growing up

It's funny how kids can seem so young and so old at the same time. There are days when I look at Nate and/or Anja and am surprised at how big they're getting. Then I get a little perspective and admit that they are really quite young compared to, say, the Redwood Forest. Or me.

Nate had his last day of preschool on Tuesday. It was a great year and he really, really enjoyed the experience. And I enjoyed having some quieter time a few mornings a week. I was really emotional about his last day but nobody else seemed to care, particularly Thad and Nate. I'm wondering how long I can blame this stuff on hormones? The last day went well overall, but Nate was really tired and was a basketcase when I arrived for pick-up. I tried to take a picture of Nate with his teachers, but he wanted nothing to do with that. Then, on the way out of school he got in a fight on the playground with one of the other kids (toddler fight!) The abbreviated version is that the other boy took a toy from Nate, who then got mad and threw a different toy at the boy. Then, while I was telling Nate to apologize for his behavior, the other boy's mother was asking him to return the first toy to Nate. Then the other boy got angry and hit his mother, so we all ended up leaving the playground with crying, screaming kids. Nice! I think a big part of Nate's uncaring attitude about the year ending is that he's going to be going to summer camp at the same school. In the same classroom. With, some weeks, the same teachers. So for him, there's not much difference except instead of being in "preschool blue" he's in "the turtles." I see his point.

Another milestone for Nate recently was that we read our first chapter book! We finished up Winnie-the-Pooh and have started in on two new books: The House at Pooh Corner and Rabbit Hill (I get to read the former and Thad's got the latter). I really like that Nate enjoys reading so much. He's something of a scaredy-cat, though, so I'm wracking my brain for books that are appropriate for his age but also linguistically challenging. On his list of scary things are: pirates, flying bugs, ghosts, dragons, and the woods. Is he too young for something like Charlotte's Web or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? They're listed as books for 9 year olds, and as much as I think he's getting old, he isn't quite that old yet! I'm open to book suggestions if you've got them.

Anja's growing too (imagine that!) and she's now figured out how to go from lying down to sitting. This is an annoying milestone. Now when she wakes up she sits herself up in her crib and won't fall back asleep. I prefer the more heartwarming milestones like laughing and smiling. She's also quickly approaching crawling, which is perhaps the most annoying milestone since it results in major interior design work (that doesn't improve the comfort of one's home!)