One Week Later

It has been one week since the shootings in Newtown, CT. One week since the world lost 18 precious first graders, teachers, a principal and a school psychologist. I have seen many tragic events in my 36-years on this earth, but this for me has been particularly hard to understand. I think because what happened in Newtown could happen anywhere, but more particularly because several people effected in Newtown play roles that I play daily. For instance, Mary Sherlach was the school psychologist, a role that I play on a daily basis. She went to work doing what all school psychologists do on a daily basis, she protected those kids, which is what any one of us in the field would do given the situation. Just two days before the shootings, my school had its annual disaster drill and we like to complain that it takes away from the time we have to get so much other stuff done, but as I think back, I am glad to have given those forty-five minutes up to practice keeping the students and staff safe and I am happy to know that my school has a safety procedure in place. Secondly, I work with so many amazing teachers on a daily basis. Any one of them would have given their lives the way that Victoria Soto did protecting her students. For those anti-teachers, you really have no idea how teaching is more than just a job. People these days seem to blame all of the worlds problems on teachers, but we do little as a society to bolster education. Funny how now these same people are considered hero's. Well to me they always have been. They live and breathe their work and noone seems to get that unless you have the pleasure of working with them. I am saddened for the loss of a principal who so obviously loved her work. It is rare to find that quality, for it seems most principals have forgotten what it is to work directly with children. I am grateful that I get to work with a principal who really puts forth the effort to get to know her students and who does put children first. Thirdly, and what I think rings true for many is the loss of precious 6 and 7 year olds. Since Nathan is nearly six, I think this why it has been particularly hard to take. Especially because he loves school so much. I hate that elementary school has suddenly become such a scary place for parents. I think we need to try as hard as we can to maintain some semblance of normalcy for our youngest learners and not take that away from them. I am glad that I had this week off so that I could spend time on Nathan's school campus, getting to know staff and enjoying the kids because it made this all seem almost like a bad nightmare. Kids are still kids and are having a great time at school, not cowering in fear of what could happen. That has helped me be less nervous over the course of the week. It has made me realize that despite the horrific event that happened last Friday, there is still good in the world and we need to focus on that and maybe just squeeze our little ones a little tighter at the beginning and the end of the day because we can.

Super Student

Nathan was chosen as one of the five students at the first awards assembly this year who exhibits the character trait of responsibility! So proud of that little guy!

Thanksgiving Celebrations

Today both Nathan and Kira had Thanksgiving celebrations at their schools. I was unable to go to the luncheon at Kira's preschool but Brian's mom sent a couple pictures. Due to a presentation at work,I was done early today so I was able to get to Nathan's school. The kids sang songs and had a little spread of fruit, crackers and cornbread muffins. It was cute to hear them singing in Spanish and to listen to them tell what they are thankful for in Spanish. I am so glad both kids are liking where they are at in life right now.

Preschool

On November 1 Kira started preschool at St. David's Preschool, which is right across the street from Nathan's school. She seems to really like it. She has made friends and likes her teacher and the other teachers. Kira talks about the things they do there, which includes a lot of songs. Or maybe she just really likes music. I can't wait to see and hear all the things she learns this year.

Updates

This October 25 my mom turned 60. To celebrate, in September, three of her sister, my mom and I headed to NYC for a girls weekend. It was a lot of fun. We rented a condo outside of Manhattan and would take the Subway into the city each day. We visited the 911 Memorial, explored Battery Park, went to a Mets game, saw Wicked, took a pedicab tour of Central Park and ate and drank our way around the city.

We did our annual visit to Oma's Pumpkin Patch. The kids had fun sliding down cotton seed hill, playing on the playgrounds, jumping on mattresses, petting the animals and playing with friends.

Nathan continues to enjoy kindergarten and continues to learn and absorb the Spanish language daily. Our minds are blown on a daily basis on how much he knows and can do in a foreign language. Anyway, on Halloween, I was able to go to his school and participate in his parade and class celebration. I love how involved the families are at this school site.

This was our first Halloween at our new house. Although we have always enjoyed trick or treating with the Garcia's and missed them this year, the kids really wanted to experience trick or treating in our new neighborhood with the neighborhood kids.

We have also been taking full advantage of having a backyard. This past Friday we baby-sat the Bennett girls and now that the evenings are cooling off, we decided to have a fire out back and make s'mores. It's nice to be able to have the opportunity to do things like this.

The Kindergartener

Yesterday was a big milestone in our household! Nathan started Kindergarten. He is attending Longfellow Elementary, which is one of the Spanish Immersion schools in our school district. From the moment we met his teacher at orientation last Friday, there has been not a word of English from his teacher. After two days, he is doing well. I hope it continues!! He seems to have made some friends already. That helped I think to ease the fears. Here are some pics of the big event:

2012 Catch Up

I feel like with Facebook and Instagram, our poor little blog gets neglected, but since it is in a sense a babybook for Nathan and Kira, I thought I'd better update it a bit. Now that 2012 is almost over, I figure I should catch up on what's been going on with us. Kira recently graduated to level one swimming, which means she is no longer required to be in a parent/tot class but is in a class with a 3:1 student to teacher ratio. The first week she did great, the second week she screamed through the lesson and so this week is the third week and we are hoping she is able to make it 30 minutes with no screams. When she is in the pool with us, she is swimming like a fish. Here is a short video of her swimming a few weeks ago at a friends house: Kira is also very into her scooter and bike these days. She loves singing and walks around the house singing everything. She enjoys coloring, drawing and playing on the ipad. Kira also loves blowing bubbles, putting on lipgloss and having her nails painted. Always the girlie girl. Here are a few pictures: Nathan's preschool just held its graduation ceremony. Now I know people get all up in arms about preschoolers graduating, but I have to say is was pretty damn cute to see them up there singing and performing. It has been a great two years and I am pretty happy with the social growth Nathan has made. He was standing up there so confident and proud. It's off to kindergarten in the fall. Despite the fact that our school district is in one of the worst economic years on record, I am so excited. He will be attending Longfellow Elementary, which is a Spanish immersion program. I can't wait to watch him learning in a completely foreign language. These days Nathan is taking gymnastics twice a week and getting stronger each week. He enjoys riding his bike and scooter and swimming. He is still super into his legos and will spend hours building. Here are the videos of his class performing:

Mother's Day Treasures

Today I celebrated my sixth Mother's Day. It started with these little treasures made for be by Nathan and Kira. More than any store bought gift, I look forward to these things each year.

Happy Fifth Birthday

Dear Nathan,

It is hard to believe that half a decade has already passed since we became parents. I can still clearly remember the the moments and days after your birth as though they were yesterday. I sometimes look at you now and wonder where did that chubby cheeked little baby go, but I am quickly snap back to the hear and now because in his place is a smart, funny, creative, imaginative, independent, stubborn and opinionated 5-year old who keeps me on my toes. Although it seems time flies, if I can be honest for a moment, those first few months seemed to drag on for an eternity. We hit a few bumps in the road the first few days due to jaundice and feeding issues. It seemed that the instant bliss they talk about really just happens in the movies. The first three months are a blur of round the clock feeding, diaper changes, figuring out cries and what they mean, sleepless nights and exhaustion. However, slowly we got to know you and you us and some of that exhaustion and frustration was replaced with a bunch of firsts...smile, rolling over, sleeping through the night, eating solids, crawling and so on. Finally around 6 months we seemed to find our groove as a family. In case you are wondering, the song in this years video is from about this time in your life. Every time I hear it, it takes me back to those first experiences. At any rate, each year since has been a wild ride of emotions. You, like both your mom and dad are a bundle of nerves who needs to be coaxed into new situations, but once you try something on and enjoy it, you take it to the next level. This year it has been skateboarding. You have really taken off and enjoy going with daddy to skate parks all around the city. This year you have also started snowboarding and riding your quad. You have made so many new friends at school this year and its fun to see the games you guys play when I pick you up. You have such great imaginations. One of the coolest things about you is that you are truly a great big brother. You love Kira and you sincerely care about her feelings. You guys have such a great relationship and it has been so cool to see it develop. She truly looks up to you and I can’t imagine a better role model. I can hardly believe that in September we will be sending you off to kindergarten. Looking forward to the next half decade and beyond.

We love you buddy,

Mommy and daddy

Happy Second Birthday Kira

It is hard to be believe that it has already been two years since you were born. In many ways I am happy that you are growing up and becoming your own person but because you have a role model that you follow you seem to be growing up quicker than I’d like. This year we have seen your personality develop. You started the year saying a few words and now daily you come up with phrases and questions and crack us up with your interpretations of words. One of my favorites (and sometimes not) right now is when I hear a little voice traveling up the stairs asking, “W’are you mommy?”.

You also started the year out following in your brother’s footsteps loving Thomas and Lightning McQueen and then slowly our living room began to transition from all boy, to a happy medium between Nathan's toys and yours, but now pink seems to have taken over most of our house (something you definitely didn't inherit from me). You absolutely love your babies (all 7 of them) and you carry them around and feed them and talk to them. I think it must be what you see at daycare because Nathan certainly doesn’t model that for you. You still love doing whatever your brother is doing and you like to play lego's and will sit and watch Star Wars a million times in a row if it means you can be with him.

Recently when you wake up in the morning, I no longer hear you calling for me, but instead I have been lucky enough to listen in on the conversations you and Nathan are beginning to have. You now look to him to be the first person you see in the mornings. That being said, you also get easily annoyed by him. You are much like me in that you like your space and he really knows how to push your buttons. You definitely let us know your likes and dislikes with a big smile or a very LOUD no!

I am looking forward to what your third year has in store (no more diapers please!). Happy Birthday Kira!

2011 Review

I guess the busier life gets, the less time we devote to documenting the events that make it so busy. This would be evidenced by the absence in posts here and the less than up to date baby books that each break I promise myself I will update. Oops, oh well, I wouldn't change being in the moment for sitting on the side line documenting it. So 2011 has come to and end and with that comes lots of firsts in 2012, the most important being that my first baby will head off to kindergarten and my younger one will hopefully start preschool as in just a few short days she will be two and in two short months he will be 5.

Some of the highlights of 2011 include the usual desert and river trips and as the year progressed, the achievements these kids made, made it much more enjoyable to go on these trips. Nathan got his first quad and took to it quickly


We made a couple to trips to the Sierras and the most recent included a trip to Mammoth where Nathan tried snowboarding for the first time. It was awesome to see him enjoying something that we also enjoy:


Summer brought many trips to the beach, zoo, Seaworld and now our new favorite Legoland. In the fall we did our standard San Elijo camping trip. In October we also did another trip to Legoland and trick or treated with the cousins as always.

We did our biannual central coast trip for the week of Thanksgiving. We stopped in Santa Barbara to visit Chris and Kristin and to meet Miles who is just a few weeks older than Kira:


We also hit Morro Bay, San Simeon and Nathan skated at skateparks in Santa Barbara, Cambria and Los Osos. Then we headed over to Fresno to celebrate with the family. It was the first Thanksgiving and Christmas since both of my grandparents passed away and I know that their presence was greatly missed.

Christmas was spent here in San Diego and both kids had a blast. They enjoyed all the goes along with the holidays; cookie making, parties, gingerbread houses, Christmas lights, boat parades and another trip to Legoland.


That brings us to New Years, which was once again spent in Mexico. This year it was a very mellow crowd and it was nice. So here is 2012!