Saturday, July 31, 2010

July 31st

Keeghan is officially 3. Her birthday was Thursday and we had a bowling party...glow bowling to be exact. We took her bowling over one of the winter vacations this year and she loved it so a bowling party just made sense. And really, what's more fun than some 3 year olds with bowling balls? Keeghan had an awesome time and did really well with not getting overwhelmed and out of control. She totally understood that it was her birthday and that we were having cake. Presents were a total after thought for her. Whenever we mentioned a present for her birthday she'd bring up Santa. She enjoyed opening her presents though once she figured out they were for her : ) She still gets very excited when something is hers. As far as 3 year olds go she is very good at sharing and waiting her turn (of course we have moments of not waiting to share but overall she is good). She's come so amazingly far in the 19 months she's been home. We sleep (most nights) and once in a while I get to run an errand and Keeghan will want to "stay here". There typically aren't huge meltdowns when I go to work. Sure we still have clingy moments and meltdowns and bad days after busy days but who doesn't?




Blowing out the candle.


Happy Birthday to you...


Bowling!


Awwww!! Keeghan and one of her very first friends...a travel mate, Maelin. The girls have grown SOOO much.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summer is flying by

It seems summer is flying by us! Keeghan's 3rd birthday is next week which means it's been 2 years since we first saw her beautiful face. She's grown and changed so much and continues to amaze us. Her language is coming along but there are plenty of words that just don't come out even close to right so we continue with speech therapy and will be transitioning Keeghan to pre-school this fall. I'm not so sure that transition will go terribly well as Keeghan is still pretty clingy with me and will often give me a hard time about leaving for work and I really don't get much of a chance to leave her for anything else unless she's asleep. I'm thinking I need to re-visit some reading on anxious attachment and work on that. We have been talking alot about Keeghan going to school and that MaMa will go to work while Keeghan is at school and she says "ya!" and is excited to go "in my classroom and do learning" but I'm not so sure that enthusiasm will continue once she realizes that I'm really NOT staying. I'm going to put together a photo album of pictures to try and help with the transition...Keeghan getting ready for school, Keeghan getting dropped off at school giving MaMa a hug, MaMa waving bye bye, Keeghan in her classroom, MaMa coming back to pick Keeghan up, and Keeghan going back home. Hopefully the visual will help. She is understanding that MaMa comes back (and BaBa too) and will tell us that but it doesn't always mean MaMa gets to leave without tears or clinging. The teacher she will be with is fabulous and I know we'll make this transition eventually but it doesn't make it any easier for me to think about.

Speaking of transitions...Devon has been away this week at a lacrosse camp. This is the first time he's been away from us this long and it seems to be going well (thankfully he's sent me text messages) but I'm ready for him to come home. I'm interested to see how he feels about having been away for a few nights with strangers. Hopefully he's learned a few things and had some fun. I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.

And Kennedy, she gets to do a soccer camp in a few weeks that is being run by a major league soccer team...very cool. She's really looking forward to it and is really ready for soccer season to get going.

Carson did a gymnastics camp last week. She's been BEGGING us for years to let her do gymnastics. I've been saying "NO" for fear of the expense but we finally gave in and said, fine...one week of camp. I went to pick her up day one and they want to put her on a team. One of the coaches saw her flipping around and asked where she trained and when they realized she was mostly self taught (I have enough experience that I've helped a bit) they knew she'd learn quick. We explored the costs (UN-DOABLE) and settled on an option that lets Carson spend 2 hours a week in the gym with girls at her level and will not bankrupt us.

So far, so good for summer. Looking forward to some more time at the beach, a trip to the zoo, and whatever else this warm weather brings!