So Long Baby Tooth

Lots of children lose their first tooth when they are in kindergarten - some even earlier - but we have a pretty extensive history in our family of losing teeth very late.  So I was actually surprised when I confirmed that Elise did, in fact, have a loose tooth at the age of 6 right before the start of first grade.  The loose tooth was the focus of much conversation for weeks - she fiddled with it constantly and it got to the point that she asked me to pull it out so that she could eat normally again.

I have a fairly weak stomach and thus things like loose teeth make me queasy.  I put on a brave face one evening and did actually attempt to pull it (after lots of begging) - to no avail thank goodness because the whole thing completely grossed me out and I never attempted to pull it again.

When I picked Elise up at school a few weeks into first grade she excitedly ran over and gave me her biggest, toothless smile.  She'd lost it that day at lunch! It was exciting, of course, to talk about the tooth fairy and look at the tooth and look at the gaping hole in her mouth. We called grandparents and took pictures and made a huge to-do about it. But the whole thing actually also made me surprisingly sad.  I am not usually overly sentimental about stuff like this but I really took this one hard. A piece of my daughter's childhood was literally shedding itself in front of me. She is growing up, whether I like it or not and while she'll always be my baby, she is definitely no baby anymore.

Elise was thrilled that she had her first visit from the tooth fairy, who very diplomatically left her a dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickle and a penny.  And just days later we discovered loose tooth number 2.

I guess this literally shedding of childhood will be on-going and take many years, so I am going to have to buck up on this one!

Elise Molloy, First Grader

Entering first grade was more of an adventure for our little girl than it is for some in other school districts.  Because she attended a kindergarten-only school last year and it was only a half day program, first grade meant another year of a lot of change.  She got not just a new teacher,  but a whole new school and a full school day for the first time.  And of course as fate would have it, literally every friend she made in kindergarten went to a different neighborhood elementary school.  So all new friends too.

About a week before the official start of school we took Elise in for a first grade orientation and we got a chance to meet her new teacher (Mrs. Valentine) her table mates (Ally, Gabriel and Falls) and the rest of her classmates (an alarming number of children whose names start with S - seriously about half of the class! It makes keeping up with first grade gossip very complicated for her parents).  We also got to meet the school's new principal and check out the cafeteria, gym and library.  Marty and I felt like she was in capable hands and the orientation definitely made Elise feel more comfortable with the idea of first grade.

We live only a few blocks from her new school, so on the first day of school, the whole family walked her there.  There were hundreds of kids lined up outside by grade and teacher, and while it was all very organized it felt chaotic in the middle of all of these kids - some really hyper, some crying - and parents - some really hyper, some crying - packed in the school yard, greeting each other after the long summer, taking pictures, hugging, shouting, laughing.  I actually thought the whole thing was a little overwhelming, but Elise didn't seem to be phased by it.  She just stood there in line, soaking it all in, smiling at us every once in a while (maybe to reassure us, maybe to reassure herself).

The bell rang and Elise waved and followed her class into the building and I watched her giant pink camouflage backpack make its way inside.

And just like that, we had ourselves a first grader.

The Summer Wrap Up

Time has definitely gotten away from me this year, but we did have a super fun summer that I want to make sure is documented so that our kids do not look back one day and think that we sat around in the dark starring at each other in the Sumner of 2012.  It was actually full of interesting and notable things, in no particular order:

1. The Pool.  I know I actually mentioned this in a previous blog already but this definitely was the Summer of the Pool.  We spent nearly every weekend and several evenings during the week throughout the entire summer at the pool.  Not only did we have a ton of fun playing in the water and both of the kids really learned how to swim (or at least they learned how not to drown) but it was also ridiculously hot all summer long and the pool was a convenient and fun way to stay cool.  This easily could have been the most miserable summer ever - or at least it would have been the summer that we stayed in the air conditioning all day because we melted every time we stepped outside and it was way too miserable to play.  But instead it was the Summer of the Pool and we feel confident that joining the pool was the best decision (and investment) we've ever made.

2. Bike Riding.   At the end of last summer, Marty decided to teach Elise how to ride her bike without training wheels. Unfortunately, we did not have a ton of time to spend on this, and the bike she was using - one she got for her 3rd birthday - was much too small for her, which made the learning curve pretty tricky (it's not easy to learn to balance when your knees bump the handle bars).  Elise got a new, appropriate sized bike for her birthday this summer and she very quickly learned to ride it.  She has had a blast learning to ride and taking morning bike rides with her dad.  Lucas also got his first bike for his birthday this year, so he too is getting in on the bike riding action (although he is using training wheels).  I think I may have to get a bike for next summer so I am not left out of all of the fun!

3. Lucas decided he hates wearing shirts.  I am not exactly sure when it happened, and maybe it was because of the heat or all of the time at the pool, but whatever the reason, Lucas definitely decided he doesn't want to wear a shirt.  Ever.  Every time I turned around, he'd taken his shirt off, even at completely inappropriate places to be shirtless.  He just suddenly found shirts confining or something.  I was worr-*ied that this was going to be an ongoing battle (like when he decided he hated wearing socks and took them off every time we got in the car, at school, or anywhere else he felt like) but just like the sock drama, he seemed to forget how much he hated shirts by the end of the summer.  Phew.

4. Camps.  Now that Elise is officially a school aged child, this was her first summer that she was not in daycare and we discovered the inconvenience, expense and racket of Summer Camp.  We managed to hobble together a very complicated plan of various summer camps - with different pick up and drop off times that made things somewhat challenging but we were able to manage with the help of family.  Elise attended a Traditional Summer Camp, a Girls Sports Camp and Ice Skating Camp.  She enjoyed all of them but I think we'll probably just go with one and stick with it for the whole summer next year.

5. Maurice Sendak.  My kids have been semi-obsessed with author Maurice Sendak for well over a year now.  They love his books, and they love his name. When we play games, Elise's pretend name is always Makayla and Luke's pretend name is always Maurice Sendak.  Lucas also always calls his cousin Nate Maurice Sendak (and vice versa), which is the highest of compliments.  We even have a video from last summer where we were singing to Maurice Sendak and telling him why he love him so much. So we were all incredibly saddened to learn that the beloved author with the family-favorite name passed away this summer.  I doubt that there was a person who regularly hangs out with Lucas who didn't think of Lucas when they heard about Mr. Sendak's passing.  We love you Maurice Sendak!

6. Olympic Fever.  Oh, yes the Molloy family certainly caught Olympic fever this summer.  The kids loved watching a ton of various sporting events, and got very caught up in the national pride of being with Team USA (for the month of August, they chanted "USA! USA!" every time we passed an American flag. which was very, very often.)  Elise took a particular interest in the girls gymnastics - Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney being her new heroes.  Luke liked gymnastics a lot too, but he was the most interested in swimming and diving events.  He developed a little crush on Missy Franklin and is ready to become the next Michael Phelps.  We were incredibly sad when the Olympics came to a close, but thoroughly enjoyed it while it lasted.

7. Kids' first Wedding.  Ok, Elise has actually been to a wedding before back when he was about 10 months old (and yes, that story involves projectile vomiting during the ceremony) but this summer she attended the first wedding she'll actually remember and it was Luke's very first wedding experience (and it did not involve vomiting at all, I am happy to report!).  My cousin Alex got married in Virginia and it was the first family wedding we've had since our kids have been born.  The wedding was so much fun for us and for the kids - a moonbounce! a photobooth! tons of cousins to play with! - I am worried that any wedding they go to in the future will be a huge let down.

8. Beach Vacations/Cousin Bonding.  This deserves it's own post.  So here it is.

So, as you can see, the Molloy family had a fun and exciting summer that seemed to go by much too fast.  But the way things are going, I guess next summer will be here before we know it.

Beach Vacations/Cousin Bonding

The kids got a special treat this year over summer vacation - with not one but two beach vacations with ample time to hang out with cousins from both sides of the family.


First up was our annual Bethany Beach trip with the Stauffer clan.  We had a fun week with good weather, food and company and tons of family bonding time.  Lucas was particularly excited to spend lots of quality time with his big cousin Nate, who is entering college this fall.  Nate was very patient and sweet about Luke literally hanging and pulling on him constantly.

Stauffer cousins

Elise was particularly excited about hanging out with her big cousin Abby.  And Abby was patient (most of the time!) about Elise copying her and wanting to do everything together.   We all had a great time at the beach, fountain and pool, and Elise and her dad went on several lengthy morning bike rides on the boardwalk.


As usual, we went over to the peer rides as well, which is always tons of fun for everyone. This year we did the "all day rides" option, meaning that the kids could go on the rides as many times as they wanted, instead of having to pick just a few.  They went on a million rides and everyone had a blast.  The adults also had a blast watching.  We also continued our tradition of family miniature golf.  Lucas particularly loved it this year and was actually quite good!

Meredith cousins

We rolled straight from this beach vacation into another one, this time with some members of the Meredith family.  We met up with Oma, Opa, Uncle Wolfe and cousin Eamon in Ocean City for yet another week of beach fun.

My cousin Sarah and her family also joined us, so the kids got some time to bond with second cousins Kam (5) and Kala (3), who they usually only get a chance to play with on holidays.  Kala immediately fit in with Luke and Eamon who were happy to have another 3 year old buddy to play with, and Elise and Kam also hit it off.  Similar to when we were kids and all vacationed together, it was fun to get the cousins together to really get to know each

Elise and Kam hit the beach

other.

 We hit the beach, played in the house, walked the boardwalk, went on rides and got treats - just like old times for the Meredith family.  We had such a fun time,  we're hoping to do it again next year with even more members of the Meredith family.

Luke at the fountain in Bethany

Luke and cousin Nate

Elise and Abby at the rides

Stauffer cousins hit the rides

Wolfe cousins hit the rides

Elise and Abby

Luke and Eamon

The 4th

the Wolfe-Molloy family

It has become a tradition that we spend the 4th of July holiday with my parents - to enjoy their company and all of the festivities in their adorable little town.  My parents live right on the main drag of their town so the big parade literally passes right by their front porch.  This may be a little town but the parade is anything but dinky.  This year we counted 29 firetrucks (!) at least 8 politicians (many of them in high offices for the state) and the amount of candy that was thrown definitely rivals the kids Halloween loot.


This year, Elise and Lucas were really excited to set up a lemonade stand on my parents porch, to get to the ample parade crowd.  Deciding that it was too much hassle to collect money, they gave out free lemonade but accepted donations to give to the local food pantry (the children of parents who work in non-profit?!).  Every time someone came over to get some lemonade the kids completely lit up - and any donation received was the most exciting thing in the world.  It added another layer of fun to the parade - which lasted well over an hour.

blue treat

Next we headed over to the town fair.  The kids had a great time trying to decide which rides to go on, and then enjoyed some treats.  It was incredibly hot all day, but we managed to beat the heat and have a great time outside.


As a special treat, Elise was able to stay up and go to see the fireworks with her Opa.  Lucas was exhausted and headed to bed, not aware of the fun that he missed out on. It was an awesome holiday once again!

lemonade stand

more firetrucks!

Lucas not letting Opa watch the parade

Big Month for a Big Kid

June was a big, action-packed month for our little girl.  The first thing to happen was her kindergarten class end of year talent show.  Elise decided to jump rope for the talent show and practiced in secret for a few weeks leading up to the show. We had no idea she could jump rope at all!  She was really excited to show off her talent:

It was her first "public" performance of any kind and she was really nervous for days leading up to it, but she did a great job, and I think discovered that she doesn't hate being in the spotlight as much as she thought she did!  During that very talent show, another girl in Elise's class showed off her hula hooping skills.  She was really great and Elise was definitely a little envious of that talent.  Determined as she is, she found an old (broken) hula hoop in our garage the following day and spent the next two days practicing (mimicking her classmates moves exactly) until she got the hula hooping thing down.  She can now hula hoop with more than 3 hoops at one time, jump up and down while hooping and other fancy tricks.  That girl can really accomplish something when she puts her mind to it.

Here she is on her first afternoon of teaching herself to hula hoop:

At her school end of year picnic she had another first, but unfortunately not a good one: her first bee sting.  She was pretty traumatized by the whole thing but was delighted by all of the concern her classmates showed following the incident.  She received a phone call that night (chatted for more than 20 minutes!) from a concerned friend, checking on how she was doing, and the next day friends gave her cards and everyone was asking about the bee sting.  Apparently getting stung by a bee in front of 19 other kindergarteners makes you a minor celebrity!  Elise really liked all of the attention - even if it was from something she considered pretty terrible - and was pleased that so many people were concerned about her.  We were just happy to discover that she was not allergic to bee stings (we have a lot of people in our family who are very allergic) so one less thing to stress about!

Next came Elise's last day of kindergarten.  Because our school district has a kindergarten only school, it  was also her last day in that school (next year she will attend a local elementary school that holds grades 1-5).  She was pretty emotional about her last day - she really didn't want the school year to end and was sad to be saying goodbye to her teachers and friends.  We are glad that she enjoyed kindergarten so much and tried to convince her that 1st grade would be even better (I am not sure she's convinced)!

The other big milestone in June was, of course, Elise's 6th birthday.  She was very aware of her birthday this year and was very excited about all of the fanfare.  She had a pool party and invited a mixture of friends from school and friends from our old neighborhood.  Thanks to my super creative cousin Lauren who came up with lots of great ideas and helped getting everything ready - as well as making and decorating all the cupcakes - the party was a big hit. 

There are a lot of changes coming up for her in the weeks to come - various summer camps,  a few vacations and then starting 1st grade.  I think my big kid is up for the challenge.

Pool People

 

Marty and I have never necessarily been pool people.  We both went to pools some when we were younger, but neither of us are particularly talented swimmers and never cared much for the pool one way or the other.  In our old neighborhood we didn't really have access to a pool, so our kids went to the pool a few times over our week of vacation and Elise had swim lessons through her school for a few weeks. Then there was the odd visit to a place with a pool. That has pretty much been the extent of the pool exposure for our kids to date.

We have a swim club at the end of our street, so we had been wresting with the idea of joining since we moved in.  Last summer we decided not to, since we missed the first few weeks of pool season and it was so expensive it didn't seem practical.  For the last few weeks we have been talking about it, going back and forth about what to do. It's expensive. And our kids don't know how to swim.  And because of our work schedules, we can pretty much only go on the weekends.  It seemed sort of a no-brainer that we would again pass on the pool membership this year.  Maybe it would be more practical when the kids are older.

But a few weeks ago we randomly stopped by an open house the pool was having and I have to say we were almost instantly sold on the idea once we were inside.  Of course we pass by the swim club and see it every single day, but there was something about being in there that made it so much more exciting.  Marty and I both had visions of our kids riding their bikes up to the swim club when they are older and making all of their best friends there.  It just seemed like such a great neighborhood kind of thing.

Long story short, we decided to join.  It's been two weeks and we are already considering ourselves pool people.  We joined over Memorial Day weekend, which just happened to feel more like mid-summer than spring, with temperatures in the 90's and super high humidity. It was perfect pool weather.  We went every day of the weekend for multiple hours and not only had a great time but also no one in our super pale family got a sunburn so we consider it a huge success. 

Just in the first few days our children have both already come a long way in terms of confidence in the water.  Luke, who originally said he "only wants to join the baby pool" became brave enough to try out the bigger pool and loves it. He is jumping in by himself and even putting his head underwater - something he was terrified of only a few days ago! The shallow end is only about 3 1/2 feet high so both kids can stand, which is very helpful.  Elise has been practicing holding her breath under water and by the third day she was pushing off the wall and swimming underwater, diving down to pick things up off the floor of the pool and even doing flips in the water (3 in a row!). 

The best part is that the pool is right on our street so we can walk there - even with pokey puppy Lucas - in less than five minutes.

I see a lot more fun times at the swim club in our future!

The Adjustment Period

It is hard to believe that it's been an entire year since we bought into our new house - which I suppose is really not all that new anymore.  We all like the new place and new neighborhood, but I think it's taking us longer to adjust to all this newness than we thought it would. 

Part of that is simply the nostalgia for what was.  Personally, I miss our old house, with all of its charm and quirks.  I miss being able to walk everywhere and not having to rely on a car for everything.  I miss our neighbors, who were all so friendly and fun and awesome. I miss our town, which was so diverse and yet everyone we met had values similar to ours.

The kids miss our old house more than I thought they would too.  Elise often mentions that she misses our old house "that was so much taller" than this one and that she misses the "green couch right when you come in" even though of course we still have that couch though it is not situated in that exact position.  More importantly though, she misses her friends.  A lot more than I ever dreamed would be possible for a five year old. 

This has been a challenging year with friendships for our little girl.  The structure of her day, with half day kindergarten, half day enrichment program and end of day after school care has really made it hard for her Elise - who is quite reserved - to make close connections with anyone since she is not consistently with anyone over the full course of the day.  Most of the girls that she is friends with now she only sees for part of the day - and most of those girls already have best buds from preschool.

It's not that she doesn't have friends - she has actually made lots of friends this year, some of whom she would even consider good friends - but she has not yet made a friend with the kind of connection that she made with friends from our old neighborhood.  She asks about her buddies Audrey and Sara Jane multiple times a week.  Still.  Some days she looks sad or starts crying out of nowhere and when I ask her what's wrong she responds that she misses her buddy (and "sister") Audrey.

We try to have a monthly play date with Audrey, but sometimes I actually think that makes things worse.  The next several days after the play date are always so hard for her - she really truly aches for her friend when they are apart. I am hoping that this fall when she will be able to see the same people the whole day she will make close connections with new friends.  But we will continue to nurture her connection with Audrey and Sara Jane, who are obviously more than just some pals made because they went to the same preschool.  They have made true, strong and lasting bonds with each other.  It is remarkable and beautiful.

Lucas has not had problems making close new friends and rarely talks about our old home.  What he does really miss is walking places.  Almost every time we go out to the car to go somewhere he asks if we can walk instead.  He also misses our old backyard where he could just go outside and play with minimal supervision.  Our new yard is not fenced in, the front yard is small and very close to the street (which is busier than it seems like it would be for a little street in a little neighborhood) and the backyard is full of trees and brush and a creek that I don't particularly trust him to be alone around. He definitely misses being able to just run into the backyard and play.

On the flip side, I think that the move - as well as the age - has made Elise and Lucas a lot closer.  They play together better than ever and really, truly enjoy each others' company. I would say that Lucas considers Elise his best friend right now.  They have very elaborate games they play together - using the framework of cars, which are Luke's thing but treating them like people in a game of house - which is Elise's thing.  Sure, they definitely still have their fights and their moments when they drive each other crazy but they really do have a blast together too.

Overall I would say that the move was the right thing to do and we are happy with our choice.  We will continue to adjust, and before we know it, it will feel like this has always been our home.