If I had a title. I'd put it right here.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Jo: Um, yes - Mommy? I love you. Now... can you please get me a snack?
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Eve: Will Josie be upsided to see me?
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Jo: Mommy. Hear this. Um, it's a joke - okay. Why didn't the bear eat his food? (dramatic pause) 'Cuz - it was expired!!!
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Eve: I don't wanna ever be a sweetie, and I don't ever wanna be a honey ever again, do you hear me? I'm an Evie and I don't wanna hear any more about it! (and stomps foot.)

And those four examples of things overheard around here lately could have occurred within 10 minutes. It's like watching a sitcom, drama and reality show all at the same time. I don't know whether to laugh or cry or pick my jaw up off the floor. So I usually do all three, just to be safe.

Not to anyone's surprise, Josie loves school. No - let me rephrase that. Josie LOVES school. Since we're outside of our school's busing zone, I drop off and pick up Jo every day. The thing that I like about this arrangement is the chance to walk her into her school, watch her hang up her backpack in the hall, go into her room, wash her hands and sign in for the day. I get to scope out her room, see some of her classmates and say hey to her teacher. And I thought that she would relish the chance to have me there, too. But by the end of last week, I was barely inside the door to her room and she was giving me a quick kiss and basically telling me to hit the road. The first day this happened, I assured Josie that I had all the time in the world, I could stay and watch her pick up her name plate and sign her name on the board, and she looked at me and said, "It's okay, Mommy. I'm good." Seriously, kid. Doesn't she know how much time and worry I put into her potential separation anxiety? Throw me a bone.

And Eve has taken the transition to her big sis being in school in stride. At 3 years and 2 months of age, the importance of everything in Eve's life is relative to when she's going to get to watch her next movie. She's fine with being lugged around between dropping Josie off and picking Josie up, as long as there's potential between these two events to go home and watch a movie. Which has only happened about one time so far. It's been a refreshing change to be up and about and out DOING THINGS at 9:00 a.m. Eve and I can hit the park, get groceries, take them home and put them away before it's time to go get Jo. And today... today we went for a walk/jog around Phalen after dropping Josie off! It was beautiful! And I could cry at the thought that it's going to be snowing in like two weeks. Eve does miss Josie while she's at school, and checks in with me frequently to ask when it's 11:40, and is Josie waiting for us, yet. And every day when Jo climbs in the van, Eve asks her in a sweet little voice, "Did you play with new friends today? What were their names?" Then turns her attention to me and asks, "Mommy, can we go home and watch a movie?"

It's been a hoot having some one-on-one time with Eve. While we were wogging around Phalen today, I swear that girl's mouth never stopped moving. She's full of questions. Or she thinks of some random tidbit from a movie or thing we did recently that she needs to tell me. My stomach turns at the thought that I may have never gotten the chance to experience any of this. I've never been so in the right place in my life before. Speaking of right places. Right about now, that's in bed. It's exhausting being a chauffeur/therapist/waitress/confidant/playmate/chef/maid.

I guess I'll have to learn how to share.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
It's really not fair to keep something so awesome to ourselves. She's been all ours for four-and-a-half years. And today she gave us a smile as we walked out of her classroom, which made it a little easier to drive away from her school without her. She woke up this morning and ran up the stairs yelling "school! school! school!" much to my relief. I wasn't sure what to expect as she's been a tad apprehensive the last couple of days. But the only tears this morning were from me, in the car, as I drove away, and from Eve, as we left Josie's classroom. I can't wait to hear what her first day was like, and to see the little smirk on her face when we pick her up.

***update: The first thing Josie said when I picked her up today was, "Mommy! I had FUN at school!" And her favorite thing about the day... coloring. And she said she made 2 new friends. But she doesn't remember what their names are. :) OH - and the biggest excitement was the little boy (also, can't remember his name) who had to have TWO timeouts for not listening to the teacher.













Again!

Monday, September 07, 2009
Um... can someone tell me where August went? She up and left, and didn't even say goodbye.

I kinda can't even believe I'm sitting here on September 7th, on the brink of the fall season, Josie starting preschool, sorting out long-sleeve shirts and jeans and looking back at summer. I feel like I've just gotten this whole "staying at home" (what a silly way to put it... we've hardly been home!) thing down, and now more changes and adjustments are upon us. Such is life.

We just spent the most amazing weekend (which got off to a HORRID start with terrible traffic and an unfortunate camper-backing-up incident which I won't go into detail about here...) at a friend's cabin in Crosslake. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the weekend totally redeemed itself after it's lousy start. Josie informed us she wants to stay there forever, and she wishes very much that WE had a cabin. Well, Josie dear... we've got a '72 Steury pop-up instead. Thems the breaks.

Just a few of August's highlights included the Como Zoo, outings to Lake Elmo Park Reserve, the girls' first full weekend alone with Grandma Sue and Erwin while Patrick and I enjoyed Western Days and softball in Chatfield, Eagle's Nest indoor playground, Pump It Up, the Chutes and Ladders park in Bloomington and a weekend camping with friends near Brandon. And, of course, filling in the other days were many trips to our "red park" just down the street, outings to the library and lots of walks, bike rides and playing on our swingset.

We *finally* found out that Josie will be attending her 4-year-old program during the morning session beginning this Thursday. A relief to know after a summer of waiting and wondering, and I think, a very good thing for our family. She's a occasional napper, and I'm looking forward to a reason to get us back to normalcy in the mornings, instead of the a.m. blahs we're slipping into once in a while with nothing to get us moving. I can't really put into words the mixed emotions I'm experiencing. She's so ready. But I'm not sure I can say the same. Just today she counted to 40, and has been counting by two's, as well. Not sure when or where she picked that up. She's fascinated by numbers, always counting everything she sees. Oh, and did I mention how stinkin' adorable she's gonna look in her school uniform? She picked a Tinkerbell backpack, and we're practicing learning how to tie her big girl new tennis shoes. At the bottom of the washing machine today, I found a bunch of acorns she'd filled her pockets with at the cabin. When I told her about my find, she said, "oh, that's where they went! I've been wanting to count them."

While Jo is in school, Eve and I will attend Wednesday morning ECFE class, and possibly a tumbling class, as well. I'm interested to see how Evie adjusts to her big sister, best friend and favorite playmate venturing into a new experience without her. We've talked about it, but I don't think she truly understands the change that is coming. While Josie, on the other hand, has been very curious about what exactly it is that Eve and I will be doing without her. I think Jo is picturing swings and candy and trips to McDonald's.

Eve is, I guess you'd say, half potty-trained. She continues to do very well with pee, and goes in the bathroom mostly all on her own. She's dry some mornings, and always through naps. And then there's the poop. She very politely asks for a diaper, promptly goes away by herself, gets the job done, and then asks to be cleaned up. It's a nice little routine she's got going. No desire to put it in the potty. We recently started to talk, again, about starting a reward chart, or a trip to Target to get that baby doll she's been coveting for valid efforts on the potty. And then she went seven days without pooping. So here we are, back changing poopy diapers, for now. I'm very willing to forgive the inconvenience because, well, they're growing up so darn fast, and Eve is so darn... cute. She can't milk that forever, of course.

And to wrap up for now, more pictures. If I could, I'd press the replay button on the summer of 2009.