Friday

Let me begin by saying "thank you" for the wonderfully encouraging comments that many of you left for me regarding Julie and preschool. I didn't actually realize they were there until late last night. For some reason, Blogger didn't email them to me as usual. My settings are still the same, so I have no idea why. I hope the problem is fixed now, whatever it was!

Julie did very well on her first two days of preschool. The second day she cried for about 5 minutes. She cried again when I picked her up, but not for long. It seems like the transitions are the hardest. Today would have been her third day at school, but the district is closed as a result of bad storms that came through last night. Power is out and trees are down (we still have power, thankfully!). I am looking forward to a relaxed day at home with my girls. Maybe Julie will be less hyper than she has been the last two days. Perhaps it's all the stimulation or maybe it's the change in routine, but she has been bouncing off the walls after school each day. She wouldn't nap yesterday, which was fine until about 5:30 in the evening when everything went haywire. All in all, I think we've made the right decision to try school, even if it is breaking my heart to let go. It seems like Julie is already understanding and expressing more, which is amazing. The same thing happened as a result of our trip to China. I guess a certain amount of "stress" pushes a person to grow and develop, kind of like my muscles respond when I run. In a way, preschool is Julie's "training" for the marathon that is the rest of her life. She has come so far already and I trust she will surprise us all with her progress this year.

In other news, Julie went #2 in her potty yesterday! I was so proud that I took a picture and emailed it to Larry at work. I'll spare you the photo, but trust me, it's worthy of a mother's pride.

Here are some other (non-potty) pictures from our day.

Julie has learned to love the quintessential trademark of summer, FlavorIce. I love how she goes cross-eyed trying to suck up all the juice.




This was Melody's reaction when I gave her a taste!


Julie is inexorably drawn to riding Melody like a horsey. Melody is pretty tolerant, at least for a minute or so!


Julie and her special friend from next door had a fun time laughing and playing.