On the Eve of Kindergarten

August 26, 2012

Dear Ethan,

Tomorrow is your first day of Kindergarten.  Somehow, the significance of this fact didn’t truly hit until today.  You see, today I drove past your school and choked up.  Today, I chopped vegetables and began crying as I listened to you in the next room, playing so sweetly with your little sister.  When you came in and asked if you could help, I had to compose myself quickly.  Today, and all weekend in fact, I could not get enough kisses from you, my sweet baby boy, all grown up and starting elementary school. 

Ethan, I have so enjoyed watching you grow into just about the cutest little boy.  You have your moments, but, really, you’re pretty awesome, and I find great pleasure in being with you every day.  And I know you feel the same.  My little homebody, you are always perfectly content hanging out with mom.  You’re such a good helper always, and I love that you still want to assist me in the kitchen or in cleaning the house.  I know, all too soon, this will no longer be the case.

At five years old, I see you as an incredibly creative and articulate boy.  You can still be on the shy side, but you’re definitely coming out of that protective shell.  Your mind is a crazy sponge, and you soak up everything, repeating lines from movies you saw months ago or constantly quoting your books to me.  One of my favorite things is to observe you playing when you think no one’s watching.  Usually near your Bat Cave, you make up elaborate stories with your figures that go on forever and ever.  Perhaps even more fun is watching you and Eleanor play together.  More and more, you are playing with her, not just near her, and you are always helpful and encouraging.  You love to teach her new things, and she eats it up and absolutely relishes the attention you give her.  My heart nearly bursts with pride when I witness you loving your little sister so tenderly, like when you snuggle with her and sing “Baby Mine” before her nap.  You love her so much.  

Though your new status of Kindergartner is making me feel nostalgic, I am also quite excited for you as you begin this new chapter.  I am not really worried about your academic success (let’s face it – you’re bright!), but I do wonder about the kind of student you will be in school and the new knowledge you will come home with.  I can hardly wait to witness you reading on your own since I know this will open up even more opportunity for you to explore other worlds.  You will, no doubt, be a voracious reader.  

I also wonder about how your personality will continue to develop as you start school full time.  My hope for you, and what we really try to stress to you right now, is that you will be kind to everyone.  As you get older, there will be even more opportunity to exclude others or put others down, but we really hope to instill in you a strong sense of self that will resist these urges.  In your world of good guys and bad guys, we want you to be a good guy, the kind you can always rely on to do the right thing.  But know that when you slip up, we will still be there for you, even if we are a bit disappointed.  

You may be growing up, Ethan, but I will always remember my sweet baby boy we brought home from the hospital five short years ago.  I can still feel you in my arms as I rocked you to sleep or see you smiling at me when you woke up in the morning, always happy to see me.  You, and later your sister, have been a source of such joy.  You both have filled a hole in my heart I didn’t even know was there until you arrived.  I love you so very much!  I know you will be simply amazing.

Love,

Mommy 

Almost Two!

This post is mostly going to focus on our little Eleanor because she turns two this month, and both Will and I are trying hard not to be so sad. I know it’s not possible, nor ideal, but there are times when I wish I could freeze time with her right now. The thing is, Eleanor is just so ridiculously cute…95% of the time. (The other 5%, we don’t need to talk about, but I’ll tell you, it gives me nightmares about her teenage years!) Her language has completely taken off, and there really is nothing more heart-filling than her tiny little voice expressing herself. Here are a few of our favorites:

-“Yookit, ________, Mama (or Dadda)” = Look it, _______,

- “Bye bye, feet” when putting on pajamas or now even just socks or shoes.

- Ecstatic “Hi, Mama! or Hi, Eeefen” when we go to get her out of her crib in the morning.

-“I waan Mama”, or “I waan Dadda” depending on who is putting her to bed at the moment.

- “I strong” while flexing her muscles and shaking like a crazed lunatic.

- “I funny,” after laughing very deliberately.

She says a whole lot more and mimics a lot of what we say or Ethan says. Recently, Ethan taught her “Mister Mama,” which he likes to say, and he really thinks it’s hilarious when Eleanor calls me Mister Mama. She also has been known to say “awesome” and “I waan vie-vies,” which is I want vitamins. She really likes her vitamins.

Eleanor also has a pretty significant sweet tooth. Likely because she’s a second kid, she was exposed to candy earlier, and, man, does she love it. Sometime before Christmas, she was up late at night crying. I went in to her, and she was pointing where she wanted to go. Because in the middle of the night I’ll pretty much do anything she says if it will make her calm down and go back to sleep, I obliged her, and took her out of the room into the kitchen, where she was leading me. She kept saying she wanted something and pointing, but I couldn’t tell what she was asking for. Finally, I realized she was saying, “I want fudge.” Her Pop Pop Bill had made a batch of fudge, and she had enjoyed during that day. Well, being mother of the year, I broke off a small piece of fudge, gave it to her, put her back in her crib, and didn’t hear from her the rest of the night. Yes, she has us right where she wants us.

Lately, she’s been in more of a daddy phase, which has been a relief, actually, because she had been very into me for a while, and it made it difficult for me to go anywhere. She has definitely learned that daddy will give her pretty much whatever she wants, though, so she’s learned to tap into this resource.

I’m looking forward to taking Eleanor in for her two year appointment. She still seems to be a bit of a peanut since she is in the appropriate age level clothes. (Ethan was always at least one size or two ahead.) Her feet are particularly tiny, which makes buying good, solid shoes difficult. It’s also our excuse for why it took her so long to walk (15 months), so it all works out.

As far as updates for the rest of us...bottom line: we’re happy. Ethan loves his little sister (except when she destroys his stuff), we are head over heels for both our kids, and we’re still crazy in love with each other. We are good about expressing to each other how incredibly lucky we both feel to be where we are at in our lives. A nice home, a loving family, and a whole lot of laughs.

And we do fun things – all the time. Pictures to prove it are below.

Here we are in town the night that Santa comes to visit downtown LG and light the town tree. The businesses stay open late, and it's a lot of fun for the kids.

Bed head.

These are Will's birthday cupcakes my mom made. I made little "pops" to stick out of each one. One side had a current picture of Will, and the other side had a baby picture.

Will opening his Payton jersey.

My sister and her kids came over one day to make dough ornaments. They had a lot of fun cutting out the shapes and then painting them.

This is the "40" I made for Will out of memories sent to me from family and friends. We kept it up for a while after his birthday for others to see/read.

We took the kids to the Art Institute shortly before Christmas because we had a free pass. We didn't see much of it, but it was a fun family adventure.

Here was a weekday nature hike at McDonald's corporation in Oak Brook.

Baking time!

Daddy's girl?

Christmas Eve at my Auntie Nancy's. Eleanor was attached to me ALL night.

Family picture...best we could do.

Cousins and Grandma Lorraine.

Grandma Lorraine and her great-grandchildren.

Eleanor feeding her new Bitty Baby.

I liked my wrapping this year. You can't see it very well, but I used the white paper again and this year I used rubber stamps to stamp the names of the recipients on each package. Looked nice.

Christmas Day at Laura's house.

Cousin love - Jakey and Ethan.

Oh, here's a close up. :)

Chicago Children's Museum. We're building a house.

The wheels on the bus go round and round.

Impromptu lunch at Ed Debevics.

Super mild day in January, so we headed to to the Morton Arboretum for the morning.

Decided to make homemade slime one day. Eleanor = big fan.

Forest preserve family time after some snow (finally!).

This is my latest DIY project. I bought white canvases, penciled out letters with stencils and then freehand painted these. Pretty happy with how they turned out. These are hanging in our kitchen.