image diary: 8.27.2011

from the archives: gracie, august 2006

i could cry

This baby girl is so big.

Her first birthday is just around the corner.

Though these particular pictures don't reflect it -she would not smile at the camera! Just me without my camera- she is such a happy, easy going kid. She rarely gets fussy or clingy. She's just good natured, through and through. (I'm so lucky, I know it!)

Bright eyes and a quick smile are typical adornments.

She is crazy for her dad.

She is my best little buddy through out the day.

She is spunky and is developing quite a sense of humor.

Things she is doing lately:

• Walking everywhere
• Climbing stairs at lightning speed
• Saying Mama and Dada, though her favorite thing to say is "Dong!" whilst hitting herself on the head. Yeah, we don't know...
• Occasionally signing 'more' and 'milk' when she feels like it which isn't often
• Singing gibberish to herself
• Taking two longish naps a day (I still have no life outside of keeping her schedule and running her siblings to and fro, I'm okay with it though)
• Finding containers, filling them, and carrying them around- reminds me of someone - see argument B.
• Eating everything
• Drinking exclusively from sippys
• Sleeping with her favorite silky pink blankie
• Emptying book shelves
• Wanting to do everything Grace and Grant are doing
• Allowing her mama to smootch on her all day long

Gracie's first day

Grace is enrolled at a nearby charter school. It is only the school's third year of operation, but we are very impressed with everything it has to offer and are willing to be patient with the administrative issues that arise (the play yard is still under construction, they barely completed the planned additions and got the occupancy license in time for school to start, pick up took over 45 minutes the first day...) It boasts a rigorous academic schedule - Spalding reading and writing programs, Singapore math, and a Latin curriculum that starts in the second grade - and has a reputation for it's behavioral expectations. All this is being balanced by Mrs. P*, a wonderful Kindergarten teacher who is very creative, fun, and affectionate. Mrs. P* also has a passion for dogs. Her students form her 'pack' and their classroom is their 'den' and Gracie's life could not be more complete. {Though she made it clear to me that she would rather have a dog than pretend to be like a dog. We are not getting off the hook that easily.}

We packed her lunch Sunday night. I added a couple of surprises before she left the next morning. In her lunch box on that first day:

• crackers
• pepperoni and cheese slices
• carrot sticks
• juice box
• peach fruit cup
• oatmeal cookies made by her dad
• a love note on a napkin from her mama

Cori drives her in the mornings and took her into her classroom on the first day. I'm so glad he was able to carry her backpack for her. That baby was loaded!

The school's dresscode/uniform is khaki or navy bottoms or jumpers with red, white or navy polo shirts. She practiced wearing different combos throughout the summer... I kept trying to keep the articles in the closet. She will be tired of them soon enough I fear.

After school, she and Grant ate the cookies from her lunch box. She told me she saved them to have with Grant for a snack. Here is some of the interview I conducted with her:

So today was your first day of kindergarten. What was the most exciting part of your day?

Um, going aaaaalllllll day.

Did it feel like too much or were you happy to be there all day long?

I missed you a couple of times. But, I liked it!

Good. I missed you too. But I was happy for you.

Did you meet any new friends?

Yes.

Who?

One of them is Reed. His name is really easy to remember because it reminds me of READing a book. And he is the biggest guy.

Did you play with Reed?

At least, there is two girls that I know. Alyssa and Taylor [friends from her preschool class].

Is Taylor in your class too?

YES! And Alyssa is in my afternoon class.

Tell me about what lunch was like. Did you go to the auditorium for lunch?

What's an auditorium?

The auditorium is the big room that has lots of tables...

Oh yeah and it has cards with numbers on them so we know what table to sit at. There were two tables for us and my teachers told us which one to sit at.

{thinks, thinks, thinks}

Too bad I only ate one carrot.

Yeah. Next time you should eat all your carrots, don't you think?

Maybe like five carrots...

What did you do at recess?

Well, in my basket [her school box] that I leaved in my desk, guess what two tools I learned?

What?

I mean, guess what tools I got? I got one plain pencil and crayons.

Ooo, those are great tools.

And I drew a picture of me in August for my book.

So what do you think you are going to do tomorrow?

Hmm. I'm not sure. Mom, I want to listen to my interview.

Well let's finish it first. What was the best, most surprising part of your first day of kindergarten?

Let me think. I was surprised that there was a stuffed animal dog, and maybe tomorrow, she said we get to take turns taking that stuffed animal dog home FOR A WEEK!!

Are you kidding?

NOO! And its a black lab stuffed animal, and she is going to have a different name now.

We went out for dinner for family night. Grace chose to go to Johny Rockets for hot dogs and milk shakes. For family night the week previous, we let Grant choose what he wanted for dinner (Happy Meal, bien sur) and had a lesson at home followed by father's blessings for Grace and Grant. I definitely have felt the power of those blessings as we have launched into the thick of it over the last week. And I am incredibly grateful for the great resources we have nearby for our kids!

first day

Grant is going to the same preschool Grace attended last year with Miss Carrie. He was so very excited about starting. I couldn't stop the smiles as Grace spent solid days telling him about the best games to play during outside time (super heroes and pirates- she was always the good guy but Grant thinks playing the villain wouldn't be too bad), the best ways to make new friends (you have to remember their names, see.), all the different kinds of food they got to try for snacks, her favorite themed activities...
He chose a Cars backpack that is twice as wide as he is. Together we made his little name tag using a shrink art sheet. We traced Lightning from a nearby coloring book.

I tried to conduct an interview before the big event. I will know better next time to be sure that Grace is not in the room. It is difficult to keep one's mouth shut when one has so much to share, as well I know. I recorded it to my phone, so word for monosyllabic word, here is the transcript:

What are you most excited about for preschool?

Uh, playing outside at Miss Carrie's house.

What do you think you are going to learn about in preschool?

I don't know.

You have to guess. What do you think you will learn about?

I just don't know.

Are you excited to learn new things?

Yeah.

Is there anything that makes you nervous?

*Shakes his head no while smiling*

Will you be friends with girls or boys (I think it is clear that I am not the most brilliant interviewer)?

Girls AND boys. Both.

What is your favorite color right now?

Green and purple and pink and yellow and orange and green and blue.

What is your favorite animal right now?

You know what my favorite animal is? A dragon!

What games do you think you will play during play time?

Oh, I don't know.

What do you like most about Miss Carrie?

....

(Grace couldn't take it anymore and busted into the conversation with "Here Grant, let me give you some choices about what to like about Miss Carrie" and thus ended my interview with Grant)

He had an almost perfect first day. Miss Carrie said he was really quiet and stuck close to her throughout the day. He also asked about 5 times when snack was going to be. But he played with his new friends, and enjoyed doing his worksheets. She said he was well behaved during circle time etc... He was very happy when he got into the car at pickup time.

So Grant, how was school today?

Good.

What was your favorite part of school?

Uh, singing the song with Miss Carrie.

What song did you sing?

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. But we did it NEW!

You did it new! What was different?

I don't know. Oh, we did honk, honk. That's not new though. That's old.

Did you make any new friends?

Uh, yes.

Do you remember their names?

No, not new friends. I don't remember my new friends' names. You know Hunter was even there? Hunter was even there! He was the big kid. He is Miss Carrie's big brother.

You mean Miss Carrie's son, Hunter?

Oh, yes. You know I told him my name and he said "Hi Grant" and his name is Hunter just like my friend Hunter.

So what else did you do in school today? Did you read a book?

I don't know what it is called. The boy was a fireman and the girl was a ballerina nurse. (Then to Grace) And we didn't play puppies. We had to have playtime inside the house today because it was too hot. And I learned about circles. Miss Carrie showed me how to draw them.

Did you get sad at all?

Only once when I had my potty accident. (He made it to the bathroom but didn't have time to get his little pants down. Too much to do in an unfamiliar place...) But then I got new shorts and new underwears. Gracie, do you know what underwears I got? Diego underwears! We need to give them back to Miss Carrie and that's okay. (Phew!)

So happy for our little man. Day 2 was even better. It was a classmate's birthday and they got to have "gooey brownies with nmn's and marshmallow in them!" Hurray!

one year later...

This summer has been so much more busy than I expected. I have a list of things that I thought I would get around to "after school was done." I failed to consider that I would be keeping three children happy in limiting weather and would have no down time. Early on, I adjusted my expectations and succumbed to our desert climate. It was a great couple of months and we are all excited and ready to get into the routine again, a good sign of a break well spent. Needless to say I haven't blogged much at all. Here are a few of the things I would have blogged about interspersed with a few pictures of what was an almost daily event:

Doing things with and for our ward family: There were frequent invites for play dates to pools, splash pads, and reading times. We went to a lot, we passed on plenty too. Visiting Teaching turned into fun play dates as everyone had kids at home. It seemed like every other day there was something to go and do. And then once it was done, we were done for the day. 115* zaps all kind of energy.

Dinner parties: We had lots of fun gatherings with friends from work, from church, and our neighborhood. A few of them were bring-your-own-meat-for-the-grill kind of affairs. We had fun laying the summery spread for the others. Swim suits were always mandatory.

Wii tournaments: We finally got one. And I was immediately wishing we had had it all summer long. It is a fantastic afternoon activity when we are all swimmed out and the library books are all read. The kids are off the couch and playing together and not fighting (yet). For the longest time, I vowed that we would never EVER own a gaming console. We still plan to heavily monitor and restrict the games that live at our house. But I love that when the Wii is on, we are usually playing together.

The Stake Fitness Challenge: We've been chipping away at it for 3 weeks. Each ward is tracking mileage to see how many members they can get from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City. There are a few ways to earn mile points and every week we report. The whole event ends with a Stake Fun Run at the end of October. So far I've logged 34 miles, and Cori has pounded out 52!

Some home decorating: We had some money saved up, and I have made a good friend with an incredible knack for interior design. She spent some time looking around our place and then she took me shopping. I develop paralysis when it comes to purchasing things for the house. But with her help, I actually bought things. I actually took the tags of the stuff we bought. The stuff is actually being used to add some interest to our otherwise monochromatic decor.

Relaxing: With so much going on it took some planning. But there were days that we kept the calendar clear and the computer dark. I loved spending that time with our kids playing and doing whatever they wanted to be doing.

And now it all begins again. It is hard for me to imagine where we were at a year ago. I was still pregnant, unpacking boxes until my back wouldn't let me. We had dirt for our front and back yards. There were a million things we were trying to get done to settle in and prepare for Eden (whose name we hadn't even decided on) to join us. This August has been so nice. We are easing into our schedule. Piano lessons and dance started for Grace this week, with Kindergarten coming up on Monday. Grant started preschool yesterday (post and pics to follow) and is looking forward to soccer in October.

I think I'll get that list back out...

image diary: 7.29.2011