First Week of School

Sydney finished up her first week of preschool this week.  It was a short one with Thursday and Friday off for Sukkot but she managed to pack a lot of fun into the three days that she was there!

She continues to make such beautiful pieces of art at school.  Here's a few of her favourites from this week.

Sydney has reached a stage where she is constantly busy at home, looking for activities to do and is playing more independently than ever. 

She's been doing lots of crafts lately, stamping, cutting and rearranging displays on our mantle.  It's quite cute to see her occupy herself.

We've been waking up to mornings like this lately:

We are well into fall in Vancouver and I've been having fun decorating our house to match the season.

I even pulled out my sweaters and boots and bundled up!

I got a lovely birthday card in the mail from my parents the other day along with a cheque to buy something special for myself.

Yesterday afternoon Sydney and I hit up The Perfect Gift store in Kerrisdale and I got a Pandora bangle and a few charms that I'd been wanting as my birthday gift.  I love it!

We are enjoying fall.  September, as always, flies by and before I know it I'm another year older and it's October.  Hoping to enjoy every minute!

Conversations

I was thinking the other day about when Sydney was approaching her second birthday how she was only saying a dozen or so words. I would lie awake in bed sometimes wondering if she was on track with her speech.  What needless time spent worrying that was!  She has grown into such a chatterbox that it is sometimes exhausting listening to her all day and engaging her in conversation with rarely a break!

I love having conversations with Sydney, knowing what's going on in her mind and hearing how much she understands the world around her.

A while ago I bought a book called "Q&A a day for 365 Days" which is a daily journal that prompts you with a question to ask your child and you jot their answer down in the book.  Some of her answers are hysterical and touching.

Here's a sampling of some of her latest answers:

Q - If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be?
A - The best dancer and the best skater

Q - What would you like to learn to do?
A - I would like to learn to skate and write properly and be a good piano player

Q - Would you rather travel back in time or go to outer space?  Why?
A - No, I would like to stay inside because I like to stay with my Momma

Q - What rules at home seem silly to you?
A - Mommy says "No climbing on the drawers" but my Daddy lets me

Q - Whom do you like to hug?  Why?
A - Momma, I like to kiss her because she's my favourite Mom in the world

Q - Are you a leader or a follower?
A - I follow my Mom because I love her.  I don't want my Mom to run away because she's my special Mom in the world

Q - What makes you nervous?
A - Climbing up so high makes me nervous

Q - What do you do if someone won't share?
A - I ask them again and again and again and if they won't give it to me I just play with another toy

Q - What is the best thing about being a grown up?
A - Getting to have babies and Mommy can hold them and Mommy can buy them new clothes and I can exercise and Mommy can babysit them and take them for a walk

Q - What did you used to dislike but like now?
A - I didn't like TV when I was a baby - I like it now.  When I was a baby I didn't like my car seat but now I like it.

Then tonight, out of the blue, Syd comes up to me and says "Mom, when I'm a bigger girl can you help me find a really good husband?"  I answered "Sure" then she said: "We can knock on every door and ask anyone if they have two husbands, one extra one for me!"

I almost died laughing, what a girl.  Long may she chat!

First Day of Preschool

It felt like today would never come.  We have been waiting in anticipation since the first day of September for today, Sydney's first day of preschool.  In fact, it's her first day of her very last year of preschool, a pretty special day indeed!

We packed Sydney's new Hello Kitty backpack last night with all the things she would need for today, a giant red apple for the fruit basket and an entire mini wardrobe for the basket in her cubby.  Sydney loves changing clothes while she's at school and today was no exception.  In the short two hours of gradual entry that she had she managed to change outfits twice and when I arrived to get her she was wearing a completely different outfit than I'd left her in!

My girl, she is growing up.  While we were driving to school this morning I had a little flutter in my heart wondering if it was going to be a difficult goodbye this morning after having spent an entire summer together.  She loves preschool so much and is more than comfortable with her teachers but still, there were new things, new kids, new activities, a slightly different set up in the classroom than last year. 

Turns out my fears were unfounded as she squealed with delight the minute that Jen opened that classroom door up and let the children in.  She was beyond happy to be back and my heart melted with the outpouring of love that my child has for her precious teachers.

So after helping her fill her basket with clothes and get settled I gave her a quick kiss and off I went to begin the first of many mornings on my own.  It was productive, got my driver's licence renewed, met up with my cousin to pass along a ton of clothes that Syd's outgrown, had a coffee at Starbucks and took care of some housekeeping items at the preschool.  It felt good to be productive.

My cousin Sharlene gave me a beautiful bottle of wine to thank me for passing Sydney's clothes along.  I am always so thrilled when someone we know can use the things that Sydney's outgrown!

Today also happened to be Sydney's first gymnastics class of the season after taking a few semesters off.  I wasn't expecting much, if any, participation on Syd's part today as she is typically slow to warm up to anything new so you can imagine my pleasant surprise when, five minutes into class she decided that she was going to participate full-on and was okay with me waiting outside with the other Mommies.  She popped her head out the door to see me quite a few times but I was so proud of her in there all on her own!  Her buddy Addi is in the same class, I think she liked having a buddy there!

After class I let her pick out a special gymnastics outfit to wear for all the classes going forward. She chose this very colourful funky one complete with a matching hair scrunchie.  It looks super cute on her!

Today was a scorching thirty degrees in Vancouver, an amazing day! We were hot and sticky by the end of the day so I pulled Syd's hair back into a bun.  Oh my gosh did she ever look cute and about twenty years old all in the same moment!

It was a wonderful day, I was so proud of how Syd rose to the challenge of being on her own both at school at gymnastics.  I was elated and sad all in the same moment thinking about how much more independent she is getting with each passing day.  My baby is growing up!

Fall Has Arrived

Last night, for the third year and final time I attended Sydney's preschool parent orientation meeting.  It's hard to imagine that next year at this time I'll be going to her Kindergarten orientation.  How is that possible?  I have to tell you that I felt a bit wistful already thinking about how every special time together in her beloved preschool class this year will be the last time with these amazing teachers in this amazing space.  I am determined to make it a year to remember!

Fall has definitely arrived around here, we are well into September and it feels like all things autumn.  Yesterday afternoon Sydney and I went on a little nature walk in the endowment lands to gather some leaves and a branch to hang our preserved leaves from last year.

We had such fun wandering through the forest and gathering things to decorate our house.

In the end we got a good bowl full of leaves:

And a very cool looking branch for our indoor tree:

Syd is still looking for every excuse to be outdoors these days.  The other day she begged me to pull out her play tent from the garage so she could have one last dinner outside sitting in her tent with Daddy.  It was pretty cute, all I could see were Paul's legs dangling out of the tent as they dined together.

Our friends Jack and Christina came over to play the other day and midway through our time together Syd disappeared upstairs and came back down dressed head to toe in her Halloween costume, Abby Caddaby from Sesame Street.

She looked so cute in it!  I can hardly wait for Halloween!

Sydney thinks it is so hysterical that Paul left her a note on his ice cream:

So the other day we headed to the store where I let her choose her very own tub of ice cream and we left a little note back for Dad:

Paul thought it was quite funny when he opened the freezer and saw Sydney's message.

Sydney had her first swimming lesson of the season yesterday.  She took a few minutes to decide that she wanted to go in the water but once she did she had the time of her life swimming around!

This morning as a special treat for Syd, we went to Butter bakery for a cupcake date.  We so enjoyed having a spot of tea and a sweet treat together.

Then we headed off to Kits Beach to have a picnic with Emma and Sarah and enjoy a gorgeous day that was as hot as summer!  It felt like one last hurrah before Sydney heads back to school tomorrow.

Just as the girls were starting to get a little owly, out of nowhere, like an angel from heaven a girl from ING bank came by who was handing out free popsicles.  What a life saver!  The girls were thrilled!

We have so enjoyed the past few days welcoming fall and spending some time together before we get back into our routine.

An Afternoon with Janice

Late yesterday I got a text from my sister asking me if I was planning to head to a block long garage sale in our neighborhood that was taking place early this morning.  She is on the hunt for some specific items for her new classroom and I am keen to help her find some great deals on stuff to fill her shelves!

Problem was, Sydney and I had been invited to her buddy Marcus' birthday party this morning and I wasn't sure how we were going to squeeze all of it in.  But Momma likes a challenge, so we left a few minutes early and hit up the garage sale, moving from lawn to lawn at top speed picking up a few great things for Liane's classroom along the way.

I even managed to get myself a little something, this beautiful vintage necklace:

Not sure what the stone is, or if it's real gold or not, but at $2 it was a deal I couldn't resist and is oh so pretty on!

We made it to the party a cool few minutes late and had a wonderful time celebrating both Marcus and his little brother Nicholas' September birthdays together.

Katrin's Mom always makes the most amazing food for their parties and today was no exception!

I loved the Lego themed cupcakes that they made too!

On the way home we zipped by another garage sale in the neighborhood, got another load of stuff for Liane and a couple of fun things for Sydney too.

A new leap pad complete with over seven books and cartridges all held in it's very own backpack!

And a game of Bananagrams which Sydney absolutely loves!  She is so into letters and words and spelling things these days that these Scrabblesque pieces are just perfect for her!

We got home just in time to meet up with my friend Janice who is in town visiting for the weekend.  Sydney and Dad spent a little time together hitting up Kerrisdale Days while Janice and I took the opportunity to visit and spend some quality time shopping together.

We hit up South Granville and had such fun looking at all the shops.  I, of course, never leave empty handed and got myself a few great things at West Elm, Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma!

By far the most fun purchase was this new bath mat from Pottery Barn Kids for Sydney's bathroom.  She has been asking me forever to get her a kids bath mat and I couldn't believe how excited she was to have it!  It was very cute!

Was so lovely to catch up with Janice today and to send her home with a bundle of stuff that Sydney has outgrown for her sweet Josie!

What a perfect Saturday!

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the holiday which marks the start of the Jewish New Year, is happening the earliest that it has in over a hundred years this year.  Typically it falls around the end of the month but this year we are welcoming the new year in right after Labour Day!

The past two days have been filled with festive times together with family and friends at dinners and lunches.  It's always such a welcome time of reconnecting with everyone and I love how much the dinner table seems to grow every year as we add new family members and friends.  This year both Tybie and Lauren are expecting babies so I imagine next year at this time there will be an even fuller table to be had!

The past few days have certainly felt like a holiday for me as I haven't had to cook a thing, just arrive as a guest and enjoy a beautiful meal!  I always love to bring a little something with me to help contribute, which typically looks a little something like this:

And we always come bearing flowers...this year I got azaleas hoping that the plants will make their way into everyone's gardens to enjoy for years to come.

Sydney loves this time of year, she literally disappears with her cousins Issy and Nathan and is off playing for hours at a time!  It's fantastic!

It feels fitting to have the start of the new year in September, a month that is filled with new beginnings, a fresh start.

Shana Tova!