Ava's First Day of Kindergarten!

About a month late, but here are the pictures from Ava's FIRST day of Kindergarten! She went to sleep excited and woke up even more fired up. To say that she was ready is an understatement. The anticipation and excitement was palpable, we all felt it! So of course I had to give her a special morning party and pack a special lunch of the "The Kissing Hand" sandwich, lol.

She chose her clothes the night before, all the way down to her accessories, but of course. She ate a good breakfast, posed for pictures and headed to school. It's so nice that we are able to take a family walk to school in the mornings. So nice!

Ava had already met her teacher the day before so her nervousness was lessened a bit. She walked right in, found her place and started to get to work. I barely got a kiss and a "bye mom". I didn't cry. They had a breakfast set up for the parents of the Kindergartners called the boo hoo/yahoo breakfast. It was great to get to know some other parents. It was about the 3rd day of school that I did get teary, just watching her walk in so independently and confidently, knowing exactly where to go and what to do without needing me. Just a sign that she is getting so big and growing right before me eyes. That made me feel joyful, grateful and tearful all at the same time.

She is loving school! She loves her class, her teacher, the atmosphere, everything. I join her for lunch once a week and she really likes that.

So far, so good.

My Buddies

Ava Alexandra, FIVE and a HALF!



You were born to create and perform, my girl.

 

You have such an interest in the performing arts, loving watching the children's theater productions, as well as putting on your own plays such as Little Red Riding Hood (Can you guess who you nominated to be the Big Bad Wolf?)

 

You have not lost your sense of adventure and pretending; whether you're a horse jockey in Mississippi or a chef in London, you are able to pretend to be anything.

 

You are so witty and smart. It seems you are always one step ahead of us in your negotiation power when trying to get what you want.

 

You are loving school. You are exhausted everyday, as I know this is a huge change for you and your routine, but you have handled it wonderfully and are smiling ear to ear when I pick you up from school. You even received the coveted purple award the first week of school for being a positive role model for your classmates.

 

You dread the bed. You would much rather be up playing or snuggling than to go to bed at night, so I'll be curious to see how this plays out as you grow older. You still get about 10.5 hours a sleep at night, which is still a healthy amount, just at the lower end of what you need.

 

You continue to be a great eater. We can expect you to try *almost* everything we put on your plate for dinner. In fact, your lunchbox is virtually empty after school.

 

You love gymnastics and are very good at it. In fact, a few weeks ago you got to "ring the bell" where everyone in the gym stops and watches you complete a skill that you've been working on. You did a hand stand on the balance beam in front of no less than 75 girls. Afterward, you told me you were nervous but wanted to do it and you did! So proud of you!

 

I love listening and talking with you at bedtime. It seems like this is going to be our place to share stories and hear each other out.

 

It's amazing to watch you grow and change and see the person that you are becoming and continue to become. There is never a dull day with you, Ava Green, THAT I can say with certainty. You have an amazing spirit and an eagerness that motivates everyone around you. Happy half, my little girl! 

 



 



Griffin Davis, Just WHO are YOU at TWO?

You were born to entertain, my boy.

You are a charmer and just have to bat those big blue eyes of yours to get what you want from anybody.

You are so silly and try to get a chuckle out of all of us.

You are so sweet with a side of spunk and are definitely testing the limits.

You are very self-expressive and tell us when something is wrong or something is on your mind. You are so smart!

You are shoe obsessed. You love to walk around in everyone's shoes, usually Ava's tennis shoes or dress up heels. It's not uncommon for you to sleep in your blue crocs either.

You are a bonified BIG BOY! After numerous crib escapes and not being able to get back in, we transitioned your bed to a toddler bed. And just like that, you did amazingly with the transition. Slept through the night from night one. You have been in the big boy bed for about 6 weeks now. Way to go, Big Boy!

Speaking of being a big boy, you are working your way to being potty trained. This was all self-decided, as you saw a friend of yours wearing underwear and you decided that you needed to wear "underpants", as you call them. We are on week 3 and you can stay all day in underpants, even naps. We still do overnight diapers and you aren't quite ready for poop in the potty, but you are all about pee! I've left you in the gym daycare and we've gone out to run errands and you are so good about telling me when you have to go.

We started swim lessons a few weeks ago and you love it! Given your age, the swim school required us to start in the baby class. They quickly saw how eager you were to move on from the baby lessons and placed you TWO levels up. Your teacher loves your listening and determination, as do I.

Some other things you can do: blow your nose, count to 10, say I love you, sing ABC's, sing snippets of songs like Baa Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle, know all of our and your grandparent's first names (crack me up!), build and create--you made a park the other day out of blocks, and use pretend and imaginative play.

I just love to be with you each day, you bring such light to my days. If everyone could wake every morning to to a bright-eyed little boy saying, "Good Mornin'", then we'd all be in this happy place.

Olympic Fun!

 We were all excited for the Olympic countdown in our house. To kick off the Olympic festivities, we created the Olympic rings. We researched why they are the colors they are (every flag across the world has at least one of these colors in it) and the order in which they are placed.

We then found flags from countries that have meaning to us. Australia is for Aunt Gretchen and her family, Switzerland for Uncle Aaron, Morocco for old neighbors of ours in Austin, England for the Olympics, Japan because we had a red circle left over from the red ring, lol and of course, the United States.

We made strawberry shortcake complete with frozen coconut milk for the whip cream. Ryan and I were big fans, Ava and Griffin didn't care for the strong coconut flavor. Just a relaxing, fun experience and one that we enjoyed day in and day out throughout the entire 2 weeks.

Ava's Airport

 I thought this was a great little airport that Aves built one night before bed. Love the ramp up to the parking garage and the plane line on the runway. Love that little girl and her creativity!

Bye Bye Baba

I realize it's what they do. Talk. But when you are just so used to the baby coos followed by the toddler jibberish and leading up to the real deal, it just seems like it happens overnight. Griffin will tell us stories, rehash old memories, play jokes on his sissy, all while using such great words and sentences.

While rocking the other night, we had a talk about his pacifier (baba).

Me: Pretty soon we will have to stop using baba because you are such a big boy now.
G: Yeah, baba for babies. Me big boy.
Me: That's right, bubs, you are a big boy.
G: Me saw baby with baba.
Me: We did, didn't we? Babies need babaas.
G: Me no need baba. ::goes to his dresser and sets it on top::
Me: Wow, bubs, you are such a big boy! You don't need baba?
G: No me need baba.
::rocking for a few minutes in silence::
G: Mommy?
Me: Yeah bubs?
G: Me baby. ::runs over and grabs baba::

So much for getting rid of it, going that route.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

---

This morning's conversation with Mr. Griffers

Me: We need to squirt your nose.
G: No squirt nose.
Me: Sorry bubs, you've got snotty botties.
G: No, dada do it.
Me: Mommy can do it.
G: No, dada do it.
Me: Why can't mommy do it?
G: 'Cause dada a boy and he knows how do it.
Me: Huh, wha?!?! Well, mommy is a girl and she can do anything daddy can do.

We've got some schooling to do!