Last day of school #1.

On the first day of school in September, Fisher looked like this. Decked out ready for fall, very intimidated about me walking across the hall away from him.

But we moved into the second part of the year and he got dropped off one day a week and figured out how to be just fine with it. I saw him enjoy himself and look forward to it and grow attached to his teachers. So I'll be a little sad that we start over again next year when preschool begins. Fisher has a lot of love for Ms. Sarah, and Jane and Jean and Darcy, too!He doesn't have any clue what it means to be at the end of the school year, other than he won't see his friends and that bums him out (actually we'll meet at the park once a week, buddy!), but he ran out to meet us like he knew school was out for summer. Before we headed to schools that morning, I got a happy smile, but I can't say it was happiness because it was a school day, or even that it was the last school day.

Actually, Vacuum Vic was on our street that morning. You know it's going to be a good day when it starts out with your favorite truck on your very own street first thing in the morning.
We love you, Fisher, and we're so so proud of you.

Birthday.

It's great that my husband's expectations for his birthday weren't too high, as in, it's ok if I don't get to even open my own presents. Because we do have a three-year-old in the house, and he wasn't having it any other way.Happy birthday (yesterday), sweetheart. We love you "soper ooper doper much."

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The thermometer has hit seventy-five already today, and we are practically sweating. Must get the boxes of summer clothes out today.

2. On Mother's Day the kids thought I needed to be woken up and celebrated at six a.m. Daddy sent them back to bed and they made it until 6:40. Must be more specific next year: On Mother's Day, do not wake Mommy up. At all.

3. They were pretty cute with their homemade cards and kisses, though, so I wasn't upset. (Just tired.) It was a lovely day with breakfast in bed, reading the (whole) paper while I drank my coffee, gifts, a run.

4. Perhaps the best part was getting to spend some of it with my own Mom; I don't remember the last time I could do that.

5. For dinner on Mother's Day, I got my favorite grilled chicken, which I had marinated the night before - here's the recipe that I'm sure someone passed on to me, but I can't remember who: 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2t. salt, cracked pepper, the juice of half a lemon, the juice of a lime, 3 smashed cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Marinate overnight and grill. Sheer perfection.

6. There is chicken for dinner tonight, too - curry chicken in the crockpot, recipe courtesy of my good friend Michelle.

7. Our poor garden hasn't been planted yet because it hasn't had a chance to dry out. It's just a big mud pit.

8. Currently reading You Know When the Men Are Gone, which is engrossing. As in, last night I truly tuned everything out while reading.

9. Two weeks until the Laughrey's come to visit!

10. Speaking of those guys, Happy Birthday, Katie!

Day to day.

When Alla was just three, Fisher was a newborn, with all the needs a newborn comes with. Still, he was a super napper and she and I continued our fun times and snuggles at regular intervals throughout the day. It was easy, we had done day upon day for three years.

And then the morning nap went and I really missed that time, the reading under the kitchen table, especially.

And then she off and went to kindergarten and my heart broke, but as I sobbed at the sight of her bus getting smaller and smaller, I also looked down at my little boy who was now all mine every morning, and my heart got a little brighter.
Because even though it would take me a few weeks to find a rhythm, and to look at the morning as full of possibility rather than emptiness, he knew none of this, only that he had his mom-pal all to himself.Probably our mornings are a little busier than hers and mine were. Some weeks it seems like we're running around on all the days we're not at school, and it's just such a relief when the weekend shows up and we can all linger in our jammies for a little while.

I hope he would say that even the busy mornings are fun. "We always see cool stuff when we got out together." It's true, we do - because he has these sharp eyes that always find the trash trucks and cranes and street sweepers and concrete mixers and car transporters. But I hope he would also say that we do spend plenty of mornings at home, in jammies, with play dough or crayons or blocks and snacks.

And so I just wanted to say that in this year, when I have missed my little girl so darn much, I have also truly cherished each morning with my son, with his still-dimpled fingers and big brown eyes and hugs and appetite and even his being a complete handful.

I am so lucky to see this, to be part of it every day.

Do you see what I see?

Look closer. See that little girl squashed between the chair and the window? That's where she retires every afternoon for quiet time. Forget about the playroom. Kids like the teeniest, coziest spots they can find, and this girl's been working on this spot for a few years now.

I finally put all her little figures into baskets and clear containers so she knows where all her stuff is for telling her stories. She'll come home from school and tell me she has such a great story to tell, and sneak back there for a few minutes while I make lunch.It's just the perfect visual of how kids don't need much, and they certainly don't need anything big. She's got animals and fairies and pollys and frogs and bugs and dinosaurs and ocean animals, and they are all super important characters in her stories.

Plus she's got the best view of Mama and Papa Robin swooping down for beakfuls of dead grass to build up their nest.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The sun is shining. Perhaps this isn't front-page news to anyone else, but here, on May first, we were in wool coats and UGGs and the north wind blew right through us. So sunshine, warmth, is very welcome.

2. Good news on the swimming front! Fisher walked into the pool on his own yesterday with enthusiasm!



3. I have no idea what we're having for dinner. None.



4. Alla's sixth birthdy party was this past Saturday - a bug-themed party. I think we've recovered.



5. The highlight of the party - pairs of kids wrapping each other in toilet paper "cocoons." Hilarious.

6. I'm willing to take a long break from parties for awhile, but then there's Fisher who hasn't had even one party of his own yet. And, of course, now that he's seen his big sister's party, he wants to invite "all the friends," meaning all of her guests, to his birthday, which he thinks will happen again soon.



7. I finally got some allergy relief for my poor, nearly-scratched out eyes: Allegra! It's all good except for this: it seems to be making me toss and turn all night. But if I weren't taking it, I'd probably be itching and scratching instead of tossing and turning. A trade-off, I guess, for a few more weeks.



8. I think Santa may need to bring Fisher a marble run this year, as he had quite a good time with it this morning in school. He happened to ask yesterday how to tell Santa what he wants, so I told him to write a letter and we'd mail it to the North Pole. He'd like his very own copy of the Oscar-winning movie Barbie and the Three Musketeers, which he calls "I For One," his version of the "All for One" song in the movie.

9. This will be a hard-earned spring, if it ever arrives. As a reward for our continued patience, a mama robin has blessed us by building a nest under our deck. Blue eggs and baby chirps coming soon! I read somewhere that robins or their offspring often return to the same place each spring to build again. So perhaps this is the child of last year's mama.

10. I'll leave you with an image of Saturday's party. I love that no matter how crazy it was, Alla was in her own little birthday world having a wonderful time. We love you, six year old girl!