Monday, July 2, 2012

Big stuff: Seren edition

I am not going to berate myself that it has been nearly two months since my last post. I'm not going to sit here and list the excuses for why I haven't posted. I may not even try to explain what is going on but simply, I'll restart. I'll do a 'big stuff' list for each of us and see where that goes.

Big Stuff: Bike Riding!
Seren can now ride a two wheel bike! Two weekends ago I spent a good 45 minutes pushing her up and down our street. Sweating. She would barely go one rotation before leaning one way or the other. She didn't get frustrated and was the one suggesting we take off the training wheels. So we went up and down. Down and up.  It is a milestone. A rite of passage for parents, isn't it? It is quintessential.  This Friday we all went on a family walk.  We had a blast just strolling along. Wyeth was on his big boy bike that he got from Santa but insisted that one of us parent folk hold on to his handle bars. For security. Bent over back number 1. The other parent held the seat of Seren's bike. Sweating. But at one point she basically crossed the street and rode for about 3 or 4 sidewalk sections! CLOSE!

Saturday morning at 9 am we all went to a local school to practice. And it was like magic. I literally pushed her on her bike and off she went. Just like that. Like watching a magic trick! And her face! Oh her proud little face! It almost made me teary! She was THRILLED! And she went round and round and round. Meanwhile we are yelling and cheering her on at the top of our lungs. So proud.

The metaphor of teaching someone to ride a bike wasn't lost on me. As parents, all of our work is to prepare them for independence. Potty. Beds. Self feeding. Sleeping through the night. And pushing that bike that last time with my hand on her seat and giving her a firm, strong push and then watching her sail with independence? Man. Gulp. That is what it is, isn't it? Parenting is teaching our children how to confidently go through life without us.

Ride a bike? Check. Check.




Big Stuff: Loosing teeth

Seren has now lost 6 teeth and has the classic first grade smile. She looks like a vampire. Or a hockey player.  The tooth fairy was very very busy. One day she lost two teeth! The first front tooth hung on forever! It was disgusting. At dinner one night during the typical sobs we asked her if Dad could just pull it out. Yup she said. With a tiny tiny pull, it was out. She was all smiles. "oh! That didn't hurt at all! And now it is gone!! Yeah!!"  Then about 20 seconds later she tasted blood. And the crying and snot that ensued! Amazing. She started to BAWL. Tears were flowing. Then the snot from the nose. And then the drool. Heaven forbid she spit or swallow. Then Wyeth started to cry out of sympathy. We taught her to spit and then got a bit of paper for the 'bleeding'.  Once that was done we sat back down, looked at our dinners and said, "Done."

She has about 1001 questions about the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy usually gives a small gift and/or sometimes a dollar bill.  "Mom, does the tooth fairy have elves like Santa? I mean how does she make all of those toys? She can't have elves, right? No, that doesn't make sense. But then how does she do it? Just buy it? I've looked and there aren't price tags. So she can't just buy it at the store. But how does she even fly with that stuff? I mean, she is little. So she can't like FLY with a book. How could she do that? Well, she must use her wand then. That has to be how she does it. She just says "alla cadabra, dippity do, make something for Seren, who-who-who." And ta-da, that is how it gets here. Right mom, is that right? I'm going to ask Grandma."

Hmm. Right. That sounds about right.




Big Stuff: Graduating Kindergarten
From our perspective, we are nothing but relieved. Everyday we sent her there felt like the wrong mistake. She loved it, of course. She was excited to tell us of her teachers, the videos she watched, the subs she had. But us? We hated it. Every single thing about it. The teachers also went on strike again. They started June 4th. JUNE 4th.I agree with the teachers and support their right to strike 100%. But as a result, the year officially ended June 27th. JUNE 27TH! So our last day was the 22nd because the last three days of a morning kindergarten were 'half days'. That would be from 9 am until 10:20. Ridiculous! They had a very small, sweet, sweaty celebration in the gym that we proudly attended.  She was very happy.  And we were very glad that the year was behind us. No sign of White Meat, by the way.

Seren has some camps to go to this summer. Two camps. The rest will be filled with our trip to Cape Cod, our trip to Michigan, day trips, our trip to Baltimore and Daddy Camp. She is very happy to be home. She is very happy to ride her bike and she is just happy to be Seren.

(Pics to be added when I can download them properly).