Yesterday was your last day of school. You were in the Grandi class at La Scuola this year, the second year of preschool. In August, you will be in Grandissimi. We keep talking about "next year" at school, as though it isn't a mere two months away. And you will be attending two different camps this summer, two weeks at Children's Day School, where they have a little farm with chickens, and four weeks back at La Scuola, where they will focus on music, science, art and cooking.
When we said goodbye to the teachers at school, some of them were sad (Suela and Betta, specifically, because they won't be back next year.) Some of the parents were sad, too, since they feel like their kids are growing so fast. It's hard for us all to believe that you will be the big kids next year, when we still see you as our babies.
You have been cracking me up lately. Pops was here this week and he was determined to play catch with you, even though you have zero interest in that activity. We went to the park and you two tossed a tennis ball around for approximately 38 seconds, after which Pops came up to me and said, "Catch is over, because she's taken the ball over to those trees to find it some more magic powers." Yes, that sounds about right.
Even if catch is not your thing at the moment, you are a physical kid. You've started taking Hapkido classes, and I basically laugh the whole time as you and your squat little friends yell, "Yes sir! Thank you sir!" at your teacher, while wearing fabulous white uniforms.
You've also become quite the chef. Your specialty is spinach quiche, a recipe that you have adjusted slightly each time, not--I don't think--in an effort to improve the result, but because it is so much fun to crack eggs and add cheese to things (like your mouth.) Despite this culinary development, your favorite food still seems to be chicken nuggets. Or maybe it's ketchup, but either way, nuggets are involved.
You and I read James and the Giant Peach last month, which was really fun. I thought it might be kind of scary and/or boring for a 4-year-old, but we read 40+ pages at a time, and you never wanted to stop. We then read Henry and Ribsy, and we're overdue to get to the library for some more chapter books. Your love of books seems to equal your love of TV (Team Umizoomi and Octonauts) and movies (Frozen, Alice in Wonderland, Up, and Tinkerbell.)
It is your opinion that you should get to watch videos every day. Dad was in France all week, and we were so happy to see him when he got home yesterday afternoon. You hugged him tightly, then turned to me and said, "Time for videos?"
We've been in our new house for 4 months, and it is truly awesome. I love waking up here, love spending my days looking at the ocean and listening to music outside with you. The only problem is that we've had mosquitoes, and they have brutally attacked your cheeks in the night. I think we've figured out some solutions, but you might want to consider taking your face into the woods to get it some magic powers.
Love,
Mom
