Okay, so obviously it's been a busy couple of months. So busy in fact that I missed one of your monthly newsletters and didn't even realize it! One minute it's June and then suddenly it's the middle of July and how the HELL did that happen? I've barely gotten into the swing of summer and it's half over already. Sheesh.
For the last month you've been attending "Summer Camp", which has been sort of a trial preschool run twice a week from 9am-12:30pm. We got you warmed up for your first big day by telling you for weeks that camp was a place only for YOU, not for Mommies or for Daddies - and that it was REALLY FUN, but only for YOU (see a theme here?). You seemed pretty excited about it, but I was a nervous wreck that first time I dropped you off. I thought for sure you were going to have a total melt down and that the teacher would look at me and say, "Sorry, Lady, but you're kid is just NOT ready for this." So I was totally surprised when, after a few minutes of initial hesitation, you jumped in and started exploring your new surroundings - and you barely even noticed when I left.
And how strange it was to LEAVE, walk out the door, WITHOUT YOU. I had to fight the urge to duck down behind a window and peek in at you for the rest of the morning. I forced myself to walk out of the school yard, get in my car and drive away. And let me tell you, Ro, as a mom, that's not an easy thing to do. That first day was MUCH harder on ME than it was on you.
The following weeks actually got a bit harder - the drop off at camp became a blur of crying and clinging - but I knew that you loved being there once you got over your tears, so I sucked it up, peeled you off of me, and handed you over to your counselor, even though it broke my heart into a million tiny little pieces. But I would call to check on you ten minutes after I left, and usually I could already hear you laughing in the background having the time of your life. And only then could I finally breathe again. Unfortunately camp just ended for the summer and you're already asking when you get to go back. I guess it's really time for us to start thinking seriously about preschool, eh?
Not only did you have fun at camp, but your imagination absolutely EXPLODED. Suddenly, you're playing "pretend" all the time and I just love to see what you're going to come up with next. Your favorite game right now is to pretend that something is chasing you - a bear, a crocodile, or today I think it was an owl - so you run away shrieking and laughing until you find a hiding place and then you'll pop your head out and scream "I see it! It's coming!" and the whole game starts again. We probably play this about twenty times in a row before you get sick of it, but I don't care a bit. Watching you use your imagination NEVER gets old.
And you know what else has exploded? Your ability to communicate. You finally have the ability to say whatever is on your mind and we can tell that you're enjoying your new found talent. You ALWAYS have something to say, and your father and I hang on your every word. We never know what's going to come out of your mouth. My current favorites are:
1) You rolling down your window and yelling, "Hi Gate Guy!" to the security guard at Nana and Papa's neighborhood (which sounds a lot like "Hi GAY Guy!", so we hope he doesn't hear you that well!)
2) When we yell "How you doin' Rory?" and you yell back "DOING FINE!!"
3) We had a friend stay with us for several days (Hi Wendy!) who lives in Chicago. Once she had gone home, you continued to ask "Where's Wendy", and when I'd say, "She's back in Chicago." you'd respond, "Oh, yeah! Costco! I like Costco, too!"
4) And of course the ever present, "NOOOOOO - I do it all by myself!
Ro, I have to say that you are probably at one of the coolest ages yet. We can play together, talk together, sing together and just be plain silly together. Yeah, you still have your two year old moments (enter fits and tantrums here!), but I'm enjoying our "Mama Roro" time more than ever. And I think it's only going to get better from here.
Love,
Mama
