I *Heart* August

And now it's over. Although technically we still have three weeks of summer left, for me it ends when August does. The days are growing shorter; leaves on the trees are that darker, end-of-summer green, preparing to turn other colors; nights are cooler and some mornings are foggy.

*sigh* I just love summertime. I hate for it to end.

*sniff, sniff*

Okay, enough moaning! I have lots to look forward to. School is going to be fun this year; we'll go on lots of fun field trips; we have a big trip coming up, a joyful wedding to celebrate, and precious time to be spent with family and friends.

Looking forward to things makes me feel better.

We had our first week of school! It went really well.

First day of kindergarten

It took us about an hour each day, even doubling up on a few lessons so we could take yesterday off to go on a zoo field trip. Right now it's mostly easy peasy stuff that she already knows (though when I asked her what sound the letter "u" makes she said confidently, "yuh!") Peabody seems to be making the adjustment all right, as well; she did have one minor meltdown after asking me repeatedly for help with a puzzle and hearing me answer repeatedly, "Just a few more minutes." I try to include her when I can and that seems to work until she gets distracted by a toy. My mom used to say that every time she had a kindergartener she also had a 2-year-old climbing on the table, and that has literally been true for us this past week.

Our zoo pass expired today and while we plan on renewing it, I knew we wouldn't have opportunity to go again for a while. We went yesterday and it was the first trip I've made by myself with both girls that went completely smoothly. We got out the door when I'd hoped to; there was little to no traffic; we were able to park close; there were no crowds. I guess the first couple of weeks after school starts are the perfect time to go as classes probably aren't making field trips yet.

I don't usually take pictures of the animals, but this made me laugh. The sprinklers were on in the Galapagos tortoise exhibit and this guy had positioned himself in front of a sprinkler so that the spray hit him right in the chest. He knew what he liked on a warm sunny day.

One day last week Eric mentioned that there would be a blue moon this month. The Boogie overheard him and asked what it meant, and I thought he did a good job explaining it to 5-year-old understanding. Last night when we left church he said, "I think tonight might be the full moon." The Boogie got excited.
"Is it the blue moon?" she asked. She stood in the parking lot and searched the sky. "But where's the other one?"
"The other one?" we asked, confused.
"Yeah," she said, "Daddy told me there would be two full moons!"
Aha. Of course she thought there would be two moons in the sky at the same time.

Tonight after dinner I took Mama Dog for her walk, and the Boogie wanted to come along. As we walked we talked about this and that and the subject of plants and seeds came up. Somehow the Boogie's mind went from seeds to rocks.
"Well, Honey," she said, "if you have a rock but you think it's a seed, here's how you can know what it is: just give it a test-grow. If it doesn't grow, then you know it's a rock. But if it does grow, then you'll know it's a seed!" A test-grow. Ha!

The small one has been up to her usual shenanigans. Auntie Joy brought some stickers over for the Boogie on her first day of school, but you-know-who got hold of them ...

 ... and by the time we discovered it she had covered her shirt and both legs with them.

Tonight while the Boogie and I were walking the dog, Peabody took off a dirty diaper for the first time. Thankfully Eric "happened" to discover her right away (thank You, Lord!) before anything horrible resulted -- it looked like she was trying to get herself to the bathroom. One more sign that it's time to potty-train. I just can't bring myself to do it before our trip. Bleh.

And her love of the "p" word continues: yesterday the Boogie was doing her usual "Honey, how do you spell _____?" and "What do these letters spell?" Peabody chanted, "A-I-O-E-K -- poopy!"

She likes to wear my shoes.

I told her to go put Humpty on the Boogie's bed and this is what I found later.

When she's having a lot of emotion (as my friend Mrs. Cowboy says about her 2-year-old) she has to lay on my bed for a while to get a thumb-and-blanky fix. Sometimes there's a lot of stuff in the way so she has to improvise.

Every night now at dinnertime she asks to watch Abbott & Costello, "the amlane [airplane] one."

Such a funny kid!