Fall morning without any light

At this time of the year it’s dark until about 715 or so. Claire has a habit of waking up and coming into my room directly at 7 AM. Two mornings ago she came in looking very worried. I met her at the door and asked how she was. She says “Tommy I feel very weird. I don’t understand why it says it’s morning but it is dark outside.“

I smiled. I took her into my bed and we snuggled while I explained that at this time of the year there’s just less sunlight in the morning. But that it really was 7 AM and she didn’t need to feel weird or worried.

After I explained that everything was fine, she said, “OK can I watch TV no please.” and that was the end of it.

Max’s kind heart

Tonight Ellie was really upset. She was getting her shower and just crying her sadness of life out. 

Max doesn’t like his sisters upset. He especially looks up to Ellie and wants to help her. So he tried to go in to cheer her up. She wasn’t having it and he walked away solemn. 

I love that he tried to cheer her up. He has such a big heart. 

I had a little chat with him at bedtime. I told him that sometimes teenage girls can be very emotional and hard to help. I told him I love that he tried to cheer her up. I asked him to not take it personally. 

He thanked me for telling him this and how much I love his kind heart. What a boy. 

Bye Mommy

For the last couple weeks when I drop Claire off at school she walks towards the door and repeats over and over again, “Bye mommy! Bye mommy! Bye mommy! Bye mommy!“

The gentleman who holds the door for her smiles and laughs as she walks through it repeating her mantra. This has gone on for a while.

Fast forward one week of me being away on a business trip. I dropped her off this morning. She walks towards the classroom. I wait. I get one “ goodbye mommy I love you.”

This is just another example of how this too shall pass and things change so quickly with children before you know it they’ve moved on to something else. I love my little girl.

Max starts 3rd - the best part of me

I absolutely love this writing and photo Max worked with his teacher to create on his first week back to school for third grade.

Trying to end the obsession

Earlier this summer the kids spend a lot of time playing Pokémon with Michaela. As Michaela left and granny came, the older kids moved away from it but Clair retained her up obsession strongly. She never wanted to play anything else with her siblings other than Pokémon. As a result Max and Elly went on a mission, starting a new business, to end up sessions. We found this really funny hand typed letter on the kitchen table one evening. This is one for the memory books. 

Being that it is now October and I’m just getting around to sharing this, I can report that the amount of Pokémon play has reduced, but still exist. It is still clear his favorite thing to play, but kindergarten now gets in the way of her being able to play it all the time.