Ch Ch Changes

My baby girl is leaving me. It's been a dream, really, to get nine whole hours to myself each week (well, seven and a half if you count travel time) and I have big, BIG plans for those hours. But now that we've begun, my house seems awfully quiet. I suppose it doesn't help that unlike her big brother, Natalie might actually choose to stay with me. Wyatt's been a never-look-back kind of kid since his very first day of preschool three years ago. If I can find a fun place for him to go and he gets to go without me, he's all in every time. But Natalie? Well, she's different. She actually likes me most of the time and quite often professes that I'm her best friend (I think my days are probably numbered) and whereas Wyatt's a constant challenge to me, Natalie's a bit of a balm to my heart. I love them both so much, but so differently. So when Wyatt took off for kindergarten last week (and took off is the only way I can describe it), I was just thrilled for him. He's been ready and he loves it so much. I love seeing his enthusiasm for school and all new things. He has a bravery that I admire. But when Natalie looked at me yesterday morning and said she didn't really want to go to school, there was a small part of me that thought, "well, then, let's just not go." Nat's coming into her own; the time that I've been waiting for when she's the one with school friends, lessons and her own fun that doesn't revolve around Wyatt's stuff. And let's face it, Natalie's the baby of this house and if the baby is getting so grown up, well, life is moving pretty fast.

Proof:

Excited to pose like her brother did, but had to pick a few different spots to make sure it was perfect.

all out of smiles, there's work to be done with this play-doh!

In other school-related news, we're getting into a homework groove that seems to be working for all of us. Wyatt has only fought me on it one day and I was able to persuade him to finish by offering a chocolate chip for each section he completed. Four chocolate chips later, he was done. Thought I'd catch him in the act yesterday since he was smiling while he did his homework. Dear God, please let school always (or at least usually) make him this happy.

 Natalie has decided she needs homework, too, so we've gotten out a preschool workbook that Wyatt was never too interested in. She loves it and yesterday her brother taught her how to write an 'N' for Natalie. She has now autographed many, many pages of that workbook. Look how proud she is in that picture above! Also yesterday, Natalie got to go to her first gymnastics lesson. She was SO excited and I thought maybe it would be fun to snap a picture of her in her leotard and workout shorts (seriously, little girl clothes that are miniatures of mine make me disproportionately happy). You need to know that all I said was, "should we take your picture?" She dashed out to this tree, struck this pose and said, "I'm ready!" Yes indeed, Natalie, you're ready for cheerleading pictures in the 8th grade with that one.

And finally, little miss had to take one more opportunity to show me how big she's getting by riding her bike without training wheels. We've been encouraging her to try for a while, but she's been really comfortable on her strider and trike and fairly uninterested. With a little encouragement from one of our favorite babysitters the other day, she gave it a try. Encouraged by our excitement and her success, she's been willing to practice a bit each day. Yesterday was it. She rode the length of the cul-de-sac, around the loop, and back up with out me holding on. When we went out again last night, she was all over the place. Daddy has promised to paint her hand-me-down bike purple and pink when she learns how to ride, so I think we have to go get some spray paint this weekend.