Kindergarten Girl

I have actually been kind of okay all summer about Kindergarten approaching for Neely, mostly because I was in denial.  I have been focusing on the silver lining, that it's been years since I've had any substantial one-on-one time with any of the kids, outside of our little dates.  I can also do things during the week that were more difficult with more than one, like maybe go to the pool(indoor of course since it will be getting chilly soon), or long walks and jogs.  Neely is a good sport for stuff like that but I obviously couldn't expect her to do long distances.  I might actually get in slightly decent shape now if I get in the habit of popping Reed in the jogging stroller.  We can do some jogs, or just long walks to town and have a little breakfast or treat together somewhere.  

So there are good things coming, but the last few days it obviously hit me that Neely would really be leaving me during the weekdays.  I have the usual combo of happy and sad emotions, but I think it's more extreme this time.  Neely is different somehow, she's been my little sidekick, and she really loves being with me, so it'll be so strange to not have her right here.  I think she will do so well, and she is SO smart and so excited.  She's also pretty sensitive and can be shy at first, so I hope there are some outgoing kids in her class who will get her going.

Sometimes Neely seems SO mature in little subtle ways.  Yesterday she was very aware it was our last regular weekday together, and she was cheerful but I'd suddenly see her looking serious and she'd say she was a little frustrated because Reed wanted her to play but she wanted to spend some time alone with me.  Then as the day was ending she got more and more thoughtful and a bit emotional.  She called a family meeting and announced we'd be having a family hug, which turned into quite a few, energetic and hilarious family hugs.  She mentioned a few times that she wished she and I had had more time together that day.  She asked if we could play one more game so at bedtime we pulled out the teaparty board game and played that, just the two of us.  Jess and I read her the Night Before Kindergarten book Michelle had sent the year Paige started, and it got her excited.  She wanted to pick out her outfit and set it up on a chair in her room just like the kids in the book. 

 

Then she wanted to cuddle, so I spent a wonderful hour cuddling her and talking.  She was definitely feeling nervous and took a looong time to fall asleep.  She asked me to sing to her and was gazing into my eyes while I sang, and started tearing up when I sang her the honeybee song I made up when she was a baby.  We talked about how sometimes you feel happy AND sad about the same thing, and she goes "Yeah, like you can be excited to start kindergarten but SAD to leave your parents."  It was so sweet.  She was experiencing the whole thing closer to the way I do than to the way her siblings did.  I don't know how to describe it quite right, but it just felt so grown up.  Then I traded with Jess and he cuddled and talked with her a while.  She was probably 70% nervous/sad/emotional and 30% excited, by the time she went to sleep. 

Thankfully this morning she woke up in a 90% excited, 10% nervous, 0% sad kind of mood.  She popped out of bed, and marched into the kitchen smiling and fully dressed, wearing her backpack about two minutes later.  We told her we were still working on breakfast and their lunches.  Ha.  So she ate, and I walked in to see all three brushing their teeth together and she looked so proud of how big she is, and how she's part of the school kid club now.

We walked down the trail with them this morning,

 

 and took her to her room.  She was quieter now because she was shy, but still looked happy.  We helped her with all her little jobs, putting lunches and backpacks away and all of that.

  

 

The big two lingered until we told them they had two minutes before the late bell would ring, and they gave her a sweet goodbye.

 

 When we started saying our goodbyes she told me I could stay as long as the teacher would let me, but she didn't think she'd let me stay all day.  Ha.  She lingered, giving me long, extra tight hugs and I could really tell it was for my benefit more than for her.  She was feeling lots of love too I think, and I could tell she knew she'd miss me but she wasn't exactly sad or scared.  The last hug was a nice squeezy one and then she spontaneously kissed my cheek.  

We walked her up to the reading area where she could choose to do a puzzle or read, and she picked a puzzle.  The boy near her was asking people if they play Minecraft, so they were talking about that as we left. 

 

She is amazing.  It went as well as it possibly could have.  I didn't even really cry until outside of the school.  Success.  

Reed started reaching back for her as we left and shouting "Neenee!" and then we got this when we got out to the playground and he realized he wasn't bringing her home. 

 

He came up smiling a few seconds later though.

Jess managed to take off a half day so he took me downtown to distract me.  We grabbed a coffee, and walked around a bit.  Then the three of us shared some eggs and potatoes, and biscuits and sausage gravy.  Then a trip to the Halloween store.  Reed is for sure my child, so we found him a bat and a ghostie.

When Jess went back to work, Reed and I had lunch and a quiet afternoon reading and playing with his bat and ghost.  :)  

We counted down the hours until we could pick up the kids.  Neely gets out 5 minutes before the others, and Reed talked about "Paige and Neenee" the whole walk down the trail.  He says "Paige" whether he's talking about Paige or Cason or both.  He refuses to say Cason and at this point I think he thinks it's funny to torture Cason when he begs him to say it.  Anyway, he kept trying to open the doors and shouting "NEENEE" while we waited.  After a few minutes they came out.  As soon as I saw her I knew she'd had a good day, even though she had her usual stoic expression she puts on when she's feeling self-conscious.  

 

She had to point me out to her teacher and then was allowed to run to us.  We had a big hug, complete with Reed's usual cheek nuzzles, and then she immediately started telling me all the things they did.  She clearly had a very good day.  The little Minecraft loving boy brought his mom over with him to remind Neely "to not forget about Minecraft".  She told me later they'd planned in depth about how they would "meet" and build a castle.  They'd used blocks in the classroom to plan it all out.  So cute.  

She was happy but tired she said, and I could tell later in the afternoon when she was a little quick to get frustrated with her siblings.  Then again she'd had a hard time falling asleep the night before, so it was no surprise.  Tonight she went right to sleep so hopefully that will make for a better rested girl tomorrow.  The walk home was cute, Reed was so happy to be reunited with them all.  Even enjoyed a  short-lived "baby carry" by his brother.

Then he invented a new "whistle" he uses to call his siblings.  Haha.  We think he got it from Justin Time, because one of the characters blows a horn to call her sheep.  

Anyway, it was a bittersweet one, but Neely had such a good day and is such a cute, sweet little Kindergartener.  This picture of her makes me so happy/sad. Tonight at bedtime she told me on a scale of 0-100 her first day was "a thousand million".  :)

Long Time No See

Apparently Instagram started taking the place of blogging in my mind.  Or it just was so much quicker and easier that it was the only thing I felt like I could squeeze in.  We have also had trouble figuring out how we want to manage and store our pictures, but I think we've finally got that down. I recently got really sad about some of the things I have probably missed that could end up forgotten, and I obviously don't want that.  :(  

I'm not even sure where to begin-I could blog about moving here, any of the many things we've done since then, Cason's recent birthday, or I could start with Neely, because it's the night before her first day of Kindergarten.  :(  I think I'll save that though, so I can include her actual first day in that post. 

Since Reed has changed and grown so much, we'll go with him for now.  He fits into our family so well but is also very unique.  He is still the most physical, not super high energy or anything, but easily the most active and always busy with something.  He expresses every feeling he has physically.  He's exuberant in most ways, but especially about showing his love.

 

When he feels especially happy he'll run around shouting about it, or my favorite-does a little jig.  He points both index fingers up, and runs around in circles in a gallop, just like you'd do if you were riding a stick horse.  It's so funny to watch.  When he feels affectionate AND excited he will jump on top of your back or head if you're sitting and give you the most vigorous hug you've ever had.  

 

Or he hugs multiple family members, alternating between us and then starts rapid fire kissing our cheeks.  When he's feeling calmer but still affectionate, he gives these tight hugs with his head on your shoulder, and/or rubs his cheek against yours with this exaggerated smile and that usually goes along with little squeaky sounds for some reason.  Ha!  Tonight Neely was feeling a little emotional because of Kindergarten tomorrow, so she called a family meeting and announced that we should havea  family hug.  Reed loved it and he kept saying "famee hug(family hug)!" and getting so excited when we all swarmed and hugged with him in the middle. 

One of my favorites that he has done for a long time now, is any time he spots Jess and I hugging he comes running up and hugs our legs and waits to be lifted.  We each put a hand under one of his arms, and team-lift him so he can join in our hug.  He loves it, and over time it evolved into him hugging us like that but then he gets this mischievous look in his eye and Jess knows what he wants.  So he(Jess) will slowly lean in to kiss me and Reed lets him get an inch or so away from me and then shoves him away at the last possible moment, while cracking up with his villain laugh.  He LOVES that one.  Eventually Jess tricks him and pretends to be about to kiss me but then veers suddenly over and plants one on Reed, who loses it and laughs SO hard.  

He is so fun and loving, but his feisty side has been showing lately too.  ;)  He has quite the little screech when he wants to, although thankfully most of his (nearly)three year old tantrums are silent and just involve him slumping to the ground and stubbornly arching his back to slip free when you try to lift him up.  He's also perfected his angry stomp.  He crosses his arms and puffs up his lips and literally stomps away.  When he's feeling sad or disappointed if you deny him something he wants, he does the super exaggerated sad Charlie Brown walk away.  Nice and slow so you have plenty of time to change your mind, just in case the guilt overcomes you.  ;)

 He is always so grateful when you give him something or do something for him.  He says "thank you" in the most genuine way.  It sounds more like "baytoo".  I probably hear "Baytoo mommy" or "baytoo Neenee", or whoever else he's thanking, a dozen or more times a day.   He's especially thankful for treats.  :)

He was the quickest to do everything physical, and is the latest talker in the family, although he's known how to say a TON for a loooong time now, and just preferred not to.  For one he liked chattering away in his own language, but he also is a quiet, thoughtful guy.  Loves to gaze out the window on long drives and you can tell some serious daydreaming is going on.  He's picking up a lot of stuff lately though and suddenly putting words together he wouldn't before.  The kids can ask him to repeat a word or phrase now and he actually LIKES performing for them and watching them all squeal and lose their minds over his cute voice. 

 He is a loveable fellow. 

Reed Stuff

Reed is getting so big.  He's 21 months old already.  He is so much fun, still easily our most active child.  Always busy with something.

For a while he did these trust falls and it was funny but it scared me.  We had a sofa under the window in the living room.  He'd climb up and stand on the TOP of the back of it, and I'd rush to sit next to him because it made me nervous.  He would stand there, pretending to gaze out the window, and then suddenly lean back and let himself fall backward, his body stiff and straight, just bravely assuming I would catch him even with no warning.  Of course I did every time, but still.  Thankfully he hasn't done those in a long time.

He likes to call for Jess.  He'll just yell out "Daaaaaaa!" and wait for him to appear.  :)  He also likes to help him.  We've been working on a slow, tedious job out back.  We removed the outdoor carpeting a couple of years ago and it left hideous glue and mortar all over the concrete.  We're gradually chipping away at it.  Reed will help for like ten minutes at a time, just quietly working away.

He loves his siblings and they love him too.  One day Grama was over and Neely let Reed get away with something (I can't remember what it was) and Grama asked "Neely do you always give Reed everything he wants?" and she said "Well he's our baby" in that "well YEAH, obviously" tone.

 At bedtime he makes the rounds, giving them each a big smooch.  You can tell he knows his kisses are high-value around here.  He smiles, all confident in how happy he knows he's making them.  Haha. 

When he's hanging out with them in one room, and one of them does something he thinks is funny, or sometimes if something funny happens on their show, he comes running to "tell" us about it.  It's so cute, he's speaking gibberish but you can just tell from the look on his face he doesn't want you to have missed out on whatever he found hilarious.

He also loves his good girls...

 ...and they know he's their guy when they're wanting a snack.

There are three shows Reed LOVES-Tumble Leaf, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Bubble Guppies.  When we put one on and the theme song starts he gets so excited.  He'll get in your face, with his inches from yours, looking into your eyes, and yell "GABBA" or "BUBBA" in this funny hoarse voice.  Cracks us up.

He also likes to be read to, especially a few favorite books-two are about farms, and one is "Goodnight, Forest Friends".  He likes to stay on the bird page, and point out the birds, the tree, and the moon.  He'll also do the same thing he does at the start of his favorite shows, if he doesn't think you're as excited about it as he is, and grab your cheeks and make you look into his eyes while he says "Bird", or whatever is on the particular page he's interested in at the moment.  He did it to Cason the other day, and I wasn't quick enough to catch it while he had both hands on Cason's cheeks, but here's a moment just after.

 He loves birds in real life too.  He gets so excited when he sees them and yells "Burd" and tries to chase them.  Once they've flown away he'll say "Bye bye burd".

He loves to be outside.  Playing with dirt...

...or water...

 ...or being pushed on his "bike"...

  ...and pretending to fall, so you can help him back up.

 His favorite games outside involve throwing our stuff in the bushes or over the wall.  We've probably lost a lot of things we don't realize are gone yet.  Ha.  Then he waits while we go retrieve it, so he can throw it again.

 He is still a cuddly boy, but usually just for a few moments before he's off busy with something again.

 He takes a cute selfie.

 For a long while there, when he got upset with me he'd throw a silent tantrum.  He'd run away from me angrily and throw himself to the ground, and then just lie there looking mad but making no sound.  Those days are gone though.  NOW, his tantrums are far from silent.  Instead he balls up his fists, and screams the highest pitched, loudest pterodactyl screech he can produce.  It's crazy.  You can watch Jess's blood pressure skyrocket as it's happening.  You almost wouldn't believe this boy could do such a thing.  ;)

PUPPY!!

I've wanted a second rottweiler for a LONG time.  We kept waiting, thinking we'd get Paige a cat first so the puppy would grow up around cats and avoid any problems there.  In (I think) February, we brought a kitten home.  The kids named her Cookiedough Susan.  :)  Unfortunately, half our family started sneezing.  Paige swears SHE is not allergic, but it's wishful thinking that has her convinced it was a coincidence that she started sneezing and her eyes were itchy.  ;)  After a tough weekend of struggling with what to do, we returned Cookiedough Susan.  It was hard on us and on Paige, but with promises of a puppy we got through it. 

Soooo I started talking to our breeder.  Several years ago we went to a show and she had a female with her named Flirt.  I LOVED that girl, and kind of kept my eye on her.  A couple of years later she had a litter and I came across one of the puppy's pictures online.  His name was Pilot and I immediately wanted him.  He was Wendi's pick(the breeder) and not surprisingly, since she's a wizard when it comes to breeding and picking rottweilers, he ended up becoming the number one rottweiler in the country, and was for a few years, before she retired him from conformation this year.  This is Pilot:

 Here is his Westminster picture(haha!)

Anyway, she had two litters in mind for a puppy for us, one was out of Pilot, and the other was out of one of Pilot's sons-Dante.  Dante is a 

handsome fellow too, and apparently has Pilot's awesome personality.

I was pretty tempted to go with the Pilot litter, but for a few reasons we ended up going with the litter of Pilot GRANDbabies.  The parents are Dante and Tessa.  They are both in Northern California, so I haven't met them, but have talked to both owners and seen pictures.

Dante:

 

Tessa, the mama, is also beautiful, with pretty, sweet eyes.  She's big, about 100 pounds.  (Gia is only 75-80 pounds)  I'm told she is very laid-back, calm, and sweet.  Sounds like Gia.

 

The puppies were due in early March, so we had a few months of waiting ahead of us.  Waiting isn't my strong point.  Ha.  The kids and I had a paper chain countdown for our puppy.  We also went back and forth a few times from boy to girl.  We ended up deciding on a girl, and one day in the future we'll get a little boy.  Jess and I flew to San Francisco and met Wendi at a dog show to pick Gia up when she was a puppy.  I looked into doing that again, but it was going to cost a ridiculous amount of money.  I was nervous about it, but we ended up having her flown to Vegas, and Tyra, Paige, and I picked her up on May 9th.  We were so excited!  

The night before we took the kids to the store to get things we needed-a crate and food of course, but also lots of toys.  They were VERY cute about choosing the perfect toys.

We went to Cason's baseball game in the morning and Tyra, Paige and I left from there.  When we got there, she was in her little kennel, and thankfully looked perfectly calm and happy.  No sign of her having been stressed out on the flight.

She was so good for the drive.

Paige and I fought over holding her, and Tyra drove us home.

 

She really liked the bunny we got her.

We made a few stops in Vegas, and Jess kept texting us to hurry up and get home.  Ha!  They were so excited to meet her.  

 

 This is blurry but I love Reed's face.

Gia was so happy to meet her, wagging her nub of a tail, and frolicking around in the grass with her.

She was less excited the next day when she realized the puppy was staying, and that sometimes she'd want to play whether or not Gia was in the mood.  Ha.  Gia had barked only a handful of times in her life prior to us bringing the puppy home, and now she barks that many times a day, in annoyance at her new sister.  :)  She loves her though, and is very patient with her.  They even play once in a while, but it never lasts long, since Gia is a tired old lady.  

I saw the sun rise more in the first couple of weeks of having her than I had in all my life before, combined.  Ha.  

That's okay-she's a cute little early bird.

We named her Mavis.  You can tell it's one of those names people either love or hate.  (or apparently have never heard before).  I've loved the name since I was like 8 years old, and learned to type with a computer program my dad had, called Mavis Beacon teaches typing.  (85 wpm at like 9 years old, not to brag.  Haha!) My love for the name was rekindled when Hotel Transylvania came out.  The kids were happy about the name for that reason.  So I guess she's sort of named after Dracula's daughter.  :)  It seems appropriate, now that we know her.  I call her my fruit bat sometimes.

If you haven't seen the movie, Mavis turns into a bat sometimes.  OUR Mavis also has a sort of bat shaped marking on her bootie.  :)

Mavis got sick a few days after we got her and I was pretty scared it was parvo.  Thankfully after fluids and antibiotics she was feeling MUCH better a day later. 

We had a hard couple of weeks with all the puppy biting, and the kids pretty much lived perched on top of the couch where she couldn't reach them.  Thank goodness that is mostly gone and she's overall a very calm puppy.  Just has a couple of bouts of craziness a day and occasionally forgets the rules.  :)

 Reed is hilarious with her.  The other kids squeal and run when she gets like that, which is exactly the opposite of what they should do.  Reed tells her "NO" or "Uhuh" and then freezes, holding perfectly still so she gets bored, and looking away from her so she learns it won't get her any attention.  He loves her, and calls her "May-muh" and sometimes "May May" which a lot of us seem do now too.  He also calls her "good guh" like Gia.  Gia still gets plenty of his attention, especially when Mavis is in an obnoxious mood.  

He gets frustrated when he tries to play with her toys and she thinks it's tug-of-war time. 

Mavis is a good girl like Gia.

She loves belly rubs.

...naps...

...car rides...

...and Gia.

 

One of my favorite things about rottweilers is how attached they are to their people.  They're really confident and stable, not the type to get anxious about separation, but if you're around, they want to be near you.   Mavis has proven to be typical in that way.  If I'm cooking or doing dishes she sleeps on the kitchen floor.  If I move to a different room she follows and plops down nearby.  If we're at the table, she's under it.

She goes somewhere with us just about every day.  We've been teased about that, but it's actually really important, especially with dogs like rottweilers that people are afraid of.  There are certain windows when you NEED to socialize them with different people and animals, and just get them used to weird things so they won't freak out as adults when they come across something new and different.  Some days it's her puppy class so she gets to be around other puppies and people.  Other days it's just a ride through a drive-thru with us, or the carwash.  She thought that was weird, but didn't mind, especially after getting lots of treats.  :)

She has a great personality, sweet and playful but overall calm(verging on lazy).  We love her.  She's growing so fast.  Her puppy breath and a lot of her super soft puppy coat are gone already.  :(  She weighs about as much as Reed does now, and it won't be long before she's bigger than all of them.