Lexi - Junior Kindergarten

Dear Lexi,

Last week, you began your full-time school journey. On Wednesday, we went for a one-hour ‘meet the teacher’ sessions, where we got to see your new cubby, explore your new classroom, play at some of thestations set up, and get to chat with your teachers a little bit. We already knew your teachers of course, because they were Mercedes’ teachers last year. Which I am super-thankful for, since they are a FABULOUS team. They are caring and thoughtful and encouraging and place a very high emphasis on fostering independence and outdoor education (making full use of the outdoor classroom, the forests and trails surrounding the school, etc.) You will have an absolute blast with them – Mercedes did, and I know that you will be the same. You were nervous to go for that one hour meeting, but by the end of it you didn’t want to leave! I was happy but still not very optimistic that your first days would be tearless (and I was right).

On Thursday morning, I had to drop you off to the Before School program, which unfortunately was not agreeable to you. Mercedes is also in the program of course, but being two years older she is in a different classroom during Kids Club. The kindergarten students are placed in the actual kindergarten classrooms (your Kids Club class is actually IN your daytime class, which hopefully makes the daily transition a little easier in the long run). However, on Thursday and Friday last week, she had to come and spend time with you in your class to help ease you in (which of course, she relished – she loves beinga helpful big sister). On Thursday (the first day) you came home and said you cried all day and that you were “ZERO excited” to go back the next day, which broke our hearts a bit of course. I know how rough it is to be in a new place, with new teachers, a new routine, new peers… it would be daunting for me, let alone a four year old! But by the end of Day Two, you came home proudly exclaiming that you “had a gooder day today!” and that you had made a new friend and that now you LOVE school.

This morning’s drop-off was still a little tearful, although thankfully I was able to distract you from the idea of Mercedes joining your before-school class again. I have to keep reminding myself that for the entire past year and a half of daycare, you have always been dropped off WITH Holden (likewise, Holden cried for you last week, since he is used to sibling back up as well). It is a big adjustment to be left alone in a new class, on top of all of the other adjustments you are trying to make.

So while it makes me sad, it also warms my heart a bit to see how much you all love each other. I know you fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but fundamentally, I think that the three of you absolutely worship each other. So much so, that we’ve agreed that you and Mercedes can have ‘sleepovers’ in her bed each Friday and Saturday night (no school nights!) – something that you especially seem to love. I am so thankful that you all have each other to lean on.

I am curious to see how your second week of school unfolds, but however long the transition takes, I know that you will thrive in kindergarten, just like Mercedes did. I can’t wait to see it all happen.

Love,

Mama

Mercedes - Grade 1

Dear Mercedes,

Last week marked your first week of Grade 1. We had a rough start to your first day of school – this year, the administration made everyone from Grade 1 and up meet in the yard before the first bell, where we were to look for the right Grade and then find your name on a list to learn who your teacher was. I understand that for many reasons this may have been the best method (there are changes in enrollment right up until the last minute, etc.), but it sure was chaotic. For a sensitive kid like you (and for me too!) it was downright overwhelming. You surprised me with how UN-anxious you were leading up to the start of school though. I remember last year you crying at night for a good week prior to SK starting, and that was when you knew the classroom and the routine and that all of your friends would be with you! This year, we had no idea who your teacher was, where your classroom was, and whether or not your best friends would be with you (sadly, your two best friends are NOT). But you took the uncertainty in stride and while you admitted that you were a ‘bit nervous’ prior to the start of school, not once did you cry or complain. Until of course, the chaos in the schoolyard.

However you persevered, and as you told me later you were totally fine once you walked through those doors. You do have a few friends in your class, and you actually have TWO teachers, both of whom you seem to enjoy. You are very proud of the fact that you have a real desk now, and that there are no ‘toys’ left in the classroom (“just math toys”), and that you get to walk all the way down the hallway by YOURSELF to go to the bathroom (ah the joys of freedom at the age of six!). You love being on the third floor of the school, and after only four days have already seemed to fall into a great groove. This is not surprising to me – you have a true, unbridled love for school and all things learning (doing workbooks on your own time that you force me to buy for you).  You are 100% my daughter. I remember Auntie Kimmy and I begging Bubie to do gifted tests on us for fun on the weekends.

It is thrilling to me to see how engaged and involved you are in your school days – how much fun it all is to you, how you carefully observe everything around you and import it into your daily play with your brother and sister. I have no doubt that this year will be a fantastic one for you – I can’t wait to see what you teach me next.

Love,

Mama

Holden - Senior Preschool

Dear Holden,

You are now officially in the Senior Preschool room! This is the final stop in your daycare journey before you begin Junior Kindergarten next year in the Fall of 2016. It is hard for me to imagine that at this point – the idea of watching you walk through those doors, with your backpack and packed lunch, is a bit panic-inducing. I KNOW you will be fine, as the evidence of your sisters (not to mention countless of other wee ones) before you suggests. But it’s still hard to picture, especially knowing that thanks to your Christmas-Eve arrival you will literally be the very youngest in your class at not even four years old.

But truthfully, you astound me every day with how quickly you are growing and learning and changing before our very eyes. Just this week you lost the ‘mokorcycle’ mispronunciation and say ‘motorcycle’ properly. You produce these elaborate sentences and have such a vivid imagination – ‘reading’ stories and making up ghosts and creatures and the ever-present “Mommy, Lexi hurted me. Lexi hitted my arm!” stories. You have gotten your first haircut (although it wasn’t much of a haircut; I just couldn’t stand to cut off all of your beautiful baby curls), and we are working (slowly!) on potty training. We don’t want to rush you, but we are trying to push the concept as much as possible without traumatizing you (see the afore-mentioned ‘youngest kid in kindergarten’ thing). We have no more baby gates in the house, we’ve just moved your carseat forward facing, and you like walking up and down the stairs on your own. You are still in a crib, but that will come to an end within the next few months (definitely before your third birthday). You love counting and picking out shapes and singing songs and watching movies that are too mature for you.

You still absolutely LOVE trucks and cars and motorcycles and airplanes and trains and helicopters and garbage trucks (i.e. anything that moves), and you adore Lego more than just about any other toy. You worship your sisters, especially Mercedes (likely just because she is significantly older and more mature – Lexi is more like your trouble-making-partner-in-crime).

It is a privilege and an honour to watch you grow older – it’s bittersweet, knowing you are the very last to pass through all of these phases, but we are starting to feel the freedom and flexibility again – we can go places as a family much more easily, you are much more cooperative, and you love being at Bubie and Zaidie’s house for visits or sleepovers. It is hard to believe that you began at Learning Jungle in the infant room (as the only infant!) and that this only occurred a year and a half ago. There has been such a drastic change in you over this time period, but the fundamentals of your personality have remained – you are still sweet and smiley and charming and loveable and snuggly and funny (we call you Class Clown, given how frequently you like trying to make the rest of us laugh). Please don’t change too much, because those qualities are ones I plan to savour forever.

Love,

Mama

Mercedes - SK Graduation

Dear Mercedes,

Yesterday was your final day of Senior Kindergarten, which means the end of a two year journey through the Ontario full-day kindergarten program. And we couldn’t be prouder. I remember you being excited to start Junior Kindergarten, but also quite nervous. You didn’t know anyone, it was a new school with a new routine (no nap!), and meant much more independence (bringing lunch for example). And although there were some tears shed the first few days, you settled in quickly and you THRIVED. You absolutely loved school. There were some tears leading up to the start of Senior Kindergarten as well – you had such a fun summer and had seemed to forget how much you loved school, and you were nervous about having two new teachers and the added responsibility of being an SK. But by the end of the first day, you were right back into your routine, and your circle of friends was complete again.

You have developed some wonderful friendships the past two years, and you have learned so much – it’s pretty astounding to watch. The reading in particular makes me thrilled – I’ve always been an avid reader and writer, and watching you navigate the world of advancing literacy is awe-inspiring. It’s so fascinating seeing how your mind works and the things you remember and how you adapt your new knowledge and skills to the world around you. You also ask the most interesting, observant, thoughtful questions. Some of them are quite difficult to answer (What is God? Why do some kids have to be in foster homes? Who was the first mother?), but it delights me to witness how you interpret the things you see and hear. I love hearing about what you’ve learned in school and the adventures your teachers have taken you on. You have truly blossomed this past year, and I have no doubts that Grade 1 will be more of the same – learning and growing and friendships and finding your voice.

So although your school in particular didn’t have any sort of Kindergarten graduation ‘ceremony,’ rest assured, we are extremely proud of everything that you have accomplished this year, and can’t wait to see what the coming years bring.

Much love,

Mama

Alexis - Happy 4th Birthday!

Dear Lexi,

Happy 4^th birthday! Four years ago, you burst on to the scene – all 6 pounds and 6 ounces of you. Four years later, you still enter most rooms the same way, as a tiny spitfire, with big brown eyes and a loud, adorable voice. Only now you have the best hair I’ve ever seen. We say it’s crazy hair, but really, it’s one of my favourite things about you and I hope it never, ever calms down. It matches your personality in the best way – unrestrained, uncontained, and infinitely smile-inducing.

I am so proud of the wonderful human you are growing into – caring, considerate, giggly, funny, smart, adventurous, and snuggly. Although you’ve always loved playing with your brother and sister, it’s so fascinating to watch those relationships change and mature over time. You worship the ground that Mercedes walks on, but you stand up to her more these days – insisting on which role you want to play in your make-believe game of ‘family’, or saying no when she tries to direct a game a certain way. But you also get along so much better with Holden now, which delights me. Your relationship with him has always been a bit tricky – being so close in age, and being so young yourself when he arrived, it’s easy to see why there might have been a bit of animosity as he quickly progressed into toddlerhood. But now, with him being so verbal, and you being nearly the same size, you seem more like equals. You find him just as amusing as Mercedes does, and you treat him with compassion and consideration, and more like a true playmate than you ever have before.

You have only a few months left of full-time daycare before you embark on your next great adventure, full-time school! You are super-excited about Junior Kindergarten, and getting to go to ‘big school’ like Mercedes, but I know you will miss all of your friends and teachers at Learning Jungle. You have learned so much in your time there – progressing from the Junior Preschool Room to the Senior Preschool Room, dropping your nap, learning basic literacy skills – right now you are even teaching us sign language! I love hearing about the fantastic things you do at daycare – adventure walks and theme days and catching frogs and learning about the ocean and pirates and building tiny towns. It’s a fantastic place and they love you almost as much as we do.

Thank you for being such a delightful presence in our lives – everyone who knows you agrees that there is just something extra special about you. Some spark, some fire, some impish-ness that I hope never dulls. You glow, and I vow to always nurture that glow, ensuring it forever shines as bright as it does now.

Happy 4^th Lexi-Doodle!

Love,

Mama

Holden - Weaning

Dear Holden,

Seven years ago this month, I got pregnant with your big(gest) sister. And since that time, I have been either pregnant or nursing (or both!) continuously. That’s a total of nearly 30 months pregnant, plus a total of over 65 months nursing. Yes, that’s right, SIXTY-FIVE MONTHS.

I haven’t regretted my choices, or the unexpected path that our life has chosen for us – to have all three of you within four years has been a blessing. An exhausting blessing, but a blessing nonetheless. To be able to fairly effortlessly breastfeed all of you has marked some of my most joyful, peaceful moments in the past six years of being a mother. There have been hard times in my breastfeeding journeys, for sure – I vividly remember how slowly my milk came in after Mercedes was born, and having to pump with a hospital grade pump after each feed for a few weeks. I remember the night after Alexis was born, when she basically nursed ALL NIGHT LONG to bring my milk in. She was tiny, but feisty, and very vocal about her desires! (Not much has changed about that in the past four years.) I remember the only real nursing strike I ever experienced, and that was yours, during a pretty serious set of illnesses (strep throat, double ear infection, pneumonia). That was a week-long period of agony and doubt for me, which ultimately culminated in a brief hospitalization for you and the beginning of your asthma diagnosis.

Thankfully though, I weathered all the hard times and the growth spurts and the TEETH, together with my babies. I’ll never forget coming home after a week-long business trip just a couple of months ago, and being SO worried that you would not want to nurse anymore, even though I knew you were over two and of course, would be fine. But the first words out of your mouth when you saw me were “Hi! Hi Mommy! I nurse now peas!” It was heart-warming and made me feel so incredibly glad that you treasured our breastfeeding relationship just as much as I did.

But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. It appears, after 29 months of nursing you, my final baby, we are on the resolute path towards weaning. It isn’t exactly your choice, and it isn’t exactly my choice, but we seem to be making the march together, which is exactly what I always wanted to experience. I stopped nursing both of your sisters, fairly abruptly, as I was pregnant each time with a subsequent child. It didn’t bother them, but it did bother me a little – pregnancy hormones and guilt are a horrible mix! I always longed for that slow, gradual weaning process and now, years later, here we are!

Before you started daycare at 15 months old, we were down to about 4-5 nursing sessions a day. Once you started daycare, that became 2-3 sessions a day – always in the morning and before bed, and then sometimes an extra session thrown in overnight, or on the weekends. More recently, we’ve moved down to one session – the eternally-helpful bedtime session. It has always been a great way for the two of us to reconnect after a day apart; some quiet cuddle time, just mama and her little boy. Of course, it always had the added benefit of making you sleepy, which I have to admit was a sanity-saver!

However, your bedtime routine is taking longer and longer (particularly since I returned home from that business trip) – you seem to be about ready to drop your much-beloved nap, you are far less tired than your sisters in the evening, you want to do everything they do (including PJs and stories in Lexi’s room), you want to help tuck your sisters in, you want an extra story in your room after the girls are already in bed, you want me to sit on your floor for a few minutes in the dark, etc, etc. And you seem less and less interested in maintaining that bedtime nursing session, and truthfully, so am I. We still have quiet cuddle time in your room, just you and me. We read a quick story, with you snuggling up in my arms in your chair. We rock for a few minutes. You give me a sweet kiss and a big hug and we exchange ‘I Love Yous’ and ‘Goodnights’. Truthfully, it’s pretty perfect.

So I am sad, but also happy. It’s a bittersweet time for me – to know that such an ingrained part of my day, my life for the past six years, is coming to an end is hard for me. It’s yet another sign in the expanding pile of them that my babies are growing up. But, yay, it means that my babies are growing up! My babies are turning into big kids – with voices, and distinct personalities, and their own thoughts and wishes and interests and likes and dislikes. My babies are becoming independent, and confident, and growing into themselves. How can I be sad about that? And of course, I have to admit, that I am a little relieved to finally be getting my body back after all of these years. I gave myself over fully – to growing three wonderful humans, and to sustaining them for months on end. And I will never regret it. But I am happy to be just me again. To not be tied down to a nursing infant, to not have to worry about the fact that my babies don’t take bottles or soothers, to not have to worry about being gone overnight (or multiple nights!). There will never be a time that I don’t feel grateful for all of the experiences I’ve had being pregnant and breastfeeding. But now, the time has come for new experiences, and I am excited about what the future holds.

Love always,

Mama

Holden - Surgery

Dear Holden,

Today marks two weeks post-surgery, and I am thrilled to say that you sailed through the whole experience with no issues whatsoever. We were nervous that the surgery itself might not go ahead as planned, since you were fighting a cold for a few days prior to your scheduled operation date. But we were told as long as you didn’t have a high fever and you were in good spirits, not overly congested, etc. that the surgery should be a go ahead. So we finalized our plans, booking time off work, withdrawing you temporarily from daycare, arranging for care of your sisters, packing our bags, planning for an overnight hospital stay… and then the morning of, you woke up with a fever. We could tell that you were sicker than you were even just the day before and your father and I were terrified that they wouldn’t go through with it. Of course, we’d never put you in danger, and obviously the medial team would never operate if they felt it unsafe. But we knew how desperately you needed the surgery to stop getting sick so often, and of course, it would have been a huge inconvenience to have to reschedule everything.

Thankfully, the anesthetist made a last-minute call to go ahead as planned. He said you weren’t too congested and your chest sounded clear, plus he knew you were scheduled to stay overnight, which meant that the nurses would be able to keep a close eye on your recovery and make sure you were okay.

So off you went, after charming every single doctor, nurse, and patient you came across. Everyone commented on how handsome and well-behaved you were; both true! Of course, you cried when I handed you over to the doctor and he took you down the hall into the operating room, but you had your Eddy with you at least (complete with his own hospital bracelet to match yours, which you weren’t a big fan of), and I know you were put under fairly quickly.

Your father and I breathed a sigh of relief that we had made it through the morning with only one minor meltdown about Bear Paws (you were fasting of course), and that the surgery was going ahead as planned. And then we waited a bit anxiously for news once the procedure was finished, which came fairly quickly, thankfully. Your surgeon said you did amazing, and everything went exactly as planned. She said your tonsils and adenoids were HUGE and they could all hear an immediate difference in your breathing when you were taken to recovery. You were supposed to only be in recovery for about half an hour, and then moved to the Pediatrics floor where you (and I) were to spend the night. However, they kept you for over two and a half hours – apparently you were VERY sleepy and had some trouble coming out of the anesthesia (not uncommon). Your oxygen levels were low, so they wanted to keep a close eye on you and provide you added oxygen via mask to be sure you were okay before moving you upstairs. But, within a few hours of the surgery, we were reunited. You were so sad and sleepy, but that changed to angry within a couple of hours. You had no problems drinking or taking your medicine, thankfully, and you ate a bunch of jello in the middle of the night, but you did want to be held constantly, and were pretty upset about the IV in your foot and having to wear a sensor to monitor your vital signs.

But, with some tears (from us both) and some EXTREMELY uncomfortable sleeping in a chair, we made it through the night and were discharged mid-morning on Thursday. And thus began a week and a half of ‘recovery’ at home. No daycare, no scratchy food, no super strenuous activity. There were some challenges, particularly around taking your pain meds (which you often took like a champ. However, when you decided you did NOT want to take your medicine, there was no convincing you) and arguing about snacks. You quickly tired of pudding and jello and were quite upset to not be allowed to eat exactly what you wanted. We made do with a lifetime’s supply of yogurt, super-soft bread (croissants, fresh buns, super-nutritious white bread, etc.), and overcooked pasta to keep you happy. Finally, on the weekend, we worked our way up to some harder food and here you are! Two weeks post-surgery, no sign of any bleeding whatsoever, and over a week without any pain meds.

You are sleeping better. You are breathing SO much better. You don’t snore anymore. Your cold cleared up after surgery almost instantly. You are even in great spirits! I don’t know if it’s because you can breathe better and are sleeping better, or if it’s because you cut two molars during the last couple of weeks, or if it’s because you just finished a growth spurt… but in any case, I see so much more of my happy, easy-going, funny, charming baby boy these days. You are still two, in all your toddler glory, but you whine and cry and cling and complain and tantrum SO much less and it delights me. Because truthfully, you have been quite a handful these past six months (not at daycare, not with anyone else, but for Mommy and Daddy – especially Mommy – yes). And now I am falling in love with you and your cheeky grin and that tiny dimple and your increasingly-crazy-Lexi-like hair all over again.

I am so relieved that this is behind us, and so hopeful that it means a much easier Winter for you this year. And the bonus? Your voice has completely changed (even more adorable) and now I can’t tell you and Lexi apart at all.

Love,

Mama