Rosa's 18-month letter

Dear Rosie,
You turned 18 months old yesterday!  Since you have a big brother and sister who love to celebrate half-birthdays, you got a lot of family fanfare.  We didn't have time to do much yesterday, but today both your siblings were home sick from school and they insisted that we make you a cake.  So, we did!  You didn't care much for it, actually, but you LOVED tasting the batter and eating the strawberry ice cream that came along with it, so that was something.

Here you are with the half-birthday crown bestowed upon you by your siblings.  It was way too big, but you and all of us thought it was the funniest thing ever.  That one eye peeking out was just too much!

It's been about six months since we wrote you a letter and a lot has changed.  It's time for an update!

Now that you are 18 months old, you are babbling a blue streak.  You stuck with a familiar few words for some time, but now you are adding new ones almost every day.  This must be the language explosion that often happens around this time.  You have always been a great mimic, which has helped a lot with learning spoken language.

We're not sure we can list all your words, but here's a sampling from today:  Mommy, Mama, Te Te, sister or sissy (you haven't mastered Tali's name quite yet), cat, dog, meow, woof, quack, baa, milk, more, all done, outside (this is a one of your favorites), FOOD (another favorite), water, cheese, swing, rock, belly, belly button, peekaboo, bath, slide, bye bye, baby, and so on.

One of your cutest words is "yeah!" which we think you might have picked up from our friends' son, who is a bit older than you are.  You haven't figured out how to say "no" yet, but you will say "yeah!" in response to random questions.  In some cases, like if Mama asks you if you want to go outside, you will say it with added emphasis:  "YEAH!"

Since your last letter, you have learned to walk and are on the verge of running.  You have an independent streak (the understatement of the year) and think it is fine, and funny, actually, to take off at random times.  You particularly enjoy this when we are in the middle of, say, a parking lot, or an airport, or even in the backyard, when you like to try to get away around the side of the house.  Generally, you prefer to do things yourself, such as walking by yourself, feeding yourself, going up and down the stairs yourself, etc.  You will consent to holding someone's hand most of the time, if we are out walking, but if you had your way, you would be self-directed on the sidewalk most of the time.

You are starting to get in the routine of dropping off your siblings and picking them up after school.  At Mateo's school, you have learned that there are clusters of rosemary on the way to his classroom, and that if you run your hands through them and then sniff them, they will smell good.  Watching you sniff your rosemary-scented hands is really very cute. 

At Tali's school, you have learned that there is a big, fun forest right outside her classroom.  On Fridays, which are her outside mornings, you love to play in the woods with her after we pick her up.  The two of you slide around on your bottoms, getting as dirty as possible, and having the best time. 

We should mention here that you love to get dirty and you really love dirt in all its forms, as well as rocks and any other object that could possibly be stuffed into your mouth.  That photo above, of you in the garden by the tomato plants, is classic of you.

That brings us to your favorite things in life:  your sister and brother.  You love them like nobody else, and you want to be as big as they are quite badly.  You follow them around adoringly, bulldozing their creations and forts and art projects because you just want to be a part of things.  Sometimes we lovingly call you our wrecking ball baby, because you are just so determined and so, well, destructive to four- and five-year-olds' projects!

Despite the occasional blowup, though, you and your siblings have a great relationship.  Your sister, Natalia, loves you like you were her own baby, and, in fact, pretends all the time that she is your mommy.  She helps feed you, change your diaper, put you down for naps and bedtime, shares everything with you, plays with you all around the house and outside, bestows countless hugs and kisses on you, and generally just loves you for all she is worth.

Your brother, Mateo, adores you in his own way.  He tries to cheer you up if you are crying, he wrestles with you, he reads baby books to you, he plays games with you on the slide in our backyard, and he holds your hand and speeds you along when we are walking.  Mama caught all three of you on video earlier today and thought you might like to have them here for posterity:

You continue to be our hungriest child.  You cannot pass an edible object without crying out "FOOD!! FOOD!!" and lunging for it.  You would think that we never feed you, but, on the contrary, we feed you constantly.  Of course, as one of our children, you are on the small side, but you would never know it from how much you eat!  Of course, you are also incredibly active, so you need lots of calories to keep your tiny body going.  Favorites right now include most fruits, and particularly pears, apples, grapes (cut in half still), plums, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and so on.  You also really go for cheese, pasta, yogurt, peanut butter, cream cheese, waffles, oatmeal, and pretty much anything grown-up-like that we put in front of you.

If we had written this a week ago, we would have had mixed reviews of the sleep front, but it is suddenly going better.  After a long period of sleeping half the night in your crib and half the night in our bed, you suddenly learned how to vault out of your crib!  This happened last weekend.  Since then, you have moved to a mattress on the floor of your room and, after a rough first night, you have made some seriously good strides.  The last several nights, Mama has only had to go in once to put you back in bed, and you have gone back to sleep without a fuss.  This is huge for you and we hope that it will continue.

You have never been a big fan of books, but that, too, may be beginning to change.  You have developed an affinity for babies, and we have several board books about babies that are beginning to catch your attention.  You will go over to our book bins and pull out the baby books and say "baby!!" or "hi baby!!", which, again, is really very cute. You are also starting to like Goodnight Moon and Moo, Baa, La La La.  Of course, as the baby of the family, you have listened in on some very grown-up books, including the reading of two Harry Potter books to your brother, so you may have some refined tastes in literature by the time you can read :)

Finally, you continue to be easy-going, flexible, and friendly to almost everyone you meet.  Occasionally, you have a burst of separation anxiety, or sometimes you will try to hide behind Mama if you meet a new person, but mostly you are open to new people and friends alike.  You love Mommy so, so much and are always one of the most vocal welcomers when she comes home from school.  You also seem perfectly happy with Mama, although she is almost always with you, so it's hard to judge your reaction to being separated.  When you do stay with a babysitter during the day, you usually go to that person happily and also react quite happily when we get home.

Here you are sleeping with Mommy after her first day of work this fall:

One of your most favorite people in the world right now is your Apa.  You and he have an adorable love affair going on and you always light up when he is around.

And, you love all your grandparents and your great-grandmother and enjoy playing with them and babbling with them when they are here.  You got to spend some good time with both sets of grandparents this summer, which was nice for everyone.

Rosie, you are so loved.  Really, it's hard to imagine a baby ever being so adored.  You just light up our family with your sunny personality, your independent streak, your determination to be a big kid, and your rare but infectious belly laughs.  We are soaking up your babyhood - or is it toddlerhood now? - as much as possible, because we know how fleeting it will be.  We are so proud to be your moms, and, as always, look forward to what the next months will bring.

With all our love,
Mama and Mommy

Long days!

We are still in the process of adjusting to our new normal over here.  Things are going well, just lots of big changes all around. 

First of all, Sacha is getting used to her new blended class.  She's teaching second AND third grade - wow!  Having my hands full with three kids, I can't imagine how she keeps 28 kiddos occupied all day, and much less how she teaches them anything!  But, she is amazing and she's got things headed in the right direction.  She is at a school close to where we used to live, and we have a couple of families that we know who live in the neighborhood and who are sending their kids there, so she is already feeling part of the school community.  

Sacha and I have been making a really exciting pair in the evenings.  After we make it through the day, Sacha puts the kids to bed, I clean up, and then we watch an episode of Parenthood (our new addiction) and go to bed!  I know, thrilling.  Sleep is winning out over everything else at this point...

...especially because we have two regular nighttime visitors in our bed.  Rosie has a long-running bad habit of coming into our bed midway through the night, and we so far haven't been up for the challenge of putting her back into her own bed without waking up both the older kids in the middle of the night.  And, Mateo is adjusting to a lot with his new school schedule, plus he got badly scared by our trying to get him to watch an animated movie right before school started (yes, he is scared of every movie on Earth except for Cars), so he's been needing some nighttime companionship as well.  One day, we will all sleep through the night in our own beds, right?

Anyway, school is going well for Mateo, once he gets there.  He has been putting on quite a show in the mornings, and, as frustrating as it can be, I totally get it.  He's spending all day every day at school and he's with new kids, new teachers, and in a totally new place with brand new expectations.  Of course he's overwhelmed.  Luckily for all of us, he has been pulling it together once we actually get to school, so drop-offs have been pretty good.  That's a good thing for everyone, because it still breaks my heart to leave him there, even though he seems fine and I know he's having fun!  I miss him during the day and I think his sisters do, too.

Speaking of sisters, Natalia had a big breakthrough at school the other day.  She talked!  She had started the year off really well and interacted with other kids at school, but both times she did it were days that I was the parent-helped, so I was with her all day.  Without a familiar face there, she seemed to be sliding back into the more withdrawn kid that we saw all year at preschool last year.  This also just totally broke my heart.  I didn't want to be leaving her somewhere where she didn't feel comfortable, but, at the same time, I knew she was just adjusting and probably needed more time.  I picked her up from preschool yesterday and the parent helper pulled me aside to tell me that Tali had had a great day and had started talking and just wouldn't stop!  This was a big new step for her and Sacha and I were so proud of her.  It may not be a linear pattern, but at least we know that she is getting more comfortable there.  Whew!

Finally, Natalia and Rosie and I have been having a lot of fun together on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when we have no plans and Natalia gets to pick what we do.  We've gone twice back to the park in our old neighborhood to play, which has been fun.  It's not the biggest or most well-attended park, which is perfect for us!  Today, the baseball diamond had been overwatered and was full of muddy puddles, so I, being a mom of three kids who has let go of many of my expectations about cleanliness, let the girls have a wildly fun time in the mud puddles.  This started with them pleasantly stomping around and ended with Natalia sitting in the mud, getting dirt and water over much of her body, while Rosie attempted to eat dirt, water, leaves, rocks, and whatever else was handy.  Sometimes I wonder how I am going to survive her toddlerhood, but luckily, she is adorable even when she is attempting to eat dirt.  They got so muddy that I had to strip them down when we got back to the van!  Isn't that what childhood is all about anyway?

On that note, it's time for my early bedtime!  Here are a few photos of the girls from the past week.  Looking at these makes me realize I need to get more photos of Mateo at his new school. 

Oh, and one final thing:  we have been spending (literally) hours at Mateo's school every afternoon.  All the kids love the large playground and fir grove there, plus the elementary school library, so we have been picking him up at 2:50 and staying often until 4:30, just hanging out and playing.  I never expected to spend so much time at school after school, but it has been great.  I hope the trend continues and the weather stays nice so that we can enjoy some more time there before the rain and cold start!

Here are the photos:

Here's our ever-more-confident preschooler, holding forth about something:

Here's our most rough-and-tumble child, displaying the shiner she got from tipping over her push-toy when it hit a crack in our driveway:

Here she is again today, just a couple of days later, all healed up and with a new haircut:

And, finally, a funny portrait of me by Tali.  Not sure what I was thinking at this moment, but must have been complicated, whatever it was!

The woods

We had been planning to go on s family retreat with our church this weekend, but by the time the end of the week rolled around, we realized that Sacha and the kids were completely wiped out from their respective new schools. So, we decided to stay home and lay low.

Sacha hung out with the kids this morning while I went for my long run of the week. The half marathon is in a month, so I was up for 11 miles this weekend. I'm hopefully going to make it to 13 in a couple of weeks and then take the weekend before the race really easy. That's what I did last time and I was full of energy on race day.

Anyway, I had a great run up in the hills and got myself a coffee drink in the way home. When I got home, I found that Sacha and the kids had been harvesting tomatoes and potatoes from our garden. Not too long after that, Mateo and Apa went out for some boy time, Rosie and Sacha went down for naps, and Tali and I had an absolutely priceless conversation about where babies come from.

I don't know how it came up, but we started with our standard story about how babies grow in their mommy or mama's belly and their other parent's heart. We went through all the variations of that (how I grew in Grammy's belly and Grandpa's heart, how Sacha grew in Bubbe's belly and Poppa's heart, etc...) and then we got silly. She wanted to hear about all the silly places she could have grown, like in the refrigerator or the garden or in the car! She is just growing more delightful by the day and I was really glad to spend some one on one time with her.

After that, after everyone woke up and/or got home, we trooped out to visit Tali's school. It is in the lower level of a church, but it backs up to an amazing little forest and wetland area. We went to check out the trail that they hike in and to play in the shade. The kids all LOVE the forest there. It was fun for all of us, and particularly to see Natalia leading the way. I hope that, as we spend more time there, she will get more comfortable and branch out from her position in the sandbox during school hours.

Here are some photos of our gang of forest friends!









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First day = done!

Mateo had a great first day today!  The kids and I got ourselves together early this morning and drove Mateo to school, only to find absolute parking insanity happening when we got there.  We live only about 5 minutes from school and had left with plenty of time to spare, but arrived to find a huge traffic jam going into campus and then a massive, sports-stadium-like parking disaster inside.  The main parking lot was completely full and the overflow lot was also full.  There was literally nowhere to park, and people were circling like vultures looking for slots.  It became clear much later that there was an upper school convocation thing happening at the same time as the drop-off time for little kids and it just exceeded the parking lot's capacity.  Poor Mateo was getting very worried that we were going to circle forever and never find a space, but then, luckily, someone finally pulled out in front of us and we parked.  Whew!

We went in and there was quite a crowd there already, as the kindergarten and pre-K parents were all dropping off at the same time.  We found Mateo's cubby and shoehorned all his stuff into it (lunch, snack, water bottle, change of clothes, rain boots (necessary from day one because of the little manufactured creek that runs through their playground), and backpack).  Poor Natalia was completely overwhelmed by all the people, but she hung in there. Then, we went into the classroom, where Mateo's teacher greeted him and sat him down to play with wooden tiles along with all the other kids who were already there.

I could barely say goodbye to him because I was so choked up, but Tali and I both gave him hugs and wished him a good day and then we were out and his day had started!  He seemed completely fine - no tears or looking over his shoulder or anything.  It reinforced my gut feeling that he is totally ready for this.  We went outside to try to join the parent coffee, but Tali was overwhelmed by all the chatting adults and Rosie was trying out her loudest vocal inflections, so I ended up just taking them to the playground for a few minutes instead of talking to the other parents.

From there, the girls and I went on to have a full day.  We went to OMSI for the whole morning and part of the afternoon and then came home briefly to play before picking up Mateo.  I have to say, it was pretty jarring to go right from the emotional drop-off moments to regular, everyday mom stuff again.  I wish there had been some way for me to have a few quiet minutes to regroup before embarking on the day with the girls...but, that was impossible, and it did make it impossible for me to mope around feeling sentimental!

Tali and Rosie and I had a lot of fun together at OMSI.  I think Tali really liked being able to decide where she wanted to go and how long she wanted to stay at each exhibit.  I mean, I usually let the two big kids decide together, or alternate deciding if they're having a hard time, but I'm sure it was very different and fun to get to choose things completely on her own!  We stayed at OMSI for almost 4 hours!  Fun was had by all.  Rosie even held off on napping until 1 pm, when we left, which is way late for her.  She was asleep within seconds of getting strapped into her carseat!

Before we knew it, it was time to get our big boy again.  From what he said about his first day, it sounds like it was a resounding success.  He loves the school, his teacher, and is excited to have made a friend today.  His favorite part of the day was their visit to the lower school library, which we reprised after we picked him up.  Our book-obsessed boy practically dragged the girls and me straight there.  In fact, one of the most impressive things about the day, to me, was that the librarian greeted Mateo by name when we walked in after school.  I was so impressed that he remembered him after meeting him only one time!

Tomorrow is another day, and is going to be the first day when both big kids are in school at the same time!  I am hoping that Tali will have a good day at school, as she has been very quiet during her last couple of days there.  Here's hoping that she's just adjusting and that she will come out of her shell a bit more as time goes on.

Here are the first day photos of both kiddos.  I'm just so proud of both of them!

Tomorrow

Well, the big day is almost here.  Mateo starts kindergarten tomorrow!  He had his orientation today, in which we visited his classroom, did a scavenger hunt, got his picture taken, and met his teachers.  There are two main teachers, both of whom he will interact with, but his primary one is a tall, bearded, lovely man named Isaac.  Either teacher would have been great, but we are thrilled that he's going to have the male option, being largely surrounded by girls in the rest of his life.

I have been saying this to anyone who will listen, but I'll just say it again:  I cannot believe that we have already gotten to this point.  Wasn't he just an infant like five minutes ago?  It's not like the last almost-six years have flashed by, but somehow we've gotten here faster than I thought we would.  I'm sure this is just the beginning, with first grade, middle school, high school, and college being right around each successive corner!

Anyway, mixed feelings and all, I'll be dropping off our big boy around 8:20 tomorrow morning and he'll be off to the races.  I'm so excited for him and everything that he'll learn this year.  He's so ready for new things to learn, new kids and adults to meet, and a new place that he can start to call his own. 

There's a kindergarten parent coffee right after drop-off that I'm hoping to bring the girls to, provided I'm not weeping in the van!  Then, I guess we'll get started with our new Thursday routine, which is going to be one of the two days each week that I get with both girls together.  Natalia is going to get to call the shots a lot more this year, which I think will be really good for her.  She is growing up by the minute and I'm excited to spend some more focused time with her this year.  I can't believe that she'll be starting kindergarten in a year.  Ack!!

Meanwhile, Sacha had her first day with students today!  It sounds like it was a bit of a rollercoaster, but she got through it.  Moving down a couple of grade levels has resulted in having much younger, squirmier kids to teach!  Luckily, she knows that if she could teach kindergarten for a year (which she did when Mateo was a newborn), she can do anything.  Today, she had the good fortune of having her mom in the classroom with her, which she very much appreciated.  Sacha's dad was also here for the first couple of days of the week, so she had both parents helping get her classroom ready before the students came.  Thanks, guys!

I'll have first day of school photos to post tomorrow, of both older kids.  I have Natalia's from last week that I have been saving for this occasion :)  Wish us luck tomorrow!

End of summer

I have recently come to terms with the fact that I have written all I am going to about our Europe trip.  I kept thinking that I would finish writing about it, but it seemed overwhelming to try to reconstruct each day, especially when my mom had already done such a complete job with that in her travel letters...and I managed to post a bunch of photos of our travels on Facebook, as well as making a book for our family full of all the pictures we took, but, again, never managed to transfer them to the blog.  If anyone out there is (1) still reading this and (2) isn't friends with me on Facebook and (3) would like to see photos, leave a comment and we'll work it out!

In other news, summer is ending fast!  We have had an amazing summer.  It has been fantastic.  It would be hard to overstate how great it has been.  We have had time at home, time to explore our region and overseas, time with kids in day camps, time with our whole family together, and time to connect with both sets of our parents and my extended family.  It has been everything a summer should be and more.  The combination of sustained beautiful weather, our new play structure, and our suburban patio allowed us many, many lovely dinners outside while the kids romped in the yard.  And, because of some focused time in her classroom at the beginning of summer and at the end, Sacha hardly had to work at all. 

Suddenly, here we are at the beginning of the school year again, and it is going to be a big one for several of us!  Sacha is in a new position at a new school.  She's going to be teaching a blended class of two different grades.  She is back at work, organizing and setting up desks and madly studying the two different sets of standards and curricula. 

Mateo is going to be starting kindergarten on Thursday.  Our baby!  In kindergarten!  How can this be happening?  We're very excited for him, of course, and thrilled and relieved to have him in a school that fits him so well.  We played there this evening, peeking into the windows of his classroom and talking about all the things he might do in the coming year.

And, Natalia has already had her first week at her new preschool!  Again, cue the thrilled and relieved feelings that we have found a school that seems to be such a good fit.  It is a very small (12 kids in her class, with two teachers and a parent helper every day), nature-based school with a real live forest right across the parking lot.  They are based in the lower level of a church, with a cute classroom that has lots of opportunities for art projects and pretend play.  They also get to spend time exploring their wooded surroundings, which Tali has already enjoyed a lot.  Moreover, she has already befriended a couple of little girls in her class, which is really, really big for her.  She seems much more comfortable there than she did at her first preschool, and we hope that this will be a great year for her there. 

As for Rosie and I, we are going to get to spend lots of one-on-one time together this year, while the bigger kids are in school.  I'm looking forward to doing some of the baby/toddler things with her that I used to do with her older siblings, but haven't been able to do with her yet.  For example, we wil now be able to go to the storytime for one- and two-year-olds at the local library, to which I never could have brought all three kids.  I have to laugh a little at how overwhelmed I sometimes felt when Mateo was a baby, and how blissfully easy spending time with one baby seems now.  I guess it's all about perspective!

I'm also hoping to do some running during the days with Rosie in tow.  We got a jogging stroller this summer and I've used it a few times already.  I'm getting ready for another half-marathon in October and have had an easy time fitting in training time while Sacha has been home, but that is about to change!  Here's hoping the jogging stroller lets me get in some miles while the big kids are at school.

That's about it for now.  Happy end of summer and new school year to everybody!