Boy

Look at that dirty face! I love how his expression reads "What, Mom?" His new word is "Why?" To which you answer his question, explain why, only to have him ask again, "Why?" It is so stinkin' adorable.

He is crossing over from baby to boy. He is out of the crib, his Bobby (pacifier) has been replaced by a stuffed Build-A-Bear, who significantly goes by Bobby Bear, but he is still in diapers, and thank God, still napping.

I never would have guessed that the time would pass so quickly.

The Project

I started this post on Labor Day, but never ended up finishing it. My husband started building a deck that weekend, and I think I thought that it would only take a few days. Boy, was I wrong, and wow, what a big job something like this is. Brent has never embarked on such a project, but I am so proud of him now that it is near finished. It is beautiful. This will be a place for lots of family fun. Good times.


Day 1 -This is just before the digging of the post holes which were then filled with concrete. You can't so much tell by the picture, but this auger is one scary piece of machinery. I was seriously frightened for his life when he started using that. Thank goodness there were only eight holes to dig!

Day 2- A lot of cutting and measuring. Re-cutting and re-measuring. My dad came over to help on this day.


We had some Three Floyd's Pride & Joy stashed in the fridge. This is one of my current faves. We laugh at the picture on the label. It reminds us of the Snow Miser. My kids love that stuff at Christmas time.





He has worked everyday after work until nightfall. He has been a little obsessive, but I don't really mind.


And some progress. We can walk on it. We will have a nice shady deck in the afternoons. The deck floor is in, let's have a dance party. Now it is time for the rails.



Good times.

Patch

Seriously, this has never happened to me before, we are building a deck this way, and have been spending a lot of time outside. We sat down in the grass to eat some crackers, and we noticed a patch.


Look closer.
Do you see what I see?




Look again.



We didn't pick, but we counted at least twelve in our lucky patch. Amazing.

Smarty Pants

This is that darling picture that I was talking about earlier in the week. This little guy loves preschool more than I ever thought he would! We are working on his letters, but he has some smarts that just amaze me. A couple nights ago, he started rattling off animals and where they live. "Mom, pandas live in China, right? And tigers are from Asia and lions live in Africa in a savannah, right?"

As a teacher, I was always aware of how children have different intelligences, and how they learn in different ways. I was always so excitement to discover what those individual smarts and learning styles. So often, especially in reading, it was just being able to tap into those special interests of the child. But what a delight to discover and recognize these in your own children!

Allison comes home from school singing cute little songs and pretending she is a singer in High School Musical, and then I have this little boy who would be in heaven if I were to let him watch Animal Planet all day.

Run and run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking

I have a million posts that I want to write, and a million chores to do, and a million other things that I just want or should do. Everywhere I look I feel frustrated by the tasks I haven't got to yet. Yet today, yet this week, yet this year. Yet this lifetime.

I have felt this way forever. As long as I can remember. Some days I can let this frustration drive me. Other days, it gets me down. For a long time, I would make lists, create checklists, now even those things seem less like tools and more like chores. My lists are too long.

Although today I have aspirations of checking off items on my mental checklist, I can already see the day unfolding before me. Boxed in my time constraints. Naps, lunch, husband getting home from work, daughter getting off the bus, dinner, baths, bedtime book. You know the story.

When I sat down to write this, my intentions were to post to picture of my son attending preschool for the first time. It is a darling picture of him standing before the school sign, just like the one I took of Allison last year. He has an exaggerated and proud smile, one that I appreciate even more for all those time when he just wouldn't. But I can't get blogger to download the file, for some reason. It is cuter than cute, and I am so proud of him. I will have to get back to posting that pic.

My beds aren't made yet, and there is wet laundry in the wash that I will get to later. Mason is crying loudly and has been a bit of a tough cookie this morning. We are going. To the gym, where I will bribe my boys with 25 cent gumballs to play nicely in the daycare while I create an hour of time for me. Time for me.

I can't find the time, I have to make it.

Adjustment

Just because the first day of school has come and gone, this school stuff is still pretty new to us. My daughter has full- day kindergarten, which means she is gone almost eight hours a day. This is a huge adjustment when compared to the seven hours a week she attended preschool last year.

My confident little social butterfly is having some trouble missing her mama. The tears begin when she gets out of bed and it is Drama Queen until she reluctantly steps on the bus. It has been like this for the last three days, and if her day is long, so is mine.

But it is so much easier, having one child gone all day. No one told me.
The boys play nicely. They pretend they are lions.
They share. Today is was ABC gum, and although it is gross, I pretended it wasn't because it was a nice gesture on Miles' part, and Mason stopped crying about gumballs.
They even hugged today. The bonding, it is so damn cute.

However, it is just so strange to hand your child over to someone else to take care of for the majority of her day. Someone else has more waking hours with her than I do. Someone else is equally or more influential to her than I am. She is just growing up so fast.

It is going to take some time to get used to.
For both of us.

First Day of Preschool, 2007

First Day of Preschool, 2008

First Day

I am so proud of her. She was so brave and confident getting on the bus this morning. As I was taking this picture, I had to get her attention, she was already busy waving to the other kids on the bus just as if she were Little Miss America.

I didn't cry. Although I may right now. I wish I could drive up to the school and peek through the windows. Just to see her being her best self by herself out in the world. But I am here. And it is quiet.

It is so quiet. Two little boys peacefully building a track for Thomas the Train. Brothers working as a team, and it is quiet.

Season of change.