Not too cool for school - yet!

Vera had her first day of school yesterday.  As in drop off, mommy leaves school. 

It was a grey and rainy day out but...

She looked great!

She did great!

She is the greatest little girl a mommy could ever ask for!

I just love her sooo much!

She was super excited to have her own "backpack" and yes, she sings the Dora backpack song as she runs around with it...

We dropped Jonah off at school and then we drove to her school.

During the drive we were singing our "going to school" song and she was very very excited!

We got there and she was a bit worried about me leaving.  We played for a bit and then it was clean up time and circle time... Vera knows all the words to the "clean up" song and loves cleaning up.  The teacher and I decided that was my cue to leave... Vera also understands everything people say so she totally knew I was going to leave.  Her lips quivered and her eyes teared up - I gave her a huge hug and told her I loved her very much and that I was so proud of her that she was a big girl just like Jonah and she was at her school - and that mommy always comes back!  She looked at me and said "big girl"  - her teacher picked up her and Vera gave her a big hug and said"bye bye" to me and I walked out!  I watched for a bit through the window and she was happily sitting in her teacher's lap.  I spent the next 60 minutes at Barnes & Noble paying bills... When I returned to her school she was in the gym, running, playing and laughing and then sat in her teacher's lap for goodbye circle time! 

Her teacher said she did great.  Except for the fact she had her pacifier the whole time and I think she got the teacher to pick her up a lot - my baby girl is quite the school girl!  (We are working on the pacifier thing...)

Truth is my baby girl is not such baby any more... not sure how the second day will go... but I may be the one with the tears in my eyes this time... they grow up so damn fast!

Happy Tuesday!

Hellos & Good Byes!

Good Bye Summer - Hello Fall!

Thank godness!

The fall breeze whooshed in yesterday morning!  It made me think of crunchy leaves under our feet, the brilliant colors of autumn, apples(maybe even pumpkins), and YES SCHOOL!!!  We had to find some long pants to wear and everything!

Whoop! Whoop!

Yesterday was Jonah's first official day of school (even if it was a shortened one because he is "transitioning" in a full schedule - and we had an official play date at the playground at his school last week plus an open house on Friday - you can never be too prepared for these things...).

It made me remember how that "not very august August" began... We started August off one Saturday with a fantastic day splashing in another friend's pool on her roof top down by the Navy Yards.  It was wonderful and hot!  The sun was shining and we all swam the afternoon away!   Time to say Good Bye to roof top swimming for a while.

Yesterday, it was Hello to a new schedule.  Hello to a new school bag.  Hello to a new routine.  We really need it over here.

But with the Hello was my first Good Bye to Jonah in his new classroom at his new school.  And wait for it... it was completely uneventful!  How fantabulous is that?!?!

Jonah hasn't been one for Good Byes... especially at school.  So today was a big one.  He walked in to his new classroom - it has birds on the door.  He is in the "Birds or Parrots" class (or Tukim as they call it in Jewish Nursery School).  He saw his new teachers (who he had met last week at the open house) and sat down with the scissors... his new favorite activity. He gave Vera hug and me a quick wave and that was that.  Good Bye. Vera was not so happy about leaving and she sort of had a little hissy fit all the way to the car.  That girl really wants to go to school!

When I showed up just over an hour later to pick him up - he was ALL smiles.  A huge kiss and hug and a big Hello mommy!  His teachers said he had a great day.

Hellos and Good Byes.  Really really heavy & powerful stuff.  Whether it is saying it to a season, your kids, a loved one, a job, a relationship, an address or a way of life... often hard, but part of life.  You know, just like that song by the Byrds (yes, the same name as Jonah's new class) from the Bible passage in Ecclesiastes 2-3:

To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep...

And yes, appropriately so, today is also September 11... 11 years later.  Another moment of Good Byes and Hellos in our national conscience.  All of this, just in time for next week's Jewish New Year, they are my big introspective thoughts for the day.  No matter what happens in life, no matter how many Good Byes and Hellos we must utter, no matter the context, change is what happens in life and often in the midst of chaos.  I see my challenge to make it wonderful and beautiful whatever it may be - and the kaleidoscope helps - but what also is a challenge is to remember the things worth remembering - because forgetting is often worse than saying Good Bye or Hello.  Our memories are what keep us grounded and centered.  They help us not to make the same mistakes twice and to know how to reach our most important triumphs again.  As this season turns from one to another, as we think back 11 years ago today, as we approach the Jewish New Year and as I watch my kids each day becoming more of who they will be, I choose to say my Hellos and Good Byes with strength and introspection, maybe a few tears, but always with a healthy dose of remembering what needs to be remembered for a lifetime to come.

With those "oh so heavy" thoughts on your mind, I leave you with the pictures below- they are just plain fun!  Enjoy!

By the end of the summer, Jonah was swimming like a fish - without the noodle!

with our cool buddies who had a pool on  the roof!!

Vera napped for the first half of our  pool outing...

Finally all four of us - in the pool at once having a great summer afternoon!

Vera is a little fish too!  GOOD BYE SUMMER!

HELLO FALL!  HELLO FIRST DAY OF NURSERY SCHOOL!  HELLO TO NO TEARS AT DROP OFF!  HELLO TO MY BIG BOY!

Lots of hugs on the porch before they hugged again as we sad GOOD BYE at school!  My two sweeties!