Parenting can be rough some days! This week, Sam had a doctor appointment, so I had to take Ella to school. Afterward, I had to drop Andrew off at Nana’s house so I could go to work.
Usually he is all about going to Nana’s. For whatever reason, he did not want to go. He was clinging on to Sam when it was time to leave. Eventually, I had to just scoop him up or Ella was going to be late.
This led to a non-stop meltdown. He fought to get buckled in his seat. He was kicking the back of my seat. He was screaming and crying.
The drive to the school is about 30 minutes, and then we have to wait a few minutes before we can go inside. I was not in the mood to listen to him scream for that long.
Normally, I can put on the kid music channel on Sirius XM and that works. He will settle down most of the time. That morning, however, he didn’t. Ella suggested playing his two favorite songs. After 10 minutes I was ready to try anything.
The first song is from the most annoying kid host EVER – Blippi. He has way too much energy and he just gets on my nerves. Andrew loves his music. So I searched for The Excavator Song. God help me…..
While the crying slowed down a little, it didn’t stop. So Ella suggested another song, Chipmunk At The Gas Pump. Yeah, you read that right.
The kids have a few sing-along Tonies. (A Tonie box has figures you can buy and set on top of it and it plays songs or stories.) One of them is from the Laurie Berkner Band. They do a lot of kid songs. Apparently, the Chipmunk song is on there. So I had Google find it and I played that next.
So the song is goofy enough, and then you see the video and it takes a whole new turn….
Anyway, the crying stops midway through this one. When it is over he says he wants the Blippi song again. When that is over, Ella wants the Chipmunk song again. And it goes on like this for the remainder of the trip.
After I drop him at Nana’s, I head into work. Almost four hours later, I am going through patient charts and for no reason at all I start singing, “Jump! Jump! Pump it up! Chipmunk at the gas pump…”
My coworkers looked at me like I was nuts. Rightfully so. The next day, I was shaving and that doggone Excavator Song wouldn’t get out of my head…. Urgh!!
I’ve been having fun on the blog in the last week or so. However, we’ve experienced our share of rough stuff at home. Hopefully, we’re working our way towards the end of it.
Germs!
It started with Ella about three weeks ago. She went to urgent care with a fever. They said it was an ear infection and sinus infection and to follow up with her primary doc. They confirmed what urgent care said and we did a round of antibiotics. She missed a week of school and went back. She hung on to a deep cough, but she had no fever. The cough continued and we took her back to the doctor who told us it was due to drainage. When she spiked another high fever, we were back at the doc who gave us another antibiotic.
Saturday, she wasn’t really herself. My brother was in town and she was kind of clingy. On Sunday, my brother was supposed to come back over, however, plans changed. Ella woke up with a fever of 105.1. So it was off to the ER.
She was miserable. They swabbed her to check for Covid, Strep, and any other virus. They gave her Motrin and the fever started to break. They took her for x-rays to check for pneumonia, too. We were there from 8:30am until about 2pm. No pneumonia, urinalysis was fine, chest was clear, but she does have a form of Coronavirus that is not Covid. She came home and immediately fell asleep on the couch.
She slept for almost five hours. Sam stayed up with Andrew while I was at the ER. When we got home she laid down to nap, too. My brother didn’t know how long we’d be and figured it was best to let Ella rest. He ended up going home early. So it was just me and Andrew.
We went outside and raked leaves. He was pretty proud of the big pile we made, and he wanted a picture.
Andrew, Sam and me have all had a cough. Sam seems to have gotten what Ella has. Andrew and I are just coughing. I hope this goes away!
Kit Kat Club?
Sam ordered a cat tree for the kitten. She is extremely playful and loves to claw at things. The hope is that she will sharpen her claws on it, and use it to rest. I don’t think that is going to be an issue….
Keith – AI
I was scrolling Facebook this week and something popped up. It was some AI thing that Facebook has. It said to have it “imagine” something and it would create it. You can say, “Imagine pigs flying” and bingo – there is a picture. So I said, “Imagine me as a radio DJ.” Real creative, right?
The first thing it did was took a picture of me from the front, and both sides. It had me upload a picture or two of me to aid it in the creation. Next thing I know….
Not bad, I suppose. Something is obviously wrong with my right hand as it only has three fingers! I’m not sure about the headphone cords … something isn’t right there. On another note, if I was really this thin, I’d be extremely happy!!!
Naturally, I had to try another. That one was too easy. So I said, “Imagine me as Columbo.” I meant, of course, Peter Falk’s iconic character. I never clarified that at all and wanted to see what it came up with. I’m not going to lie, it is kind of impressive.
They got the raincoat and messy hair, although most of it is covered by a hat. I may have to make this my profile picture on Facebook. It’s too good!
Ewe Never Know What You Might Ram Into …
Our town has a Facebook page. It is used to talk about events, traffic issues, and so on. The past week has been a real hoot. It seems that someone’s ram got loose and ran away.
The page began to fill with ram sightings all over town.
This thing was everywhere and they couldn’t seem to catch it.
It became quite humorous as people were creating memes and other photoshopped pictures with it. Those were funny, but I though the real photos were funnier.
I mean, here is this ram just out enjoying the sights and sounds of our town!
I won’t lie, I was actually a bit disappointed when they posted that he was finally caught and returned home.
He was so popular, I may write him in as my candidate for President!
It seems like the last 7 days have been nonstop for our family, but in between doctor appointments, work, and school, we’ve managed to find time to enjoy some fun moments.
First Photo
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that my children are no stranger to a camera! My daughter has had her share of photo sessions, too. However, this week, we received her first “official” school photo.
There is something poignant about getting this picture. It is the first of many that we will receive over the next 13 years. This one will go in a frame the kindergarten photo going on top of it next year, first grade the following year, etc… Each year, we’ll compare the older photos and stand in awe of how much she has grown and all of the little changes that take place. It is hard for me to comprehend this, even though I have been through it twice before with my older boys.
As if my daughter’s picture wasn’t enough, my youngest son went and had his third birthday photos taken. Our photographer always captures our kids in beautiful photos. Instead of a full session, we took advantage of her “Fall Mini Sessions”. It was 15 minutes and we got plenty of poses.
She had some fall scenes set up outside and my son just rolled with the flow. There were pictures by a teepee. There was a nice fall set up with hay, pumpkins, corn and a wagon. She has a big backyard with a pond and fountain, an area with a porch, and various photo “stations.” One of those is an old pick up truck. My son made himself at home and she caught photos that look like senior pictures!
Old Friends
On Friday I went into work early so that I could leave early. My buddy, and old DJ partner, turned 60 and had a little party just down the road from where I work. By the time I got there, the party was in full swing. He had some guys running karaoke and there was plenty of singing. I had forgotten how many people really think that they can sing. I had flashbacks while I was there. I recall those days when I was out with the gang and we were all drinking. You start out singing fine, but as the night goes on your words and singing become … pretty obnoxious.
Based on the responses that he got back from the invites, two of my oldest friends were supposed to be there. Joe, Steve K, and I all graduated together. We were kind of inseparable in school. We were all band nerds and we were like brothers. Steve M (the birthday boy) was also in band, and we all played together in alumni band.
Steve K had some medical issues awhile back, and he was unable to be there. But it was nice to get some time to hang out with Joe and Steve M. There were a couple other folks who graduated from our school there, too. It was a bit crazy though, especially after this picture was taken.
Joe and I are younger than Steve, but Steve looks younger than us! Our grey beards make us look like the older dudes.
Trunk or Treat
A lot of people complain about the Trunk or Treat stops. For whatever reason, they feel that it takes away from the trick or treaters on Halloween night. Personally, I wish they had had those when I was growing up, because a kid can never get enough free candy!
None of us really felt great over the weekend. Lots of sniffles and coughing. It is probably the weather change and allergies. So we’ve kind of been staying indoors. However, my daughter has been dying to wear her Halloween costume and the weather was perfect on Sunday. It was almost 80!
Sam’s parents called to tell us that their church was having a Trunk or Treat and that the cousins were going with them. My kids couldn’t wait to go!
There were about 50 cars there with plenty of treats. It didn’t take long to get through the line and afterward, the kids wanted to go play on the playground with the other kids.
Fall Fun
As soon as the trunk or treat was done, we came back home to rest. But it was still daylight and the kids wanted to ride on their scooters. So I let them go outside for a few. As the rode on their scooters, I raked up some of the leaves. That was all it took to get the kids’ attention.
They saw me making a pile on the front lawn and this became their obsession. They had to jump in the leaf pile! They were actually walking with handfuls of leaves over to the pile and adding them to it.
And once I told them to have fun, they were in the pile!
They must have asked me to re-rake the leaves about 25 times so they could jump in them again. They were tossing leaves in the air and laughing like crazy. It was exactly what all kids should be doing on a beautiful fall evening!
There is nothing better than flopping in a big pile of leaves! Ah, fall!
Of course, being outside just set all of our allergies off and there was plenty of nose blowing that night. It was worth it!
I took the day off on Friday to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. I worked a bit over Thursday night so they would be set for Friday and the weekend.
We got Andrew an indoor trampoline to help him build some upper core strength. I knew I’d be putting it together when I got home. That way, it would be ready for him when he woke up.
As I was in the front room, at 2am, I heard a noise from the kitchen. Apparently, he heard me come home and wanted to see me. Surprise ruined.
So he helped me build it! Of course, he wanted to stay up when it was done. So he jumped for a few minutes before we all headed back to bed.
When we woke up, I took him to get his birthday pictures done. They were all done outside and I can’t wait to see them. There should be some really great shots.
Afterwards, we drove to pick up his cake. He got to pick what was on it. Sam told me I would find it extremely funny. I had no idea what he could have chose, but was not surprised.
“It’s poop, Daddy!”
It sure is ….
The kids were still not feeling 100%, so we laid low for most of the day. We had a nice day with warm temps, so we decided to go to the local Homecoming parade, which happens less than a half mile from our house.
They were ready for candy with their Halloween buckets. And Andrew told everyone would listen that it was his birthday. It probably got him extra candy.
On the walk home he told us how awesome it was that somebody threw him a birthday parade!
Yesterday, our whole family met with our friend (and Andrew’s former speech therapist) Christa and her daughters and went to a pumpkin patch for the afternoon. The day was beautiful and we all had a blast.
They had so much to do and so many photo ops. The kids enjoyed feeding the many animals that were there. Sam and Christa kept trying to talk me into getting a goat!
They had a beautiful little Sunflower patch.
Pony rides for the kids
And a little barrel train ride.
It was a perfect day to check out all the sites, but after a while, someone got tired and needed a lift
They had these amazing apple cider slushies, fresh baked donuts, regular cider, kettle corn, and donut sundaes!
After we enjoyed our desserts, it was off to get a pumpkin. Ella found hers, Andrew picked one that was no bigger than a softball!
Knowing we couldn’t carve that, I grabbed another one for him. Sam found a huge white pumpkin and said she had to have it. After a great day, we sat outside and carved the pumpkins and they are out on the porch.
Having two days in a row with family is an absolute joy! There were plenty of smiles and many memories made!!
Three years ago today, at 7:07pm, Sam and I welcomed our son, Andrew, into the world.
There was plenty of excitement when he was born, that’s for sure. It was like a whirlwind. Three years later, and that whirlwind has yet to slow down!
Right from the get go, he’s kept up on our toes with plenty of medical things. His head was misshapen early on and one of the first things he had to get was a helmet.
Then there was laryngomalacia and surgeries to correct it. A laryngeal cleft that needed a surgical fix.
Ankle braces, followed by up to the knee braces, and in a month or so another set of ankle braces.
Not to mention 5 sleep studies, CPAP, and many genetic tests. And let’s not forget Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy.
Andrew, you kept your mommy and me very busy and, at times, very worried. We wondered if you would ever speak, but you certainly have mastered that! You are always talking now!
And your energy! Wow, if I could bottle come of that up! You are forever on the go. You never seem to stop running. You were born to play soccer (or any sport that lets you run around like crazy!).
When you are in a good mood, your laughter is contagious. You can be so very silly. When you wrestle, you are unstoppable (and often leave dad in tears because of a well placed kick or hit)! When you are in a bad mood, it ain’t pretty. You certainly remind me of my younger self. Of all of my four children, your temper tantrums top them all! The way you throw things may very well lead to a career in baseball or football.
You are unique, my son. I love you, always! You are a very special boy. You are a precious gift from God. I know that you will go on to do amazing things. Mommy and I cannot wait to be there with you and cheer for you along the way.
Happy Third Birthday, Bubby! Get ready to celebrate!!
Last Saturday, my wife left for work and called me just a minute or two after she left. She reminded me that the city was doing their “Trunk or Treat” event that night. I asked the kids if they wanted to go and all they had to hear was “candy,” and they were in!
It was a bit chilly that night, but we walked over and got in line. There was a big turn out. If I had to guess, I’d say at least 600 kids were there. They had two of the pavilions wrapped up in black tarps and they had mini haunted houses there. It was fun to listen to the screams from people in there.
They also had cider and doughnuts from one of the local orchards and the kids loved that. They had the parking lot lined up with cars that were decorated for the event. It took us about 40 minutes in line before it was our turn to actually “trunk or treat.” The first vehicle was one of the local fire trucks. Boy, did Andrew and Ella luck out!
Andrew was dressed as a firefighter. When he walked up to one of our local guys, he placed a handful of candy in his bucket. Then he reached in and put another handful in because they were now “brothers!” Ella got two handfuls, too because she was with him.
As a bonus, they made sure to let him sit in the truck, too!
Along the way, they had lemonade or hot chocolate for the kids, and coffee for parents. This made me very happy!
Some of the cars were really done up nice. There was one that was done up in a Star Wars Theme. They had a mechanical Yoda, R2-D2, and some folks dressed up. Andrew was a bit scared of the Stormtroopers, but Ella had to have a picture with “the man with the green light sword!”
I have to wonder if that night led to the kids getting sick. They both had runny noses Sunday night. Ella had a fever on Monday, so she missed school. On Tuesday, she had a cough and it was obvious that she didn’t feel well. She missed school again. We took her to the doctor and she has an ear infection, a sinus infection, and (because she sniffles instead of blowing her nose) she has the start of pneumonia.
Andrew still has the runny nose, but has not had a fever. That doesn’t mean he isn’t feeling sick. I can always tell when they are sick because the little things make them cry. It has been a cryfest all week! We’ve been heading to bed early every night in hopes that they will get some rest. On Monday night, Andrew was holding on to Bitsy and they both fell asleep while he was listening to music on his tablet.
October Baseball
I’m happy to see my Detroit Tigers playing October baseball. Yesterday, they shut out Cleveland 3-0 and now lead the ALDS 2-1. It’s a best of 5 series and it would be sweet for them to eliminate the Guardians at home tonight. Game time is 6:08pm ET. Go get ’em Tigers!!!
Florida
I have family and friends in Florida. I cannot even imagine having to go through yet another hurricane so soon. Milton is a monster and I pray that those who opted to stay make it through safely. The hurricanes are bad enough, but to hear that almost 20 tornadoes touched down before Milton even hit land.
I also have many friends in the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee. The flooding and devastation left behind by it is heart wrenching. The loss of homes, animals, human life and entire cities is unbelievable. Tears flowed from my eyes as I watched the reports and the many videos.
I continue to pray for all the people who were affected by these natural disasters. I pray for the safety of those who remain in their homes and those who have lost everything. I pray they find comfort and strength to get through all of this.
Looking back at the past seven days, it’s been busy!
Still Kickin’
We had some issues with the soccer league that we signed Andrew up for. The communication prior to the actually first day was a mess. Do we need a uniform or not? Will the coach be there or not? It was not very well organized.
The first week, there was no coach. They texted the night before saying that neither the head coach or the assistant coach would be able to be there. This led to a mess of text messages wondering what the kids were going to do. They had two teen players lead the kids through some drills. For not knowing what they were supposed to do, the teens did OK.
The following week, the coach showed up. She had some drills planned, but she was the only one there. She was obviously overwhelmed. It was hard for her to keep the kids attention. With 30 minutes left, she decided to let the kids have “free play.” That basically meant that most of the left.
Week 3, the coach texted to say that neither coach could make it again. Andrew decided to stay home that week. We were totally ok with it, too. This led to an email from a league bigwig. “We noticed that only 5 of the 12 players showed up this week. Is there any concerns that you have? Is there something wrong?”
He opened up a can of worms. I wrote him a scathing e-mail back. I told him about the communication and the things that were never explained properly. I complained that we had to buy a uniform, when we were told that Andrew’s age group was going to be given a T-shirt to play in. I complained about the coach and the fact that there was no plan whatsoever for what was happening each week. I expressed my disappointment with the league and the poor planning and communication.
I never got an email back. However, the team got a new coach. He was texting us early in the week and keeping us abreast of what was in store. It was night and day when we got there last week. This coach was GOOD. He kept the kids engaged for the whole time. They had a blast. He even encouraged siblings to come and play, too, which Ella loved!
After those first couple weeks, Andrew kept saying that he didn’t want to go to soccer. He really was hating it. The new coach was supportive, and encouraging to every kid on the team. Andrew loved being able to help him and all of a sudden, he is loving soccer. Go figure.
Sign Here
School has been the absolute best thing for Ella. She comes home with stories every day. She talks about her friends and what they did at school. She tells us who the day’s “helper” was and what everyone wore to school that day.
They have her working on writing her name. She’s getting pretty good at it. First name now and last name next week. I love seeing how hard she is working …
As I got in the car to head to work today, Sam stopped me. She handed me a rolled up piece of paper. Ella had painted a picture at school. She wanted Sam to give it to me to put up at work. I don’t have my own office. I share the tech room with the rest of the staff. A beautiful work of art like this should be shared, so I put it on the bulletin board!
90% Done
I posted recently about finally being able to stain my deck. This week I stained the posts white. It looks great. I really thought I was done, but noticed in this photo that blue under the wood. I think I am going to stain that white, too. Very happy with the way it looks.
Winning!
It’s been nice to have some winning teams in Michigan lately. Monday night, my Detroit Lions wowed folks on Monday Night Football. I love the new black uniforms.
The last time the Lions beat the Seahawks was back in 2012! They had lost the last six games they played against them and that worried some folks. There was no need to worry, as Jared Goff had a stellar (and perfect) day! It was a record day for him, completing all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns.
Before Monday, only six players in NFL history have finished a game with a 100% completion rate with at least eight attempts. Goff is the first QB to finish perfect with more than 10 attempts and first to do it with over 200 yards.
What was even cooler was that Goff caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown on an end-around pass. Goff said that the pay has been in the play book for awhile, but they never seemed to have the right time to use it.
The Detroit Tigers surprised every one over the past few weeks. Back on August 11, they Tigers were 55-63 and 10 games out of a play off spot. Their chance of making the playoffs was 0.2%!!! When they clinched a Wild Card spot, Tiger’s announcer, Jason Benetti, had the perfect thing to say:
“A city that doesn’t care about the odds has a baseball team to match.”
In the Wildcard Playoffs, they faced the 2nd hottest team in the American League – The Houston Astros. Since August 11, the Detroit Tigers are 33-13! Yesterday, they swept the Astros and will face Cleveland in the American League Divisional Series! Game 1 is Saturday!
I’m not going to go back too far today, just a few years ago. While we were outside this week, the kids were talking about the leaves that were falling. They’ve been picking them up and coming over to me and showing me the different colors in them.
Fall, as you may be aware, is my favorite season. We’ve got a trip to the pumpkin patch planned for later this month already. This got me to thinking about the first time we took Ella to the local orchard.
It didn’t take me long to find this picture. This was such a fun day! Dimitri, my second born, came with us that day and we rode the hayride into the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.
I remember that Covid was only about 6 or 7 months old at this time. Everyone was masked on the hayride and there was plenty of social distancing. Despite that, it was one of the first real outings we had had in a long time and it felt so good to be out and about.
As I look at Ella in the photo, I can hardly believe it is her. She is so tall and thin now and all the chubby cheeks are gone. It’s amazing how much she has changed. That shirt is folded up and in her memory bin in the basement. I will resurface in about 13 years when she graduates! I think we may have saved that bow, too!
I cannot wait for the trip this year. Andrew’s former speech therapist is coming along with us and bringing her daughters (who Ella calls her older sisters). It will be a wonderful time and I hope to be able to get some great photos while we are there.
It seems odd to do a week in review “highlights” post on Thursday, but it really is the day that I get an extra minute or two to look back, so here goes.
Kicking Kid
While the days leading up to it were extremely unorganized, Saturday morning Andrew got to play soccer. It was quite a mess in the days prior as we had no idea what time to be there until the day before. Next, there was confusion about whether or not they had to wear cleats (They did. Thankfully, Ella’s baseball cleats worked.) Then there was confusion about whether or not we had to purchase a uniform (We did at $75). To top it off, hours before we were supposed to be there, the coach texted to say that she wasn’t going to be there – and the assistant coach was also not going to be there!
Thankfully, the guy in charge had a couple people who were there to run the kids around doing drills. So, technically, there was no game, but they got to “dribble” the ball up and down the field and shoot at the goal.
It was pretty chilly that morning and I wish we had all dressed a bit warmer. As much as we thought he’d love running around, he (and the rest of the 2-3 year olds) were done about 30 minutes in. He did love when they sat up some cones in front of the net and he had to try to know them down.
Sam was the “pin setter” for the soccer bowling.
Sam was stylin’
When we got home, we all relaxed around the house. Sam was sitting on the couch and Ella asked if she could brush Sam’s hair. This led to an impromptu hairstyling session.
All I could see was the front, but Andrew and Ella said I really needed to see the back…
Holy Bows!
Ella was sad that I have no hair to put bows in. Sam suggested she put them in my chest hair. I will spare you from having to see that photo!
Will I Walk ‘Round in Circles?
Yes. Yes I will. 17 circles in fact. The indoor track I told you about at Ella’s preschool is not a full size track, and so you have to go around 17 times to walk a mile.
The track is on the second floor and goes around the top of the basketball court. The day we walked it without headphones on, it was weird. The track is almost like a plastic/vinyl type material. My shoes were very loud as I walked on it. Now, when I drop her off, I put on my headphones and don’t even notice it.
There is also a gym/work out center there that I could join if I wanted to. I’m thinking about it, but I’d have to do everything before I head into work and I am sure that my coworkers would not want to sit near me post workout.
For what it is worth, it is a nice 30-45 minutes lost in music, a book, or my thoughts. It is very nice!
James Earl Jones
It was sad to hear of the passing of James Earl Jones. Man, did he have a voice! What a great actor, too. He made every role his own. As a child, I had no idea that he was the voice of Darth Vader (who gave me nightmares after seeing Star Wars).
James doing comedy was funny because he almost always played it straight. There is a scene in the Naked Gun 33 1/3 where Leslie Neilsen’s character is mistaken for Phil Donahue. At one point he see’s something that makes him ill at The Academy Awards show and he runs out on stage as James Earl Jones and Olympia Dukakis are at the podium. He leans over the band stand and vomits into a tuba. When Olympia asks James “What is that?” James says, as serious and straight as possible, “It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up in a tuba.” That never ceases to make me laugh.
David Letterman always had him on his show to do silly Top Ten lists and more. Here are just some of them:
Of the many tributes to him this week, I loved this one:
He was such a part of the Star Wars Universe and to have him amongst those who had passed away before him is simply beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful
My baby girl not only started preschool this month, but she also started her dance class. She will be learning ballet and tap. She had her first class this week. I was at work, but Sam kept me posted on the happenings. Even though there are no parents allowed in the dance studio where they kids are, Sam said you could hear the tap shoes tapping away.
She called me at work after he first class and was so excited to talk about it. They got to dance with tambourines and maracas and she loved every minute of it! I can’t wait to see her perform!
I guess I am officially a “soccer dad” and a “dance dad” – and I’m ok with that!
It’s going to be hard going back to work today. I took a couple extra days off because Ella started Preschool.
Friday, the teachers did a home visit at our house. She was excited to meet them. It was a half hour visit to answer questions about her likes and dislikes and to get to know her.
Tuesday, they had an open house where we could go and tour her classroom with her. She was so excited because other kids in her class were there too. She’d say, “Hi! I’m Ella, what’s your name?” It was hard to get her to leave.
Yesterday was her first real day. She woke up ready to go! Mommy did her hair, we had breakfast and were off. We got there early so we could get some pictures before she started. All she wanted to do was go in her classroom!
I was worried about her being upset when we left, but she walked in and never looked back. She couldn’t wait to get the day started.
There is an indoor track at the school, so Sam and I took the stroller and walked a mile with Andrew. This will be awesome for me because I can walk this everyday before work.
While Ella did great, it was Andrew who didn’t know what to do. He kept saying he wanted to go to Ella’s school to play. He truly missed her being away. I’m sure he will adjust and hopefully come to enjoy his alone time with mom.
When we picked her up from school, a teacher pulled Sam aside to say, “You guys are doing something right.”. Sam asked what she meant by that. I guess there were some kids who were very upset that their parents had left. They cried a bit, and Ella made it a point to go to them and tell them it would be ok and asked if they could play together when they felt better.
As a parent, that is the kind of thing you just love to hear. She is such a good kid and I hope that her loving and caring nature continues as she gets older.
I surprised myself and didn’t cry. The night before, however, I was having a very hard time.
Have a wonderful year, my sweet girl. Daddy and mommy are so proud of you and love you to infinity and beyond!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 