James's First Day of Pre-K 2015

James had one of the last first days of school; his preschool started yesterday on the day after Labor Day. He's been going to the same school for "summer camp" so it was an easy adjustment for him. He had a new teacher and a real classroom. I won't say there were no tears, but there were none from James!

First day of Pre-K. He keeps asking what "Pre-K" means.

Dada picture.

Mama chase.

He met his new teacher Miss Jackie at the camp's orientation on Thursday. He has ten other kids in his class, and only one of other is  boy. I don't think that ill interest him too much one way or the other as he had a lot of girlfriends in Nursery School. Hopefully a few of these kids will go on to kindergarten with him next year but they might be from neighboring towns, so we're not sure.

New classroom and teacher!

Showing me his study in red.

First day of Pre-K Crown and "red" page

Taking off his crown- "No more pictures, mama." It begins.

• James's First Day of Nursery School 2014
• James's Nursery School Graduation 2015
• Summer Camp 2015

Labor Day Weekend 2015

The weekend began with a wonderful errand. I have lost all the baby weight (all of it- even James) and we live in a beach town now, so I had to buy new bathing suits! I didn't dread it like I did as a teen- and in fact because it was the end of the season there were deep discounts on the leftover expensive brand bathing suits. This is a triple win!: 1) weight loss, 2) beach town, 3) $17 CK bathing suit.

Then we did some serious patio dining set shopping. We waited until the bitter end because we're cheap and proud. We found a pretty basic set for like half of all the cheapest sets everywhere else. Let's hope it lasts. Up next, serious playground time for the kids as a thank you for tolerating our boring bourgeoisie shopping. Followed by copious amounts of Chinese food, and then out again for ice cream! Living. the. dream.

 

Yay, we're here!

I like the swings too!

Per James's instructions on the right way to slide!

Local ice cream shop

Little Miss Independent won't sit with me

James lovingly shares his vanilla and rainbow sprinkles

Got the chance to feed herself a little- the only way she likes it.

Sunday we were off to the beach again. It was James's third visit to the beach and Miranda's second, and you could tell they were much more comfortable in the water. Miranda is a little fish, and makes Kevin hold her horizontally so she can sort of pretend to swim and splash. (She doesn't talk but she runs this place with gestures and screams.) Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that because I was in the water too. James would venture in waist deep but was more interested in picking up rocks and throwing them in the ocean than on swimming. Next year he's taking a real swim class but this year they're over for the summer.

Miranda is extremely comfortable here.

Baby beach lacrosse?

Rock-collecting

I can't handle the cuteness. Cannot!

James and Kevin in the water (see the green shirt)

Then we had the traditional grill out planned. Unfortunately I got hit with my second severe dehydration-attack of the month. I sipped water all day but it was no match for the beach + chasing kids. I have vowed to be more careful and consume lots of water! But still a great Labor Day weekend.

James's Summer Camp Luau 2015

When we moved we went shopping for a Pre-K for James. I'd done some research before we moved so we already had a good idea of what we wanted. I'd also looked at summer camp programs for him, and we decided that it would be good to enroll him in the camp program at his future Pre-K so that when the first day of school rolled around he wouldn't be the "new" kid anymore. He really has no trouble adjusting in new situations at all though, and since he went to nursery school last year he was totally into the whole school idea. He went for three weeks, and his last day of "camp" was Thursday of this week. Last week though they had this fun Luau party so I thought I'd share the pictures.

Making fun balloon animals

Ice cream pop make James so happy

Limbo contest!

Gathering the dance circle

Hokey Pokey! This really is what's it's all about.

Also, James had a nemesis at camp whose name was Liam. There was a thing where James got his fingers slammed in some toy refrigerator by Liam. But James wasn't completely innocent. Here are some camp quotes:

"I sprayed the teacher with water which was not good. The teacher was mad. I also sprayed Liam. I got in trouble."

"I didn't make friends with Liam, but I made friends with the other kids."

Next week is the first day of Pre-K! I remember my first day! So excited for him!

Jaime Visits- August 2015

Jaime visited from Friday to Sunday and we had so much fun! On Friday she got in late in the evening so we had ice cream at a place I hadn't tried before, but kind of near our house, McNulty Ice Cream Parlor. They were cute, and Jaime loved her flavors but they were out of a lot of things we asked for. I will probably still go back because they had a rainbow of adirondack chairs that will make for some great pictures. We took our ice cream to go and ate it at the nearby beach. There were a lot of people just hanging out there with friends. I'm hoping that I'll become part of that community of evening beach bums. It seems like an awesome way to be.

Jaime gets in and says hi to Miranda. (James was already in bed.)

Beach at night

Saturday we had big plans to drive farther out to an ocean beach for nicer sand and more waves. Corey Beach was really nice. It was really small but large enough for the number of people there, and the ocean was roped off so it will be a great place to go back to with the kids as they get older. There's also a nice playground there. But it was girls' beach day so no kids this time.

Playing an early morning game of Candyland with James

Chilling at Corey Beach

Corey Beach Selfie

After the beach we were so hungry we went straight to dinner at Benten again. I was hardcore craving sushi and it was even better this time than last time. We got the "sushi & sashimi combo for two" and it was awesome (except for that one mystery chewy white thing- gross). We went home on a sushi high and got ready to go out in Port Jeff. Jaime is a big advocate of me learning to drive for real. (Insert blog post here about my lack of driving skills.) So she bravely got in the passenger seat so I could drive to Port Jeff. While the drive there was basically fine, once we got there locating a parking space was challenging for me-- I felt like I was playing Frogger while trying to get into lots. Might not repeat that drive for a little.

Once we got there we went to try the rice pudding place. We were really excited to try it but it's no NYC Rice to Riches. Rice pudding should be made of rice. This was more like gelatin pudding with a few pieces of rice thrown in. Very sad. After that we went to Wave for drinks on the waterfront. People were really friendly.

Sweet 'n' Savory of Port Jeff

We were a little wiped out already because of our beach day so we went home and finally opened the champagne our real estate agent gave us. Jaime also just bought a place last month so we celebrated all together.

Cheers to home ownership! (They are bemoaning my camera timer and silliness.)

Jaime really loves the beach. So we went to the beach again, this time the one closest to our home. We brought James with us. I drove to the beach and oh boy- it's terrifying to drive and make mistakes with my child in the car. I will likely try that drive again soon because there's nothing actually hard about it, but hopefully I can get comfortable with it before the kids come with me again.

Jaime and James playing in the Sound together

Fizzling out at the end of the beach visit. Delicious snuggles.

Come back before beach season is over Jaime!

Greek Festival 2015

Last weekend, at the behest of our real estate agent, we took the kids to the Port Jefferson Greek Festival. It was interesting! We navigated our way through a maze of flea market and promotional tables, and at the back was a fair with rides.

We bought a bunch of ride tickets thinking that I was going to ride everything with James, but at the first ride I was told- no adults allowed. Oh sadness. So James went on his first real ride alone. He looked nervous, but he claimed it was fun when he got off and he asked to go on the next ride.

Getting off his first ride. Checking that the ground is still there.

We found one we could do together- the Ferris Wheel. Definitely not a scary ride until you start visualizing all the ways your 4-year-old might escape the ferris wheel. I held on tight.

Ferris wheel fun!!

We are in the one on the far left- you can see us!

Next James went on another solo kids ride but this time he was psyched. He watches a cartoon called My Big Big Friend and said the ride looked like that. He had his own big friend and flew around on him.

Big elephant friend

Flying!

Miranda thought it was a bunch of BS that she couldn't go on any rides and gave us the poutiest face to express her displeasure. By now we had run out of tickets anyway, but we were pretty sure James didn't want to hear about that. So we lured him away from the ride with Greek diples (honey rolls pronounced dip-less) and cookies.

Diples are my new favorite food!

Munching on honey cookies

Miranda is 16 Months 2015

Oooh boy, we're having full-blown toddler meltdowns here this month. Every. single. day. She's probably teething. She already has 4 molars, and 7 front teeth (8th in the works) but I think she's getting her canines too. She's probably also having crazy growth spurts because she's outgrowing a lot of stuff. She's size 2T and nothing smaller. She's sleeping poorly at night, and napping even worse during the day.

She adjusted well to the new house for the first week or so, and she seems to love all the space to explore inside and outside, but she just can't handle disappointments of any kind. She rules everything. But we're starting to burn out on tantrums-ville. I just lie her down gently when she's having one now and walk away. I call it parenting.

Going up and down steps= fun

Singing and clapping together

Sprinkler run!

Just going on a little indoor picnic

Walking with Dada in Port Jeff

She LOVES books. James did too, but this seems more somehow? She brings us a never-ending stream of books all day and we feel compelled to read them to her, especially if she brings us different ones. Her favorites are Potty, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Dora and the Rainy Day, the Belly Button Book, and ¿Dónde está el ombliguito? But this list isn't exhaustive.

Pretending to read out loud.

She's kind of the boss of James. She's kind of the boss of all of us. She's so deeply uninterested in the word "no" that she hasn't even bothered to learn to say it. She says yes, but just shakes her head no when she doesn't want something. Mostly she communicates in other ways. She understands a lot of what we say and makes herself very understood too. 

Going for a drive.


They are buddies still.

Oh hi.

One new thing, is that James will start preschool after Labor Day. In an effort to make him feel more comfortable we enrolled him in his school's summer "camp" program for three weeks before school starts. James is psyched. Miranda, however, hates seeing James and Dada go off somewhere without her. She sits at the door like she does when we put her shoes on to go out. James thinks she should be able to go because there are kids her age at his school in the daycare rooms. He pretends to be at school at home and tells her to go back to her "center" when she's bothering him.

Girls' time on James's first day at "camp"

Miranda doing "the Draper"

• Miranda is 15 Months 2015
• James at 16 Months 2012