Dear Miriam,
Thankfully, you started having a bed time routine again, this month. There were two nights that we locked the door to your room. Then the third night, I was tucking you in, and you said, "Don't close the door." I said, "You lay in bed and fall asleep, and I'll leave the door open." And that was it. Ever since then, I can tuck you in and leave, and you lay in bed and fall asleep. It's great.
It actually means that we do more cuddling at night, because I know that I'll be able to spend a few minutes with you and it won't be a problem. You still wake up at night, asking for a drink or needing to go potty, but afterwards I just tuck you back in and go back to bed. My thought now is that as you get better at falling asleep the first time, you'll get better at falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.
Dad's contribution to your new and improved sleep habits was to make you a new stereo and speakers. (I know you're shocked by this.) It is useful, because it can play files from a USB stick on repeat, so when you wake up at night, you still have music to listen to. I don't know if that helps you go back to sleep, but I don't think it hurts.
I got you some new shoes this month. There was nothing good on sale at Target, so I looked online to see what else was around. There were some cute options, but we found some real winners: Tom and Jerry shoes. Grandpa brought home some Tom and Jerry cartoons months ago, and you and Corbin think they're hilarious. I think it's a bit strange that my kids are enjoying 50 year old cartoons, but they make you laugh like crazy, and you think the shoes are pretty great, too.
It got crazy hot this month. People keep saying things like, "It's never this hot! We never use our air conditioning!" I don't know if they're forgetful or actually right, but it seems like it's been nothing but hot in this state. I told Dad that we should put in air conditioning this winter, and then solar panels in the spring, so by next summer we'll be prepared. It's either that or buy a hundred more box fans. We had been doing bath night every other night, to save on water and because you didn't really need it. But you would get so sweaty during the hot days that we had to wash your hair every night. I only run your bath lukewarm, so that you can get all cooled off, but even when you just run the cold water, it's never really cold.
Dad and I spent a long weekend in Minneapolis this month. Flying in on the plane, we were looking out the window at all the buildings where we used to work and shop, at all the parks and lakes. It was green and wet and beautiful. We stood waiting for the train, before picking up the rental car, and talked about how good it smelled with the rain coming down. The wedding was lovely. We got to see lots of friends, which was great and hard, because I miss them very much. I hope that you will have the chance to experience life in different places. I complain about living here, and I know I'll move back to Midwest someday, but maybe there will be things that I miss about living here, too. I did miss you while we were gone, which will be true no matter where we all end up living.
Love,
Mom
Thursday, October 22, 2015
6.7 or, Gentlemen, Start Your School Year
Dear Corbin,
School started this month. Your teacher is Laura Scully, in room 11. It seemed to be an easy transition for you, at least until the first homework packet showed up. You like Mrs. Scully, which is good. We had some confusion around lunch time. The first day, you ate hot lunch because Mrs. Scully asked who was going to eat lunch in the cafeteria and you raised your hand. I don't know if you actually wanted hot lunch, or if you just wanted lunch in general. For the next few days we reminded you to eat the lunch in your lunch box, until your general response was, "I know!" Now you're in the habit of eating with some friends from Kindergarten.
Dad and I went to Back to School night. We made sure to introduce ourselves to Mrs. Scully, so that she would know us as well as Grandma and Grandpa. She seems smart and fun, and she had good things to say about you. We chatted with some other parents, too, so that was nice.
I asked you one night to tell me something you talked about at school that day. You said, "We talked about what makes a cow." I said, "Huh. Tell me what makes a cow." You said, "One kid said they have three weenies!" which made us laugh.
Mrs. Scully sends homework packets home on Fridays, which is actually really great. You and Dad get started on it on Sunday night, and then we're usually done with it on Wednesday night. So that give us two or three week night when we don't have to squeeze that into in the schedule. Some nights, you work through a couple of pages as quick as can be. Some nights, you can't focus and you drive me crazy. This year you'll be doing journal entries, though, and I'm hoping that your love of storytelling will result in some fun journals. Every time you see me write something, you say, "How can you write so fast?" I tell you, "Because I practiced when I was a kid, and now my hand just knows what to do." You never look totally satisfied by that, but I like the sound of it better than, "Because I'm old."
It got crazy hot during your second week at school, so hot that they actually went to a shorter schedule for a couple of days and cancelled after school sports. People keep telling us, "It's never this hot!" I think they have short term memory loss, because I feel like it's just been hot the entire two years that we've been here.
Dad and I went to Minneapolis for a weekend, to go to a wedding. It was so beautiful there. Everything was green, and it smelled so good. We got to see lots of friends. The wedding was lovely, with a picnic reception and a cruise on the river. It was so much fun to be on the river, and see people fishing, and swimming, and camping. If you and Miriam hadn't still been in California, I might not have come back. So there you go: I love you more than the Midwest.
Love,
Mom
School started this month. Your teacher is Laura Scully, in room 11. It seemed to be an easy transition for you, at least until the first homework packet showed up. You like Mrs. Scully, which is good. We had some confusion around lunch time. The first day, you ate hot lunch because Mrs. Scully asked who was going to eat lunch in the cafeteria and you raised your hand. I don't know if you actually wanted hot lunch, or if you just wanted lunch in general. For the next few days we reminded you to eat the lunch in your lunch box, until your general response was, "I know!" Now you're in the habit of eating with some friends from Kindergarten.
Dad and I went to Back to School night. We made sure to introduce ourselves to Mrs. Scully, so that she would know us as well as Grandma and Grandpa. She seems smart and fun, and she had good things to say about you. We chatted with some other parents, too, so that was nice.
I asked you one night to tell me something you talked about at school that day. You said, "We talked about what makes a cow." I said, "Huh. Tell me what makes a cow." You said, "One kid said they have three weenies!" which made us laugh.
Mrs. Scully sends homework packets home on Fridays, which is actually really great. You and Dad get started on it on Sunday night, and then we're usually done with it on Wednesday night. So that give us two or three week night when we don't have to squeeze that into in the schedule. Some nights, you work through a couple of pages as quick as can be. Some nights, you can't focus and you drive me crazy. This year you'll be doing journal entries, though, and I'm hoping that your love of storytelling will result in some fun journals. Every time you see me write something, you say, "How can you write so fast?" I tell you, "Because I practiced when I was a kid, and now my hand just knows what to do." You never look totally satisfied by that, but I like the sound of it better than, "Because I'm old."
It got crazy hot during your second week at school, so hot that they actually went to a shorter schedule for a couple of days and cancelled after school sports. People keep telling us, "It's never this hot!" I think they have short term memory loss, because I feel like it's just been hot the entire two years that we've been here.
Dad and I went to Minneapolis for a weekend, to go to a wedding. It was so beautiful there. Everything was green, and it smelled so good. We got to see lots of friends. The wedding was lovely, with a picnic reception and a cruise on the river. It was so much fun to be on the river, and see people fishing, and swimming, and camping. If you and Miriam hadn't still been in California, I might not have come back. So there you go: I love you more than the Midwest.
Love,
Mom
Monday, October 05, 2015
3.5 or, Ponies at School
Dear Miriam,
This was the month that you started preschool. We looked at a couple of places, and decided to try a Montessori school again. It's a nice school, although the curriculum is not as strictly Montessori as it might be. I took some time off of work, both for fun and so that I could drop you off for the first week. Grandpa came with us, since he'll be the one who drops you off after I go back to work. The first week went well. You were excited to see that there was a turtle at school, and a fish in your room. You were not excited when you realized that I would be leaving you there and not staying. The morning teacher, Ms. Cynthia, was good at distracting you while I left. Your teacher, Ms. Aida, told me one day when I was picking you up that you had been especially happy that day. So I think you're adjusting fine. It probably helped that you started the week that they did Pony Pictures. If there's a quick way to your heart (that isn't dinosaurs), ponies are it. You'll probably spend the rest of your school career wondering why school can't involve more ponies. I always wondered that, myself.
In preparation for preschool, you and I went to Target to buy you a lunchbox. All of the Back To School things were on display, so I figured we could find something good. We looked at three different sections of lunch boxes. First, you liked one with funny cat faces on it. Then you decided that you liked one with pink and black zebra stripes. Then we found all of the lunch boxes that were Hello Kitty and super heroes. I thought you might like a My Little Pony one. But, instead, you got the generic Target brand lunch box that was covered in...dinosaurs. Color me Not Surprised.
I did a sweep through your wardrobe, and gave away a bunch of your clothes. I sent a box of warm girl clothes back to Minneapolis, to the Rileys. I sent a box of warm boy clothes to the Leeman's, also in Minneapolis. And, one of the researchers at work has a little girl, so I finally found someone in town to give your summer clothes.
We've had some good news from Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena: they're going to have a baby in the spring. We're all very excited to welcome a new baby to the family, especially now when it's the perfect time for your crib and several other baby things to move south to San Diego. It feels good to pass things on that you don't need any more. We live in such a commercialized society, and so many things are treated as disposable. I think it's fun to find ways to give things a new life.
Hopefully, their baby will have many years of sleeping well in your crib. You, on the other hand, stopped going to bed this month. You came home from vacation being used to sleeping with Grandma, and able to climb out of your crib. You also stopped taking naps in the afternoon. So now you're overtired by 7pm, you think that someone else should be in your room with you all the time, and when we leave you to fall asleep, you can follow us out of your room. This is not, as you might expect, a very good turn of events. I am hoping that starting preschool will tire you out, and also give you a better schedule. Your class naps after lunch, so that will either help or be terrible. So we've taken apart your crib, and put together a twin bed for you. I've been laying in bed with you until you fall asleep. That's both sweet, because I love you, and annoying, because I would rather be getting things done. We're going to have to find a solution soon, before I give you away to a circus (which you would probably enjoy).
Love,
Mom
Cowgirl Miriam:
This was the month that you started preschool. We looked at a couple of places, and decided to try a Montessori school again. It's a nice school, although the curriculum is not as strictly Montessori as it might be. I took some time off of work, both for fun and so that I could drop you off for the first week. Grandpa came with us, since he'll be the one who drops you off after I go back to work. The first week went well. You were excited to see that there was a turtle at school, and a fish in your room. You were not excited when you realized that I would be leaving you there and not staying. The morning teacher, Ms. Cynthia, was good at distracting you while I left. Your teacher, Ms. Aida, told me one day when I was picking you up that you had been especially happy that day. So I think you're adjusting fine. It probably helped that you started the week that they did Pony Pictures. If there's a quick way to your heart (that isn't dinosaurs), ponies are it. You'll probably spend the rest of your school career wondering why school can't involve more ponies. I always wondered that, myself.
In preparation for preschool, you and I went to Target to buy you a lunchbox. All of the Back To School things were on display, so I figured we could find something good. We looked at three different sections of lunch boxes. First, you liked one with funny cat faces on it. Then you decided that you liked one with pink and black zebra stripes. Then we found all of the lunch boxes that were Hello Kitty and super heroes. I thought you might like a My Little Pony one. But, instead, you got the generic Target brand lunch box that was covered in...dinosaurs. Color me Not Surprised.
I did a sweep through your wardrobe, and gave away a bunch of your clothes. I sent a box of warm girl clothes back to Minneapolis, to the Rileys. I sent a box of warm boy clothes to the Leeman's, also in Minneapolis. And, one of the researchers at work has a little girl, so I finally found someone in town to give your summer clothes.
We've had some good news from Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena: they're going to have a baby in the spring. We're all very excited to welcome a new baby to the family, especially now when it's the perfect time for your crib and several other baby things to move south to San Diego. It feels good to pass things on that you don't need any more. We live in such a commercialized society, and so many things are treated as disposable. I think it's fun to find ways to give things a new life.
Hopefully, their baby will have many years of sleeping well in your crib. You, on the other hand, stopped going to bed this month. You came home from vacation being used to sleeping with Grandma, and able to climb out of your crib. You also stopped taking naps in the afternoon. So now you're overtired by 7pm, you think that someone else should be in your room with you all the time, and when we leave you to fall asleep, you can follow us out of your room. This is not, as you might expect, a very good turn of events. I am hoping that starting preschool will tire you out, and also give you a better schedule. Your class naps after lunch, so that will either help or be terrible. So we've taken apart your crib, and put together a twin bed for you. I've been laying in bed with you until you fall asleep. That's both sweet, because I love you, and annoying, because I would rather be getting things done. We're going to have to find a solution soon, before I give you away to a circus (which you would probably enjoy).
Love,
Mom
Cowgirl Miriam:
6.6 or, Summer Time is Friend Time
Dear Corbin,
August seemed like a long month, even though we didn't do very much. You got to catch up on watching all of your favorite cartoons. We played a lot of games of Connect 4 and Battleship.
You got to have lots of friend time with Evan, since neither of you were in school. Celia and Elena finally came home from Spain, so you got to have lots of friend time with Celia, too. Her grandma Estelle came with them, which gave me a chance to practice my very rusty Spanish speaking skills. One of the best things about moving into our new house was meeting the Aguilars, and living down the street from the Jorgensons. You and Evan have a lot of fun together, and you get along so well with Celia. The first day she was back and came over, you were so excited you practically knocked her over. One day, Celia came over a little before noon and didn't leave until supper time. At one point I walked into the living room and you were playing on your tablet, and she was reading one of your books. It made me smile.
You and Dad took it into your heads one afternoon to build you a wooden boat. I don't even know the whole story there, but you showed up for bath time with it. It's some scrap wood that you and Dad shaped with the table saw, attached together, and then coated in polyurethane. It's pretty cool. You also claimed a couple of circles that Dad cut out while building a set of speakers. You decided they would make good shields, so you painted them up with designs and dragons.
You took it into your head to make potions, using cups of water and food dye. You started doing them on the patio, but we made you move out onto the lawn. Now we have no more food dye, and the lawn has green patches. You and Celia had green patches, too, which thankfully came off in the bath.
We spent the month wondering who your teacher would be. The school website did not upload class assignments until the week before school started. Once we could finally check, we found out that you'll be in Room 11, with Ms. Scully. We also found out that Evan will be in your class. His parents were hoping to have Ms. Scully--they had heard good things from other parents--so hopefully that's a good sign. She teaches the 1st Grade program for gifted and talented kids, so I'm glad you're with her. You might never work above grade level, but it's nice to know that you'll have options if you do.
I'm glad that we don't have to buy a lot of school supplies yet. Your backpack and lunch box are still in good shape, too. I thought about getting you some new school clothes, but you're just as skinny this year as you were last year. You haven't outgrown a thing. I did order some non-school clothes for you, just to take advantage of the sales. Now that we don't have friends handing down clothes to you, I try to pay attention to when things go on sale. Although, if you never get bigger, I guess it won't matter very much. You'll just grow taller and taller, and thinner and thinner, until you're like a spaghetti noodle. Or like your Grandpa Lam. Either one.
Love,
Mom
August seemed like a long month, even though we didn't do very much. You got to catch up on watching all of your favorite cartoons. We played a lot of games of Connect 4 and Battleship.
You got to have lots of friend time with Evan, since neither of you were in school. Celia and Elena finally came home from Spain, so you got to have lots of friend time with Celia, too. Her grandma Estelle came with them, which gave me a chance to practice my very rusty Spanish speaking skills. One of the best things about moving into our new house was meeting the Aguilars, and living down the street from the Jorgensons. You and Evan have a lot of fun together, and you get along so well with Celia. The first day she was back and came over, you were so excited you practically knocked her over. One day, Celia came over a little before noon and didn't leave until supper time. At one point I walked into the living room and you were playing on your tablet, and she was reading one of your books. It made me smile.
You and Dad took it into your heads one afternoon to build you a wooden boat. I don't even know the whole story there, but you showed up for bath time with it. It's some scrap wood that you and Dad shaped with the table saw, attached together, and then coated in polyurethane. It's pretty cool. You also claimed a couple of circles that Dad cut out while building a set of speakers. You decided they would make good shields, so you painted them up with designs and dragons.
You took it into your head to make potions, using cups of water and food dye. You started doing them on the patio, but we made you move out onto the lawn. Now we have no more food dye, and the lawn has green patches. You and Celia had green patches, too, which thankfully came off in the bath.
We spent the month wondering who your teacher would be. The school website did not upload class assignments until the week before school started. Once we could finally check, we found out that you'll be in Room 11, with Ms. Scully. We also found out that Evan will be in your class. His parents were hoping to have Ms. Scully--they had heard good things from other parents--so hopefully that's a good sign. She teaches the 1st Grade program for gifted and talented kids, so I'm glad you're with her. You might never work above grade level, but it's nice to know that you'll have options if you do.
I'm glad that we don't have to buy a lot of school supplies yet. Your backpack and lunch box are still in good shape, too. I thought about getting you some new school clothes, but you're just as skinny this year as you were last year. You haven't outgrown a thing. I did order some non-school clothes for you, just to take advantage of the sales. Now that we don't have friends handing down clothes to you, I try to pay attention to when things go on sale. Although, if you never get bigger, I guess it won't matter very much. You'll just grow taller and taller, and thinner and thinner, until you're like a spaghetti noodle. Or like your Grandpa Lam. Either one.
Love,
Mom
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