Kindergarten Tomorrow

Fans, we have met Mrs. Dvorak.  (She has brown hair. No word on whether or not there will be themes; we forgot to ask.) First impressions: no nonsense and firm, but not harsh; she'll be good for a hug if one is needed.  In other words, she seems pretty great.  Joe shook her hand, and looked at her when answering her questions. Now, when she was talking mostly to us and only partly to him, he was not looking at her.  Instead, he was checking out the classroom and pretty quickly wandered over to the library where he settled himself right into a chair to look at all the books.  (He may have tried to walk off with one because, you know, he was looking at it and wasn't done.)  So it was all very encouraging, but also very brisk--moving right along--and then we were off for the rest of the day's adventures.  For Ted, this meant going to work, but for Julie and Joe, this meant helping the window blinds salesman unload supplies from his truck, lunch out at the simultaneously loved-by-Joe-and-loathed-by-Julie-and-Ted Yum!, a trip to Paint Your Plate (where Joe painted a motorcycle), a trip through the car wash, a stop by the library to pick up some books, and a trip to Target to get, among other things, bread with which to make Joe and sandwich to take for lunch tomorrow, and Tinkerbell underwear to celebrate Birdie's overnight triumph.

Joe is himself a Fan, of Paint Your Plate, and Julie loves it, too, because it's outside-of-her-house crafting messiness and because you get a tangible thing to hold of a moment in time.  When Julie and Joe were there today, Julie made another of the dinner plates with Joe's handprint in the middle that she's been make with him and with Biride since they were each around a year old ("the handprint series," if you will). The first one she made with Joe has both of his handprints in its middle. Today one hand just fit inside a plate's center. Oh Fans. She fought back the tears.  Joe turned to her at one point--not, interestingly, then--and said, "Mommy, turn off the waterworks!"  Did one of us say this to him--or to Birdie--recently? He was saying it in that I'm-trying-this-new-slang/phrase-out! way that's so dear.  Julie laughed out loud.  Fans, it was fun.  As those of you who have been with us for any length of time (including those of you who might also have gone before us with your own wee ones) know, it's not always sunshine and roses, but this afternoon really was.

And tomorrow he will be, as his Grandpa Charles texted Julie, "embarking on that long journey to his own destination."  It's going to be exciting, and tough.  Maybe Mrs. Dvorak will give us a hug.  If not, at least we can hold hands as we go.

Birdie Wakes Up Dry!

It's a big week here at White House, as you know, Fans.  And it just got bigger.  Birdie wore underwear to bed last night, and woke up dry.  !!!!!  As you know, Dearest Readers, she's been using the potty for some time, and has been wearing underwear at nap for some time.  But at night, she was rocking the Pull-Up.  We thought she might be able to jettison it, but didn't want to ask her while we were moving and settling in, and then now, what with her day-to-day changing as Joe heads off to kindergarten.  But yesterday she announced that she wanted to wear underwear to bed and we were all, "That's cool.  Whatever floats your boat."  And then she wore underwear to bed and woke up dry!  So it may be that Pull-Ups are a thing of the past.

State Fair 2013

At the main gate

We would be remiss if we did not report that on Sunday, we went to the State Fair.  Turns out, some 200,000 other people did, too.  Fans, that's the largest number of people to attend the fair on one day--ever.  It is "where Minnesota gets together!"  The hot temperatures of the preceding week kept people away (one of the lowest daily attendance numbers was recorded Tuesday) and as soon as the heat broke, people broke for the fair--200,000 of them.

That's a lot of people to walk through, Fans.  (Julie--who is admittedly not as enthusiastic about the State Fair as other White Housers--might have been going quietly crazy.  She may have tried the patience of another, more enthusiastic, fair goer, despite her best efforts to rally.  But that State Fair Fan knows, and Julie knows, there's always 2014.)

In any case, there were too many to push through to make it to the John Deere equipment display as we usually do.  But we did still manage to do most of our usual things: we went down the Giant Slide, ate Pronto Pups* and Sweet Martha's cookies, had milk shakes at the Moo Booth, and walked through all the animals barns.  We also took a ride on the gondola lift--above the 200,000 people.

*For the uninitiated, these are like corn dogs, but with a wheat coating.

Enthusiastic State Fair goers

Our Hero east his first Pronto Pup

And shares with Birdie

Birdie checks out some birdies

Give Me An S!

Headed into Target yesterday, Clara said to Julie, "Let's do the letters, Mommy!" So they did and Brigade, she rattled off all the letters in Super Target, even the A and the Es which will usually give her pause. Such a triumph! As usual, we saw Ms. Manisha in Target so were still awash in the heady glow of it all. Birdie agreed to give it another go on the way out and although Julie's phone didn't have enough storage to capture the very last bit, the final T was said. You can see letters S through E here.

My Name Is Birdie

On Saturday night, Joe and Clara's friends, Nathan and Andrew, came over with their parents, Anne and Brent, and Anne's dad, Jerry. They are both Joe and Clara's friends, but it is true that gender trumps quite a bit when one is a preschooler and so the boys are an instant pack and off running like dogs, while Clara flits about the adults showing off her new--apparently designer--wristlet*.  So it seemed quite fitting to learn that when she introduced herself to Jerry, she said her first name was Clara but her nickname was Birdie. Jerry asked what he should call her and she said, "Birdie."  It really would have been too much if she'd said Miss Birdie.

*Acquired at Target for free for purchasing two of Hayden Panettiere's favorite Neutrogena products.