and he is almost-four

This little boy has been asking when he can go to preschool since the beginning of 2011. Our response has always been "when you're almost four" (Her turns four in November). Gio is the little boy who, when we went to visit his school in February, cried, screamed, was hysterical...that we had to leave!! Since that day, we have been telling him that he can go to preschool when he is "almost four". Well, that day arrived and he was still thrilled to be able to go to preschool. I never understood parents making a big deal about preschool. I mean, it is only two days a week and he comes home by 2pm. Well, I am a parent now, so it is a big deal. And in our family, HUGE!

I think Bryan and I were just as excited about this day as Gio. We're so proud of the sweet, kind boy that he is. Yes, he doesn't listen, plays too rough with his brother, runs around like a mad man, but ultimately, he is our sweet, generous, thoughtful little boy who is going to do so very well in school. I do wish I could be a fly on the wall when he interacts with other children but I guess that is all a part of parenting-letting go...and he isn't even FOUR!!

When we walked him in, he walked right to his classroom, which we had shown him on Sunday after church. He is so excited to be in the "butterfly" room. He made himself comfortable playing and, well, ignoring us! The teacher told us we could stay for about 20 minutes but it was very clear that Gio would benefit from us leaving pretty quickly. I think we were in the room for a total of 3-4 minutes. We didn't have to rush off to work or errands or appointments, he is not even four and was ready to get rid of his parents.

His parents and his brother, on the other hand, weren't so ready to leave him. While I was worried about how I wold handle this transition (just fine by the way), I was really worried about M.His brother is a part of him, they do everything together, and M knows no life without him. He cannot say his name correctly quite yet but walks around calling for "bo bo" and it really does just break your heart to hear the sadness in his voice. Thankfully, that same sadness is replaced with joy and love when he sees him come to the car when we pick-him up!

This is definitely not the first transition for this little boy, but if he handles the rest as well as he handled this one, we will have smooth sailing ahead. We look forward to so many more wonderful adventures ahead!

For those of you who wonder why I'm so tired

Rodeo Time

We moved to Texas on March 7, 2010. It has taken us 1 year and 5 months to take these little (city) cowboys to a Rodeo and it was definitely worth the wait.

While Bryan was tired of my Sea World, Zoo, Farmers Market suggestions, I asked him to pick our Saturday activity, and what a good pick it was!

We went to Tejas Rodeo in Bulverde and it was, in my opinion, one of the nicest outings we have had in the past year (and 5 months). The boys saw mutton busting, roping, bull riding, and more. Gio even had the exciting opportunity to run into the arena and catch a calf. He was a little late to the party as Bryan and I looked at eachother and said "no, next time" but then said "why not". So at last call, we rushed our feisty three year old to the arena and he ran to catch the other kids, oh, I mean the calf! However, he was so far behind, the calves were running away from the other kids, and right at him! He is so brave, he was not even phased by the thought of those calves running towards him. He was at the Rodeo!! He just kept running as fast as he could... in his Toy Story boots...in the dirt... He wasn't running that fast, but he was trying, and finding such joy in it..as were his parents and his sweet brother looking on at him.

At a time of the day when both kids would normally fall right asleep, they were awake for the 20 minute car ride home, watching the full moon become more visible through the clouds. Little guy clung to his football and his sippy cup pretending to rope (somehow, I'm not sure how that was even possible) and Big guy filled with excitement talking about his first rodeo. What a memory for us all. Let's hope it doesn't take 1 year and 5 months until we go again.