Saying Goodbye to the Crib

Mia has been able to get into and out of her crib since before she was one year old.  We promptly got a crib tent and have been good to go ever since.

Recently, though, Mia started leaping out of pack-n-plays when not sleeping at home.  She would help herself out of bed when sleeping at my parents' house, and then also recently when we were in Tahoe.  Add to that that she is now potty trained (still wearing a diaper at nap and night) and will often call to us from bed that she needs to potty.  Given these developments, we thought it best to transition her crib to a toddler bed and start to teach her that she needs to stay in bed when it's time to sleep.

So, this weekend Mia got a "big girl bed."  She proudly marches anyone who visits up to her room to view her new sleeping arrangement, yet when we are alone and rocking before putting her down to sleep she has asked me repeatedly to tell Daddy to bring her crib back.  I feel badly, like we took away her safe place, but I know that it is something that has to happen eventually anyways.

The good news:  other than some trouble on the first day/night, she has done really well and given us almost no trouble at all staying in her bed.  SUCH a difference from our experience with Luke.

I am hoping that we'll start to work on getting her a real big girl (twin) bed soon!

Summer School

Both Luke and Mia are attending the 6-week summer school session at Mandala this summer. It will mark a very important milestone:  the first time in nearly 5 years that I have been child-free for a few hours without getting a babysitter!  Yes, this is very exciting :)

It also marks another important first:  Mia's first taste of preschool!

For Luke, it is a bit anti-climactic.  I mean, we did just make this huge deal about "graduating" from preschool, and now we are sending him right back.  Ha!  Despite that, he's happy to be going back for a few weeks.  He loves Mandala school.

I wanted to take a few pictures of Mia on her first day, but Luke really wasn't understanding this and wanted to be in the pictures also.  On top of that, despite that fact that this is summer school and we live in California, both kids were complaining about how "freezing" they were.

Oh, well, I tried....

I was pretty concerned about how Mia would react to being left at school.  I had tried leaving her in the classroom a month or so ago while I attended a meeting at the preschool, and it had ended in disaster.  She screamed and cried so much that eventually they brought her back to me.  Thankfully, we had a week of Vacation Bible Camp's daycare under our belts this time around (Mia attended all 5 days while Luke went to camp and I led a group).  It seems that her time in the VBC daycare really paid off because she took to preschool at Mandala today without any trouble.  She first acted as though she might cry, but then when I took her to show her the bathroom and she saw that they had small toilets close to the ground, low sinks, and paper towels within her reach and that she could "do it all herself," she was sold!  It also helped that Miss Sharada was there to encourage her.  After she tried out the bathroom, she happily said goodbye to me and had a great day.    Woo hoo! 

Now, what to do with my 3 hours of time twice a week?  Hmm, maybe I'll go grocery shopping and to the dentist alone.  How exciting!

Summertime in Tahoe

We spent a wonderful week in Tahoe after school and all of the kids' activities had come to a close for the year.  It was a wonderful, relaxing, and fun break for us all.  Great Grammy and Papa came up also, making our time even more special.

This post is complete picture overload, but I just can't seem to narrow them down, so here they all are!

The kids spent lots of time hanging out with Sayde who lives next door.  They played in the water, rode bikes and cars, played Care Bears, went swimming together, and did lots and lots of swinging in the backyard hammocks.

S'mores time!  It was Mia's first time roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores, and I think she loved it!

Playground time - pretty much Mia's favorite place

  
Pushes on the swings from Papa for both Mia and Luke (who can absolutely pump on his own, but still likes someone to push him).  What lucky kids!

Luke took full advantage of the arts and crafts offered at the rec. center.  He went and did multiple projects two days in a row

Playing with Great Grammy

Luke's favorite thing to do when in Tahoe is to jump on the bungee/trampoline.  He was able to go two days in a row and is working towards being able to flip backwards!

Fun at the stores in the Northstar Village - one even has a sandbox and tether ball out front!

Checking out the building sites above Day & Paw's house - we had quite the adventurous hike.

Dinner out at our favorite, Pianeta's (thanks to Grammy & Papa for babysitting).  As usual, it was delicious.



As always, we loved our time in the beautiful weather and fresh air of Tahoe.  Looking forward to making the trip up again soon.