Gus' First Day of Preschool and Leo's Last First Day of Preschool

Finally, we had our First Day of School! With the explosion of social media, I have to see all the other FDOS of school pictures for WEEKS before our school started. But I'm not complaining. I am glad we are still in the sweet little church preschool and not yet in the claws of the public school system. None of us were ready! 

Leo is in the "Wolves" class this year. That is the Pre-K class with some kids who are being held back from Kindergarten (like Leo) and some who will turn five this fall. There are twelve boys and three girls. He will go four days a week (Tuesday thru Friday) from 9-2. 

In the days leading up to school Leo was pretty cool about it. He has a history of school anxiety so I was glad he didn't seem worried when we talked about it. He even ran into the building with a classmate today. But when we actually walked in his room, he became withdrawn. I'd love to tell you how his day went but he's a boy and he tells me NOTHING. All I got was that he liked music and that they did too many things on the playground for him to tell me and that he was tired of talking. 

Gus is in the "Bears" class for two-year-olds. I think his class is pretty even between girls and boys. There are ten of them. Gus will go two days a week (Tuesday and Thursdays) from 9-2. 

Gus had no nervousness leading up to school. When I'd say, "Who is going to school?" he'd say, "I do!" He walked in, he played, he sat at the table. The teachers said he had a "beautiful first day." That was nice of them to say because on the written report it said "I made" and they had circled "poo poo." I would not call Gus' BMs beautiful. Oh, and he did not sleep during nap time but he did crash when we got home. 

So here is a picture dump of our first day! 

Hope they don't expect little notes every day. 

Leo loved showing Gus how to wear his backpack.

Of course, Leo wanted to make silly faces.

Even on school days Leo delivers the newspaper to Ms. Sue.

Oops, Gus toppled over from the weight of his backpack. I snapped this before helping him. Cruel?

I see you!

Gus got right to work.

Do you see Leo in the wolf pack? He's on the top row in the middle.

It looks like he's being sweet but he's actually hogging all the toys and the girl next to him is mad. "He's taking all the purple ones!!"

We go back again tomorrow for Leo's class. I have a feeling Leo will not want to and Gus will!

A Darndest Conversation

Me: You've been to Daddy's office, right? I haven't even seen it. Was it cool?

Leo: Yes, and there are pictures of me and Gus.

Me: There aren't any pictures of me?

Leo: No, he really loves me and Gus.

Me: He loves me too.

Leo: But he loves us the most.

Me: But I've known him longer.

Leo: He loves us because we're so cute. You're too big to be cute.

So I just had to jot that down somewhere before I forgot it. Later, Leo tried to make me feel better by saying, "He loves you too. You're just not in any pictures."

I think the problem is that I'm always the one taking the pictures!

Bye bye, Le-low

I'm not sure when Gus started saying his brother's name but ever since he could, he's called him "Le-low" (rhymes with Yellow). We all started calling him "Le-low" actually. But last week, when we were in Friendswood and Galveston visiting grandparents, Gus suddenly started saying "Lee-Oh." We first heard it when they would sleep in the same room together. Gus would stand up in his Pack n Play and look at Leo in his bed and yell, "Lee-Oh!!" 

Worth noting: Gus learned to walk on this same trip to Friendswood/Galveston last year at the same time. It's a milestone kind of place I guess. Frank and I were a little bit sad to hear the end of "Le-low" but it would be weird if he said that forever. 

So here you go, listen for yourself! 

And here are some pictures from our trip!

Gus and Leo with Grandpa Ron and Grandmother

We love to go to the Kemah Boardwalk when we visit and ride all the rides! Here is Gus on the carousel.

Leo on the Red Baron

Leo with "Spooky Looky," the prize he won. That was easy to get home!

Leo and Gus at the Splash Pad at the Pearland YMCA

Gus being silly at the beach house in Galveston

 Gus walking with Granny Jo and Popsy

 Leo ready to ride the waves

The cousins loved flying kites!

Movie night: Charlie, Ellie, LEE-OH and Gus

Swim School Rules!

I am SO proud of how far Leo and Gus have come with their swimming these last few months. We started swim lessons in April and have gone just about every week. Leo was in the "preschool beginners" class because, even though he had taken swim lessons somewhere else last summer, he really couldn't swim on his own. But at this level he was still in the lane on his own with just a teacher and a few other swimmers. Gus was in Water Babies and I was in the water with him. 

I'm so impressed with their swim school, Emler.  It's not just "let's sing some songs" and "let's swim with floaties" (although they do a little of that), it is serious swimming. Well, sometimes they make silly faces through the glass: 

The other day they had make-up swim lessons and since it was Saturday, Frank got in the water with Gus. And I got to take pictures and videos! So here are several from Gus' class and one from Leo's (sorry, Leo)! 

We finished the summer session last week and they both got promoted to the next levels! Leo could move on to Advanced Beginners but since he will be in preschool four days a week, we are going to hold off on more swim lessons right now. Gus is now a Super Water Baby which means he is now swimming without a parent too! I am going to take him on Wednesday mornings when Leo is in school. I am really looking forward to just sitting on the side and watching my little fish swim (and maybe catching up on my reading too).

Leo Says the Darndest Things XXXIIIXIXI

 I don't want to sugar coat this and act like, just because Leo says cute/funny things, that he is always a joy to be around. He is especially irritable lately and I liken him to a volcano. He could erupt at any moment. So I just want to get it out that when I called him "Super Leo," I spoke too soon.

But in between his bad behavior and frequent outbursts he says some pretty comical things. Here are a few:

When he's hungry he now says, "I'm soakin' hungry!"

I asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said, "I don't mind anything." I said, "So you mean you're flexible about what you eat?" He said, "Yes, I'm flexible about everything, except if it was a Polo shirt contest." (Side note: He still HATES Polo shirts. It's been about two years of this phase! Over it.)

The next few are all of a religious nature:

While shopping at Target Leo suddenly said (pretty loudly), "Is Easter when Jesus died or when he rose from the dead?" I told him it was when he rose from the dead. Why? "Because I am just SO excited for Easter!!"

We bought these stickers at Target and when we were ALL putting the stuff on the belt (Leo and Gus are very good helpers), Leo said, "Look at these stickers! There are two of every animal. Just like Noah!"

Later, Leo got in trouble for something at home and he told me that he is angry all the time and that "hate" is his favorite word. I said, "Is that how Jesus feels? Jesus wasn't angry all the time and I bet 'Love' was his favorite word." Leo said, "Well we can't all be like HIM!"

Today Leo got in trouble again (I told he's bad!) and after I scolded him I heard him in the other room praying, "Dear God....in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen." I was so proud of him for praying about his problems on his own! I said, "Leo, were you just praying? What did you pray for?"
He said, "I prayed for no mommy!"

This last one is purely secular but still funny:
We were painting and Leo said, "I'm going to paint this picture of my hand and hang it up in the kitchen. Then when I am grown up you and daddy can look at it and say, 'Oh, I remember when he was little and we could play with him and he was so cute. Now he's not cute anymore!'"

Hopefully he is right and we will look at that and just remember how cute and funny he was and not that he was a little monster.  As you can see here, we only photograph the cuteness: Leo and Gus having shaved ice at Bahama Bucks and below that in their adorable new shirts from Tia with Tia.

Company Moves

When I worked in advertising there were a few times (like one or two) that I got to be involved in the production of a television commercial. I recall one time, in an effort to save money, where we tried to cram three shoots into two days. On the first day we shot a commercial at this old farm house and then later that day we were going to shoot at a diner. There were like, 500 people, give or take a hundred, working on this project. I remember the director saying, "We gotta shoot this spot in four hours and then we have a company move to the next location." He said it like it was an usual and challenging thing to do. I thought, "Wow, I guess that is a big deal to have all these people pack up, get to the right place, set up again, etc."

So I have adopted this phrase and I say it in my head all the time in my current line of work. We constantly have company moves. With kids, a company move involves two or more different locations and costume changes, without going home in between. Like last night I was thinking through what we were doing today: Dr.'s appointment then on to a spray ground and picnic. I thought, "Okay, we got a company move so I better get ready."

For today's company move I had to think through: Kids need regular clothes for the doctor's appointment plus swim suits and swim shirts for the spray ground. I need a place to change their clothes--doctor's office (so I bring the giant swim bag in?) or car? Gus also needs swim diapers, wipes and we all need sunblock. Don't forget towels. I need an outfit that is both doctor office and spray ground appropriate. Then there's the lunch. I can pack some stuff the night before but other stuff will have to wait. Gotta write a note so I don't forget. They'll probably want a snack between the doctor and the spray ground so I need to pack that separately. Then they'll need drinks in addition to the drinks that go with their lunches.

Thursday our company move involved playing at a park, feeding the ducks and then going to a jumpy place. Well, you need socks for the jumpy place but not for feeding the ducks so there you got two pairs of shoes per child. And of course the bread for the ducks. But at least their wasn't a full costume change so the company move wasn't quite as complicated. It's usually when a wet activity and a dry activity is combined that things get tricky.

Side note about my Thursday company move: We got to the jumpy place and I thought, "I better change Gus' diaper before we go in." I checked my bag and noticed I had NO diapers! I thought, "Well, as long as he doesn't have a poop it's probably ok." But of course, he DID need a change. The closest place was Sprouts so I ran in with both kids, didn't bother with a cart, and went running around frantically looking for those brown, enviro-friendly diapers (knowing that's all they had which, why would I be against that when I use cloth diapers? I don't know but I just prefer the Elmo ones.) So anyway, finally found them after telling an employee, "It's an emergency!" Bought the expensive not-as-eco-friendly-as-cloth diapers and changed him in the car.

I thought about telling my friend I was meeting at the jumpy place how I had to buy the brown earth-friendly diapers but then I thought, I can't really make fun of them. I mean, I DO like to help out the environment and like I said, Gus usually wears cloth. Plus, what if she loves those brown ones?

Anyway, I tell her that I had to run to Sprouts to get diapers and she looked at Gus and saw his diaper and said, "Oh, and you had to get those weird brown ones." Ha!

So all of this was to say that I could totally put company moves on my resume. And if I had to coordinate one for 500 people shooting two TV commercials in one day I'd say to the director, "Dude, I have orchestrated way more complicated company moves that involve a lot more shit than this in my day. You have no idea."

If you advertise it, we will come

Just watch this commercial. How could you NOT want to go here? 

 

(I mean, if you're a five-year-old who is really into pirates and water parks.) Leo and I were both pretty stoked when we saw this ad on TV. We hit the rewind button a couple of times. And when we realized you could STAY there (at Jellystone Park next door) we were like, we have GOT to convince Frank that this is a good idea. It took a little bit of persuasion but once he saw the ad, he too couldn't resist.

We knew the Loyds are always up for a little trip so we got them involved and then the Seiss family cousins mentioned that they had driven past the place one day and were curious about it. We were like, "Well come on! The more the merrier!" We all booked cabins for one night and here are the pictures!

Do you see those two 18 wheelers in the background? That's I35! We backed up to the freeway! A little weird but not too noisy.

You can't see them but Leo, Celia AND Gus are somewhere up there!

The Loyds (minus Sarah)

Seisses and Simciks (minus Emilee, who was somewhere sliding!)

Leo Says the Darndest Things XIXXXIIXIII

Like any curious five-year-old, Leo has LOTS of questions. He also thinks he's got it all figured out. Here are some of the revelations he's had in the last week:

"There are two kids of ants. There are the ants that are bugs and then there are the ants that are like your grandma!"

He was asking all about getting married and when Frank and I met, etc. We told him when he's older he might meet a girl in college or when he's a grown-up and want to marry her.

"But I just want to marry Gus! When can I marry Gus?"

We told him that he actually couldn't marry Gus because he's his brother.

"But sometimes there are two daddies!"


And then, getting in the car yesterday, he said, "Did you know that pirates are stinky? They're even stinkier than daddy!"


That's all I got for now but I've been jotting these things down on my phone so expect more soon. I leave you with a few pics from the last week:

Leo with his art camp projects

After doing the big, tube slide at Celia's b-day party

Gus doing a smaller (but still cool!) slide

With Celia, the birthday girl

Making banana chocolate chip muffins

In their new pirate ship shirts. Thank you, Grandmother and Grandpa Ron!