"Fanatic"

I mentioned a while back that Luke likes fans and clocks. He carried around a large wall clock for a while and of course, his free Lowe's ceiling fan catalog ("FanBook").

The clock eventually broke and we sent about 3 catalogs to the trash in shreds. And with that, his obsession seemed to wan just the tiniest bit.

He still loved to see fans and clocks and pointed them out everywhere. He still loved to turn on any fan he could reach.

When we drive past Lowe's he shouts, "There's the fans! There's the fans!"

I don't know what it was exactly, but something reminded him of his old FanBook and he begged to get a new one. So the next morning we went to Lowe's. Walked through the fan section to the rack where they've always been. No FanBook. I asked an employee and he thought I was crazy, he didn't know what I was talking about.

So I tried Home Depot. No FanBook.

How easy it would be to thrill my Luke with such a simple thing! And to say he was disappointed would be an understatement. So I called my mom. I begged her to go to the Lowe's near her house and check for FanBooks. I asked her to take as many as she felt she could and save them for Luke.

Luckily, the Lowe's in Dallas still have FanBooks.

And two days later, in a large manila envelope, what should arrive in the mail?

A FanBook!!

"A FanBook! A FanBook! Mama, its so pretty! Look all dese fans, Mama!"

The FanBook goes everywhere with him, the store, the mall, to the dinner table, to bed.

To go with his new book, he now has a hobby of watching videos of ceiling fans on youtube. This is his favorite.



It is so odd to me the number of videos of ceiling fans out there. Who makes those? Who posts those? Who watches those?

Who makes up monikers like "MrFanMan2u" or "ceiling fantastic"?

And then as I tucked Luke into bed last night and watched as he made sure his FanBook was appropriately placed right next to his pillow, I realized that maybe they were kind of men who used to take their fan catalogs to sleep.

And then I hugged and kissed and said goodnight to the future "Fanatic".

Surfside

I am just now coming up for air after spending the last four days in the Hunger Games trilogy. I love a good book, but series like these that I can't put down and engross me so completely really take a toll on our family!

It's bad when you are inconvenienced by your children. By their need to eat, to be changed, to be paid attention to. That's why I won't be reading anything else for little while.

Before school started, I composed a list of the projects and chores that I planned to accomplish once it did. The first week came and as I found the afternoons were quiet, I told myself that it would be fine to take a nap myself. But now the first week is over, the second week is over, and my list remains with not one single item checked off.

It's time to get my booty in gear. I feel like a need to give our life a makeover. I need a plan and a schedule. We have such a different rhythm these days that I'm finding it hard to adapt what we used to do into what we must do now.

Ava remains very tired and gets a nervous stomach everyday before school, but she is still doing well overall. She is getting more comfortable finding her way to her class and she even bought her lunch once last week which was a exhilarating/terrifying idea for her.

This weekend we took ourselves to the beach. We decided to try out Surfside since we had heard good things about it, yet we hadn't been. It was a great choice. Our favorite part was that we could park our van right on the beach. That way we didn't have to lug all of our stuff around, we had some accessible shelter from the sun and the sand, and even a place to change the kids' clothes without showing the world.


There was only one drawback to our accessible car. It was not only accessible to us, but to one very frightened bird who lost control of his bowels when he thought he'd be stuck in our car forever.


I watched in shock as he thrashed around, banging himself on the window, but somehow had the presence to pick up my camera and try to snap his picture. After that I finally had the presence to run around and open the other door.


The beach had quite a bit of seaweed, but it didn't bother us much. The majority was right up near the cars. The water was warm and there were just enough waves to be fun, not scary.

This was Luke's first trip to the beach that he can remember. And he will remember it well!


Ava and Luke probably could have stayed all day, but although he did better than expected, Max was ready to pack it in after about 2.5 hours. So we did.

But we will definitely go back.

Ten Months and A Week

Max is 10 months old today! Ridiculous! Everybody says it, but I really cannot believe how fast the time has gone.

He is a fast little mover now. He loves to eat and eat and eat. And his 24 pounds of soft, chubby body mass are evidence of that.

The other kids, especially Luke are still not quite happy about his mobility. And Luke is one of Max's favorite things. It drives Luke batty.




And highly anticipated I'm sure, the results are in. After a full week of school and one really bad day in the middle, kindergarten is:

Not too bad and not too good.

She wakes in the morning anxious and nervous for the day. She worries about getting to the right place and finding her class. Somebody has apparently helped the past few days, but not before she is lost and worried.

But when she gets off the bus in the afternoon, she reports that her day was, "Great!"

She is hot and exhausted and hyper. She sometimes borders on wild for the rest of the evening.

All relatively typical for many kids in the same scenario.

But, even though she worries and worries and worries some more, even though she is scared, she's doing it. She is doing all that we're asking of her and she's doing it pretty darn well. And that more than any other thing makes me so proud.

New Routines

I was waiting to post the results of how school has gone until nearer the end of the week, to provide more of an average of her reaction rather than any one day's report. But I can't. I need a release.

Today the kindergarten crap hit the fan. Just as I had been warned it might, by my ever-knowing Val. (Day 2 or 3 the honeymoon ends (she was never even in love.) )

Ava is dog tired. Dawg tired. And now, having been through a couple of days, knowing full well what to expect, she couldn't keep it together this morning.

I run a dangerous road with her. I can never feel quite sure when the floor is going to collapse. It is a very delicate balance. When she is stressed that balance becomes even more delicate. Especially right now, having to get her up earlier than she'd like, knowing she needs every spare second of sleep she can get, yet also knowing that she does not like to be rushed to get ready.

I try to leave a little a little wiggle room in our timing, but today it didn't matter.

The morning reached it's peak with hysterical sobs in the driveway. Saying again and again, "I just want to stay with you! I just want to stay with you!"

At least she got herself together with a few minutes of snuggling before I dropped her off.

This week has been very weird. I am still trying to get used to things. Lots of emotions for emotional people.The routines that formerly ran our household are pretty much null and void. We need to make some new ones ASAP. It's a big change for all of us and I know it will take some time to adjust.

Because I am feeling a little like our life turned upside down this week I am making a list to help restore some mental order.

Just a list of some of the things I'd like to remember or that I would rather read in words than keep thinking about in my mind.

1. Ava was in preschool for the past two years, but she's always been home for lunch. Always. So it is now so strange for Luke to be sitting at the table by himself. Usually Ava called the lunch shots and had a specific request. Now I am racking my brain to think of what Luke would like.

2. Luke is in heaven with all of our one-on-one time together. And frankly, he deserves it. So when Max goes down for his nap, it has been fun to just play.

3. It is also very strange to not have the need to leave the house. When Ava is home, or maybe it's just the combination of the kids, we have to get out of the house at some point each day. Things implode if we don't. Over the past few days I have noticed that feeling is not there.

4. 7 and a half hours seems like a long time, but it is going by very quickly.

5. It is crazy how with time, things that once felt impossible become totally doable. By the end of the summer I was taking all three kids to the grocery store or the library by myself. Tasks that formerly felt completely out of the question just months prior were now feasible options. That felt good and it really speaks to our ability to adjust. So now, having just the two boys seems like I can do anything! Anything! The possibilities are endless! Yet isn't it interesting that I haven't done much of anything this week?

6. But I can only agree with what Ava keeps telling me, "I just want to be used to it. I'm ready to be used to it."

Kindergarten

11 kindergarten classes at 20 kids each = 220 kids which = 100 more kids than my graduating class.


I took my baby to kindergarten today. I got all the tears out of the way last night after she was tucked into bed.

Yesterday, Dan gave her a blessing and I gave her a necklace. Actually, there are two necklaces, one for her and one for me and they match. I told her that it could remind her how much we love her and I would wear mine and remember how much she loved me.




It was cute to hear her repeat to Dan this morning, "And Mommy gave me this necklace so that Mommy loves me and I will know it."


I thought it was a great idea until I realized that I was locking myself into wearing a children's size necklace for a while. It's kind of a choker, but I don't think those are really in style anymore.

The school was a madhouse. We sat in traffic just to find a spot on the street to park. As we waited, the anxiety was building inside me. Soon I heard Ava in the back seat. She was doing some deep breathing exercises. She was either feeling anxious too or about to give birth. I asked if she was okay.

"Yes."

I asked if she was excited or nervous.

"Both"

And she resumed her breathing.

After our long walk, once inside she was still nervous but doing fine. Her seat is at a table with three boys and one other girl. She was hesitant at first, but she usually prefers boy friends to girl friends, so maybe it will be a good thing.




I helped her get started coloring, gave her a hug and kiss and said goodbye. I was surprisingly devoid of emotion.

I have missed her and thought about her so much already. This has been a very weird day. She'll be riding the bus home and I can't wait to see how the day played out.

Dan reminded me not to worry about her not knowing everything because she will be in school 40 hours a week now. She'll have pleeeenty of time to learn.

And from here on out Saturdays will will take on a whole new meaning!

And Here We Go

Last week Max started to figure out that he could do more than just sit on his cute, chubby bottom. He had become a pro at sitting up from a laying down position, but couldn't quite get a handle on being mobile.

He had started to protest every time I set him down. He was feeling abandoned and stuck. For a while he was stuck in reverse. The more and more he tried to get at what he wanted, the further away he got. But over the weekend the synapses connected and he put one hand in front of the other and he was off!


Now he can get down and GO! He is enjoying exploring the house. And I am not enjoying the accompanying worry that he is going to find Cinderella's lost high heel or Luke's money.

Ava and Luke are not so pleased that there is a new cat in town. Mostly because this cat likes to swipe toys and mess up elaborately constructed masterpieces.

It's like Godzilla is coming! Max starts in their direction and then mayhem and screaming ensue as they grab things up and try to block him out.




He of course, means no malice and still thinks that Ava and Luke are the best and funniest things on earth.

Sadly, a trip to the pediatrician today confirmed my suspicions, he has another ear infection. Next stop, ENT.

Luke's 3 year pictures

While I have already lamented the deadness of my camera's battery, I am just grateful that my mom had hers. I got the pictures from her during her last visit and was pleased to realize that while perhaps, not what they could have been, a lot of them turned out cute.

Cute enough to illustrate what Luke is like at three.

Which is pretty cool. I mean Luke is cool.

And the fact that the pictures turned out is cool, too.




Cool.



Some of my very favorite things about Luke right now are:

The way he asks what I'm doing, "What you doin' bout, Mommy?"

The way he dances in the car.




The way he loves to be tickled. The soft way, not the giggly way. And how in order to provide the most surface area for tickling, he holds his arm out in the air.




The way that he plays and entertains himself.


The way that he rolls with the punches, sometimes.




The way he sings.


Hearing his requests to play "Tackle Me!",his made up game which would be more aptly named "Tackle You!"


And especially the way he randomly gets down from the table in the middle of dinner just to give me a kiss.