Wadee

No matter where he is in the house, when Dash hears me open the laundry closet, he comes tearing around the corner and down the hall to the laundry area yelling "Wa-dee! Wa-dee!" (wa-dee being his word for water).  He loves to watch the window on the washer as it fills with water and he also loves to push the buttons on the washing machine.  I'm working on teaching him to be helpful in putting clothes into the washer or transferring them to the dryer, but so far, he is much more interested in pushing the buttons on the machine to get the 'wa-dee' to start coming in.



Trying to get in with the wadee

Clean

You know what never gets cleaned around here?  My car. I really like having a clean car but with two kids who frequently eat snacks on the go, smear muddy shoes on seats as they climb in, and bring home glitter-shedding craft projects, my car is pretty much always a mess these days.  On the list of things that need to get done to make our household run, though, cleaning out the car or even just washing the outside is about at the bottom.

So for Mother's Day, one of my gifts was a complete detailing of my car by our friend K's company. K and his truck come to my house and detail every inch of my car inside and out. Josh set up the appointment, took out all the extraneous stuff from my car (no small job), and arranged his own schedule so that he took the bus to work, leaving me his car for the rest of the day so I didn't have to put the carseats back into mine after K was done.  This was pretty much the perfect present for me.

Last Day of School

Friday was the last day of school at Ella's preschool.  This is her second year at Beth El Preschool and we have just been so happy there, both from our perspective as parents and clearly from her perspective as a student.  It's a small school, only four classrooms, and it just radiates warmth and creativity and free expression and kindness.

I took a picture of Ella on her first day back in the fall and then again today.  I can see in the photos how much she has grown and changed in the past year.  I don't see it day to day or even month to month as much now that she isn't a baby, but she is clearly so much taller, leaner, and just more kid-like now than she was back in September. These pictures make me smile, too, because so clearly some things never change - our favorite dresses are still by Tea and her hair, well, it's still just crazy.

First day in Early Preschool, Fall 2011

Last Day in Early Preschool, Spring 2012

A few weeks before school was finished for the year, Ella told me that there was going to be an End of the Year "Ice Cream Social Party".  She was super excited although pretty unsure on the actual logistics. 

Me:  What will we do at the ice cream social? 
Ella:  Ice cream social PARTY.
Me:  OK, what will we do at the ice cream social party?  Will we eat ice cream?
Ella: <wide-eyed with wonder> I don't know!  Do you think we will?

The last week came along all too quickly and all of us parents showed up to the ice cream social PARTY to enjoy, yes, ice cream, and an adorable performance of the childrens' favorite songs from the school year.  If you haven't seen 12 four year-olds wiggling and giggling and pretending to be boa constrictors, well, you are missing out.  It was funny and sweet and adorable and just made my heart so full that Ella has been in a classroom full of such love and joy all year.  As one mom said, these kids are just plain buddies.  As an end of the year gift for the teachers, I had photobooks printed filled with photos of each of the kids with quotes from them about their favorite things about the school year (best quote "We almost every single day have different kinds of crackers!") and with many pictures of the class in action that one of the teachers took throughout the year.  As the teachers unwrapped the books, the kids swarmed around them and proceeded to pore over the books in a giant heap on the classroom floor.  I invited parents to order their own copies as well, and Ella has been reading hers in bed every night since it arrived.  It's just precious to see - it takes me back to the hours I spent with my high school yearbook at the end of my senior year of high school and that feeling of reliving the fun through the pictures and stories.

 The classroom always has awesome art and projects by the kids on the walls, the windows, and hanging from the ceiling.  Here's the butterfly garden on the ceiling from the last week of school.

 Ella and some pals singing their favorite songs from the year
at the end of the year "Ice Cream Social Party"

She's a wily one

Tonight at bedtime, Ella, Josh, and I were discussing the furniture in her room.  We had determined that she needed a bedside table with a lamp and a place to put her water cup, her books, and the other things she likes to have nearby at night.  I was thinking out loud about how we could arrange her room so that she could have a table next to her bed, and I was saying that I didn't know how much space she'd have to play if we moved her bed to another spot with more room for a table.  Ella looked at us and said "Well, you could, you know, just get me a bigger room?"  I laughed thinking she meant we needed a bigger house and she, very seriously, with her head cocked to the side in her oh-so-Ella way, said "You know, you could take this room and I could, you know..." and she subtly pointed downstairs, clearly implying we should (obviously) move her into the master suite and move ourselves upstairs to her little room.  She's a wily one, that Ella.  She made it seem like SUCH the obvious solution to our problem.