Summer lovin'

One can never have too many friends, and we have the best, a large portion of whom we got to see in Connecticut. First, we got to chill in the hot sun with the Grant girls (Hastings and Landry or "Baby Landry" as we like to call her) who happened to be visiting with their mom, Miranda, my oldest friend (she's not old, our friendship is), at the same time we were visiting Connecticut as we closed out the summer New England style. We had the girls play together as much as we could and they loved it and each other.

We got to see quite a bit of both sets of grandparents and our close (sadly, just emotionally, not so much geographically) friends and gal pals the Leary-Infantines who made the trek all the way from Boston to hang with us at the Bridgewater Country Fair. Lucia and Annie were pretty much inseparable by the end of our all too-short visit together. It's crazy to think that this was the first time they had met Oscar or we had met Carmen (their two-and-a-half year-old, man that's a lot of hyphens). The last time we saw them was in Boston and Meredith was 6 months pregnant with that little cutie. Hopefully we can make this an annual affair as the girls had way to much fun (and cotton candy) at the fair.

Now the babies are back at school. Oscar, given our trip to the northeast, missed his first two days of school (slacker!), but arrived after all of the other kids had gotten over their separation anxiety so he could really shine with his. That kid loves a spotlight. But after a few dramatic sobs (I listened outside the door), he did great and had a blast. And it must be a really good school, because he's starting to put a lot of words together to form sentences we can actually kind of understand (if the wind is just right and you try to imagine yourself listening under water). His favorite phrases: "Close that door!" and "drink of water?" He still loves the trash and helping to make the coffee and feed the cats in the morning. I'm hoping to have him take over most of my household duties by age 2. Fingers crossed.

Annie is doing two extended days at school now, the same days that Oscar is at his school, so Mama is finally getting some me time. Sadly, I used the first week to catch up on some much-needed deep cleaning, but man, you can eat off my floors (Oscar often does). Annie loves bringing her lunch box to school. She's also started ballet again and with the exciting addition of tap shoes. What a smile patent leather can put on a girl's face. Oscar also started his music class again this week, so my role as chauffeur is back in business. Moms should totally earn frequent driver miles. I'd have at least six trips to Fiji by now.

It's about all we can stand

Annie started her first day of Montessori school this week (as depicted above). They're having a transitional week where the kids go for a couple of hours to get used to the classroom and next week the "big kids" join them. She's in a class with 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds and so far, so good. She told me how she has been doing "pom-pom work" where she takes tweezers and picks pom-poms up from one bowl and places them in another. Important stuff. We've also had the privilege of having our neighbor's daughter, Emily, who attends the same school, stay with us after school on Monday and today and Friday. She'll be joining Annie in her ballet class this afternoon, which Annie started last week; so the fall is upon us, even though the weather refuses to admit it. It's been close to 90 here every day this week with no sense of that back-to-school chill I remember as a kid.

Oscar is going through not so much a growth spurt as a growth geyser. In the last two weeks, he got two teeth (one top and one bottom) and is working on the other two as we speak. He also has figured out how to get up onto his knees and how to pull up on stationery objects (some more stationery than others, as he's quickly figuring out: play car=bad, sister=good). In fact, just yesterday he started crying while falling asleep for his afternoon nap, something he doesn't really do anymore, so after about 10 minutes I went up to check on him and he was standing, holding on to his crib rails for dear life, screaming, with absolutely no idea as to how to get himself down. I felt so bad for the little guy, but had to laugh a little to myself at his predicament (hey, as a stay-at-home-mom you take whatever humor you can find). He's also chomping on diced soft foods now, very adept at picking things up on his own. I see him watching Annie carefully with every bite at meal times. She knows things.

Well, I need to relish my hour-and-a-half of alone time while Oscar's napping and Annie's at school. So if you'll excuse me, there's a vacuum with my name on it (seriously, I put our name on it when we moved last, which isn't crazy considering how horribly our move to Houston went).

A moving target

This past week we have had to baby proof the house. Oscar is getting more and more apt at his caterpillar impression and is so much more inquisitive about things that could severely harm him than Annie ever was at his age. Not only did we have to put outlet covers on the plugs but we had to buy these boxes you put over outlets that have plugs in them so that he can't unplug the cords (a task he's repeatedly attempted). Thank goodness for technology. He's also started his foray into solid-solid foods, like Cheerios and the highway robbery baby item called "puffs" (which is just dehydrated fruit injected with air so that it melts in their mouths. There's probably a total of .25 oz of actual food in a 5 oz. container. What we do for our children.). The first few days we had him trying Cheerios, he was so enamored with putting them in his mouth, but then soon became tired of actually eating them, so most of them got spat out as soon as he proved he could perform the task. Practice makes perfect.

Annie had her second week of ballet camp and liked it so much that we decided to sign her up for ballet classes this fall, and by fall, I mean in two weeks. I don't remember schools beginning this soon as a kid. It's ridiculous. She starts ballet as soon as we get back from Connecticut and then school the following week. Her first week of school, though, will be the equivalent of sticking one's toe into unfamiliar water. She'll go for like an hour and change each day and then has the following Monday off (building pink towers is apparently very stressful work) before beginning her grueling 2-3/4-hour school day five days a week. We've also been working on our reading with Annie. Well not "our" reading, hers. Sorry, as a mom you learn to refer to everything in the first-person plural, like "we don't drag babies by their arms," or "do we need to use the potty?" I can see me answering for her on her wedding day, "We do."

As mentioned before, on Friday we will head up to Connecticut for Family Fest 2010. We are looking forward to showing everyone how much these kids have changed since they last saw them. We'll just have to put a leash on Oscar.

Kickin' it new school

Annie started school last week. She's switched from going two days per week (9-2) in Houston, to going 3 mornings a week here. The first week went great, as did Monday. Today, however, tears. Lots of them. It surprised me how hard it was for me to keep from crying too when she was that upset. I know it's just a normal adjustment, but goodness, does that girl know how to get to her mama. But focusing on the positive, last weekend we got to do our first homework assignment with Annie. The teachers had traced her body and we all got to decorate it together. Here's the final result (click on it to see it larger). Annie's favorite part was applying the rhinestone stickers in the lower left corner. Papa obviously loved him some glitter:

We also enjoyed our first "school picnic" to welcome the kids back at a nearby park (first photo at top). There are a lot of great people at the school and I know Annie is going to have a blast. I'm sure once Annie gets settled into the routine of school days, we will have less tears ... on both ends.

In other news, I promised a picture of the deck (nursery is still a work in progress, although you'll be happy to read, it is no longer a storage room). Again, click on it if you want to see it bigger. So here it is, deck furniture and all. Still no grill, but we're working on it. We also want to get one of those little fire pit things so when it gets chilly and the mosquitoes finally die off, we can really enjoy those crisp autumn evenings. And, we have plants and fresh herbs! I am such a grownup! I can't tell you how gratifying it is to go out on the deck and pick some fresh basil for our pizza. I feel like Mario Batali (and not just because I have a big belly and a ponytail, no offense, Mario).