It was a month of things that could have gone very wrong ending up being okay. I always get worried for you when big transitions are happening. I feel like you don't deal with transitions easily, which is probably not true. It is definitely true that I don't like change, and I especially don't like change that I can't control, and I think that I put that label on you, too. Right or wrong, I'm always trying to minimize the impacts of change on you.
One of the changes that I see in your future is starting kindergarten next fall. I know it seems like a long time away, but when you factor in the idea of looking for and buying a house in the meantime, it's really not. We could choose to leave you at Children's Place for another year, but they're not nearly as good as Mayflower and I feel like we should find a better option. If we start you at another school, either private or public, then we face having to move you either during the school year or before the next year, based on what happens with finding a house. So then staying at Children's Place looks better because it would be one less adjustment for you. But it would also mean we keep paying tuition, which I was hoping to avoid by starting you in a good public school. I hope that in years to come this will all look like me worrying too much, but for some reason it's hard for me to think about right now without being terribly frustrated that I just don't have a good answer yet.
In some ways, though, I don't worry about your education at all, because you're growing up in a family that likes to learn things. You and I went over to the Nature Center at Madrona Marsh for a Star Party. You had to patiently sit through a presentation on current events in astronomy, but then we got to go out in the parking lot and look through four telescopes that they had set up. It was a cloudy night, which was too bad. Three of the telescopes were focused on different features of the moon, but the fourth one was focused on Jupiter and three of its moons, which was totally awesome.
This month you had your last day of gymnastics for the winter session, two weeks off, and then the first day of gymnastics for the spring session. Every now and then you ask if you're going to do swimming lessons again, but when I ask if you want to, you either say, "No," or, "Maybe when I'm older." You enjoy gymnastics a lot, but it's funny to watch you in class. Sometimes I wonder if you're paying any attention at all, but then when I ask you to practice at home, you show me all of the moves that they've done in class. You are getting better at cartwheels and balancing. I was impressed the day I realized that you could run backwards. I'm glad we found these classes for you.
I went back to work this month, which we thought might be another hard transition for you. But Grandma just wrote up a new weekly schedule for your afternoons, and you seem to be doing just fine. You and Dad came to see my new office one day when he had the day off. It would have been more fun if I could have showed you a lab, but I don't know any of the researchers well enough yet. Maybe we'll be able to see one someday. In the meantime, it feels nice to be working somewhere that I feel like I'm supporting things that are useful to humanity, and not just to one company. I hope that you spend your career working at jobs where you feel rewarded by more than money. Money is great, but it will not buy happiness for the man who does not know what he wants. Have goals for your career that do not depend on your salary.
You and Dad got to go to the dentist this month. Grandma had to take you because it was my first week at the new job. You did a very good job with the x-rays and the cleaning and the fluoride, but apparently there was some difficulty with the prize reward. Somehow you ended up coming home with four pink bracelets, which you declared to be beautiful treasures and hung on everyone's bedroom doors to decorate them. You also like to make me stop in Target and look at all of the jewelry. I always end up with a vision of you dressed up like a pirate, stuffing chunky necklaces into a treasure chest.
The month was supposed to end with the Thornes and Spencers visiting from Indiana, but Grandpa Thorne scared us all by having a mild stroke. He is thankfully recovering very well, but we had a few bad days when we weren't sure what was happening or how they were going to treat him. It could have been a very bad situation, and it reminded me of all of the reasons why I didn't want to move so far away from Dad's family. Hopefully they'll be able to come out this summer instead, and hopefully we'll be able to have lots of visits in the future.
Instead, the month ended with celebrating birthdays for me and Miriam. Dad took you shopping for our birthday presents. You got me a couple of pairs of dangly earrings which I like very much, and you got a set of dinosaurs for Miriam which she really loves. Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena came up to celebrate with us and brought a delicious cake that Aunt Lena made. We put two candles in it for Miriam and you blew one out accidentally while trying to show her how to do it. She and Dad managed to do the second one. You always have fun showing Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena your Lego spaceship and what you've been playing on your tablet. Dad gave me a new board game, and I'm looking forward to when you're a little older and can play with us. Luckily, Miriam got a new game, too, which we've had fun playing a couple of times. It was especially funny the time I got you to try and lick your elbow and then laughed when you couldn't do it. Because that's sportsmanship!
Love,
Mom
Playing in the rain:
Visiting Madrona Marsh after the rain:
At a birthday party at Sky Zone Trampoline:
Last gymnastics class of the Winter session:
Playing on the swings at Greenwood Park:
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