Growing up

 ready for school

 rode his scooter to school

 with 2 of his friends-Zachary & Noah

His Locker

 
Getting to work!

Talia 4 months

Alaina's 1st field trip---to the zoo to find animals that start with the letter "o"

Well It is official now! I am a mother of an elementary school boy.

With Ky being my first, I have had many overwhelming emotions the past month. First off-I tried to do EVERYTHING possible with him. I had a "fun" list and we were going to complete it all. I guess it seemed like or last chance to be the 3 amigos (really 4 now with Talia.) I probably overdid it. But--I needed those extra memories with my boy. When his first day did come around, I cried when I packed his lunch, I cried when I took his pictures by the tree. I cried much of the walk there (we walk to school) and I cried when I left him in the classroom. And then I went home and cried. Ky--well he did fine. You could tell he was nervous, but he was SO excited too! He rode his scooter to school. (I think he felt like such a big boy to do that.) He put his stuff in his locker (yes locker--my boy has a locker now!) And he sat down and began writing his name like his teacher asked.

It's really amazing how everything just flashes back. Bringing him home from the hospital, taking him apple picking, introducing him to pigs at the State Fair. And now he is no longer that little kid we tote around. He has a life of his own--one in which I won't be involved in. I won't know what is going on for 7 hours of his day. This is a really big change for a Stay at Home Mom.

And yes--you know the moment I pick him up I try to pry all the juicy details from him. And of coure-him being 5--he "doesn't remember." Or the best he can tell you is what he did at recess.

His first couple of days were hard. In fact, Ky told me he was worried that since his teacher only speaks Spanish, she doesn't understand him. (Ky is in a dual immersion program where he is taught in Spanish.) I was glad that I was able to talk to his teacher and him to straighten that out. He is also concerned that some of his classmates don't understand him (the native spanish speakers). I have informed him that they do--but I think it will take him some time to figure that out. Right now he plays with Noah and Zachary (a couple of kids he alreday knew in our neighborhood) and another boy named Keagan.

It is kind of funny--b/c Ky has not looked the part of an elementary kid until a few days ago. I was waiting for him outside and he came running up to me with a BIG grin on his face and holding the shoulder straps on his backpack. That image will be forever engrained in my head. He just looked bigger. He was confident and happy. He was all grown up.

Ky is starting his second full week of school now and thankfully I can see that he is learning. He can count up to 16 already in Spanish and he told me the other day that his backpack was his "mochillo".

Alaina update-

Alaina--wow--let me tell you--this girl cracks  me up.  She LOVES to shop.  NEVER take her into a shoe store--it is a mess.  She whips off her shoes SO fast and then starts trying on shoe after shoe.  She prefers heels and shoes that "sparkle".  Yes at 2 1/2 this girl could walk in heels better than me.  At department stores, she is ALWAYS keeping an eye out for princesses (aka dresses) and of course purses.  She LOVES purses.  She likes to cram all sorts of random toys in her purse and drag it with her.  She is quite an amusing girl!  She also gravitates towards anything princess, which I find interesting since clearly she did not get these interests from me. 

When Ky was getting ready to start school, I told Alaina that she was going to begin "Mommy's Preschool of Love."  She was ecstatic and told many people that she was going to the "School of Lub".  I have started working with her and have been happy to find that she is an eager student.  She sits well and likes to work with me at the table.  I was a bit concerned that with her personality it might be harder to sit, but so far things appear to be working well.

Talia update--
Shortly before we left on vacation, Talia discovered that she could roll. And roll she does. Back and forth and back and forth. She loves her new found mobility. She can also scoot some too. I will leave her for a moment on the floor and come back to find she has moved 1-2 feet.

At 3.5 months, Talia also discovered she could scream...and I mean a shrill scream. It was horrible. Luckily it was only a month long phase as she has appeared to grown out of it--but it was AWFUL at the time. She would scream when she was happy, scream when she was sad, and scream just to hear herself scream.

Talia is by far our most affectionate child.  She slurps on your face and gives you honest kisses.  Now that she is using her hands more, she will actually grab both of your cheeks and pull you forward to give you a kiss.  From birth we have noticed how giving her kisses just seemed to soothe her.  She ESPECIALLY loves daddy kisses.  I do think Daddy has gotten "his girl" (Alaina being mine). 

Well--I still have not figured out my "picture" predicament--(OH! That's a Ky memory too--how he learned the word predicament when he was 3 and was using it all the time....*Sigh*)  Anyway--I loaded manually on blogger--but it takes FOREVER!  I will figure out something.  In the meantime I want to catch up on my blog, so expect me to start backdating some of my entries since I want to catch up.