From the Mouths of Babes in September

Sudden screaming and sobbing
Eileen: I saw a squirrel!!!! sob sob sob

Eileen: Are those spirits?  (referring to the steam rising from my coffee)

Linus:  Hey you're wasting all of them (pumpkin pancakes) on Robin!
Me:  Feeding the baby is not wasting.

Me:  You are not the boss of Dylan.
Linus:  I AM the boss of applesauce.
Eileen: And I'm the boss of moss.

Linus:  I'm going to wear my Seahawks shirt and blue pants and put those black streaks on my face and paint my skin brown.
Me:  Uhhhh. So you can be like Russell Wilson?
Linus:  Uh huh.
Me:  Um.  How about you just wear your Seahawks clothes.  You can still be like Russell Wilson, but lets not paint your skin brown.  followed by awkward conversation about the history of blackface

Chilling at soccer practice

 

Ballerina in Waiting

Sometimes it takes everything I have to not overschedule my kids.  My brain swells with all the possibilities for enrichment--chess, foreign language, swim, fencing....  I really try to limit my kids to one activity per season.  We've done Gymboree, Nurturing Pathways, Little Kickers, Seattle Gymnastics Academy, and tee ball with the Boys and Girls Club.  We've enjoyed them all.  This fall Linus is busying playing soccer and running cross country for his school CYO team. Yes I know that's two, but soccer games and cross country meets never happen the same weekend.

Eileen wants to dance.  She liked gymnastics, but she has slowly turned her attention to ballet.  I'm not sure how since she's never really seen ballet.  She attended a fairy princess dance camp this summer and loved every minute of it.  I had it all planned out.  Eileen was going to take dance while Linus took piano lessons, all at the same location.  And then we moved.  Piano is on hold for the moment. 

Eileen did not let me forget about ballet.  Luckily, Shoreline Parks and Rec had a preschool ballet class.  It's great because not only was it inexpensive (I can't believe all the tacked on fees with dance studios--recital outfits, tickets to the recital, pictures...) but the class is while Linus is in school.  Eileen just had her first class. I was impressed by the teacher.  She was very professional.

Eileen beamed throughout the whole class.  Parents won't be allowed in the room again until the last class.  Sometimes I am surprised by how much joy I get watching my children learn, grow, and try new things. 

Also, how cute are little girls dressed for ballet?  I'm hoping her new interest means I finally have an excuse to go see the PNB Nutcracker.

Moving Moving Moving

It finally happened.  Thanks to help from wonderful friends and family, we left our beloved Phinney Ridge for the suburbs of Lake Forest Park.  Maybe it was the fact that we were living amongst cardboard boxes or I was just really excited for this next step, but I was surprisingly not crying when I left the house for the last time.  Or maybe it was the fact that this is our new home.

I'm a little bit smitten.  It has 4 bedrooms plus an office, 3 fireplaces, a gourmet kitchen,  giant backyard with a workshop, swing set, and a treehouse.  We opted to not keep the large trampoline.  Linus has big plans to re-imagine the treehouse as an Ewok village.  Normally I am the person who crushes his dreams, but I'm kind of on board for this one. 

I can't say thank you enough to all the family and friends who helped us, from donating boxes and packing materials, to watching the kids overnight during the move, lifting heaving furniture, or sitting in our dining room and assembling 11 chairs from IKEA or beds for the kids.  It was a group effort and I feel blessed to know we have so many people in our corner.

Being Dave and I, we are completely unpacked except for his workshop (have to build a workbench first).  There's still lots to figure out, like how in the world I am going to clean the place or how to furnish/decorate the living room (we have a coffee table, but that's pretty much it).  We don't have internet for a few more days so I now have another excuse to go to Starbucks--lattes and wi-fi.

There is still so much to do before we will finally feel settled, but I'm so glad the move is done.  Robin and I walked out the front door Monday to run errands and one of the neighbors saw us and came to say hello.  I was startled to realize that I sort of knew her.  She was married to Dave's and my old camp counselor.  This means not only do two very cool people live across the street, but they have two young boys for Linus to play with.  We went over to their house last night for dinner.  It was a perfect welcome to the neighborhood.

It sounds like Lake Forest Park may be a bit tricky to deal with in terms of constructing lodging for my parents, but I feel like there are so many signs coming from the universe that we did the right thing by moving here.  I'll will miss my wonderful old neighbors and being able to walk everywhere, but I think this new life is going to be pretty sweet.

An Auspicious Start?

Linus started kindergarten yesterday.  It was weird.  Kindergarten seems like such an abstract concept when you first have a baby and then suddenly there it is.  I saw lots of writings on Facebook about parents crying.  I wondered if that would be me.  It was not.

The morning started with Linus refusing to come out from under the covers.  He did not want to get up because he was not allowed to have any screen time.   Linus has been talking about being almost in kindergarten since last fall.  He would tell anyone, whether they asked or not.  He had visions of being big man on campus at St. John.  And then we decided to move.  His excitement was replaced by nervousness.  

First Day of School take 1

He was very stoic as we got ready to leave the house.

 Once inside the classroom, he quickly found his seat.  He was all business.

There were no hugs, no kisses, no tears, not even a wave good bye.  Maybe I would have been more emotional if I was not wearing a baby and fighting to stay upright as Eileen pulled on me.  And maybe if getting ready to move in a week in a half was not occupying my mind.  I feel bad.  I probably should have cried.  I guess I will have to save those tears for when Robin starts kindergarten.

We left Linus and headed to the auditorium to visit all the booths and partake of the refreshments.  I was pretty impressed.  There was a long table with sign ups for every sort of volunteer opportunity imaginable, another table to turn in all the forms and fees, one for church ministry stuff (they do some cool stuff), sports, uniform exchange, fundraising, and more.  I was able to learn a lot and ask questions.  I really have to hand it to the school.   This, combined with the new family orientation and new family bbq, really made us feel very welcome and gave us a much better understanding of the school and parish.

Despite the excellent instruction at orientation, I flunked carpool pick up.  Linus was still grumpy.  Eileen was melty.  The next several hours (it was a half day of school) were not pleasant. I will leave it at that.

First Day of School take 2

Today I got to try it all over again because it was Eileen's first day!  Can I just say how much I love uniforms.  Love may be an understatement.  Thankfully, everyone woke up in better moods.

Eileen's favorite way to take a picture.

With a unicorn rainbow backpack in hand, she was ready to face preschool.

Linus was willing to hop in the picture (sort of, he kept his distance).  You can see how adoringly Eileen looks at him.

Really, nothing much has changed.  See first day of school two years ago.

During drop off this morning, Linus informed me, "I don't need you," and walked off to his classroom by himself while I took Eileen to hers.  Well then!

After depositing Eileen, who was quiet but engaged immediately, Robin and I celebrated with a pumpkin spice latte and pedicure.  He was kind enough to let one of the nail ladies snuggle him.  We went to the park.  We went shopping.  It was heavenly.

A beautiful September morning, coffee, and spending quality time with my baby?  It was lovely.  I think he enjoyed it too.   During naps I studied up on carpool (what the school refers to for the orchestration of pick up and drop off).  I was determined not to fail.  I give myself a B.  Hopefully, I will fully figure it out soon.  Oye.

We capped off our second day of first day with having everyone in bed before 7 pm.  Dave and I can tell Linus is already loving kindergarten.  I am loving having him in school all day long and his positive change in attitude.   I think it's going to be a good year.

11 Months

While other kids were busy starting the school year, Robin was occupied with starting his 11th month.

Our big boy still is not mobile really.  He can scoot backwards unintentionally until he backs himself into a corner (literally) or under a piece of furniture and then requires assistance.  Robin will also rotate toward objects, but can rarely reach them since he can't move forward.  Needless to say, life can be very frustrating for him.  The upside is that if I seat him someplace, he doesn't move.  This even allowed us to take him to the movies since he had no desire to get out and explore, just snuggle and chew.

Robin still won't move from a ground to sitting position, pull himself up, or walk while holding hands.   Since he is making slow and steady progress, I am not worrying and just assuming that he will do things in his own good time.

As evidenced above, Robin has discovered balls.  Few things besides ice cream and baths bring him as much joy.  Grandma taught him how to play catch.  I suspect her of trying to teach him to be a lefty. 

Robin loves eating people food in addition to his pureed fruit pouches.  He loudly growls when he sees food pass in front of him.  With 8 teeth, his need to chew is insatiable. Robin has also become quite the bookworm and can be often found beside a pile of books.  He has three words: mama, dada, and mum mum, which are used sparingly, and one phrase "all done."  I continue to use sign with him and he understands it just fine.  I guess he is a man of few words.

The exciting news is that Robin is generally sleeping through the night except for nursing around 3:30 or 4 am.  My sleep deprived body thanks him.

Eileen and Linus decided it was time for him to experience the joy of riding a rocking horse.

Robin is such a happy and easy going baby.  I'm glad he is taking his time growing up and I'm excited to start getting to spend more time with just him.