1. Dan goes back to school for teacher workshops on Wednesday, so in a lot of ways our summer ends in less than a week. That means I stop attempting to work during the day and take over as primary caregiver, so I'll be able to go to a lot more playgroups and stop feeling guilty about my lack of hours billed. Except I need to work in the evenings again.
2. Peter starts school August 31 and Leo begins Tu/Th morning preschool on September 8th. He still pees at least once an hour and doesn't always use the bathroom to do so. I'm starting to wonder if there's some physical reason he pees so often. He doesn't pee enough to make a puddle on the floor, just to get his pants damp. He has a well-child check-up in a couple weeks and I'll be asking the doctor but I'm nervous about staying dry for 2.5 hours for preschool. He has been using the toilet for two years if he doesn't have pants on. I had kidney reflux issues at his age and had to be on medication for years.
3. Our next door neighbors pulled out an extra driveway and sodded it last night, leaving their extra sod in a free pile by the road. We took our strollers and tricycle and loaded it all up and have sodded our pathetic, dirt-covered hills between the front and back yard (there's about 10 feet of our property before the neighbors' yards). Yay for free grass! I need to sew or knit something to thank the neighbors now.
4. At National Night Out, our neighbor commented on how his grapes were growing fabulously this year and he didn't know what to do with them. When I offered to jellify them, he said he'd even help pick them when they were ripe. We filled a grocery bag with 14 lbs the other day (maybe 1/4 of his crop) and stemmed them while watching a movie. We now have 14 cups of juice in the fridge that should turn into about the same number of 1/2 pints of jelly this afternoon. We could probably get more grapes too. I'm planning on giving a lot of them back to the neighbor. Free food, yay!
5. Nino mentioned the one sentence journal and I think I'll try it. I like the idea of being able to look back and see what was happening in different years on the same day. Committing to writing one sentence a day seems pretty doable.
6. Peter's kindergarten picnic was on Wednesday. Last year was intimidating -- we only knew a couple people and weren't sure if Peter would talk to anyone. This year, we knew half the families plus all the faculty and Peter was happy to run around with his school friends. He said he'd ask kids he didn't know to join and play. Not sure if that happened, but just being willing shows how far he's come. We don't know who his teacher is yet -- there are currently 50 kids registered for the 3 classes and 8 of those are children of faculty members. Although Dan's been teaching there for four years, I'm starting to feel like I belong now too. In six months we'll find out whether Leo is accepted for pre-kindergarten. He doesn't seem remotely ready to sit still for more than 3 seconds, but a year makes a huge difference at his age.
7. I've been back to sewing recently, finishing a dozen newborn diapers for my sister-in-law and some pajamas for the boys. Maybe someday I'll attack the mending pile.
More quick takes here