Great visit from Pop Pop this weekend, along with the continued visit from Jason. Lots of boys in the house, with Jeannette gone for the weekend, but Adela held her own. We mostly did the playground circuit, as you can see from the photos. Enjoy.
Adela hits the big 3!!
Today is Adela’s third birthday and she celebrated in style — Hello Kitty style! She had HK balloons, an HK dress, HK tattoos. She gave out HK stickers and necklaces to her friends, and she ate Hello Kitty ice cream cake from Mitchell’s (this is a girl with good taste in ice cream.) Of course, after deciding on the Hello Kitty theme and sending Mommy and Grandma into a Hello Kitty buying frenzy, she told us a few days ago, “Actually, I don’t want a Hello Kitty party. I want a princess party.” Fortunately, Jeannette convinced her that she could be do princess dress up on her actual birthday (today) and still have the HK theme for her party (yesterday). It all worked out.
Indian summer has arrived in San Francisco, blessedly, and the sun was shining for Adela’s party. That came in handy with 20 kids in our house, especially when they’re all eating cake! Kids brought Adela books to add to her enormous collection. She’s an incredible “reader.” She’ll sit in her bed for 30 or 40 minutes before going to sleep at night, flipping through book after book and tossing them on the floor, so that it looks like someone toppled the bookshelf in the night.
Now that she’s three, Adela has made a big transition to full-time school, with our very special caregiver Mirian moving on to work with two new families. We wish her the best of luck and will miss her.
Dylan, meanwhile, has made the transition to kindergarten smoothly. He sings in Spanish in the shower, we have to drag him away from after-care, and the only time he cried was when Mommy forgot his backpack. He takes this school stuff VERY SERIOUSLY. He’s also a gamer now. No, not video games… the old-school games. Specifically, he’s moved from Connect 4 to chess and will be routinely trouncing Daddy by the time I write next.
Fall activities are about to get in swing… capoeira and soccer for Dylan and dance class for Adela. When we told her about class, her first reaction was, “I want to wear my princess dress to my dance class.”
More soon.
First Day of School
Big day today. Dylan started kindergarten at Buena Vista. It was a classic San Francisco weekend leading up to the school day. On Saturday, we went to Farmer’s Market and the kids sat and watched the “cat lady” play her saw. Jeannette took a three hour bike ride to Marin. Go mommy! Then, on Sunday, we escaped the fog, took in the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SFMOMA — lasting just long enough not to get kicked out for Adela wanting to touch the art (Yikes!) — and then had a dim sum picnic on the Embarcadero. The day finished with Matt playing his last soccer game of the year — with his team winning the league championship. Go daddy!
In the evening, Dylan prepped his school bag, packed his own lunch, and went to sleep dreaming of kindergarten (or maybe of Uno, his latest card game fascination). This morning, we took him to school, where the day started with an Aztec dance company (including some Buena Vista parents) giving a blessing on all the kids and teachers and families. Not your everyday start of school, to be sure. We left Dylan in the capable hands of Maestra Nora and headed off to work. For Jeannette, that meant visiting two of Envision’s schools on their first day. In the evening, we picked up Dylan, who was exhausted but excited about having made some new friends and having embarked on a great adventure.
Next week, we’ll report on Adela’s third birthday and her first day as a full-time preschooler. Yippee!Â