Summer is Over!

Well it's that time of year again when summer officially has come to an end.   J and I had a great summer.  We swam, spent time with friends and family, went to Colorado, the zoo, and many other things.   We have had a lot of fun this summer.   Today was the first day back for daycare and work.


I'll be honest, the summer hasn't been easy.  Age 3 is proving to be a bigger challenge than I ever thought possible and there are days I did not think we were going to make it.   My daughter can throw a tantrum like no other and because her language is ver well developed she can also argue quite well. In fact there are days I forget she just turned 3.   I wouldn't mind the tantrums if she would stop doing something dangerous at the same time.  Throwing herself off high places, climbing out of shopping carts, and flinging herself at people.  It's harder to ignore when you have to worry about safety.

Over the summer J had tubes put in her ears and now can hear so much better.  Neither of us have been sick (well except for a couple days when I had food poisoning).  She is doing things more and more on her own, even if she can't really accomplish it she tries.   She tries to tread water and scares everyone in the pool, its her happy place.   I love watching her in the pool.  She is 100% convinced she has a pink birthday coming up and has been very persistent in planning it.   Still loves animals and talks about riding a horse daily.

I love watching her grown and try things.   J is still very attached to me, but she is getting more independent more often and loves adventure.  We even went down a mountain slide this summer.  When we finished she told grandma "We made it".   Now she's trying out gymnastics and dance classes at the local Y and it's interesting to see her in there.   She cannot sit still at all.  It will be interesting to see if this continues or she outgrows it.  I'm guessing when she reaches school age, I will be in a lot of meetings with teachers.

It amazes me everyday how much she has grown and how far she's come.  Those NICU days seem

like a dream more than reality.   This summer she finally made it to 30lbs and I'm pretty sure she has grown another inch since June.

We even had our first time away from each other.   I got to go to a Leadership summit and it's the longest we have been away from each other.   It was rough some nights when I talked to her, but we both survived and so did the grandparents.  :-)  

My hope for this year is that she continues to learn, get fully potty trained (that's a whole other issue), and has more fun with my students.  I'm hoping this year she won't be so attached when we are at school.   We may struggle some days and our finances may be totally messed up, but I wouldn't trade her for the world.