Best compliment ever

At home, Dash is still testing his limits (and our patience) on a daily, no hourly, basis.  But today I got the best compliment ever from his preschool teacher which made me feel a little less anxious about whether I am doing anything right in raising a little boy.

His teacher pulled me aside this morning and said that she had been wanting to ask me what we do at home with Dash to make him such a thoughtful and empathetic child.  She said that his level of engagement about people's feelings and expressing his feelings to others is off the charts for a boy who isn't even yet 3.  She gave me two examples.

First, she said that he was walking down the hall with one of the PreK teachers last week (who he knows pretty well, both since it is a little school and she used to be Ella's teacher) and he looked up at her and said "This is such a treat."  The teacher looked around for a plate of cookies or something else that might be a treat to a two-year old and then said "What do you mean?"  And he apparently just looked at her happily and said "Walking with you is such a treat!" Heart. Melt. (The teacher's and mine when I heard the story).

The second example was that Dash's teacher had been out sick and she told me that when she came back on Wednesday this week, Dash came up to her in the middle of free play and said "I am so glad you are back here with us and that you are feeling better."  She said that she knows very small children have those types of feelings for others, but said that in her experience, very few two-year-olds are able to articulate them the way that Dash does.

So he might be a crazy, jumping, fork throwing, Ella's-block-castle-destroying two-year old at home, but at least he is showing kindness to others out in the world.  Which is kind of all Josh and I really want for our kids in the end.  To be nice, happy people. 

Fierce.  But oh so sweet, too.

"Wacky" Day

Today was Wacky Day at Ella's school.  Her chosen outfit is really only a shade different from her usual sartorial choices.  In fact, she looked in the mirror after she was dressed and said "I really look more pretty than wacky."

You've Got Mail

I got home from a business trip on Wednesday night after the kids were asleep and I found this piece of mail waiting for me on my bedside table.

Nicely addressed on the outside...

Super sweet message on the inside

Poet

Friday night.  Long week of business travel by Josh behind us.  Long week of business travel by me ahead of us.  All I want is to enjoy this one night at home, sitting on the couch with Josh and watching Top Chef.   But after we've already tucked her into bed, Ella is clearly feeling the poetry spirit up in her room, and she continues to come downstairs every five minutes with a new poem that she has just written and just has to share with us. 

Me (to Josh):  At what point do you tell your kid just to go to bed and stop writing poetry?

Josh:  Never.

And so it went on.  Here's my favorite from the night:

The costume. Still.

For those of you who have been following the riveting saga of Dash's Halloween costume (here and here), we've had a new development, this one clearly in the favor of me not winning on the Halloween front.

Last night we were invited to a casual dinner party with a few close friends and neighbors, and the hostess suggested that the kids were Halloween costumes.  Great idea!  Let's amortize those expensive outfits, right? 

But then Josh pointed out that we were having a chili for dinner which could end very poorly for Dash's white, faux fur Max costume.  So we convinced him that he should wear an old Fire Chief costume which has been living under Ella's bed for at least 2 years.  He ended up quite enjoying being the Fire Chief, maybe too much, because this morning he told me that on Halloween he is going to be a Fire Chief and not Max.  

Sigh.

First Field Trip

Ella's class took their first field trip last week, and my mom and Josh went along as chaperones.  It was a field trip unlike any I ever took as a kid.  Her school is located on Ninth Street, one of the main streets in our town, and so all of the kindergarten classes walked up the street a few blocks to catch the city bus that connects the major areas around downtown called the Bull City Connector.  They all got on (apparently blowing the minds of the other riders as the gaggle of little kids kept piling on and on and on) and rode across town as practice for future trips when they will take the city bus to actual destinations.  They got off at one of the plazas downtown where they had lunch and posed by the giant bull statue and then piled back on to ride back to Ninth Street.  During the walk back to the school, they stopped to listen to the street musicians set up on the street.  The bongo-playing guy was very popular.

Here is Ella's book that she made when she got home that day of her adventures:

In her own words:  "Ella's fild tirp. Bull City Conector."  I know someday she'll learn how to spell everything correctly but I love when she uses her own phonetic spelling these days.  

Ella and Mimi holding hands on the way to the bus.

 The Bull City Connector.  Which is indeed painted a bright yellow and orange.

The bull statue downtown (who maybe looks a little chicken-like and is maybe 

missing a few crucial pieces of bull anatomy but, hey, not bad)

The street musician playing his bongos.  Boom boom!

Big slide

When did this little guy get big enough for the big slide?