End of year one {pre-k3}

We made it. One full year of school is officially under our belts.

Not just for Gabrielle, but for us as parents, too. It was all totally new and eye opening.

I am a mix of emotions over it.

Happy: my girl is growing up! Oh thank god we don't have to commute five days a week now! She's grown so much - I'm so unbelievably proud of her!

Sad: my girl is growing up.

Nervous: my girl is growing up.

Freaking out: omg you mean I have to entertain her MYSELF all summer?!?

Confession time. It hasn't even been a week and I'm in a summer vacation slump. I totally did not change either kid (or myself, duh) out of pajamas today. Jimmy went to work, eventually we had dinner, showered, and put fresh PJs on.

Thankfully, I have a full week lined up for the rest of the week because I think both Gabby and I are about to go crazy. Genna doesn't seem to mind staying home still, but she hasn't been exposed to school yet, so she doesn't know what she's missing. Ha.

ANYWAY!

I still can't believe it's been a full school year. It really flew by. Between school breaks (omg, I don't think I ever realized how many days off kids get! Fall break, thanksgiving break, Christmas/winter break, mardi gras break, Easter/spring break - each a full week or two long!), that whole month where I broke my damn foot and my parents lived with us, and just life in general... Where did it go?

And my god... She grew. She's not a baby anymore. Seriously. She had barely turned three on her first day (literally the day before!), and here we are only two months away from having a four year old. I can't express anything other than awe. And grief, too, because c'mon. My first baby...

Look at her (August 22, 2012 vs. June 4, 2013):

I covered this in one of my recent posts, but her understanding and speaking of French still blows me away. It is part of everyday life for us now, though. Genna even speaks and (I think...?) understands little snippets of the little bits I speak.

She's more social now. There are days when I second guess our decision to enroll her in school so young, but then I see how she's grown and I realize that I alone wouldn't have been able to give that to her. Jimmy and I are not naturally social creatures and we have a very small circle of friends. Making friends or getting involved in social groups is hard for us, so without school, our children just don't have access to a lot of other children on a regular basis (playgrounds/play centers/zoos and the like aren't what I mean - we frequent those places - but play dates, social gatherings - we don't).

Gabby and her teacher, Madame Nathalie.

And to hear from her teachers about her progress, that's reassuring as well. She's always been shy (I don't like using that word because I was labelled as "shy" for all of my childhood and most of my adult life, but it's the best way to describe her demeanor, I suppose), And I don't foresee that changing about her, but knowing that she can and does open up - it makes me happy.

So, with summer upon us in full force, I have activities planned for us, including visits with school mates and one of Gabby's French teachers, and I hope to detail those more here as we go about them.


My darling girls... What will the next year bring?

Welcome back.

It's May. I always have the best intentions of keeping up a blog. But obviously it falls to the wayside. Between daily life, major life changes, holidays... Well I don't have a proper excuse. I opt to zone out on Facebook or re-read Harry Potter. But I opened up my blog tonight and read my last entry (discussing Gabby's first few weeks at school) and it made me sad that I didn't document anything since. And here it is: May.

I could overwhelm this entry with photos of our past few months, but I won't. Instead:

Gabby enjoys school - she understands a lot of French. She corrects my pronunciation. She speaks it. This afternoon at the bookstore we found a book her class has been reading and doing projects around. Elmer the Elephant.

"Elmer est beaucoup de couleurs!" she said.

It stopped me. It's still funny to hear random French phrases from her. "Does Nathalie [her teacher] say that?" I asked her.

"Yes. Because he has lots of colors, he's not grey. Non gris."

At least I understood all of it. Then she said, "Nathalie says, 'Ehl-mehr.'  That's how you say 'Elmer' in French."  Her French accent was perfect.  

There will come a day when she and Genna will be talking and I am terrified that I won't understand them. We really need to invest in either some classes or Rosetta Stone. Ha.

Jimmy started a new job in January. It's offered us a much better home life/work balance. And he seems happier.

I started marketing myself as a baker selling decorated sugar cookies and cakes out of our home. I think I've done well in the three months I've been "advertising" (hello Facebook page).

Both girls are growing leaps and bounds. Aside from Gabby's Frenh education, she's changed so much in the last few months. Sure, we are in the midst of the terrible threes (lord it's been rough!), but she's so smart. And funny. And observant. Oh, her observations and memory are intense. And boy can she read between the lines. No spelling words in front of her, or leaving out keywords in sentences. I've come to realize if I don't want her to hear something - I just can't be anywhere near her and say it. She understands so much.

Genna turned two one month ago. TWO! I know they are both babies in the whole scheme of things, but my god, I don't have an infant anymore. I am deeply saddened by this. I nursed her until she was almost 18 months, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with me not wanting to let go as much as her. And now, she speaks sentences and practically paragraphs. Full on conversations. And man is she funny. Personality like you wouldn't believe. She likes to wear costumes and princess dresses as much as possible. She doesn't enjoy books as much as Gabby did at this age, but instead plays with baby dolls and puts on full pretend stories with Little People or princess Barbie dolls. She's amazing.

I turned 30 in January. I'm having trouble with this, as well. I'm 30. I say it to myself often just trying to get used to it. I'll be 31 before I do, I'm sure. My "bucket list" (I hate that term) is an actual thing now. And it keeps growing. But I'm still sitting here in the same place. My babies are growing, and time is flashing by, and I'm still here. One day I may post my list. But it only depresses me to read it.

And now I will say goodnight. Because this is staring me in the face:

And I told myself I would take 30 minutes to write before tackling that. And the laundry, and the dishes in the sink (neither of which you will get a picture).

It's a quiet house, with Jimmy at work and the girls in bed and before I know it, it will be next year.