The End of Summer Break

Elsa started back at "school" yesterday. Look at this big girl!

She is back at Gabriela's this year, and is going five days a week, at least for now. I say at least for now only because this is her last year before starting kindergarten, and even though I planned to increase the number of days at Gabriela's sequentially each year (two days when she was two, three days when she was three, four days when she was four), I am wondering if perhaps I will discover that I'll want a weekday with her to be able to do certain activities, such as trips to the zoo or the botanical garden. On the other hand, I know she loves being at Gabriela's. She did not want to leave today when I picked her up, and asked Gabriela if she could stay for rest time tomorrow. And it allows me to have a lot of one-on-one time with Aveline, which is nice. So, I am (we are) playing it by ear.

Speaking of rest time, I re-instituted a period of afternoon rest at our house, starting this afternoon. Avie still, of course, takes a nap, and Elsa is currently in the playroom, doing as she wishes by herself for an hour (I've set a timer). In one way, I honestly feel guilty for bringing her home from playgroup and immediately sticking her in a room by herself, but in another, I think she actually needs this downtime. And it is better that she chooses what to do while alone in the playroom than sit in front of the television. She also has developed a bit of a stutter over the past couple of weeks, where she seems to be having trouble getting out what she is trying to say. At times it is a simple as repeating a couple of words, which is no big deal, but on occasion it escalates to her becoming pretty frustrated. Jarrett and I have done some reading on it, and it sounds fairly normal. She is at the age where her brain is really developing and trying to process a ton of new, bigger vocabulary words, and there is just a lot going on. From what we were reading, it is best to just pretend it is not really happening and show her that we are listening and that there is no need to rush. Something else that was recommended is time to quiet the mind. Thus, the additional push to start this restful hour at our house. And my benefit from this? I can do things like this.

Our last few weeks of summer were fairly full and fun. Elsa was at gymnastics camp for two weeks, ten days total. I was a little apprehensive as to how she would do, but she took to it right away. It helped, I think, that her friend, Jude, was with her the first week, but I noticed really no shyness at all, and she seemed to jump right in. She was so excited to go each and every day, and so sad (to the point of tears) knowing it was going to come to an end. One of the best stories from those two weeks comes from her discovery of leotards. I noticed the first day I dropped her off that many (most, really) of the little girls were dressed in leotards. So while I was at Target that morning, I checked out what they had to offer, and there was a light pink number with tiny, shiny rhinestones that was reasonably priced, so I surprised her with it that afternoon. She was immediately in love. Then comes the next morning. I have no experience with leotards, really, so I asked her if the other girls wore underwear with theirs. She said "yes." I asked her how she knew this, and she said, "Because I saw their underwear sticking out from under their leotard." Okay. So we put the leotard on over her underwear, but her underwear was really sticking out. And, really, her little rear was too. So I suggested she put on a pair of shorts over them -- nice, comfy, knit shorts. How dare I suggest such a thing? She became so upset, even started crying and said, "But Mommy, I just want to be like the other little girls." Seriously? Seriously? This is starting already? So we came to the agreement that she would wear the shorts there and could then take them off once she got there. Whew. I can't wait until the teenage years... with two girls.

After her last day at gymnastics camp, we hit the road, bound for North Carolina. The girls stayed with my parents for two nights, while Jarrett and I spent the weekend alone up at Tim and Kate's house in the mountains. This was the first time we were away together without the girls, and it went fabulously. I think my parents and brother had a lot of fun with Elsa and Avie, and Jarrett and I had a fine time visiting with our friends and both being able to sleep in two mornings in a row. Ahhh...

A stop at a Chick-fil-A with a Dwarf House, on our way out of Atlanta.

The weekend before last, we went camping with three other families we are friends with at F.D. Roosevelt State Park, near Calloway Gardens. We had a great time, and it was so nice for all of the kids to experience the camping adventure together. This is my favorite picture from the weekend (taken by Alison):

Our camping warriors: Shrieking Monkey, Bike Flipper, Wind Rider, Rising Sun and Running Brave.

And there has been fun splashing around on the zoo's new splash pad.

All in all, it was a wonderful summer. I am so lucky to be able to enjoy it with these two little ones!