Thursday, August 11, 2016

Winding down summer

We're heading to the beach late next week for our first family vacation in a long time. I can't even tell you how giddy I am for this. It will be Ryan and Hannah's first trip to the beach!
(It's absurd to think Ryan has been to England but, has never set foot on a beach when we live on the East Coast)

It's hard to believe Ryan will be starting 1st grade in 2 1/2 weeks. It really feels like the summer flew by.

Ryan does summer camp at the same place Hannah is in day care. They've done weekly field trips to a local water park as well as weekly field trips to other locations like local farms, mini golf, etc.

I think my favorite thing about their day care/camp (besides the fact that my children are in safe hands, of course) is they have an app where they update you on the kids throughout the day with pictures.

I love getting pictures of my kids and what they're up to while there. It's like a little glimpse into their day.

The school is doing a spectacular job of teaching Hannah & Friends how to sign. The words are coming along but, in the mean time, it helps a ton when Hannah can use signs to tell us what she wants/needs.

So far she can sign for milk, eat, drink, more, thank you and again.

She will also do all the hand/arm movements for songs like Wheels on the Bus, Happy and you know it, Row, row your boat and other songs I don't actually know.

While I'd love to take the credit for how clever Hannah is, the truth is, it has so much more to do with her teachers. They work hard to teaching the kids all these things and preparing them for what they need to know/do in order to move up to the next class.

The first step was moving her out of the crib and onto a cot at school. I was extremely skeptical they'd get her to sit still without the bars but, they say she's doing great. Holy cow!

The second step was to take away the bottle and get her used to drinking her milk cold. Removing the bottle was okay. Cold milk is something we're still working on. She prefers it warm but, some days she'll accept it cold.

Hannah has one more swimming class left this summer and we'll be taking Fall off because Ryan will have swimming, baseball & speech.

I think we'll have Hannah pick swimming back up in the winter when Ryan's schedule is (usually) a little lighter.

I'm going to make at least one more post before vacation.

I've been reading blogs lately about how parents (moms in particular) only write the positive, sweet & cute things our kids do and how that can put pressure on moms who are reading it and maybe wondering why everyone has it easy but them.

And I will because, let me tell you, my kids are monsters as much as anyone's! I believe it's human nature to only post that one perfect picture on Instagram or to post on facebook about your kid saying something cute and funny.

No one wants to say "My kid lost her shit when I tried to put her in the car, wriggled away and ran into the parking lot" (true story).
We live those moments every day and they're exhausting. No, it's much better for the soul to remember when she came to me with a big smile and leaned in for a kiss and how Ryan still climbs onto my lap when he's tired.

But, I will share some of my most horrifying stories next week before I head out on vacation.

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