New School Year

So the academic year started on August 24. My classes began that Monday, although I had been in my office and in meetings the week before. Before the school year started, though, we had a nice end to the summer.

We celebrated L's birthday the Sat before his birthday at home. It was supposed to be a backyard "splash" with family, specifically for the kids - I converted our modest backyard into a water park. We put a tarp on the grass and had a plastic splash pool, a slip-n-slide, a water table, a plastic slide set, and some outdoor toys laid out for the kids to use. However beautiful the weather had been on the days leading up to the party, though, the day of was a diluvio. It stormed so hard with few breaks in between so that all the guests were crammed into our home. I don't think anyone complained though, least of all the birthday boy. He had a wonderful time with all the primos, primas, tios, tias and grandparents. In one of the few breaks, tio abuelo Sergio took the kiddies outside and found a willing amphibiant - mr. froggy - to awe the little ones. He put the frog in the water table and little eyes buldged out as they watched the frog swim. Tia Constanza made the birthday cake and it was delicious and beautiful. His party was Go Diego Go themed, by the way, as that is his current favorite character. Tia Angela made the pinata, and boy, was that a success! Candy galore!

Soon after his party, we switched out his gated play area for a more "big boy" corner, which means our family room is almost back to "normal." L's corner consists of a Thomas the Train toy box, whose lid flips over to form train tracks, a table and two chairs that belonged to my cousin's kids, and his ride-on horsey that tia and tio had gotten him for Christmas. We also put up a magnetic dry-erase board where all his letters, numbers, and "choo-tein" magnets can be. He loves it! We took up the Elmo toy bins we had and made another smaller play area upstairs and he loves that as well.

The week school started, we didn't take him in on Mon or Tues since Daddy was off and we wanted to minimize the impact of the first week. Well, that Wednesday was a nightmare. He was desperate and hysterical; so much so that he threw up the yogurt he was eating and he fluctuated between whimpering and being okay all day. Talk about breaking a mother. Slowly, though, he's gotten better and today, I was shocked. Who replaced my child with this child who was confident and excited about going to school? He walked right into the classroom, gave the teacher a hug, sat down to eat and was laughing and playing. He gave me a kiss on the cheek when I said I had to go to work, and didn't cry at all when I left. When I picked him up, he was laughing and eating Challah with cream cheese and gave his teachers the biggest hugs and kisses when we left. He really likes it there, although I know he loved being with mommy at home (and mommy loved being home with L!). SO that's going well!

He is talking even more. He FINALLY said "I love you" alhtough it sounds more like "Ah Ah Oooh." He's saying "otro" for everything, and his favorite phrase on our way to and from school is "otro bus." He also says "tv on" when he wants to watch tv and he is singing! He sings "twinkle twinkle little star" "monkey jumping on the bed" "the itsy bitsy spider" and "the wheels on the bus." Granted, it's more like mumbling and humming to the tunes, but still. You can tell what tune/song it is! Did I mention he loves music? I'm hoping to enroll him in some sort of music class next summer. We are also set to do swimming lessons, so I'm excited about that. :)