Not a Dress!

Today is the first day all summer that Natalie wore something other than a dress (for more than 5 minutes)!! It took some kicking and screaming, but Jim was able to manage it. And when it came time to put on the tennis shoes, she had no issue at all. Now I am going to have to get Jim to dress her every Tuesday and Thursday morning for preschool (where tennis shoes are required, and she will probably need shorts under a dress).

We had the preschool Open House/Meet the Teacher last week and it didn't go great. She was full of attitude, and I can tell she is ready for battle about going. She definitely had her battle face on. They gave her a school t-shirt to wear every Thursday that is red and boyish, but it was tied up with a cute little bow. I used my best "excited" voice and told her "Ooooh look at the cute shirt they gave you as a present!" to which she declared YUCK and tossed it onto the floor. Oh my. I don't think I'll be posting any "this is Natalie looking cute with her teacher" photos for a long while...maybe 16 yrs or so.

On a different note, I've been giving some thought to what it might be like with #3, because the things that #2 does and sees and knows about already are SO different than #1. Yes, Liam was sheltered. Probably too much, in fact. I'm sure at 2.5 he only had eyes (and ears) for Barney and Thomas the Tank Engine. Natalie drew me a picture this week of something very round and large...."Look Mommy, it's the Death Star!" Great. I can only hope her speech doesn't get any more clear, so there is a chance her preschool teacher won't understand when she talks about the Death Star or Chewbacca or Yoda.

Pics from our Last Summer Hurrah

Oh, the joys of an $8 disposable under-water camera! Do I have a career at National Geographic as an underwater photographer? NO!! It was fun, and the kids really wanted to take pictures in the pool. Somehow I forgot that I am the one who takes the family pictures! So yes, I had to slap on the old goggles and try to submerge myself long enough to find that tiny view finder and aim at something before I needed to breathe (which is approximately 10 seconds for me - I am NOT a swimmer). I did want to get proof of how comfortable Liam is in the water now. He came a long way this summer. His swimming far surpasses mine at this point. Natalie...well...you can only see part of her face underwater because she is on her way back up to yell NOOOOOOOOO. She does not like it when we do the dunk. Before you feel too bad for her though, let me just say that she only stays mad about, oh..., 2 seconds. Believe me if she was really angry she would let us know in no uncertain terms, and for quite a long time. Believe me.

One cute Kindergarten story for the day- Liam brought home a paper that showed how he practiced using scissors by cutting wavy lines. When Natalie saw it she picked it up like it was made of glass, and held it up to watch the shreds of paper wave, and she said in this sweet, girly voice "OH LIAM! Did you make this for ME??" Just like it was the most absolutely fabulous gift she had ever seen in her life. To which Liam snorted and said "Uh...NO...I didn't make it for you!!" I can already detect a bit of Kindergarten attitude brewing. He is definitely acting more boyish this week...

First Day of School

Liam is officially in Kindergarten! He has a super nice teacher (THE coveted K teacher from what I hear), and he seems very excited.

I thought that it would be easier for me, since Liam was in daycare from 5 months to 4 yrs. It wasn't. I couldn't stop thinking about the silliest things - whether he could open all the things in his packed lunch; whether he would tell the teacher if he had to go to the bathroom. I know he is a capable boy, but you know...he is still my baby. He held my hand while we walked to his class. I wasn't sure if this was a cool thing for a 5 yr old or not, but I sure was glad that he didn't mind. There were no tears (from me I mean, because of course Liam didn't cry!), but it was a strangely quiet and melancholy kind of day. Then there was the Car Pool Lane at pick up....UUUUGH. It was awful. Natalie, my backseat driver, kept yelling that we had missed him because she saw other kids coming out. We hadn't - it just took 25 minutes to get around the building to the Kindergarten pickup spot. Natalie kept saying "Why aren't we moving??" Exactly.

All in all, it was a good start, and I think it will be a good year. I was disappointed at the amount of detail I got out of Liam though. Other than finding out that one kid has a Star Wars Clone War card, I don't know much about what happened. Jim tells me to get used to this, since he IS a boy. I look forward to Natalie's first day of school when I will hear every last excruciating minute in technicolor detail.

Goodbye Olympics!

Goodbye Olympics! Thank you for some good tv. We enjoyed the ceremonies, watching a Russian-born American win gold, watching Michael Phelps swimming (even more when he had those ears strapped under his swim cap- no offense intended, they just frightened me), Usain Bolt's awe-inspiring run, and all of the other amazing athletes. The kids enjoyed watching everything, and Liam even used "Michael Phelps" in a sentence today. They even enjoyed synchronized swimming (which Jim does not believe is a sport). Have to admit, it was the only sport that elicited huge, synchronized belly laughs from Liam and Natalie. Something about synchronized legs sticking out of the water, and a group of women in the shape of a flower or spider is apparently one of the most hilarious things imaginable when you are 5 and 2.

Tomorrow is the start of Kindergarten! I'm quite sure I have more butterflies than Liam. Natalie and I have already scheduled a playdate for Tuesday so we (by that I mean ME) can take our minds off the boy we will be missing.

The Final Week before the Big K

The summer is almost over. On Friday Liam meets his teacher, and on Monday he is officially a Kindergartener! I can't believe it. Wouldn't you know, our final week has been rainy and cooler too, so no final visits to the pool.

For a week or two I have been on edge about the adoption as well. I have been practically staring at the phone and my email 24/7, willing some sort of news to come through, even though I have been told not to expect anything until late Sept or Oct. It has just been driving me crazy lately, and it is never out of my mind.

Finally today, I put the two together and realized that part of the reason the adoption is gnawing at me is probably because Liam is no longer a baby and I'm losing him to Kindergarten. Of course, I'm excited for him and I know he's ready, and he's not a baby whether he goes to Kindergarten or not. Still, I think it is bothering me more than I realize. He's such a BOY now. sniff, sniff...

Not Feeling Bloggerly

I apologize I have not felt bloggerly lately. I think with one week to go until Kindergarten starts (Yikes!!), and all of us having some sort of cold/flu, I've just been out of sorts. As an example...one day last week I looked at myself in the mirror before dinner, and thought something just looked odd. Then I realized that I had only put mascara on one eye. And I wore it that way all day. When I thought about it, I remembered that I only had one eye done when the phone rang...and then I got sidetracked as I often do...and had not looked in the mirror the rest of the day. Suffice it to say that no one else said anything, so I'm assuming that I can give up makeup all together because no one is looking at my face anyway. In a strange way, that gives me comfort.

I have enjoyed the Olympics, although mostly watched them from Tivo, and AFTER I already knew who got the medals. I was happy to see Dara Torres got a medal DESPITE that fact that she said she was doing it "for middle-aged people everywhere" and I wanted to tell her HEY speak for yourself! (NOT ready to hear the M-word yet). I was happy to see Nastia Liukin get a gold, and clipped the newspaper articles to go in my stash of Russian news (along with all of the Georgia/Russia news lately). But still nothing new to report there, other than a growing stash of clipped newspapers. The phantom baby is still just that.

Liam started t-ball, with Jim as a coach, and both of them are doing well. Liam is now obsessed with Star Wars (guess who has started this- perhaps the man who could not wait for his mother to send his 30-year old Star Wars figures to us in the mail). So right now all of the acting involves Natalie being Princess Leia (yes, she loves it as well- and why not, since it has a Princess), Liam being Luke Skywalker, and me being designated Darth Vader. Liam gets mad though when I breathe heavily and say "Li-am...I am your mo-ther." And he has already informed me that he would like to go to the Dark Side and be Darth Vader himself because he IS the best fighter. For the record, I'm hoping he never does. :-)

Oh yes, and Grandma also sent along the most adorable tutu for our Tiny Dancer. She loves, loves, loves it!

Olympics, eclipses, and new technology

This is a post about things that I find exciting.

1. The Olympics. Yeah! I am very excited for them to start. I plan on watching the Opening Ceremonies with the kids on Friday. I'm excited that Liam understands (somewhat) that they are in China. I expected this to be even more meaningful, as I thought we would be waiting to go to China, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for China now.

I read a bit of Jim's Sport's Illustrated Olympic edition, and was surprised to read that when Michael Phelps learned to swim he started on his back because he disliked putting his face in the water. And Katie Hoff's mother said that she had a hard time giving her baths when she was young because she hated the water. What a great reminder that I should not jump to conclusions about the abilities of my own children. I need this reminder. Sometimes I think I already know everything about them, and I'm sure this is far from true.

2. Solar Eclipses. There was an eclipse seen in China recently, and I recall reading about it during some pre-Olympic coverage. It didn't occur to me that it would have been seen in Russia as well, until I saw some video footage and mention of it on a Russian adoption website. I wonder if our baby felt the excitement of that day. I wonder if she is in Siberia. And how incredibly fascinating that zoo animals went to sleep during the darkness. You know, if someone turned off my lights in the middle of any particular day, I'd probably just go to sleep as well.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1501/08-01-2008/20080801082008_55.html

3. Technology. We were able to talk to Grandma & Grandpa tonight on the computer using Skype (for FREE). I think we need a little practice, and maybe a better microphone. But it was still amazing to see them on the screen and talk to them. Natalie wasn't too sure about it. Liam seemed to really like watching himself the most (a small box with your own video is on at the same time as the big box w/ G'ma and G'pa). It was chaotic and confusing, and very exciting.

Acting Critique

So now I have a critic for my acting performances. Yesterday I was being forced to play the Wicked Queen to Natalie's Snow White. So I said something like "Mu-ha-ha, here is an apple for you to eat, dearie!" and Liam (who was in the room playing something else) commented "MOM, if you say Mu-ha-ha she is going to KNOW you are wicked."

I didn't realize I was supposed to be subtle. I will have to try harder.

Happy 40th Carolyn!!

Happy 40th Birthday to Carolyn!! I'm not far behind you.

And yes, that is me with the Marge Simpson hair.

Some more Kid Talk

Yes, two posts in one day. I had a few funny things to report, and I just couldn't put it in the same post as Brett Favre potty humor.

Heard from Natalie:

Her new word is Do'ed, or Dude. She is trying to say Did or Doing, but has somehow decided that Do'ed (pronounced Dude) is good enough. For example, "I do'ed it, I do'ed it, Mommy!" or "LIAM! Stop duding that!!" There are quite a few things that she would like us all to stop Duding.

At night while delaying bedtime:

N: Mommy, I'm sad.

Me: Why are you sad, Natalie?

N: A very exasperated sigh. BECAUSE, I'm not HAPPY! (I guess that should have been obvious).

Heard from Liam:

His new word is Delicable. It is a cross between delicate and breakable. He has some very intricate Lego buildings that are Delicable. I like that word. It sounds good enough to eat.

Also, at bedtime:
Me: I hope you always want to snuggle with me before bed.
L: Mommy, I will want to snuggle with you even when I'm 16!!
Hmmm...you know, I kind of hope that is true, even if it would be totally creepy.

Brett Favre...funny or creepy?

The potty training continues. It is going quite well, I think. If I could just bite the bullet and leave her in undies full time, we'd probably be done by now. I just wimp out whenever we go in the car or out to a store. We've gone out in undies, but then I ask her every 5 minutes if she has to go, and we both find it tiring. She does love to visit bathrooms everywhere we go - I'll save that for a future post.

At home, our downstairs potty has a magazine rack directly across from the seat. During longer visits (yes, I'll leave it at that), I'm required to sit next to her, and I have resorted to some strange things for amusement. One of Natalie's favorites is that she'll point to one of Jim's Sport's Illustrated magazines and say "make him talk". Brett Favre is on the cover, and if I move the magazine over an inch or so his eyes will peek out and I'll make him say something like "hey! I see you! What are you doing in here?" Natalie thinks it is hysterical, and sometimes wants me to do the same with the SI with the Chad Johnson cover. My question is...is this funny, or just WRONG? Will she grow up with some strange fascination with Brett Favre or football players? Will she tell people that Brett Favre peeks at her while she is going potty and start a big scandal? For now, I'm just happy that it amuses her and takes her mind off other issues at hand. Go Brett Favre!