Lila's First Day of School

Lila started her first day at The Brandywine School of Early Learning. I was expecting lots of tears accompanied by a death grip but was pleasantly surprised.

She had no interest in leaving the house this morning. She would have rather stayed nestled on Grandpa's lap counting his money. I eventually convinced her to come outside for pictures which seemed to lift her spirits about school.

Lila was the last classmate to arrive. I have learned that dropping in all of the chaos on the first day just adds to the stress. There wasn't a tear to be found in her classroom of 14 kids. Once entering the classroom she was asking, "Hold you me, Mommy." That is her version of, "Hold me please." I asked her to find her name and hang her backpack up but she wasn't going to do it. She was also expected to find her name tag and put it in the attendance basket. She was rather annoyed by all of these requests and flicked the little die cut school house with her name on it on the ground. I then told her she had to be nice which resulted in her picking it up and placing it in the proper spot. I snuck out while she sat at the table with Mrs. Jones and a few other classmates to begin a pattern block activity. It was a day of no tears.

It is very hard to believe that I did this same walk with Savannah three years ago. Not only were my emotions running high due to sending my first child off to preschool but I was frazzled, new, NICU mom. I can't stress enough how lucky we are. Three years ago we were asking questions such as, "Will our girls walk and talk?" or "Is there a chance that our girls will go to a mainstream school?" I think Lila Grace is an amazing success story. She walked into school like any other typical child this morning. I don't think the parents would have any idea of her background. Of course the school staff knows as they were part of our support community when the girls were born. I had a tear in my eye when Mrs. Sweeney saw me walk Lila down the hallway. She exclaimed "I can't believe her turn has come. Look at her!" I agree, just look at my girl!!

Daddy's Helper

As fall is upon us, I tend to get weepy over the littlest things. It seems like the NICU was a bad dream at times but lately, the girls have catapulted my thoughts back into our lives three years ago. I think it is because they are the age Savannah was when the they were born. So many of the activities, things they say and facial expressions remind of Savannah when she was three. Of course, Savannah's third year of life was really defined by us trying to juggle spending time with her and visiting the NICU. What a blessing it is to have the twins turn three and not be consumed by paralyzing fear and grief. That is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to blessings. Who would have thought that my little Lila Grace, who three years ago was the one with her hazy lungs up on the x-ray monitor when entering the NICU (a privilege only given to the baby with the worst lung function of the day), would be hoofin' it behind her daddy in the back yard?

Turning 6 Too Soon (literally)

Savannah celebrated an early 6th birthday at my parent's house. I tried to convince her that she would be 5 again but she had no interest in my line of thinking. How is she this old? We have finally moved away from Elmo, she still wanted to wear the Elmo hat, and surprisingly has taken to Barbie. Yes, this is the same girl who never has played with dolls until recently. I ordered a Barbie ice cream cake (I am still rather shocked that I did this since I have avoided Barbie like the plague for my entire life). Uncle Adam and family were there to celebrate as well as the females of the Dion-Lamont clan. It was quite festive considering it was a last minute thought.


Lila Grace, eloquently serenaded Savannah with a Happy Birthday song. Very, very sweet! I love the picture.


"Look Mommy, I get real presents on my early birthday!"
Finally, some time to enjoy her gifts.

Savannah's Pool Time

Savannah spent every day in the pool while at Grammy and Papa's. She became quite the swimmer. To our surprise, she could go down the water slides independently and swim to the side of the pool (it was over her head). She also overcame her apprehension of jumping into 10' deep water. Don't know how this differs from 5' but obviously the psychology of the two is not the same. Savannah geared herself up and jumped right in. By her second day in the deep end with daddy, she was trying to dive.



The 10' jump






I am very proud of all of her progress but I am even more happy that the fear of water is no longer a factor. The water is finally her element!

Water Slides

Our girls loved the water slides at Grammy and Papa's. This year they were very apprehensive to go down them which resulted in us just taking them up the stairs kicking knowing full well that they would thank us for it later. That they did. We were such pros by our last day that Alex and I were able to time a simultaneous water entry. Well, almost.

First Baseball Game

This is an example of how not to take your family to its first baseball game. We headed out to see the Reading Phillies play (minor league) with friends only to be disappointed by rain. We had a picnic table on third baseline with an all you can eat buffet that was supposed accompany our viewing of the game. No such luck. Just rain, rain and more rain. We hovered under umbrellas and tried to eat while waiting to see if they were going to try and play the game.

The field was never uncovered and the game was called less than an hour after we got there. I think the girls had fun regardless but we were all VERY wet on the ride home. I hope the girls realize that there is more to baseball than hovering under umbrellas and eating.


We love Miss Dorothy for coordinating all the fun. Better luck next time.

Developmental Preschool Classroom

Adeline started her developmental preschool classroom today. We were out of bed bright and early due to the start time of 8:30 a.m.! I tried my best to explain to her that she was going to school to see her teacher Miss Lois but I am not sure she got the part of mommy leaving.

It was clear she was nervous, as was I. Unfortunately, her classroom is housed in a fairly large elementary school which makes one tend to feel overwhelmed. The buses coming and going were very distracting for Adeline. We met her teachers at the buss drop off which prevents me coming into the room or arriving a few minutes early in order to peek inside. I am not thrilled about the black box classroom but will get used to it over time. There is a communication notebook that is supposed to keep parents in touch. It only mentioned what the class did today and nothing about Adeline's disposition. The teacher said she did well and was happy. I only have the face to face interaction because I choose to drive her to school instead of having her bussed like the other kids. I just can't imagine putting Adeline on a little school bus, most likely just her and driver, and not seeing her off to her teacher.

Day one down. . . too many more to go. I can't wait until her mainstream classroom starts and she is back in the hands of the one and only Mrs. Stueve.

I don't know what is going on with the bright idea pose. . .

Miss Lois offered to take a picture of us which I thought was rather nice.