Summer vacation

Julia is now a Teddy Bear graduate; she is officially on summer break and will move on to the Chipmunk class when she returns to preschool in the fall. While she does not seem entirely clear on what "summer vacation" means ("Mama? In the morning when I wake up am I gonna be four?") she will hopefully enjoy getting to the pool this summer and having extra time to play with Madeleine, me, and her other friends in town who will be home from school all day. Last night was the end-of-year "picnic" at her school (which was actually supposed to be an unquoted, actual picnic at DeFazio park, but was moved indoors to her school because of rainy weather) and she got a chance to see her friends and teachers one last time, eat all the frosting off a piece of cake, and get a helium balloon to take home. I will sentimentally display a before and after photo: Julia ready to go over to her very first day of preschool, followed by her very last day, ready to head home:



I guess having one year of school in the bag has made Julia philosophical; she asked me this morning: "Mama? Are you going to grow up to be as big as Daddy some day?" While I have sadly stopped growing, I wouldn't be surprised, given the way that Julia TOWERS over other kids her age, if she one day surpasses Ethan in height. (It's not asking much, honestly.)

Madeleine has kicked off the start of summer vacation by standing up at Julia's baby stroller and pushing it for several steps, opening one of the drawers in our built-in china cupboard, pulling out an old computer-to-camera cord and sucking on it, lunging out of my lap into Julia's and grabbing a fistful of Julia's Fruity Cheerios out of her breakfast bowl, and getting so excited about me while nursing that she had to start whacking me enthusiastically on the breastbone. Yes, I am going to have my hands full this summer, indeed...