Preschool Graduation

Yesterday was Liam's preschool "graduation" from Ms. Gina's preschool class. It was a fun, beautiful beach day at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach. His teachers, Ms. Gina and Ms. Jessica, organized a beach-side graduation ceremony complete with a sound system for (mostly Disney) music, BBQ fixings, drinks, and desserts. Liam and Connor loved their play time at the beach. I admit I was surprised at how emotional, sad, and bittersweet I began to feel as the afternoon progressed. It started with Ms. Gina's speech, when she said, "Most of these kids I will never see again after today. They will forever be young in my heart." KILLED me. Of course she was choking up as she said it, and as a mother I completely understand what she felt. And it made me realize that not only will Liam be going into a very different learning environment with Transitional Kindergarten, but there will never be another time when I can drop him off at school and know he will be treated with such loving care. I feel grateful he had that experience and saddened by the thought that he will be less sheltered and less protected as he moves on in school.  Ms. Gina's class was the first time I left Liam in the care of someone other than family, and I did so every day feeling completely confident in Ms. Gina and Ms. Jessica's care. I'm sad for both of us for what we are losing. But, as it is so often in life, it's time to let go. Again. 

Favorite 10 Books of All Time

The Mummy Case (Elizabeth Peters)

Really, anything every written by EP--her books, which feature all sorts of topics, were a gateway to my learning all sorts of things on all sorts of obscure topics. This book, however, is special. If I'd never picked up "The Mummy Case," I'd never have caught the Egyptology bug and everything would have turned out very differently for for me. Very, very different.

Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)

Really, the whole series. Who doesn't love Anne Shirley?

Trojan Gold (Elizabeth Peters)

I brought this book to a high school basketball camp one summer at Eastern Illinois University. A lot of my teammates were the popular kids and I wasn't and a couple of them weren't very nice to me. This book was my escape at the end of each day.

The Last Camel Died at Noon (Elizabeth Peters)

My favorite book from my all-time favorite series.

The Lord of the Rings series (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Duh.

Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)

Sacrificial love defeats ultimate evil--an all time favorite series for sure.

A String in the Harp (Nancy Bond)

I read this book as a kid and never forgot it. Time-travel is a theme I find endlessly fascinating. (Really, the history geek likes time travel stories? Shocker, I know.) This was the first time-travel story I read.

Ramona the Brave (Beverly Cleary)

As an elementary school kid, I could definitely relate to this book.

Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing (Judy Blume)

Ditto.

The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins)

A wonderful adventure novel and the book that introduced me to Victorian literature.

The Promise of Change

A new year opens with the promise of many changes to come in the months ahead. Connor is mobile, unceasingly active, curious, and a sweet little soul. By the end of the year, he'll pretty much be unstoppable. Liam started a two-day-a-week preschool class last fall, and this summer will see him graduate from preschool and begin a Transitional Kindergarten program in August. He adjusted well to preschool and feels quite at home there now. It probably helps that I volunteer in the classroom roughly every other week, but his teachers are great and tell me he does just fine when I'm not there. I hope this experience prepares him for the upcoming classroom experiences of TK. Even if the transition to a school classroom turns out to be rocky, his preschool experience thus far demonstrates he adjusts well to change. This is good, because there will be a lot of changes this year. By the time we say goodbye to 2015 it will be a whole new world.

Life with Two

This is how I found Connor yesterday morning. You can't see it, but of course he's laying in a big ol' fresh and warm pee pee wet spot. :-/ Very nearly six months in, and it's easy to see from my sparse entries how much crazier life is with two rather than one. In many ways so much has changed since I had Connor. Of course, adding a new member to the family is a huge change in and of itself, but it has precipitated other changes as well.

With two kids it feels like we are more of a family rather than just two adults and a baby. And it is fun to watch Liam and Connor bond as brothers. It will be good for Liam to have a sibling for a playmate and for Connor to have a big brother. It should have been obvious, but I realize now that it's impossible to raise one child the same as the one (or ones) that came before, because the family each subsequent child enters is fundamentally different than it was before as soon as the new baby arrives. There is no way Connor's baby experience will be the same as Liam's. And that's okay.

Sisters' Endeavour

California Science Center, Los Angeles

We got tired of trying to get the kids to look at the camera, so we decided to take a picture of two people who know how to stand still and smile for a picture.