The kids sporting their new school clothes
The Ververas, Landon, and most of the kids (Tristan was at scout camp) trekked around Chicago for a day. This is at the Buckingham Fountain near the waterline of Lake Michigan.
Tall buildings to make wee Chloe feel even smaller
Jocelynne and Charlotte in Millennium Park
Sunday stroll at the Celery Bog in West Lafayette
Evie and Joss -- cousin power.
Making Play-Doh minions with a kit from Aunt Becky
My middle schoolers
Modeling their new threads
Looks like we forgot to take him out of his Bumbo chair after dinner.
I've founds that 1 cookie = 15 minutes of Walmart time
On the Purdue Boilermaker Express at Walmart
Meagan and her family drove for days to get to Indiana, but it was all worth it (easy for me to say!). Brother and sister hanging out.
Walking the Celery Bog
Dane's ready to hop on the bus with Tristan and Logan.
A good sport and our favorite family mascot
Waiting for the bus on the first day of school
The kids are adjusting to the new schools better than I anticipated.
The first 2 days of school Joss came home having been teary-eyed throughout the day. She was lost in band class, had to sit next to strangers at lunch, and can't open her locker. But on Thursday she walked in the door, set down her backpack and exclaimed, “I LOVE school!” Turns out she'd figured out where middle C is on the xylophone, so she was finally able to follow along in band, where she plays percussion. She also had a few positive interactions with teachers and peers to warm her up to her new school. By Friday she was declaring that she wished there was no weekend! Now she just needs summon the courage to ask for help in opening her locker, or her school supplies will never see the light of day.
Chloe says she likes her new school better than middle school in Louisiana. She is diligently practicing her new flute, contorting her lips to find that ever-elusive pucker that makes a sound. I remember giving up on the flute after a week in high school. Pushing piano keys is so much easier! Yesterday, over the loud-speaker, everyone at school heard: "Chloe Jones, please come to the office." Amused, Chloe made her way to the office only to find she was sitting in the wrong class. She laughed it off while telling me the story, which made me think "Chloe's got this." She blooms wherever she's planted.
Tristan had problems with foul-mouthed bullies his first couple of days of school, but it seems he's been able to avoid them since then. His main disappointment in his new school is that there are no tetherball poles. He loved to beat the taller kids at his last school with his tetherball prowess. He joined a game of soccer during recess last week, so perhaps he'll find a new sport.
Logan is loving his high-achieving class due to newfound freedoms: getting drinks whenever he wants and having permission to be barefoot in the classroom if he so desires. The only trouble in paradise for him is that his teacher expects him to read 40 chapter books by the end of the year. The first day of school, I went into his room and found he couldn't sleep. He cried in my arms, distraught that he'd been assigned such a difficult task. I took him to the library the next day and he spent 15 minutes picking out the 2 thinnest chapter books in the building! Still, he’s working hard to make his reading goal because he never wants to go back to “normal” class again!
Dane is officially potty trained. Finally. He's been diaper-free during the day for months, but only last week did we hesitantly put him in undies for the night and hope for the best. So far so good! I just put training wheels on a bike I found at a garage sale and he's doggedly trying to pedal it around the living room, but gets stuck about every 5 feet and need me to show him again which way to push the pedals.
Finn is still our little Baby Beau, staying fairly even-tempered while trying to cut his 2 bottom teeth. At 8 months, he's crawling throughout the house now, seeking out entertainment in the kids' rooms or tasty treats left on the floor. In the past couple of weeks he's shown interest in eating table food -- about the same time we kicked him out of our bedroom. No more nursing him every 2 hours through the night! But I'm also sad that our exclusively-breastfeeding time is over.
Landon is working on his bobcat data set at Purdue and then burning the midnight oil here at home, publishing his PhD research and the multiple side projects he's picked up along the way. His hernia repair yesterday is setting him back a bit, and he's a bit sorer than he expected. Before he went under general anesthesia yesterday morning he said, "They're going to remove the horcrux!"
I’m in that crazy stage of life again where I can’t get anything done because I’m nursing a baby and chasing a toddler. But if you count the things that can't be itemized on a “to do” list — I’m getting plenty done.
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