finished tagging all the pictures in Flickr from 2006. Take a spin on my Flickr tags for some fun. Andrew particularly enjoys this exercise. And he’s learning to read a bunch of the words. What a kid!
Andrew had his year-end parent-tearcher conference last week, and his teachers just love him. They put together a book with pictures and comments on his growth. It feels so good to have other adults who know…really know…and love my boy. It feels neat to share him with the world and to have him start to go to school and have his own arena in which to flourish. One step in the long letting go process. I couldn’t be happier than I am with Monona Grove Nursery School. It’s a wonderful place. I highly recommend it! In fact, I’ve signed up to be on the board next year. Starting in September, Andrew will be going to school three day a week, and Sylvie and I will do a “Toddler Time” on Tuesday mornings. Something to look forward to this fall.
In the last week, we’ve spent hour upon lovely hour outside. Andrew climbs the tree in our backyard many times each day. We walk to the park, ride bikes, fly kites, and bask in the sunshine. I’ve been putting Sylvie in sundresses, and the cuteness is almost too much to bear.
Net week, we have some exciting plans. I found plane tickets for $100 each, so next Wednesday, the kids and I are flying to DC to visit Heather. (Grace and Kacy, hopefully I can see you too!) I’ll be in Maryland until the following Tuesday. It’s nice to use my unscheduled at-home situation to be able to take a spur-of-the-moment trip! I haven’t seen little Evie much this last year (she just turned one!), so it’ll be nice to catch-up.
Sylvie has been going to daycare at Donna’s house for the last month or so, and it’s going really well. There are four other kids there, and they spend lots of time outdoors in their back yard or acrsoss the street at the park. Sylvie seems to enjoy it, and it’s been great for me and her to have some time on our own.
The little girl is fully weaned now, and in the last few days, she cut her four eye teeth. Due to the teeth situation, she’s been up several time in the night recently, but in general she shows no negative reprocussions from not nursing. In fact, I asked her to nurse yesterday, and she laughed as if to say, “What a silly thing!” Then she hopped down and trundled out of the room. What a big girl! She’s also getting where she can follow directions like, “Can you go pick a yellow flower and bring it to me?” or “Go to your highchair and I’ll get you some crackers.” She loves swinging at the park and can do so for a long time. She’s also just getting where she can go down the slide by herself, and she cracks up when she gets to the bottom. What fun it is to be a girl who is becoming for capable every day!
“One step in the long letting go process…” — let me tell you, at the other end, it doesn’t seem long AT ALL. I just realized that at this time 4 years from now, Shara will be planning her H.S. graduation party and subsequent move to NY. Only 4 more years of her at home??? Waaaahhhh!!!