Summer is gone

Halloween is gone too, how did that happen? The temperatures dropped, I had to break out the parkas, frost put the garden to bed, Thanksgiving is behind us and Xmas looming around the corner.

To review, August - visited my parents in WI with Lela and Lian, had a great time. Went to the FCC summer picnic, Fridays at the beach, play dates, swimming at Grandma Barbara's. It was the summer of fruit, with bumper crops of juneberies, raspberries, plums, blackberries and figs from our yard. I never got it together to do vegetables, but fruit just keep on going once you've planted it. The fall crop of raspberries sweetened the chill of autumn. Not the generous gush of summer, but one sweet surprise hidden in the leaves, then another.

September rolled in and school for the first time for both girls. Lian is going to a full day pre-k school for speech and language 30 miles away, Lela is in afternoon pre-k 15 minutes away for 2.5 hours, 4 days a week. Lian rides a bus for an hour. Guess which one is having the tough time adjusting. Yep, first day I was called back to the room because Ms. Lela could not stop crying. Next day Grandma had to sit in as I had a conference to attend (Oh, in the midst of this I have started a new PT job - Exec. Dir. of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, an inter-municipal water quality work group.) Then I spent the next couple days in a very small, very hard wooden chair in the hall. The next week in a room around the corner. Then she was fine - for a week, and then relapsed, so I was back in the hall for at least 15 minutes until she settled in. Getting a lot of Sudoku done.

Lian hops on the bus and waves good-bye. She's doing really well. Her articulation has improved, as has her vocabulary. She's making new friends and is a big helper in class. Her English is good enough now (wish I could be fluent in Mandarin in a year) that she can make little jokes - she will sing the Lion King song, Hakuna Matata, as Hakuna Banana just to make Lela crazy. There's nothing wrong with her brain, Mom. We had our annual visit with her cleft team and the good news is - there's nothing for them to do for now. She'll start orthodontistry when she's 5 to expand her palate and move her teeth into position for her next surgery, a bone graft to stabilize her jaw when she's about 9. We are waiting results from our visit to an endocrinologist because, despite a year of hearty eating and exercise, she is still not on the chart for height.

Halloween was the great vacillation. Lela could not make up her mind. She was going to be a lion, no, a Dalmatian, no, a lion, no, a princess. Lian was princess. Lela finally settled on Belle from Beauty and the Beast - which required a new costume, supplied by E-bay and fancied up by mom. We treated three different neighborhoods and ended the evening at the home of Lela's new friend from pre-k. Vast amounts of candy were acquired and are still lingering on as of Dec 5. Tragedy struck in the loss of Halloweeny, a small black stuffed cat Lela had insisted on hauling along, still missing. And my cell phone, though that was recovered by a friend who took one look at the lime green bag, and was pretty sure who it belonged to.

The kids regard Thanksgiving as a mere way stop on the way to the big event, Christmas. I was happy to sit and eat a tasty repast; turkey and stuffing by Christy, sides by me, deserts by bakery.

I've already shopped for the kids, so that just leaves - everyone else, Xmas cards, Xmas letter, Xmas photo, house decorating, er cleaning, Grandma's house decorating, wrapping, wrapping, 8 zillion social events (mostly the kids social lives) Are we having fun yet?
Pix to follow.