Little Fella Chef Henratouille

Dear Chef!
Since the very first days of summer when a careless driver u-turned into our beautiful 1 year old Honda Odyssey you've been stuck to the DVD player in our rental van playing Ratatouille EVERY time we are in the car.  You quote the movie often, talk about the characters, and desire to be a little chef.  You pull out all of the bowls in the kitchen, whisks, and spoons and proceed to look very busy diligently whipping up a major high class meal.  Often you asked me to pull out a cookbook for you to look through.  You enjoy serving it on my pizza tray, balancing it deftly on one hand as you walk through the room.  (You just screamed out in your nap, "MOMMY! There's a dragon! I can chase that!")  So this week we bought you a chef's hat just like Ratatouille.  After ordering a pizza for delivery last week you've also added on to your food services home delivery of all sorts.  Cookies, Mexican, Chinese, Pizza.  You're great at letting us know what you bring each time.  Your first delivery was pizza with pineapple for "a penny, penny, buck, buck."  For Mexican delievery you brought three tacos, rice and beans and flan, and then Chinese was soup, noodles and chicken, each time you announced the food.  Then you say, "Thank you, have a nice evening."  

 A perfect gentleman chef, except you don't go into the customer's pocket to get the money! 
Love, Mama

Preschool for Peep!

Dear Henny, 
Yesterday was your first day of preschool!  Now hold up!  I am not giving up my stay at home mama status just yet!  I just needed to find some more hours in the day to catch up on things I needed to get done at home or to get to appointments.  You'll only be  attending the Giraffe class 2 days a week for 4 hours.  Still, these are the only hours we've spent apart since the moments after your birth. (With exception visits to your grandparents houses!)  


The night before you helped us get your lunch together.  Cheese, yogurt, apple sauce, a bag of teddy grams and in the morning I will make you a PBJ sandwich (which I cut into a heart shape). 
You've got sleeping in your big boy bed down!  So the night before school we knew you were nervous when you came to sleep in our room.  In the morning we woke you up and got you dressed.  You begged to wear your red boots, which turned out to be a huge hit.  You told us, "We need to get your lunch for school out of the fridge!"  We did and you insisted that you carry it to school.  

We dropped you off and you were ready to jump right in and play.  We felt a little teary that you weren't all worried about us leaving but also very proud.  You know you can come to us when you need us so you feel free to be independent.  We have to be cognizant that we don't pass our anxiety on to you...though it was hard on such a big day.

Mama came home and felt lost the first hour...then I got to work on staining the sides of the deck and got it all done!  I went to pick you up and felt I couldn't drive fast enough!

You did alright!   Miss E said you were pretty quiet in the morning then in the afternoon you were much more chatty.  She said you wanted your blanket really bad and wanted to take it outside to the playground.  She told you it had to stay inside and this freaked you out a bit.  You begged for the blanket, she told you it could get leaves on it and get dirty.  You still wanted it.  She asked you if you were missing Mommy and Daddy or were tired or scared and you just responded, "I want my blanket!"  Then at art time you got to use scissors! Oh my! Miss E said you wanted to use both hands and kept getting frustrated and walking away and then would come back and try again. Mommy doesn't allow you to use scissors just yet, although we just happened to practice on Monday.  I will get you a pair so we can start learning how.  Then when it was nap time you told all the other kids shhh shshhh but they were trying to get you to shhhh from shhhing...then when they asked you to rest you blew razzzberries at them! They asked you to put your head down and you were out like a light.  When I arrived you were still napping.  It was the cutest thing to see all of the little cots around the room with little bodies and little blankets sleeping.  I walk to yours and gently brush your curls and cheek and call your name.   You looked up and smiled and said, "I was crying for you mama. I was crying for you!" I told her the blanket thing was likely that you were feeling anxious.  You did say you had fun and recounted all of the same stories that she did all on your own.  Thanks for sharing your day with me!  I especially enjoyed the tone you used to tell me she wouldn't allow you to have your blanket outside...it was "as if?!!!"  Last night as you fell asleep in your bed you told us more, about the girl that ate carrots and how the lady laid out all of the cots herself, and how you painted.  Then you said, "I won't cry when I go next week."  It is okay to cry when you are in distress.  I told you so and asked you to tell one of the ladies if you were feeling sad so they can help to make you feel better.  In the early morning we heard you come into our room to sleep on the floor...then an hour or so later something happend that hasn't for about 4 weeks, since the move to the big boy bed, you crawled into bed with us and wrapped your arm around mine.  As we sat on the couch this morning to eat Cheerios you put your arm around my neck.  This morning you told Daddy, "Thanks for going there with me Daddy."  We love you Peep and all the adventure you bring us!  (I just told you we should get some clothes on and you said, "I already goed to school, Mommy!"
Love, Mama

Sandbox in Our Own Yard!

Dear Digsy, 
A couple of weeks ago Bahboo and Grandma P were over. They could hardly stand it when they saw you trying to dig in the dirt with your yellow backhoe and the dirt was entirely too hard to get a good scoop.  So Bahboo took off and returned with a baby pool and bags of sand.  Then as he watched you dig your little finger toes into the sand for the first time he and, then Grandma P, could not bear not joining in.  Mama hid stuff in the sand for you to dig out.  

You were really trying hard to play fair.  You contorted your face in all directions in an attempt to keep your eyes shut until the word go! was released.  Oh my!  The faces you were making trying to ward of peepin' were priceless.  Look how much love you get!  

You are worthy of it Henny bear!
Love, Mama