Princess Mary-Ann

Today, I was able to watch Michael and Mary-Ann at morning meeting at school, before we all left for a field trip. All the little kids sat around in a circle and morning meeting started with a sang...

"Hickledy, Pickledy, bumble bee won't you say your name for me...."
and each child says there name and then passes the bumble bee to their friend,
and they sing it again...14 times to be exact!

Prior to school starting one of my biggest fears was that Mary-Ann was going to introduce herself as Poodle, because, that is what we call her, and/or Princess Poodle.

Half the class, has said there name, and the bumble bee gets passed to Mary-Ann who is sitting very quietly. I get a little nervous, because who knows what Mary-Ann will say or do. The whole class begins to sing and I can feel anxiety coming on....

"Hickledy, Pickledy, bumble bee won't you say your name for me...."
and Mary-Ann shouts out, "my name is Princess Mary-Ann".

Only Mary-Ann I thought to myself! Gosh...she certainly does have a lot of CONFIDENCE!!!

Goodbye Training Wheels!

"OOPS! Crash 1"

Up we go...lets attempt again.

He is doing it!

and....he is off!

There are many milestones that a child reaches, however, no milestone has been as emotionally touching as the one I experienced the other day! Michael, doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself and gets frustrated very easily if he can't "get/do" something right away. The other day Michael had a major confidence booster!

Monday, Michael came home from the babysitters disappointed that he couldn't ride his bike without his training wheels. He has tried to ride a bike without training wheels, however, gave up the second he fell. I told him that we would give it a try, and warned him that he may fall a couple times, but that I would run along side of him.

Riding bikes in New Hampshire, isn't easy. The road we live on is dirt and we are surrounded by hills. This doesn't stop a little boy though. On Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Michael, was determined to conquer this goal! We headed up the driveway and began our journey together. Michael was able to ride his bike straight without any problems, however, once he had to turn....he would........FALL!!! He fell a hand full of times, until he got it. Running down the road for the 10th time in 15 minutes, I finally gave up, and totally let go! This was Michael's reaction when he learned he was on his own:

"OH MY GOD! I AM DOING IT! I AM DOING IT!"

He had the hugest grin and smile on his face and had to call everyone to brag about this milestone. The moment was tearful! I was overwhelmed by emotion.

His conversation with Ahma was:

"Hi Ahma, you need to come over her quick...I have something to show you."

His conversation with Pat (our neighbor),
"Hi Pat, call me when you get home...I have something to tell you!"

His conversation with Nan,
"Hi Nan, I am a big boy...I don't need training wheels anymore...I can ride my bike ALL BY MYSELF!"

This was the first time I have ever seen Michael as excited and proud of himself! I am so PROUD of my little man! Good bye training wheels....and hello to many scratches and boo-boos!

Fall!

Fall is my favorite time of year! I love the fresh air, apple picking, going to the fairs, Halloween, and of course celebrating the birth of my handsome little boy, Michael! To kick off the fall season we always go apple picking! Apple picking is so much more fun with kids. Michael, taught all of us the "correct" way to pick an apple was to, "twish and pull." This past weekend Michael, Mary-Ann, Ahpe, Ahma, and I all went to Stoneybrook Farm in Gilford to get our bushel of apples! As always we had a great time and got TONS of Apples!

NUTS, NUTS, We LOVE NUTS!!!

One of my favorite snacks of all times is nuts! I love all nuts, peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, the list is endless. Mary-Ann has discovered that she likes nuts as well. We seem to polish off jars of nuts and trail mixes like crazy. During my lunch break, I had to run to Sams. As I walked down the aisles I was extremely excited when I came across a huge can of cashews! I instantly put it in my cart and continued shopping. When I arrived at home and came into the house, carrying my huge container of cashews Mary-Ann started jumping up and down and screaming. Getting excited, I dropped everything and began to sing:

"nuts, nuts I love nuts!I absolutely positively LOVE nuts!"

Mary-Ann LOVED my song....but stole the container of nuts from me. From here the conversation was this:
Mary-Ann: "mommy I LOVE nuts!"
Mom: "you do, me too!"
Mary-Ann: "you and me are girls and Mikey and Daddy are boys....us girls....we LOVE nuts!"
Mom: "Mikey and Daddy love nuts too! We all love nuts"

Afterwards, I chuckled to myself, and of course had to tell this to Mike! Only Mary-Ann would say such a thing as us girls...we LOVE nuts!!! Yikes....I am in trouble!

SCHOOL IS HERE!!!

It's a love hate relationship!

Mary-Ann super excited!

Michael anxiously waiting!

Michael showing off his super hero bag!!

Mary-Ann showing off her Dora backpack!

It is official-Michael and Mary-Ann are both in school! Where has the time gone? This is Michael's last year in Preschool and then it is off time for the "big" school. He is ready to make friends and participate in extracurricular activities. After his first day of preschool this year he was very excited to tell me that there were more boys in his class. He told me he sat next to one and tried to talk to him, but the boy wouldn't talk to Michael. He said the boy was mean! I felt so bad for him...but told him the boy was probably just shy!

Mary-Ann LOVES preschool and her teachers Ms. Sally, Ms. Laura, and Ms. Alyson. She was very excited because she met a friend named Jessica!

It is going to be such a fun year watching my children grow, meet friends, imagine, learn, and play! I am so blessed to have such wonderful children. I love my babies more than ANYTHING in the world and my love for them just continues to grow.

By god, I miss them!

Oh summer how I miss you!!!

Canobie Lake Park with Laura

Canobie Lake...Loved the Canoes!!!

Nothing like a Harley...(old orchard beach)

One of our many walks on the beach looking for shells!

Portland Maine Childrens Museum.

Summer is over...back to school....back to routines....back to a crazy schedule...I will certainly miss the summer days spending time with my beautiful babies, going to the pool, canobe lake park, Maine, roasting marshmellows, sparklers by the fire pit, stress free nights, sleeping late

School Problem #1

Confrontation is not my thing! I Hate confrontation more than anything!!! I dread the day that I have to confront one of my childrens friends parents, friends, or teachers. I am not sure I would be able to do it.

This year, Michael and Mary-Ann will both be in preschool. They will both be going to Village Preschool with Ms. Sally. We LOVE Ms. Sally and are more than satisfied with all that Michael brought home last year. He can recognize the letters of his name, make the sounds that those letters make, he can count, he can write his name, he can color, do puzzles, use his imagination, and has grown into an amazing little boy. The only downfall of last year was that there were only 4 little boys (counting Michael). Not many options to make friends....although he did do that. Biggest problem of the year was one little boy who constantly talked about guns and weapons and hunting. Michael began to constantly talk about guns, weapons, and killing bear. We had numerous talks to him about how dangerous guns and weapons are, and that we don't allow guns/weapons in our house as well as, gun/weapon talking.

So....here we are today....2 weeks until the first day of school and Ms. Sally calls. Why? I quickly returned her phone call only to find out that one of the little boys in Michaels class will be attending a different preschool. That leaves two children in his class-3 counting him. Ms. Sally can't justify having the 4 year olds go to school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and instead the 4 yr. olds will be joining the 3 yr. old class Tues and Thursday and will still go on Wednesday. All the other parents (the other 2 that is) are on board with this decision how do I not go along with it-when I LOVE Ms. Sally. I questioned everything...will he be still getting the education he needs to be ready for full day Kindergarten next year, will he fall behind, what is she going to do to prepare them? All of her answers are valid. Problem comes with the issue of NOW Michael will only have 2 boys his age in class, and one of them being the "gun/weapon" boy. BIG CONCERN!

Concern #2...Michael and Mary-Ann will be in the same class two days a week...Not so sure about this. Stress has taken over me. I want the best for my child! I have called other preschools and am just not as happy with what is to offer...but I don't want Michael to pick up anything else. This summer this "gun/weapon" boy told Michael a snapping turtle was in the lake and would bite him. He went 1 week without swimming in the lake or pool!

Decisions, decisions, decisions...