What I learned in school today

Today was my first time to be the helping parent in Ethan's class at preschool. And while Ethan was learning to play nice with his peers, I learned a few things myself:

1. Never guess the gender of a child based on the length of that child's hair. Hair can be misleading.

2. A preschool classroom is the equivalent of a pulmonary ICU. Nearly every child, aside from Ethan, spent the majority of their time hacking up a lung; out of courtesy to those around them, they were at least polite enough to hack into their elbows. Unless they forgot, in which case they coughed directly into your face while standing six inches away. I seriously almost asked for a surgical mask. I'm sure it is only a matter of days until I am stricken with some sort of medieval disease reserved solely for those thrown into the dungeon.

3. Sticker collages are the new Pop Art.

4. When you are four years old, getting the chance to be at the front of the line for class dismissal is akin to winning a Pulitzer.

5. And last but not least, I could never, ever be a teacher.

In addition to being my first time in Ethan's classroom, today is also Sadie's 18-month "birthday." I have slacked off of my monthly picture-taking but decided to pick it back up, at least for this month. What can I say, I am totally smitten. She is so stinking cute and just overflowing with spit and vinegar. She is super clingy these days and wants to be held quite a bit. I'm hoping she adjusts okay when she is no longer the baby of the house but we'll see. Until then, she's still my baby (well, she'll always be my baby but you know what I mean) and I can't get enough of her. If only she would stop growing up.

So big!!

Puppy love! Sadie is completely obsessed with dogs, even our spazzy obnoxious one

Stare-oids!

I just really liked this candid shot of Ethan trying not to get eaten by Jabba

Getting a kick out of big brother's antics

Taking time to stop and smell the roses

Deep in thought, hard at "work"

She has taken over Ethan's love of cars

Just adorableness

How sweet it is

to be a family again! Paul got home yesterday morning after taking the red-eye from San Fran on Friday night. What a sight for sore eyes! The kids were sooooooooo excited to see their dad on their "home turf." I don't think Ethan let Paul out of his sight all day; I've never heard that kid talk so much! And Sadie followed him around like a little puppy dog, throwing herself at his legs in loving embraces. I was effectively dropped like a hot potato the moment the kids laid eyes on Paul, and for once I am completely okay with that.

Too bad Paul is so jet-lagged or maybe I could have taken the morning off. But when your kids are psychos like ours and get up at 5:30 (Sadie) and 6:10 (Ethan), it's pretty hard to convince yourself to rouse someone who basically didn't sleep for 36 hours (and is still three time zones behind). Maybe next weekend.

And let me just say that the re-organizing/clutter* removal began the minute Paul walked in the door. That man just can't relax. Love you, babe!


*clutter is in the eye of the beholder, and our eyes behold things quite differently

Oh the places you'll go...

Do you ever stop and look at your kids and think about the myriad things they could become? The seemingly endless possibilities of what they will do in their lives, the places they will go, things they will learn, friends they will make, people they will love. It's mind-boggling, really. Maybe that's just me being overly dramatic but I really get overwhelmed sometimes by the raw potential that is a four year-old. They are limitless.

Our sweet Ethan started preschool last Thursday. I was a bit apprehensive, not because I thought he wasn't ready but because I know that he sometimes has trouble trying new things and being in new situations. Last Wednesday was the Open House where we got to meet his new teacher and see his classroom. He immediately found another boy in his class who likes Star Wars, so I knew Ethan would have at least one friend. His teacher, Molly, played cars with him and started to put together a dinosaur puzzle with him, until Ethan lost interest. She told him they would be learning about dinosaurs this year, which got him all excited. He played with the other kids, explored all the different stations and toys and generally had a blast. When it was time to go he got very sad and did not want to leave. I told him not to worry because he will get to come back A LOT!

The next morning we all got up and ate breakfast, and Ethan took it upon himself to act as my personal daytimer. "Mooooooom- we're gonna miss preschool! Go get dressed right now!!!!!" We piled in the car and drove the 20 minutes to his school, Hampshire Cooperative Nursery School, up in Hanover. The whole time there we sang songs and generally reveled in the excitement. When we got there, I parked the car and hauled the two kids out of the back seat. We walked up to the building and went inside, where his teacher was waiting at the door to greet him. I barely got even a "Bye, Mom!" as he raced past me into his classroom. No tears or separation anxieties here! I didn't even get teary-eyed! He was soooo ready for this. I only wish we could have sent him last year.

Three hours later I returned to pick him up. Once again, I parked the car and retrieved Sadie from the back seat, then made my way over to the walkway where all the kids were lined up to meet their parents. Ethan caught sight of me and immediately yelled "MOMMY!!!!!" and took off like a rocket toward me. His teacher had to hold him back so he wouldn't get run over! He gave me a huge hug and blissfully walked back to the car. I buckled him in and as we drove off asked him how his first day of school was. "It was GREAT!" Awww... how freaking cute is that?! "We played pirates out on the playground. They have a telescope there that we used to look for treasure, because pirates have to have treasure. But we didn't learn about dinosaurs." Ah, Ethan... there will be plenty of time for that.

Here are some pictures from this morning, his second day of school. He was just as excited to go to school today as he was last week! My little guy is so grown up!!!


Do we see a trend developing here with the arms-folded pose??

Oh, I also forgot to mention that we got Ethan's hair cut the day before school started last week and he did AWESOME!!! It was the first time he's ever gotten a hair cut without throwing a giant screaming fit. I was so proud of him! I made the stylist use scissors only, since the buzzer thingie is what freaks Ethan out. Doesn't he look adorable? He totally earned a Happy Meal that day.

This is outside the school. His building is actually behind me. Someday I will get a picture of that, too!

Congratulations, Ethan! You are so big and so smart and we can't wait to see what the future holds for you. Mom and Dad are so very proud of you!!!

For your viewing pleasure

I think I mentioned in my San Francisco post that our camera broke on the last day of our trip. It had been having issues ever since Ethan dropped it with the lens extended back in October, but for some reason it decided to give up the ghost permanently last month. Bummer. But luckily Canon has a great owner loyalty program so we were able to upgrade to a nicer camera for like half the retail price. Sweet. So now we have our awesome new camera and I am back to taking stupid random pictures of my kids that no one else finds interesting in the slightest. Aren't you relieved?

I am sad that the camera didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon, about four hours after Ethan started his first day of preschool. : ( So I don't have any pictures of that. But I will take some on Tuesday and give a full report then. Surely the second day of school is just as momentous as the first day. Right??

So what is everyone doing for the long weekend? Pretty much every day is the same as the one before it around here (though with Ethan starting school that is about to change) so there's nothing particularly special about this weekend. Holiday schmoliday. I did decide to take the kids on a picnic for dinner tonight, mainly because the weather was *amazing* today. I heard about this little trail down to the Connecticut River over kind of near campus so we headed over there with a blanket and some food. It was a little more of a hike than I was anticipating and the kids had a hard time hoofing it. Ethan fell on his bum several times and astutely observed that his flip-flops were not meant for hiking. Sadie demanded to be carried half the way. Gotta love my little diva. But once we got down to the water it was worth it. Ethan kept commenting on how "beautiful" it was.

I just like this picture of the Sades after her nap- check out that crazy hair-do!

This picture of Ethan cracks me up. That kid makes the weirdest faces.

Yesterday I randomly decided to go pick raspberries. I invited our next door neighbor to come along so I had someone other than Ethan to talk to. It was pretty hot and the kids all got sweaty and ornery. I didn't even get enough raspberries for a single batch of jam. Grrr. So I popped them in the freezer and will try to go back before the season ends. Maybe once Paul gets back. Which is NEXT SATURDAY!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

That's my neighbor's little girl, Katie. Isn't she adorable trying to push the wagon all by herself? Too cute.

Another random picture of Sadie waking up from a nap. I've got to figure out what to do with her hair.

And this is another of my favorites- look at that scowl!!!

All right, I think that's it for now. Like I said, I'll put up a full report of preschool on Tuesday. But so far so good!!!