Monday 8/15:

I made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. When they came out of the oven, I told Bennett they needed to cool before we could eat them. That prompted him to say, "I'll stand right here and watch them," and then stood there, staring at the cookies for a while.

Tuesday 8/16:

Super Hero day for Bennett's class. He was so excited to wear his 'B' cape to daycare, and I was so excited for him to actually wear it, since he never wore it during his birthday party. He also had his first transition period to his next classroom. Daycare sent us a note saying, "Just an FYI... B. had a hard time with first day of visit to Sequoia - we will try again Friday... "

Caroline ended up having a fever all day Tuesday, so I picked her up 'early,' at 4 but left Bennett at daycare. Once home, she told me she needed to poop. "Poop. Poop," while pointing to her butt. Then once on the toilet, she looks at me and immediately says, "Video." What a conniving little brat.

Wednesday 8/17:
Bennett went to daycare while Caroline stayed home due to her fever the day before.

Caroline had a rough day. Here she is at 8 am: throwing her third tantrum of the day. She had already had a time out by this time also...

Finally her hair is long enough, and she was patient enough, for me to braid her hair. I think i was more excited about it than she was, but usually if she doesn't like her hairstyle, she'll pull it out. This time she looked in the mirror, gave her nod of approval, and went on with her day.

To kill time in the morning, we went to the library:

We got home before lunch, so we took the girls for a walk. I was hoping she'd stay away for the walk, then we'd eat lunch and she'd nap. Unfortunately, she had other plans:

I let her sleep about 20 minutes, then woke her up for lunch. She was in a great mood.

Of course when it was actually nap time, she wouldn't nap. We had an ENT's appointment scheduled for 3:30, so we needed to leave home at 2:45. Naturally, Caroline decided to nap at 2. Ugh. I let her sleep until 2:55, but then we really needed to leave. I think she ended up napping in the car on the way. We made the ENT appointment because in addition to her fever at daycare, they said her ears were draining. I didn't notice any draining at home Tuesday night, but we had to take their word for it. As fate would have it, Dr. Rimmel didn't see any draining and said her ears looked fine. He asked how I was feeling about the adenoid removal. His other suggestion was to put her on a daily low dose of antibiotics, rotating the antibiotic type each week, for about six months. He said some kids just have a weaker immune system, and the low dose of antibiotics is enough of a boost. We discussed it for a while, and I told him I felt the adenoid remove and new set of tubes was the way to go. He also said that her left tube had definitely fallen out and there was a hole in the ear drum. In the end, he said he'd order the surgery and we could schedule at our leisure. We could even think about it for a while, talk it over, and do it whenever.

Afterwards, we stopped by the Children's Museum while we were waiting for our takeout food order. It was a quick 20 minute stop, but Caroline had fun.

She was so amused with herself on tv.

Thursday 8/19:

While Caroline had a great day, Bennett did another transition period and it didn't go so well. His teacher sent this note: 
Hi... So, B. has had a (surprisingly, to me) difficult time with the visits this week. They pulled him early on Tuesday, and today he has been sad again. We waited awhile this morning so that I could speak with him first, but my feeling is that we have to "motor through", so to speak. Next Monday he will be assigned to stay, and new Willow students will have arrived. Just wanted to apprise you... Wondering if you could: spend time with him tonight to help process his feelings about moving (we will do more, too); drop him off directly to that class on Friday morning; and perhaps spend a little time if needed upon delivering him... But, as is often the case on many mornings, at some point it's good to just depart and allow him to settle in on his schedule. Happy to discuss more this afternoon! Donna

At pick-up, she elaborated more, saying he really wanted to do Willow water day (which who wouldn't if water day was only once a week and he was going to miss it). But just as he was goign to get sent back to the Willow room, the Sequoias sent to the park, and he decided to go with them instead. She said once he gets settled into the room, he usually does a little better. I told her that I know he doesn't know the teachers, not even their names, because I ask him and he says he doesn't know. I mentioned that it'd probably help him to know what the schedule of events is, things like that. His teacher said it is just so surprising to her that he's having such a hard time, because he clearly needed more challenge after being in his current class for so long. But she knows he has his sensitive side too. It's so great to know Bennett has such caring teachers, who understand him so well.

Friday
We woke up to see we lost one of our beautiful black walnut trees. :(

At the end of the day, Bennett's teachers organized a little send-off party, to say bye to all the kids transitioning to the next room (four others, including Bennett, with a few more following in a few weeks). They had treats and a dance party.

Bennett with Ms. Nathaly. She wrote him a sweet note and made him a super hero mask. Ms. Nathaly was visibly sad while talking to Bennett during the party. She told him what a special boy he is and that she is going to miss him. Naturally, he didn't express any sentiment, but it was nice to see.

With Ms. Donna, Bennett's favorite teacher.

After daycare and dinner, the kids played with some Play Doh. Bennett started rubbing it on his face, like it was a soft feather. He's so weird, but it was funny.

Showing off his superhero mask... and shield.