Time flies

As Chalna reminded me today at the pool...my last post was titled "Back to School" and here we are just a few short weeks from starting a whole new school year! Whoops.

I'm not even going to try to sum up all that we did this past year; most of you can probably piece it together from Facebook posts anyway. But overall...things are good. Summer is mostly over and it has been a good balance of time hanging out with my sweet pea, time with friends, visits with family, and a little bit of relaxing solitude.

David still works ridiculously late, and is frequently on call on weekends, but I'm not going to complain about that. He is employed. He is a wonderful dad, and continues to be Gabby's hero. He always makes time for me; he always does little things to show he cares and values me. And as always, he doesn't bat an eye when I do things like leave town solo for a week in Austin to be with family. He works long hours and takes care of Gabby, the two cats, and the absurdly high-maintanence little dog when I can't be there.

Gabby is my little sidekick. I love this age. At times she is stubborn and we butt heads, but most of the time she is wonderful. I love her strong will and her outgoing personality. She is not afraid to say what she thinks, even if it goes against what everyone else thinks. She is a leader among her friends, she has confidence, and she is constantly saying and doing things that make David and I question, "where did this child come from??" She has never met a stranger, and she will talk your ear off if you give the tiniest sign that you are interested. If she has just two pieces of her favorite candy (chocolate), she will offer you one of her pieces, and will do it joyfully. She has a kind heart. She is very serious about her role as "Lilly's Mom" and she takes very good care of her little dog.

There is really no place I can't take her. Aside from the usual playdates and fun outings, we go shopping, we have lunch dates just the two of us, she accompanies me to CVS to pick up a prescription, to the bank, to get groceries to try out a new recipe...she's up for anything. I always call her my shopping buddy (which angers her..."I'm a GIRL, and girls are NOT buddies!") but it doesn't feel like I'm having to manage/babysit a kid; she really is just my sidekick.

Gabby is a social butterfly, and she adores her friends. We have spent time with Finley, Jackson, Olivia, Colin, Luke and Haydn, Ava, Erin, Connor, and Brooke this summer, and Gabby is over the moon happy everytime I tell her about plans we have with friends.

She had her first "sleepover" this summer at Finley's house. The girls wanted to go out for sushi (we may have the only two 4 year olds who regular request sushi dinners) and so we went out to eat and then back over to Finley's. The girls got all set up in sleeping bags in the TV room, but there was NO sleeping on Gabby's end. She practically wore a path in the carpet going back and forth between the TV room and Finley's room, where I was sleeping. I finally just let her in bed with me...and then Finley woke up, and sadly realized she was all alone. So...Gabby slept in bed with me in one room, and Finley slept in bed with Christina in another. Her first slumber party was a FAIL, but we did have lots of fun!

Much of the time in the summer is just the two of us, and there is only so much princess/my little pony/strawberry shortcake pretend play that I can handle. So I am thankful that Gabby loves to play games. Some days we don't even go into the playroom at all. We have started playing cards; I taught Gabby how to play Crazy 8's and Go Fish. We also play Yahtzee, Memory, and The Guess Who Game (my personal favorite). And she is actually really good! I never let her win, yet she still beats me almost half of the time at any game we play.

She is getting SO CLOSE to reading, but she frustrates easily and doesn't want to sound words out. She memorizes, she guesses, she gives up. I haven't pushed it, we just try to do a little reading each day. When she does actually feel like trying, she does great. I am hoping that she will make some good progress this fall when school starts again. She cannot WAIT for school to start. She loved pre-school last year, and did so well. Her teacher was wonderful, and knew exactly how to work with Gabby. She always acknowledged how well Gabby did, but never stopped pushing her, and never let her get complacent. She also did well fostering Gabby's leadership abilities while squelching her bossy tendencies. From our few conversations, I could tell Ms. Tiffany got Gabby.

I completed my first year back in the classroom and am going back for more. It was a challenging year, but I am still happy with the choice I made. I know I was able to do some really good things for my kids this year, but there is still so, so SO much room for improvement. I really struggled at first being new...I just felt so out-of-sorts...not knowing what was going on, not used to the tight schedule, not having a good group of friends, and feeling very disconnected. I was no longer in the loop about district issues, but I was not yet in the loop about my campus. I still feel a little isolated from the district and sheltered in my own building, but at least I no longer feel like a visitor at my own school. I work with some really great people. I finally know every staff member at least a little bit, and some I have gottent to know really well. And the more I get to know people, the more I like them. I know I just said it, but I work with some really great people.

They didn't replace me this past year when I left the specialist position, but for next year, they decided to hire THREE people to work with the middle schools. I was asked to interview for one of the positions...it really would have been awesome to work with two others (and the two others I love, and I would have been so excited to have them as counterparts) and they were being super flattering and it was a total ego boost, yet...I didn't even give it a thought. It may have been a stupid decision to pass it up, but I'm just not ready to go anywhere yet. I'm just getting warmed up.

So....I officially have two more weeks of summer after this one, and thoughts of the impending school year are beginning to creep back into my consciousness. Gabby has 4 days of daycare left this summer, and I will probably spend them all working up at school getting ready. Outside of that, we have a few more playdates scheduled, I have a couple of friends I want to see before summer ends, and hopefully David and I can squeeze in a date night (or two!). And in the meantime, I plan to just enjoy lots of work-free, schedule-free time with my girl :)