A little update ...

It's funny - I drop Marley off at school and smile and laugh as she trundles out of the car with hugs and kisses and smiles. She is so excited she runs all the way to her classroom and rarely ever looks back. She is so happy and so am I. I get a little choked up thinking about what a big girl she is and how much she is growing up - but I am not stressed for her. Every morning she tells me she is going to earn tons of Hershey's Kisses for her class and be a super good girl and have so much fun! She blows kisses to Ethan and gives him an "air hug", tells me she loves me to the sky (or moon or Sun or Heaven).

After that we head to the gym. Every day Ethan is so upset that I am leaving him. It doesn't matter if I stay and play with him for one minute or ten minutes or just drop him off and head out the door. He still screams when I go. BUT they have little windows to look in and check on your kids. He cries his head off for about ... 2 minutes. Then he is just fine. But the funny thing is ... that I totally stress about him. I start to get teary and choked up.

It's the difference in their personalities that strikes me as so interesting. She does so well in social situations (mostly) and he has such anxiety. His anxiety creeps into my chest and clings on to my heart. I know he will get better as time goes on but it's hard for me to have to make him learn to be social and do some things on his own.

I've been helping out in Marley's Kindergarten class every Monday morning. It is so much fun to walk in and see her sitting there with a huge smile on her face. She is so happy to see me and have me there. Even a little proud. The funny thing is that we had an argument the morning before I came in to her class. She was grumpy and tired and being slow and I lost my temper and yelled at her to hurry up. I was nervous about how she would act when I got in the classroom - but there she was just beaming a huge smile at me, the argument totally forgotten. She forgives quickly. And I love being named "Marley's Mommy". The other day I overheard two little girls arguing quietly ... about who was Marley's friend! They both wanted to be her friend but finally decided they both could be friends at the same time! So cute.

Marley went to Kendrick's birthday party this week. She begged and begged to be able to ride her bike all the way there all by herself! Where does she get this independent streak from? Here I am thinking how great it is as I send her off to school but then sometimes I wonder if she has just a little too much. Well, it was only around the corner and she has been there a hundred zillion times so I let her go. I called Brenda, though, and told her Marley was on her way - and if she didn't show up in two minutes to call me! Overprotective Mommy.

She has also been playing with a little boy next door after school sometimes. This has been a super hard struggle for me. I want her to be able to play but I don't love the situation. I know his mom and she's a nice lady but he has an older brother and sister who hang out with even older cousins and friends - like teenager old! I see them there all the time and really don't like the idea of her being around teenagers. So I let her play in our backyard with him but have had to tell her that she can't play with his sister or brother and she can't play at their house. This is especially difficult, as you can imagine, since they have a trampoline. She thinks it's so unfair. Wow - prelude to the teenage years for sure! Also - she says he told her to pull her pants down! She came in to the house to tell me and I told her that if he did it again to run and tell me. Well, she ran in the house the next day and told me he said it again. But by that time he was already headed home ... and I honestly didn't know how to handle the situation anyways. Do I talk to him, his mom. I don't know. I just told Marley that she shouldn't play with him for the rest of the evening. If he does it again though I think I am going to have to talk to his mom. Yikes.

Marley and Ethan were laughing the other day and Marley said something exceptionally funny ... and Ethan called her a GORK! (dork) So Marley told him HE was a dork! And then Ethan says ... "I'm not a gork - I Ethan!"

Ethan wants to eat CONSTANTLY! He loves fruits and vegetables but especially cheese. He finishes breakfast and then ten minutes later is asking for a snack. If I let him he would eat and eat all day long. But as soon as we sit down to eat lunch or dinner at the table ... he won't touch it. I kind of wonder if he is just bored. He has a hard time entertaining himself.

Less than a month and we are off on our much anticipated vacation to Spain. We still have reservations to make and are a little apprehensive about our intinerary. We both have a feeling that we are trying to squeeze too much in to our week. But we can't think of anything that we would be able to leave out! Marley and Ethan are also getting excited ... about spending an entire week at Nana's house! They talk about it almost every day. Ethan is especially excited he gets to celebrate his birthday there.