Happy Nine Months Aberdeen!

Dear Abby,

Let's start with the most important thing: THANK YOU! Thank you for letting me sleep through the night. It took eight and a half months, but we are finally there. By the night, I mean you still wake up at four am but you sleep from 6:30 until then so we are all much happier people. The renewed energy

We have moved into our new house, and it has been wonderful for you. You love to crawl and explore everywhere. You are trying to get up all the time. You put your hands in front of you put your feet on the ground and try to get up. You also cruise around the furniture. We don't think it's going to be long now.

You are also a champion babbler. You are definitely saying momma and dada and it's directed at us. When daddy gets home from work, you immediately start yelling at him and waving your little arms like you are trying to fly until he gives you his attention.

Speaking of the arm thing, it's hilarious. Whenever you want anything, you turn into a bonafide windmill. It happens when you want out of your crib, when you want me, when you want a ball, when you see your sister getting off the bus or when ANYBODY has food.

You loove to eat. You manage almost half an avocado, and do a funny little song where you hold up whatever you eat. You also really love to plant your mouth on an apple and suck the juice out of it. It also makes for a hilarious sight.

I can't even stand how much I love you most days.

Love,
Mommy

Zoe, My Little Kindergartner

The dreaded day has come. You have started kindergarten. I tried to tell you the day before that I wasn't going to let you go, and you should have seen the indignant look that you gave me. You tried to tell me that I didn't have the authority to do that and I told you that I wouldn't let you go. You told me you would go anyway, so I asked who would drive you. You then said you would walk, and I told you that you didn't know where to go. So then you told me that you would get a map. This exchange quieted any doubts I had that you were absolutely ready for a kindergarten adventure.

The first week was a little bit strange, because we didn't close on our new house until the 5th day of school. So the three of us drove an hour out to school each day. The first day we decided to have lunch before school but out in Port Orchard. I told you that you could choose anything you wanted, and you decided that you wanted to go to the grocery store and get a cheese block and a mixed berry cup. I got sushi and we shared everything. It was a pretty perfect meal.

And yes, I was that mom. The one who cried dropping you off and again waiting anxiously in the hallway for you at the end of the day. You ran into the classroom and didn't look back. You had learned the ways to sign in at open house and you quickly executed everything and basically kicked me out of the room. You were thrilled to have a friend named Abby.

At the end of the day, I tried to drill you about everything that had happened, but you were shockingly quiet. We have gotten a lot more out of you since then.

You are now ten days in, and you absolutely love school. We have been getting work home, and you are writing "stories" with sketches and writing your name and the date on everything. Today was popcorn day, and all the kids bring a quarter and get a bag of popcorn. You told me that your friend Shea didn't have any, so you shared with him because nobody else would. I have to admit, I also got a bit teary eyed in that moment. I am very proud of your emerging empathy.

Your stories are hilarious. You keep telling us about the "graders", who are anyone who isn't a kindergartner. You seem to hold them with a certain reverence and actually came home one day and said that a grader had spoken to you at recess and you didn't know what to say. But then a grader hit you on the bunch and you hit him straight back, so I guess you weren't all that intimidated. That was a tough parenting moment, where I was caught between telling you not to do that and being proud that you had stood up to a fifth grader.

You are all YOU, zoe. I don't know a better way to explain it than that. You have our hearts. Totally and completely.

Love,
Mommy