Going to Bed Tonight

My big guy is not normally much of a cuddler, but every now and then he will just say something so sweet that it takes my breath away. Each night before he goes to sleep, his daddy or I will lie with him for a few minutes and talk about the day. Tonight, out of nowhere, he said, "Did anyone tell you your hairstyle looks good? And your eyes look good? Did you know that your hands I admire so much I have to kiss them? God made you beautiful." I think that some of this stuff came straight out of a book we have read together before, but who cares? It still made this one of the happiest nights ever. He is just so special.

Shoe Shopping in My Future!

Well, it appears that one of the things I thought I would miss out on by not having a daughter may be in my future anyway! Little guy is showing signs of becoming a full-fledged shoe addict, and I have to admit I love it. He isn't happy unless he is wearing shoes. He is happiest when he has several pairs of shoes to choose from, and he is ecstatic when he can change his shoes several times a day. Okay, granted, little boys' shoes are just not as cute as little girls' shoes. But my little shoe addict is pretty cute all on his own, and I'm looking forward to his excitement when we go shopping for new school shoes next week!

Success and Sick Kids

Wow! Last week was fabulous for the most part. Big guy filled up his positive punch card at school in less than two weeks. This is an absolute world record for him. He really struggled with this last year, so this is a huge step forward for him. I am so very proud of him. He has also come so far with his writing...his letters were pretty much illegible last year, and now he can write just about any word he can think of (as long as I help him with the spelling, of course!). I really think that giving him the gift of extra time has been the best gift we can give him.

Little guy also had his first tear-free dropoff morning last week! I was really worried about letting him out in the carpool line, but he didn't cry a bit! Of course, the next day when we were dropping big brother off, he screamed in terror when the car door opened! So we will have to see how things go from here. Due to the flooding, he hasn't had school yet this week. Tomorrow should be another adventure.

Even though school reopened today, big guy missed it. He was running fever and coughing yesterday. We are so blessed that it is just a cold, not strep or the dreaded swine flu. Now I know that even if little guy catches it, it won't be so bad! I'm hoping we finally get back to normal tomorrow!

A Happy Heart (That's Also Sad)

Wow…what a difference a year can make! My big guy started preschool last week, and I can hardly contain my joy about how it is going! After struggling and struggling with the decision of whether to send him to kindergarten or let him do one more year of preschool, I now know definitively that we made the right choice. He is so in love with his teachers, he is making so many new friends, and he’s completely benefitting from being one of the leaders instead of the ”baby.” The look of happiness on his face when I pick him up each afternoon is priceless. On his sixth day of school, he has already collected seven “positive punches” (little pats on the back for good behavior). It took him until Thanksgiving to do so last year. My prayer is that this extra year makes every school year from here on out a little easier.




On the other hand, my little guy started a mother’s morning out program last week, too. This is not going quite so well. He’s my little snuggle bug, my little cuddler…in short, he is my baby. Any mom out there can probably testify to how horrible you feel when you give your sweet baby to his (very kind and understanding) new teachers, only to have him scream and sob as if you are breaking his heart. Today was his third morning, and we’re not seeing any improvement. Today’s crying was louder and more heart-wrenching than the days before. The teachers promise that he settles down and enjoys himself after a while, but that is not the part of the day I see. I wonder if it would make little guy feel better to know that Mommy cries, too, after she drops him off…she just waits until he can’t see her do it. I’m going to give it a couple more weeks, because I know he is in good hands and I know it is good for him to get used to being away from me. But my heart, which is so joyful with the progress big guy is making, is aching for my little guy.

Out of the Box

My big boy is not what you would call a regular kid. I mean that in the best way possible. He is constantly surprising me with his insights, his creativity, and basically just his all-around awesome way of looking at the world. For example, he was watching “The Let’s Go Show” on Sprout the other day, and the host asked the audience what the pages in a book are made of. Without missing a beat, my boy calls out, “They are made of ideas!” When I asked if pages weren’t made of paper, he said, “I’m talking about the story in the book.” Not the first time he has blown me away.




Today was no different! Because of his late birthday, my big boy is beginning his second year of 4-year-old preschool. As bright as he is, he just has a little more growing up to do before we unleash him on unsuspecting kindergarten teachers. We went to his preschool open house this morning and met his very nice teachers. They had a little craft for all of the students to complete. Each child was to take a paper plate and draw his or her face on it, and then add yarn for the hair. My big guy did this admirably, using the right color crayon for his eyes and cutting short red yarn for the hair. Then, as a finishing touch, the teachers had cut out construction paper baseball caps for the boys and bows for the girls. His teacher asked him which he would wear, and without hesitation he chose a green baseball cap and a pink bow. I smiled at him and said, “OK, bud, think about this…which of those would you wear?” He insisted that he needed them both. He proceeded to glue the baseball cap over the yarn hair at the top of the plate, and then he added the pink bow to the bottom of the plate…where it looks exactly like a bowtie. The teachers got a big kick out of it, but I told them to batten down the hatches…there is plenty more where that came from.



I’m so excited about his school year, and I think he is too. He’s growing up so darned fast, but every day with him is a new adventure and a little miracle.

Life With Little Boys!

Today is the day that my little William discovered the stepstool. It has become his new best friend. He has carried it around to every room on the first floor and has quickly learned that there is precious little he can’t reach when he stands upon it. Just like that, the babyproofing that we have done in this house has become suddenly and woefully inadequate. I know that Jack, my older son, was closer to two before he started using a stepstool. But my baby seems determined to do everything a little earlier, a little faster, and with a little more daredevil attitude than his big brother did. And so the ride continues!