Holy Crow! It's Summer, Already? What Happened to the School Year?

At some point, I feel asleep, woke up, and it was summer.  Holy No More School, Batman.  The end of the school year came with its flurry of meetings, play dates, promises of play dates during the summer, and wow, is it really summer?  Already?    

I had a few moments of quiet while waiting to pick up Sunshine on her last day of school.  I was looking at Ladybug, swinging by herself on the big girl swings, and I got to thinking about all the changes that the girls have gone through during the school year.  The other moms and nannies that I see everyday on the playground have been telling me for a while how much the girls have grown.  But I just didn't see it until then.

Sunshine has grown inches taller and significantly more loquacious.  I didn't think that was possible.  I foresee a column regarding my inability to keep her in pants and shoes in the near future.  She's also suddenly a huge fan of potty humor.  She's a girl though.  This phase shouldn't last long.  Crossing fingers and toes.   

She's also grown a little quirky.  I brought her a new pack of panties not too long ago.  She was thrilled.  Several days later she complained that she had no panties left.  Going into her drawer, I found one last clean pair of new panties.  She explained to me that she had a play date coming up, and she wanted to save her last pair for her play date.  Now some little girls save their favorite dress for a special outing.  My little girl saves her favorite pair of panties.  In all fairness, they did have castles and princesses on them.  

Really though, she seems a lot less confident than she did at this time last year.  It's like she realized that there's a big, bad world out there and she needs to hold my hand for a while.  I notice Sunshine watching others.  Observing them before trying something herself.  She seems cautious.  I think it's a good thing.  She's a little wiser, a little less headstrong.  

I don't even know how to describe the changes in Ladybug.  It's more than just the inches she's grown.  And she has grown by leaps and bounds.  She's going to be tall.  Ladybug's gone from a supremely quiet, shy baby to a brazen I-know-exactly-what-I-want-and-I'm-not-afraid-to-tell-you-exactly-what-it-is toddler.  She even seems offended when Sunshine tries to talk for her.  Going so far as to correct her when she's wrong.  No, Sunshine, I don't want orange juice, I want LEMONADE.  

I'm actually having fun with Ladybug and this whole potty training bit.  Now that school is out, we've started training in earnest.  She's in panties during the day, and every 20 minutes that timer goes off and onto the potty she goes.  She insists on the adult toilet.  No baby potties for this little girl.  I am a little concerned that she might be developing a Pavlov's dog response with the kitchen timer though.  I can see it now.  Every time she hears a beep-beep-beep, she pees.  A truck backs up, she pees.  The microwave goes off, she pees.  

I'm thinking that it should be a lovely summer.  We've got some plans, nothing too big though.  We've got some friends, and hopefully some home-grown veggies.  We've got Todd, who is infinitely happier and less stressed.  Oh, and wine.  Thanks to Trader Joe's, we've got wine.  Don't think I could make it through the summer without it.