Every night, this incredibly needy dog wants his face as close to mine as he can possibly get.
On Monday, our sweet little baby turned 8 years old! Time flies and we have a big kid! I didn’t mean to pump him full of sugar, but it was a day of treats! I asked what he wanted for a special birthday breakfast and he said chocolate croissants. We made a quick run to Bread & Chocolate for exceptional pastries to start the day! On Sunday night, I went went to Kowalski’s for sushi to pack in his lunch, and they have such beautiful tiny desserts. I bought chocolate dipped brownies for both boys as a fun lunch surprise. I had NOT realized that we were sending birthday treats for his class. That was not allowed at our old school, so when Xander casually mentioned that he was bringing treats on Sunday night, I was like, “wait, what now?” I quickly emailed his teacher for clarification and bless her heart for responding within minutes on a Sunday night! “No allergies! 20 kids in class.” Ok. Luckily I had made “worms and dirt” macarons earlier in the week- without actually having a plan for them, so I sent those and all was well.
For dinner, Xander requested Dominos pizza and a french silk pie. At that point in the day, I was afraid his day of treats was going to make him sick, but he was happy as could be. 8 years old!
Gussie is the most handsome 6 year old I’ve ever seen and his teeth are popping out nonstop. This is the face of a dude who is going to use this kindergarten year to learn how to sit still, which is proving to be the hardest part of school thus far. He’s so smart- he’s reading 4-5 word sentences/page books every night. He is curious and creative and so bright. But his body moves nonstop, sometimes without any connection to his brain. He is so so wiggly. And so he’s had a few tough days as he adjusts to the demands of sitting on the carpet without flipping, standing on his head, spinning, or turtling his entire body into his shirt.
On Thursday night, Nate took Xander to swim team practice and Gussie and I stayed at home. He wasn’t in a great mood during dinner and was not prepared to go swim for an hour. I managed to get him calmed down and after eating a quesadilla on the couch and snuggling for a bit, we talked about his day at school and how challenging it is to sit still. I am determined to help him figure out how to succeed in school without breaking his spirit. Luckily his teacher is really great and I think we will be able to partner to help him harness that energy.
Friday was cold and rainy and everyone was tired. So we had special dinner on the couch/family movie night. We wanted “Little Giants” from 1994 and the boys belly-laughed through the whole movie. It was so fun. Afterwards, we did showers, bedtime reading and had the boys in bed (and asleep) by 7:30!
After early bedtime on Friday night, we were refreshed and ready for a fun day on Saturday. Camp St. Croix had a Harvest Festival event. I thought we would be there for an hour- I figured we’d put in an appearance, grab a snack and head home. The boys were feeling very so so about going. So my expectations were low.
We had the BEST time. We were there for almost 4 hours and could have stayed longer except that I was freezing cold and couldn’t be outside any longer. We did all the autumn things. We haven’t been to a corn pit since they were toddlers and I didn’t think they would even want to go in it, but they were obsessed. I had to drag them out! We held chickens. They learned to lasso. We took a hay ride. We climbed on tractors. They played gaga. We made out own pizza. We got giant donuts. We drank hot chocolate and hot apple cider. We had so much fun!
On our way home, I got a text from my neighbor Melissa inviting me to “ladies sauna night” next door. Her timing couldn’t have been better- I was frozen to the bone! It was the perfect way to end a very fun day.
Today has been another beautiful fall day outside. We invited Xander’s class for a birthday playdate in the park. Low key- just cupcakes and hot apple cider (a last minute addition after really enjoying it the day before at the Harvest Fest) and playing. It was really nice to meet lots of parents and see the kids he’s been talking about. He smiled and played the whole time. The weather cooperated and it was sunny and warm. At one point, we watched as about 10 little boys ran wild with giant sticks in their hands. I was 100% prepared for the birthday party to end in tears, but somehow, they continued their “Lord of the Flies” esque game for a long time and no one cried, got mad or got smacked in the head. It was fun to watch them be creative and a little feral. It was a very fun day and I was happy to see him with his new classmates.
We’ve got a normal week ahead.