First Day of Pre-K

Monday was Charlotte's first day of school. It's her second year of preschool--same school, same teacher, but this year she's in Pre-K. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. She'll technically be old enough to start Kindergarten next August, but we're leaning heavily toward having her start at age six instead of five. That makes me feel a little bit better about this whole Pre-K business, knowing that I still have two years before I need to face the music and send her off to school. On a bus. Without me.

Cue this face:

But whether she goes to "big girl school" in one year or two, the fact remains: my sweet baby girl is growing up. She has friends and teachers that she interacts with when I'm not there. She has favorite toys there, and her own supply box, and an assigned seat at her classroom table. She has her own coat hook and someone else helps her hang it up. She sings songs there that I haven't taught her and learns rhymes I don't know and comes home with new and interesting things to tell me that she heard about in a book read by someone who isn't me. She has this whole little world that's hers and hers alone. I'm excited for her future and watching that little world of hers grow and grow into a big, wonderful world that she will take by storm. But still. It's bittersweet.

She was excited to go back to school. I think it helped that her teacher is the same--and one she adores--as last year. It's one less big change for this girl who has had a summer of big changes. As with most four year olds, change is not typically a welcome thing. Especially when it involves losing your "only child" status in the blink of an eye and having your world rocked more than a few times over that. I can't personally relate to what it feels like to get a new sibling since I was the youngest. I can imagine how tough it would be but without any memories to pull from I can't truly understand exactly what she's been dealing with. Nevertheless, I'm very proud of her. We have had our fair share of challenging moments and difficult days but she has never been anything but kind and loving toward her baby sister, always. 

For now, I'm happy to see her back at school and having her own world to enjoy for awhile each week. Until it's time to start Kindergarten. Then you can find me at her bus stop. I'll be the one in a heap in the grass, sobbing and making people wonder if I need a hug or an ambulance. 

~Stacy

Official Photos

Last week and the week before Elise had her first "real" photo shoot, taken by my very talented friend Rachael of Blue Teapot Photography. All photos are by her--check out her website at www.blueteapotphotography.com. If you need photos done and you live in the area, this is the person to choose. She has the patience of a saint and her photos are all beautiful and as simple and natural as possible.

I'm in love with all of these photos! They turned out perfectly--and Elise is sleeping in 99% of them. If they'd been taken this week she'd be sleeping in maybe 10% of them ;)

I can't choose a favorite...I love them all. But if I had to pick, I'd pick the one of her sleeping in a basket in the woods. And the one of Charlotte giving her a kiss. But let's be honest, the real showstopper here is the very last photo in the bunch. An instant classic if I ever saw one, and the result of what a real photo shoot looks like with two kids at the end of a long session after one has recently tripped and skinned both knees and hands and the other has decided she needs to drink a bottle RIGHT NOW OR SHE WILL DIE.

And now for the best...

~Stacy

Side by Side

When Elise was first born I didn't think she looked too much like Charlotte as a newborn, but I quickly changed my mind. After a few days it became pretty obvious that the two of them are sisters. Just for fun, I went through some of Charlotte's newborn pictures from her first week of life to compare and I was pretty surprised just how much they look alike (in each of these, Charlotte is on the left and Elise on the right):

I think the one that strikes me most is the one with my Grandma holding them (and that was a total accident that I ended up taking pretty much the same photo four years apart). In that photo I think they look identical. Also my grandma doesn't age, ever.

And from today, another adorable side by side:

:) They're my best.

~Stacy

Four.

My baby girl is 4 today! It's hard to believe she's already four years old, yet at the same time it feels like she's been a part of our family forever.

The year from three to four went by quickly. Every year goes by quickly, but this one seemed to go by extra fast. I feel partly guilty about that, because I spent a good portion of this year wishing it would hurry along--pretty much November thru March for an assortment of reasons (awful morning sickness, an even more awful winter, and nonstop viruses showing up at our door, to name a few). Then I blinked and here we are, June 2nd.

She finished her first year of preschool a week ago. She loved it, like I knew she would. She keeps saying that "after the baby comes I get to go back to school!". I'm glad she has that perspective and it's not something we have to fight over every day.

The weather today has been almost exactly the same as the day she was born. She came into this world on a beautiful day, almost 12 hours to the minute that the induction process was started to kick her out (stubborn girl...some things never change :)).

I asked her the other day what job she wanted to have when she grows up. She said "a doctor. A doctor for children." I have no doubt in my mind that she will achieve that goal if that's what she truly ends up wanting to do. I know this girl can achieve anything--she is a wicked combination of fierce independence, incredible brightness, and oodles of charm.

Those qualities will serve her well as she grows up and I hope she keeps them. But I'm not too worried about what job she will have when she's grown. I'm more focused on her maintaining the parts of her personality that, already at just four years old, make her such an awesome person. She's kind to people and to her, people are just that: people. She doesn't notice differences in people's skin colors, size, abilities or any of the other ways adults tend to notice and use to measure another person's worth. To her, everyone is fair game for being her friend. That part of her personality will get her farther and make me prouder than any job she could ever have. The world will do it's best to stamp that trait down, but my little firecracker--all 32 pounds of her--has already shown me that she's ready for the challenge.

Bring it on world: Charlotte's coming. And she's laughing at you :)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, bright, best girl!

~Stacy

First Day.

And so here we are. The first day of preschool. The day that Charlotte has been looking forward to pretty much since she started talking and the day that I've been looking forward to and kind of dreading ever since last winter when we decided to send her to preschool this year.

And, much to my relief, it was a smashing success. She loved it and she can't wait to go back. The first day was a shorter day (90 minutes), and parents were asked to come too. So we went, and several times she said "okay Mommy and Daddy, you can go home now!" It actually made me feel really good to hear her say that since I want her to like it and I would feel awful if I dropped her off and she was sobbing and begging me to stay.

The school is wonderful, the teachers are wonderful and I think she's going to have a great year. Several people asked me if it was hard or if I cried at all, and the answer to both has surprisingly been no. I think seeing how much fun she had that first day, coupled with the fact that it's only two days a week for a few hours each makes it easier. I was feeling a lot of feelings the night before, telling Chad that I was about two steps away from forgetting about the whole thing and just starting her next year. Or running away to some remote part of Vermont and homeschooling and living off the land and avoiding all contact with the rest of the world as a way to convince myself that I had stopped time. 

I've never been good with change, but thankfully my daughter is much more of a chameleon :)

She drew her new teacher two pictures at home and insisted on bringing them the first day to give to her. She also gave herself and Winnie several pep talks about how he couldn't come in to school but that he would have to "stay safe in the car" while she was in school and she would see him soon.

Her second day of school, tomorrow, is "Bring Your Favorite Stuffed Animal Day" so she's pretty excited that Winnie can actually come with her then.

~Stacy

Summer Girl

I hope your strawberries are sweet and your flowers are not smelly. :)

~Stacy

Three Years Ago

Exactly three years ago we were spending our final evening as just a couple. In about nine hours we'd be heading to the hospital to so I could finally give birth, after what felt like a 29 month pregnancy.

Three years ago I was six days past my due date, very large, very uncomfortable, and very excited to finally meet my girl. The girl I'd tried to picture in my head over the past nine months (truthfully, much longer than that). I figured she would have blonde hair, I knew she'd have blue eyes, but beyond that I didn't really know what to expect.

I imagined that I might end up with a stubborn child, since it's a pretty strong trait of mine. I also thought there would be a good chance my child would have a silly sense of humor, after her Daddy. I was correct on both counts.

What I was not expecting, however, was to create a person with the biggest and best personality I have ever met. From the moment she entered the world she was an active and eager participant, taking a few minutes to look around the hospital room and take it in before letting out any kind of cry. I knew she was healthy since the doctor and nurse were unalarmed, but all the babies I'd seen born in movies or TV shows always came out bellowing. I finally asked the nurse "shouldn't she be crying?" and it wasn't until the nurse wiped her eyes with a cloth that she let out a wail.

She makes friends wherever she goes and can charm anyone into a smile. If we go anywhere and she sees another kid, she immediately approaches them and refers to them as "my friend" regardless of how long they actually spend together. She's game for anything; as long as we're going somewhere or seeing people, she's happy.

Her extroverted, social personality is what threw me for a loop. It's very different from mine--I have to remind myself to approach new people, engage and be social. It isn't a natural part of my personality. Where I am tired out by large social settings, she is recharged.

I am thankful that her personality is so different. It constantly takes me out of my comfort zone in a good way and serves as a daily reminder that the world is a place to be explored and enjoyed. I have always been an optimist, but she gives me a reason to stay that way.

She loves books and will sit for ages making up her own stories or reciting parts of books she's memorized. She has an imagination that fascinates me and a sense of humor beyond her years. Sometimes she shocks me with her intelligence (as she gets older, I'll have to brush up on a lot of things just to keep up with her) and she seems to have inherited the musical gene that skipped me. She makes up songs for just about everything and asks us to do the same. She watches PBS Kids every morning over her breakfast of a waffle and banana, loves peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly), could eat yogurt with every meal, and will never ever turn down ice cream or chocolate chip cookies.

She doesn't just walk anywhere--she skips, gallops, dances or runs. She loves swings, slides, climbing, and copying Daddy's yoga moves. She shows an athletic side that, sadly, also mostly skipped over me. She wants to wear a baseball mitt as much as a princess gown and is almost never without nail and toenail polish. She loves to run around "with my piggies out" (barefoot) and loves Buzz Lightyear almost as much as Cinderella.

Her favorite color is every color--her answer will change depending on the direction of the wind. She loves anything sparkly and has never seen a cat she didn't like. She gets excited to ride her bike every day and cannot wait to go to school. She wants to ride a school bus, drive a car, learn to sew and marry her Daddy.

She dislikes loud motorcycles, thunderstorms, feeling even a little bit embarrassed, slimy things, rain,  or going to bed on time.

She is fiercely independent, a master negotiator (come to our house at bedtime to see what this girl comes up with to delay the process), impatient, and very stubborn. If she wants alone time she'll ask for it and don't dare interrupt her. She wants to be a big girl most of the time, unless it's inconvenient--then she sorely misses being a baby. She has an irresistible charm that I'm not sure she's fully aware of, but it scores her a shocking amount of free stuff. Try going to the farmer's market at Crocker Park with her some Saturday and you'll see what I mean; she just might come home with a chocolate croissant, lip balm, and a flower, all from different vendors and all for free.

Three years ago I did not yet know any of this. I could not have imagined the things to come, and so many things in such a short amount of time. This girl is my very, very best and I will do everything in my power to make sure that as she grows up the world does not dull her sparkle.

Happy 3rd Birthday to my beautiful Charlotte.

~Stacy