First Day of School 2011

School started without a hitch and Ayla couldn't have been more excited. After watching two older siblings get to ride the bus and go to school for years, the anticipation was tangible. She loves saying goodbye to Elsie and having Elsie miss her. It means that she is the big sister and getting to do something not everyone gets to do. It made me laugh so hard the first day of school when Ayla came running home from the bus stop. I could see and feel the Joy emanating from her smile and her walk/run/bounce as she came to tell me all about the bus ride and her first day of Kindergarten.

The picture of her brought such tears to my eyes as I processed it because she is so beautiful to me. I love her spirit and will miss her so much this year. She brings so much peace and joy to our home, and it is lovely how we all adore her so and can't help but laugh when she is around.

Oh, I love all of my kids but it sure was time for Sienna and Hunter to go back to school and have some separation for each other and from me. Structure is a very good thing around here and the schedule has already been a wonderful welcome addition to the last week.

As a side note: If you haven't seen the new Winnie the Pooh(oh how I love A.A. Milne for writing of such wonderful characters) then you should do it. We all laughed about it for days afterwards and my kids play "Bakson"(Owls version of "Back soon" that turns into a horrendous monster that steals your socks and messes up all your books, ect.) all the time. And we loved it when Piglet said that he can not knot and everyone was so excited that he could Knot Knot. You have to see it.

Ayla, And her year of being Four.

Ayla. Her name makes me smile and so does her laugh. I just have to think of her and I smile, involuntarily. She makes me happy and almost always has.

She turned Five yesterday. I have been telling her since she turned four that she Can NOT turn five, it was forbidden. But, she went ahead and did it anyway. It makes me sad/happy to see her grow up. I am sad for her to be five because it means that next year she will be in full day kindergarten and I will miss her, oh so much. She is getting so tall and her hair is growing long and she doesn't look like my little, itty, bitty bug any longer. It makes me happy that she has learned some some self control and that she knows just when she needs a nap and that she will take it, even if it is in the middle of the kitchen floor, while friends are over.

This last year of her being four has been the year of the bumps. She has had the chicken pox and Molluscum Contagiosum. It sounds awful doesn't it. Well it hasn't been as contagious as it sounds but it has been since last April or so that we first noticed them and they will not go away. The dermatologist has given us a special topical to put on with a toothpick it is so potent and even though it hurts her badly, she still asks us to put it on her "bumps". When someone else notices them on her leg or arms, she says, it's okay, those are just my bumps. She is so nonchalant about them and they are just a part of who she is right now. I love her acceptance.

This year has also been about preschool, Dora the Explorer, Lanie- her American Girl Doll, playing with Natalie Asay, cinnamon apples, and gymnastics.

She has taught me so much about going with the flow, being comfortable with who you are, forgiveness, acceptance, happiness, and playfulness. “A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.” Ayla completely exemplifies this quote for me. She is an amazing person and I feel honored to be her mother. I love you little Ayla Bug.

Sienna's first missing tooth

Sienna lost her first tooth! She was so excited. We played with my new phone to take pictures and Ayla wanted to show her teeth too. It is so fun to be excited but such simple things.

Chicken Pox Continued

We are often saying how funny Ayla is. I don't think it is something you can quite explain, but once you meet her you understand that she is just not quite like anyone else. She is wierd, in a good way. She is such a happy person and is almost always laughing or making others laugh. Here is her most recent funny joke. She was trying to look sick for her Chicken pox photos and I would say she pulled it off, wouldn't you?

I promise that I do feed her. I love her too much not to.

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

You know you are a mother when...

You have to cancel your day, your week because you notice that some little person has these covering their tiny body. And your heart hurts for them.

Chicken Pox. It is in the midst of moments like these that it hits me that I am a mother. And that even though I would do anything for her to not have to go through this, there is nothing I can do to prevent it. It is a right of passage. For Ayla as a child. For me as a mother. We have to experience the chicken pox whether we like it or not.

Ayla has been such a good sport about it and has not complained. She has a much milder case than I had when I was 6 or 7 and probably the most miserable I have been in life. She hasn't had a fever, and has not scratched purposefully. If she accidently touches one of the pox then she gets the sadest face and voice as she says worriedly, "I scratched one!" When we assure her it will be alright then she goes on playing.

It was Monday morning when I was comforting her that I noticed one on her face, then her neck and instictively I lifted up her shirt. Her stomach was speckled with them. I knew instantly what they were and had to tell Angie that I wouldn't be able to go to the Y and that she probably shouldn't come over with Skylar to do our Photo assignment that was due Tuesday. I also had to let the sister that was coming for a VT interview know. The nurse I talked to told me that it was probably not chicken pox since Ayla had been vaccinated, but I knew that it was. They are pretty unmistakable.

Well, Angie was fine with the chance of Skyzie getting them and so she came anyway. Thank you, Angie. It was so much fun to do the assignment together and to use you as my model. And Ayla was much happier to play with Skylar than boring, old me. And you are much easier to photograph than wriggly kids.

So far none of the other kids have gotten it, but Sienna had to miss gymnastics on Tuesday and I had to arrange for Hunter to go to the Blue and Gold Scout Banquet with some friends since Brent had to stay home with the quarantined and I had to go to a yoga class for my upcoming teacher training and my photo class. It turned out that after all the phone calls I made to the scout leaders and friends, and all the talks with Hunter apologizing, and me feeling guilty about missing his thing, the banquet isn't until next week. Which is a good thing but also very frustrating at the lack of organization. It was a crazy Tuesday.