Not Babies Anymore

The last day of school was the 17th - last day of kindergarten and we are now the proud owners of First Graders. They no longer look like preschoolers, they're long and skinny - accented by the fact they seem to be inheriting thier father's height. When I bought them new clothes all I could think was this can't possibly fit - but it does. A little sadness for the toddler/preschoolers that are well in the rear view mirror. Thosae chubby arms and legs are stilts, they eschew any clothes deemed "babyish" and the battle cry is often "I can do it myself!" Big kids talk to them and thier eyes light up in admiration that an older kid paid attention to them and it's retold in great detail. And that's what they aspire to, to being a big kid and being able to do so much more. 

How did those days speed by so fast? 

I blinked and it was gone.

But as one age ends, another begins. Six is such a fun age - they're old enough to dress themselves but they dress like Elton John. Once they brush thier hair they have no problem letting you braid it - the fancier the better. They are so much fun to take out, both the girls can sit through a meal now and we can go out without having to chase one while having an iron grip on the other. This time around we took them with us to Seaside to visit Aunt Kim and Uncle Steve, they decided to show off thier (LOUD) singing skills by singing "Chicken wing, chicken wing, hot dog and balony, fucking macaroni"........ - I almost fell off the sidewalk and Uncle Steve instantly declared this was his new favorite song. I said what did you sing and they sang it again, insisting this was the correct words. FYI it is CHICKEN and macaroni but not a battle I wanted to fight downtown Seaside so we just stopped the singing for now. We ate lunch at Sams where Nana had a beer to help her get past the singalong. They had a great time and liberally complimented the guy bringing the food that he was the BEST EVER. They told the waitress she was beautiful many times. C and D are very complimentary and honestly I've seen them light people up - it reminds me it's never a bad idea to compliment people. 

We went to the arcade and they had a blast of course - favorite games were shooting and driving race cars, C managed to not only shoot all the pirates but then sank the ship - we know who will be Poppop's hunting buddy. It was a lot of fun and Aunt Kim gave us her points so we could get extra prizes - a fun afternoon! This visit has been a bit more low key, one of the perks of them being more independent is I don't have to take days off from work, David takes them to the park and I can work with them here, they can amuse themselves. The loft office gets a great deal of traffic - I have a teapot and china sets for them so lunch is always  a tea party while Nana works. I bought a low table so they can do playdough, draw, etc while I'm working. The downside is the dogs often join us so it will be me, girls, both dogs, Bob the Cat in my 7 x 7 office and Poppop has the other 2000 feet to himself.  When I'm off work we do art projects and bake, play on the swings and wading pool, the days go by pretty fast. We were doing pretty good this time around accident-wise until Dutch whacked C in the eye with his tail this morning giving her a red peeper, but she recovered pretty quickly. Oh well, we tried. They will be heading home in a couple of days but will be back a couple of times over the summer. I never thought in a million years I would be one of those doting grandparents with the best granddaughters in the world - 

But here I am!