Wednesday, September 6, 2017

San Antonio's version of a Hurricane

While many of my favorite people were hunkered down in Houston and watching the water rise in our favorite city, I was stuck with a little drizzle and three bored kiddos stuck inside here in San Antonio.  I have nothing to complain about from that weekend, we took it easy and had fun together. Here is a little snapshot of Zahra and Zayd getting creative on Day 3.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Z3 and the return of School Day Friday

Now that school is back in session, it means me and my little Z3 get to spend some time together! Friday is just about us!

Frankly, it used to just be about me and my to do list. Ziyan was so young and pretty much up for any adventure as long as he had his Tula carrier and an on-demand access to milk, so last spring we didn't focus on him, so to speak. Now, he has loves and interests. Books to start! I can tell that we are going to read at least a dozen books every Friday. He has favorite songs (Happy and You Know It, Ants Go Marching, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes) that I will surely be singing on demand. He loves to do his shape sorting, throw a ball, play with his Minnie Mouse vaccuum that he INSISTED I buy, and eat sweet things preferably made from chocolate. He is the best little tubby Mammen I ever could want.

Tonight, he sat on the couch with all four of us "big Mammens" and kissed us each in turn. He might have given out 50 kisses, each with a giant toothy grin and an adorable smacking Mwa! sound. He is the best 3rd baby anyone has ever hoped for. I am so glad that he is my Friday date, every Friday.

Here he is on that very first Friday after enjoying a delicious croissant at Commonwealth Coffee House.





First Day of School at ALA 2017

I am negligent on posting first day of school pictures and then realized that I never posted last day of school pictures from June! SO, I offer up a twofer.

First, here are the kids headed off to their last days of school just before summer, Zayd to say goodbye to Ms. Alyson and Kindergarten, and Zahra to say goodbye to Montessori Schoolhouse and Ms. Lee. I was really much sadder to be leaving MSH than I expected. Both of my kids really blossomed there and grew into such interesting people.



Zahra didn't understand why she didn't have a sign like she does on the FIRST day of school...so she made one. Again, MSH was the perfect environment to challenge this precocious four year old.





Fast forward 90 days, a lot of time with Joe and a few vacations, and you get to mid-August and a back to school advcnture for my kiddoes.





I am terrified of sending Zahra back to Pre-K 4, this time in a public school, but I really want her to be with her proper grade. I don't want her facing college at 17; I think she might self limit with her college choices (or we might!) to compensate for her age. I remember some young women at Bryn Mawr who were just 16 and they didn't get quite the full experience. I can't imagine what that looks like at a bigger school. So, maybe we mess around and tweak this year a little, but eventually we get her into a village model at ALA where she can do 2nd grade work in Kindergarten and all is well. I just have to hold on for that. And she does too. Since we are a couple weeks in, I can report that she likes it quite a bit but insists that they don't have to work, they just play. She studied for Zayd's first spelling test and got an 80 during our at-home exam, but frankly spelling OF as UV kind "uv" makes sense. :)

Zayd was excited to go back to school. The village model really works for him too. He has great friends and a wonderful teacher. He has reported some rough days and has a hard time being nice to so many people for such a long time (his words).