This year both kids are taking dance classes at a local studio. Anna is in the Creative Movement class that Max took last year, and Max has moved up to taking Prep Ballet and Prep Tap classes. Both are doing well, Anna was really excited to finally have a turn to do dance class herself after watching Max all last year. So far Max prefers ballet to tap. He says his legs get tired in tap class, and they are definitely moving the whole time! So we’ll see if he continues with both or goes to just ballet. This past week was “Observation Week,” where parents can sit in the studio room and take pictures, so I have a few to share. Both kids have Miss Sarah, I got Max’s picture with her but forgot to get Anna’s, so I’ll do that one another week.

Max in Prep Ballet:

 

 

 

 

 

The class works together to make a letter “E” as they learn about Energy:

 

Doing a mirroring activity with a partner:

 

Max in Prep Tap:

 

 

Anna’s Creative Movement:

 

 

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend. We are very lucky in this area to have an array of pumpkin patches for the choosing. This one is very close to our house and has lots of fun things to do–a kids’ play area, hay rides, animal train, even a pumpkin cannon! The weather was great so even though it was just barely October, we decided to go, and I’m so glad we did. The kids had a great time and it was busy but not packed. At one point when we were scrubbing off our pumpkins, Max said, “What smells so good?!” Turns out it was kettle corn, so we bought a bag and the four of us polished it off by the time we left. The kids each get to do a field trip to a pumpkin patch with their schools, so we’ll get a couple more opportunities before the month is out.

The kids’ play area had a new feature this year: A zip line! It was just the right size for kids (and, sadly for Jeff and me, no adults allowed on it). Max was a little hesitant but we convinced him if he tried it he would like it. Sure enough he did, and once she watched him do it, Anna was ready to go as well. They both got quite a few turns in while we were there. They also enjoyed the train ride, this year Anna wanted to sit in one by herself, but wanted me nearby. The train wasn’t full so I sat in the back. First time I haven’t squeezed a kid in there with me!

Of course I took a few pictures. 🙂 Here’s a selection!

 

 

They took turns waiting at the bottom and watching for the other one to slide down:

 

 

This one makes me laugh so much. Picture overload, perhaps?

 

 

Thankfully, all was well once pumpkin picking continued…

 

 

The kids each got to shoot off a pumpkin from the pumpkin cannon. That was a big hit!

 

 

A little hard to tell, but this is on the hay ride:

 

 

I think my farmer Grandpa was looking down and smiling to see his great-grandkids having fun on a tractor. Brings back fond memories of him giving us grandkids rides in the tractor scoop.

Sometimes, when he first wakes up in the morning, he’ll let me hold him close and just snuggle. He still sleeps with an assortment of stuffed bears that must be arranged in the proper order before bedtime. Most of his adorable mispronunciations are gone, but he still sometimes says, “aminals” or “amn’t I?” or “brefakst.”

He’s in Kindergarten. He’s 5 and a half. He wears size 6 clothes and size 11 shoes. He can read. I want to hyperventilate when I think that almost a third of his time with us before he’s officially an adult is over. But let’s slow my sentimental self down and talk about kindergarten. Right up until the night before it started, he said he wasn’t going to go.  We know by now that this is how he is with new situations, and we talked a lot about how he had felt similarly with other new things like preschool and ended up loving it. We were firm that he was in fact going to go to kindergarten and that we knew he would like it. We told him it was okay to be nervous and that even grownups feel that way sometimes when they start something new. I braced myself for tears and clinging on the first day. But my brave boy did great, looked a little uncertain when Jeff and I left the classroom, but no crying, and when we picked him up, he said, “I had a great day at kindergarten!”

A couple weeks in and I am thankful that things are still going well. His school is a co-op school, so parents are in the classroom each day to help. I go every other Wednesday and it is great fun to go with him to recess and music class, and help the kids in the classroom. His teacher is warm and kind and also sets good limits and maintains control of the classroom. He goes to school from 9:20-12:00 Monday through Thursday. Then Fridays rotate–every other Friday is no school, the alternate Friday he stays for lunch and is done at 1:30. I am so proud of him.

Here are the official first day pictures:

 

 

And if that wasn’t enough “my baby is growing up” for me, Anna started preschool! We really weren’t sure how dropoff for her would be. So far the dropoffs have been rough–always tears. Sometimes she’ll hold on to me and say, “I don’t want you to go!”, sometimes she’ll have tears running down her cheeks as she says, “I know I’m going to have a great day.” Thankfully by pickup she is fine, but it certainly makes it hard to leave! We are very lucky that she has a good friend in her class, and she’s also at the same school where Max went for two years, so the environment and the teachers are familiar to her. She always reports back what she did at recess time and brings home art projects, so I’m confident she does participate once we leave. Here are her first day pics:

 

 

This is real life, people.