Can I go to preschool now?

Ever since one of Alyssa's best day care buddies left day care and started preschool last fall, Alyssa has been talking about going to preschool. We started the search for a preschool in January and soon found that many of the options we were considering were either too expensive or wouldn't work with our schedules. Several friends had recommended Milestones to us, so we checked it out. It looked like a great environment, so we signed Alyssa up...and the wait began.

We went school shopping and got new shoes, got a new haircut, and even bought a book bag. We put together a calendar, so she could see which days she would go to Miss Gwen's and which days she would go to preschool. And yesterday, she picked out her outfit and a family picture to take with her, she packed her backpack, and she headed to bed praying that she would have a good day.

She got up with a smile this morning, got herself dressed, and waited. She didn't know quite what to do with herself while the rest of us got ready. She didn't need to eat breakfast because they provide that at preschool, and she didn't want to play...she just wanted to go. She had her rain boots and coat on (yes, it was a rainy morning) a good 30 minutes before we needed to leave and she kept asking "Can we go to preschool now?"

Finally, we left, dropped Lauren off at Miss Gwen's and headed to preschool. There were so many kids coming and going, she was looking everywhere, asking what they were doing and where they were going. But we finally arrived at her classroom. Her teacher, Miss K, was there and so was one of her day care friends. She walked right in, put her backpack in her cubby, smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and began to draw/color with markers.

When I picked her up, she was smiling. She told me it was so fun! She asked why she doesn't "ever ever" get to play with markers at home and told me all about cutting one paper and gluing it to another. She said they played outside, and that there's a big slide and three little slides. She told me all about the other little boy who left to go to another school and had to go to the sidewalk to catch the bus. She told us about cereal and bananas for breakfast, pizza grilled cheese and corn and peaches for lunch, and her yogurt & blueberries for snack. She told us about silly things that she did with her day care friend and she even told us that she didn't suck her thumb at nap time (not sure whether I believe that one though). She was so excited to tell everyone about her day and is already looking to Thursday when she goes back.

It's so great to see her so happy to be growing up, doing new things, and meeting new peoples. For as shy as she can be sometimes when we're around, it was awesome to watch her walk confidently into her classroom this morning and get the report that she'd had a great day.

Ride 'em and Jump 'em

We've only been able to get out to the lake shore a few times this summer, so we took advantage of a gorgeous Friday afternoon and Aaron being let off of work early for the holiday weekend to head to Grand Haven. It was a blue sky day, a sunshiney day, but also a red flag day, which meant the rip currents were strong and swimming was not recommended. But we braved it, knowing that we wouldn't be venturing too far into the water. Both Alyssa and Aaron had been dying to trying out their "boogie boards" (Aaron's was a Father's Day gift, and Alyssa's was really a kick board she found while out shopping one day), so the day was perfect for that, with lots of waves.

Alyssa wasted no times and headed to the water. She loved "riding" her "boogie board". She smiled and giggled the whole time.

She even got knocked under the water by a few waves and got back up and tried it again. She also really enjoyed jumping with the waves. Unfortunately in the video you can't hear her giggles and screeches, but she had such a good time.

She also made friends with a little girl named Lily, they played together in the sand - burying Lily's dad and then getting buried themselves.

Lauren liked going out into the water as long as she was held, but she really enjoyed scooping up water with her sand bucket and then scooping sand in it as well. She was definitely a sand babe that day!

We enjoyed a nice dinner out in downtown Grand Haven and after a visit to the toy store, we headed home. We laughed because on the way home, Alyssa crashed, falling deep asleep. Despite her 40 minute nap on the way out to Grand Haven, she was played out.

 Lauren, on the other hand, sang and laughed and made silly faces the whole way home in spite of having only napped 10-15 minutes on the way to the beach. She really is our little Energizer Bunny.

We are sad to see our beach time end for the season, but look forward to jumping and riding many more waves in the future. One thing is for certain though - these two little blondies are destined to be beach babes -

Celebrate!

Lauren continually steals our heart by how cute she is and by how she just picks things up. A week ago at nap time, I was reading stories to her and Alyssa and she kind of grabbed at her diaper. I asked her if she needed to go potty, to which she said yeah and took off running toward the bathroom (keep in mind she's never "gone potty" before). She sat up on the "Elmo's world" seat and there it was - two little drops. Alyssa and I of course made a pretty big deal about that and she smiled and then let out a few more drops. We cheered again, and then she let out a little more. For her first time, she was pretty good at "turning it on and off" if you know what I mean.

She was so proud of herself, and when I asked her what she did, she said "tinkle tinkle". We called Nana and Grammy to tell them and then told Daddy when he got home. She went "tinkle tinkle" two more times that day, and has gone at least twice a day every day since then. She's not quite ready for pull-ups yet, but I think that's coming soon. Give us a weekend where we can stay home and work on it, and I think she might be good to go. But we'll see - it's only been a week!

She is so excited and proud of herself. Her "reward" for going "tinkle tinkle" in the potty is to do the potty dance. In fact that's her first response when you ask her if she needs to go. I caught her and Alyssa celebrating one of her tinkles the other day, and you just have to smile to watch them. And Lauren just adores doing this dance.

She asked to go potty during mass yesterday, so we headed out. She went, so Alyssa, Lauren and I were in the bathroom at church doing the potty dance. She wants so badly to be like her big sister and sit all by herself on the big potty, but she's still so little. I worry about her falling down through, but she wants to be independent and be a big girl. We'll keep you posted on her progress, but come on everybody, let's celebrate!