End of summer, start of school

The side effect of being in Bulgaria for two weeks is that since I've been home, I've been
hyper-attuned to all the funny things the kiddos say and do.  It seems both have taken giant steps forward this month and I couldn't be happier that I am once again home and able to witness it all.

For Matteo this means a big leap forward with verbal skills.  He isn't exactly a talker yet, but he is communicating more and more every day.  While I'm not too thrilled with the accompanying development in the whining arena, I am madly in love with hearing him parrot what we say, trying out new words and getting a hold of their meaning.

This month Lily took a step forward in independence.  I've always been the one to prepare her snack and drinks (yes, I know she is almost 7, but I like doing it for her) but now she is both capable of, and takes pride in, pouring her own drinks (with surprisingly good command of the 1-gallon milk jug) and helping herself to snacks.  She suddenly seems to grown up - it's bittersweet but oh-so-cool to see.  Matteo also likes to get his own snacks....but unfortunately for him this means standing in front of an open fridge until all the cool air is gone (not ideal), or treating the grocery store like his personal buffet.  I indulge the latter proclivity as it gets me in and out of the store with a minimum of fuss and thankfully the staff at Trader Joes is good humored about ringing up empty banana peels, flattened fruit crushers, opened cracker boxes and cheese stick bags.

While it was a month filled with new things, it started on a sad note as we just couldn't swing the annual neighbor camping trip.  Lily was devastated when she saw the other families packing up and heading out and naturally I felt like Worst Mom Ever...so in an attempt to make it up to her, we did home camping.  What is home camping you ask?  Why it is just what it sounds like - pitching a tent in the middle of your home and making s'mores over an open fire....er...gas flame in the kitchen.  The kids LOVED IT.  The tent lasted 2 nights and 3 days before the reality of a 6-person tent filling the entirety of our living room set in and they reluctantly said goodbye to it.  I managed exactly one night of miserable sleep inside.  I made my way back to the Tempurpedic around 7am and it's never felt more like a cloud.

Labor Day "camping" done, it was time to start the new school year.  First grade for Lily and Matteo's last month at La Escuelita.  School went off without a hitch for Lily - when I asked her what the best part of her first day was and she answered "P.E." I knew it would be business as usual.  There were a few hiccups negotiating new friendships and figuring out the kids in her homeroom, but all in all it was a pretty smooth start.  Matteo likewise had a pretty good month.  He was in a new room which turned out to be pretty easy for him to get used to.  There were more bite reports than any mom wants to see, but no tearful goodbyes and only joyful exclamations of "My MAMA!" at pickup.  Oh, and one incident where he jumped up to great me and his pants fell down around his ankles.  But that was cute.

And the milestones kept going...Lily (reluctantly) also mastered the art of tying her shoes.  Strangely she never had shoes that tied before...she had lots that zipped, velcroed and pulled on, but none that tied.  Amazing what an incentive a new pair of high tops with laces is!  She also kicked her creativity up a notch with the magnatiles, creating amazing buildings: cathedrals, horse barns, condos, you name it.  Matteo naturally longed only to destroy them, but fortunately I was able to get pictures of most before our wee demolisher had his way. This month also turned Lily into a shrewd haggler.  A trading craze swept our street and it seemed every day Lily had a new stuffy or other treasure.  There were of course trading regrets, but it's all a learning experience and man did those kids learn a lot.

September for Matteo also marked a new era of fascination with....MONSTER TRUCKS.  While on Netflix he somehow came across a random 80's video of two kids learning about monster trucks.  He was instantly enthralled and for about two weeks all he wanted was to see monster trucks.  He was obsessed to the point he even used it as an answer...."Matteo, would you like bedtime cuddles?" response: "MONSTER TRUUUUUCK!"  The fascination died out by month's end and was replaced with his appreciation of garbage trucks, trains, buses, boats and planes, but while it was going on it was both cute and frightening.

Finally this month signaled a real change in Lily in terms of awareness.  Young children aren't known for their empathy, but I do believe the empathy switch has been flipped in her.  She saw me stretching one night and asked if I was ok - I assured her I was and that my back hurt a little but would be ok.  She came over and gave my back some gentle pats and said "poor back" which was sweet on it's own, but the real kicker was the next day when we were eating dinner and, with no prompting, she asked me if my back was any better.  I'd totally forgotten about it, but not Lily.  I was beyond touched - a small gesture but one that shows she is thinking about the well-being of others.  Similarly I've been trying to impart the value of money. She's made great strides, but I think there's still some work to be done.  Eyeing my basket at the grocery store she loudly announced "I think you're spending way too much money on food" which raised more than I few eyebrows, followed by voicing concern on the way home that her upcoming bday trip to Great Wolf Lodge was perhaps too expensive.   The idea was to get her to appreciate things more and to understand why we spend money on some things and not others, but I'm afraid I instead instilled stress over of not having enough.  Learning/teaching opportunity for both of us.

And now for the quotes...

"WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!" - Matteo, hands in the air, every time we drive down a hill, no matter how big or small

Lily: "Matteo's butt smells!"
Me: "I'm sure your butt smells like daisies all the time"
Lily, with total sincerity: "Thank you for telling me my butt it smells like daisies"

"One...two...three...DOS!" - Matteo, learning to count

"All you need is a house, a bed, food, water and sleep." - Lily, getting philosophical with Chris

Chris, every morning before school: "Come on buddy, what time is it?"
Matteo: "GO TIME!"

"Mama I just want to eat the noodles and these green things are blocking me" - Lily, picking at spinach in her udon soup

"Whee-ooo, whee-ooo, WHEE-OOO" - Matteo, anytime he sees or hears a fire truck

Lily, very solemnly: "I think I want to be a doctor when I grow up."
Me: "What kind?  People or animals?"
Lily: "Both!"  (she then ran downstairs to tell Chris the big news)

"Ewwwww!" - Matteo, presenting his bottom for changing then pronouncing me gross for cleaning him up

Me, telling Lily about the DQ worker who kicked a customer out for stealing from a blind man in line: "He was brave and did the right thing. It makes me happy reading about good people in the world"
Lily: "And I'm one of them!"  (followed by) "I think the mean lady had a drug problem." (no idea where that came from)

"Yummy yummy!" - Matteo, every time food is served.  He doesn't necessarily like it and it's not a commitment to eat it, but he's heard Lily and teacher Roxana say it so many times he feels all food now deserves praise.

"FI-FI!!!!!" - Matteo, every time he sees our neighbor Sophie
"He wants to marry me" - Sophie's response
That may be, but you'll have to wait.  And that also goes for any boys who have ideas about my Lily.  For now and for the too-short window of childhood they're all mine.  I am happy to share, but only a little.