Max started pre-k on July 13. Originally, we had wanted him to go to the same school that Katie did for pre-k, but getting into that place is nigh impossible even for people who have been on the wait-list for multiple years (us) and who have priority through work and sibling (us). They give first priority to city employees no matter when they apply, so that, combined with the fact that they’ve pushed back the starting date of kindergarten a month over the past two years, means that there hasn’t been space for him, and we weren’t willing to wait anymore.

The place where we ended up sending him has been amazing so far — he really enjoys being one of the big kids, but not the biggest, and he’s soaking up information like a sponge. Right know he’s smack in the midst of obsession with Jurassic World (the lego version mainly), as well, so everything is about dinosaurs and Jurassic Park and the like. (He and Katie have been playing through the Lego Jurassic World video game and it’s spawned two of his worst tantrums to date, because he loves it so much but also gets SO incredibly frustrated by it.)

He is not a baby anymore, which I am having a weird time coping with — like, I like it, but I also sort of abhor thinking about his age because I feel like he’s still a baby and he’s very nearly 5. That is firmly NOT a baby. When I went to Maine over the 4th of July weekend to visit silsbycarr (B made me), Brandon took him to get his first not-by-Grammy haircut and they did the sort of cut which made him look like a full-grown young man as opposed to my little beeble. However, he is still my most physically affectionate and cuddly human, and for that, I am hugely grateful.

Katie is almost through the bulk of summer camps! We made the critical error of having her do different camps every week, so on Mondays she’s having some adjustment issues. Happily, we’re almost through them, though, and she has learned so much. She is reading at a fairly good clip, and worked on things like programming, flying a drone, and going to a marine biology camp and coming home with mud from the bottom of the bay painted on her face like she’s a warrior.

She is a lot more focused in her normal activities, as well — she was awarded a patch for perfecting Form #3 (Greenfields) in taekwondo, and is doing well in gymnastics, too. She can kick-turn and do all of the strokes for swimming, and we can take her to a pool without floatation and know that she won’t immediately perish, which is exciting :D I also can depend on her for a lot more at home, including getting herself ready for things in the day without totally getting distracted (especially if I give her a good reason for doing so — dessert, or screen time, or whatever), and she is trending towards being a driver of positivity in her relationship with Max (except when she’s really tired, and then all bets are off).

Yahoo is pretty demanding, but the kids really are my port-in-a-storm. I’m working hard on being patient with them and in general, I am rewarded. I am happy to be a mom to such awesomesauce little folk.