Quote of the Day

"Mommy - school was great!"
-- Jake, on my arrival home from work at 5pm.

Ahhhhhhh.

Jake's First Day of Kindergarten

Jake had his first day of school last week too. Actually two, as he had a Kindergarten orientation day two days earlier. No pix; he was not in the mood. Departing from Mom each morning was a bit rough, but both days seemed to have pleased him by the end. After his first full day, he told Mike he went to art class and loved the room and the teacher, took pix of himself on a webcam during computer class, and announced "my new school is HUGE!" Compared to his pre-school, it really is, with lots of buildings and confusing paths between them so it makes sense that it takes some getting used to. We're very excited by his new teachers, who seem excellent, and all that it seems he will learn there and hope that by next week at this time, he will be much more comfortable.

I don't have any pix from that day, but did find a page on the school's website that shows off his very cool classroom. It used to be a pre-K class so it has some great play structures. This is a two-story play center, with dress-up bins on top and kitchen down below. On meet the teacher night Abby and Jake spent a lot of time running up the stairs to dress up and wave to us through the plexiglass!

And this is the reading nook, with books and two private areas to climb into to curl up with a book.
I wanted to spend time in this classroom too!

Abby's First Day of School

Abby was exhuberant at being reminded this morning that it was her first day of school. She ran around in circles before getting dressed. She posed nicely for some first day pix on the stoop. And she was such a pro. I walked her to the playground, she climbed on a tricycle, and said hi to her teacher. I explained I was leaving and Daddy would pick her up in a bit, and she waved goodbye to me and proceeded to observe everyone else, as I left quietly, eyes welling up, to go back to my empty car. I took Jake out for the morning, a special treat as he doesn't start school for another few days, and tried not to worry about her.

Mike picked her up 2 1/2 hours later and apparently she was overjoyed to tell him how much she liked school. She also said "Me cried," apparently on going into the classroom and realizing I was not there. She said she used the potty, and told us which teacher helped her do so. Jake quizzed her all during dinner about the works she did today (he visited her classroom for about 10 minutes yesterday during her "ice cream social" and surveyed the scene quite thoroughly) and she told him more about what she did than she told us - he interviewed her very well. I loved listening to their banter over the dinner table - Which work did you do, Abby? Me did the porcupine, Jake. Did you put all the straws back afterwards? yes. Did you do the apple work too? yes. Did you fill up all the holes with the apples? no, just some. Did you do the work with the little spoon and the red balls? yes! She answered very thoughtfully and sincerely and they were totally engaged with each other. Mike and I glanced at each other in awe -new phase!! The most amazing thing about it was that he really cared to know what she did, and she really wanted to tell him. I loved it - a great closing to a wonderful day.

Roku

Mike just ordered us a Roku from netflix. For something like 10 dollars a month plus the price of the box, you get streaming video through the net to your tv. It includes movies and TV shows, not everything, but an amazing selection. We haven't had cable here since we moved (though we are at the weekly limit in DVDs every week at the library) so when the Roku came in, the kids were extremely happy to get their fix. Don't they look drugged? I think this was watching Carebears. Yikes!

Look Ma, No Gutter Balls!

We came, we saw, we bowled. There were kid guards in the gutters and lighter balls just for kids. Jake loved it!

Earlier, we found a playground with a wonderful rose garden nearby. I loved it!

Summer's Ending

So, reality has set in. We got our moving POD unloaded so all of our possessions are now in the house (somewhere), have had several visits to various doctors for ailments, I've started back at work with more gusto than I have babysitting coverage for, and the kids start their respective schools next week. We are settling in AND summer is coming to a close. So it's a bittersweet time. We still make it out to discover new things every day or two (like this sports store today where apparently Abby bounced happily while I was at work) and the kids have made some nice neighborhood friends. We're bracing ourselves for the first week of school next week and all the emotional energy it will take from all of us to make that go smoothly, but are optimistic that a new structure to our life here will do everyone some good. We're just so tired of the dissettledness of moving!

In the meantime, at the ripe age of 2 years and 7 months, Abby is intent on showing her readiness for school. She out of the blue stood up and drew the big blue A on the right on her erasable board and told us it was an A for Abby. Her very first letter! Even Jake came in and clapped for her. She's so proud of it, she hasn't erased it yet, now 3 days old, though she's spent a lot of time trying to match it on the left of the board, and carefully erasing so as not to touch her masterpiece. This one, she called her "long" A. I'm so proud of her. Her directed diligence is very impressive. She talks to herself gently in cookie monster speak as she erases: "no, that not good one, me try again!"

As for Jake, he is still prone, when in the right mood, to making masterpieces in his room when he's in there alone for afternoon quiet time. I don't have a picture, but Mike took a video of the last one - a dominoes-based Rube Goldberg contraption that ended up knocking a domino in a glass of water. It had multiple paths, had several different materials in addition to dominos, and, best of all, it worked! He seemed quite proud of that one as well! I'll post if I can get hold of it.

ok, here's a photo:


Despite all the turmoil of the past few months, I'm going to be optimistic and declare these accomplishments the signs of a really successful summer break - the kids are so bored, now they are creating satisfying challenges for themselves! I hope school directs that energy even more effectively!

Week 3 in NC!

It's been another busy week! This week we tried and liked a new babysitter. We also watched Jake completely fall in love with Hannah, our 9 year old cat and become the most confident and independent he's been since we moved while doting in her care (he even gave her new ice cubes in her water hourly on the first day of the new discovery. Then he decided she didn't really like cold water, but still gave her food and treats and insisted we go buy her catnip. She, in turn, sits in back of him on the couch and curls her tail around his neck. It is quite the romance). Honestly, I think she is just happy to be allowed back in the house! For the first 2 weeks we kept her out for our allergic guests. But he is clearly her protector. Abby pulled her tail the other day, making Hannah scream out and Jake cried!



















Jake had a new, very sweet little boy exactly his age over for a 2nd playdate and after checking with his mother, a nice new friend for me, I followed up with the school to get them assigned to the same classroom - success! We have not told him yet but know now that Jake will have a new best friend in his class! They are really a good match. I also spent 2 days working and had a lovely dinner in Downtown Durham with colleagues that culminated in a visit to a collegue's downtown loft-like apartment with wonderful city views.

We discovered our backyard forest wonderland contains a special treasure - a wonderful little creek that has rocks and roots and running water and is about 4 mins from our house. The kids LOVE to walk down there after dinner and play in the water.



















I had my annual bout with back pain ritual this week as well - culminating in an epidural steroid shot. Not fun, but seems to be helping already. The first day I was manic and realized I had flushed cheeks all day and that I had run, vacuumed, mopped, steam mopped, shopped, and done tons of other things I usually cannot even consider doing on the same day!

We had friends over for dinner, enjoyed some Peter Lugar steaks one of Mike's clients sent us as a housewarming gift, went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt and Locopops for popsicles at least 3 times, discovered a new healthy fast food place, ate wonderful food from Trader Joe's, got a new collection of DVDs and books from the library, filled up our baby pool and had some sprinkler fun with a neighbor, and today, Jake, Abby and I found a new playground we liked downtown and then spent a very happy hour or so looking at the Critter Corner at Jake's new school, where we hit the jackpot - two new baby bunnies! Such happy children have rarely been seen.







































The verdict? My goodness, we like it here!!

A Grand Day Out

What to do on a rainy Sat? Well, we tried a local mall. The kids really enjoyed looking at Pottery Barn Kids and Mike enjoyed the Apple Store. On leaving, he held the door open for none other than John Edwards who seemed to be there shopping with his daughter and whom I was shocked to see so close. Mike had no idea who the tan guy was until I motioned and then hissed "that's John Edwards!" loudly at him. So sorry, Mr. Edwards, that was more than rude, but what can you do? A politician must expect a little recognition when out on the town, right?

The iphone picture of Edwards in his blue shorts below was for mom, who read his assistant's scathing book and has mentioned to me oh about 40,000 times that he lives in Chapel Hill. Yep, he's here. Bodyguardless and all.

Jake loved the pizza place we found for lunch - Tomato Jake's!