Next stop, Sistene Chapel

There is a quote I remember hearing, by Michelangelo, if I remember right. It goes something like, "I do not create the sculptures from the rock. The sculptures are already there, I just take away the extra rock."

I think Alex was channeling the old artist's soul today. He was eating a pretzel. We were in the car, and I hear, "Look mommy, an R!"

I said, "Oh, you see an R? Is it on a sign?"

"No, there's an R in my pretzel." So, I tell him to pass it up and I take a look, and he's right, it does look like an R.

"Oh, wow, you made an R with your pretzel."

"No," Alex said. "I just bite my pretzel and then I see the R!"

Swim Class Champ

Alex took his first swim class this summer. It was a parent-tot class, so technically we both took a swim class this summer :-)

The combo of the swim class plus more time spent in the water this summer (a great way to spend the afternoon with a toddler on those looooong summer vacation days!) have turned him into quite a fish! I'm going to try to sign him up for a solo class this fall. He's supposed to be 3, but the class starts the week before his birthday, so I'll have to call and see if he can join anyway.

Here are a couple of pictures from his class "graduation." Yes, they are wearing medals! There were actually three kids in his class, but one didn't come on the last day.


Ok, I admit that Alex looks scared. He's standing on these little crenelation stair steps. No, I'm not holding his hand, but can I tell you how many times over the summer he climbed all over those stairs and I had to tell him to get down? (They are only about 6 inches off the ground, by the way, but still, I didn't want him to fall off.) So here, on the last day, there is my little scaredy cat, making me feel bad for taking a picture rather than holding his hand.


Now there is my little ham. Shaka, everyone! He is obviously pretty happy here. I think maybe he was just upset that he had to share that other picture with someone else!

You can kind of see the stairs in this shot, a bit Olympic, except that there isn't a taller one--a "no gold, we're all winners" kind of thing. Oh, and the medal has the swim school's logo on one side and a SHARK on the other side. He actually wore it the rest of the day and was so proud to tell everyone it was his shark medal, and then he'd bare his teeth and bite...in a very menacing way.

I've been holding out....

Alex started at a new school last week. I'm starting a new job at the end of August, and it is soooo close to our house, so Alex will be going to a different preschool, also close to our house. By "close to our house" I mean that everything is within about 3 blocks! This means many mornings of walking to school! I am excited. Not only will this be good for our gas consumption, but it'll be a bit of exercise and fresh air and "doing our part" on the green front! Win-win-win!

So, I apologize dear readers for holding out on you....what I have been keeping from you? Well, some darn cute pictures of a little boy on his way out the door on his first day!


Here's a happy Hawaiian boy--notice he's not wearing any shoes.


Here you can see a bit of his new backpack. I have to tell you about this backpack. I thought it was great. Alex even agreed. It's plain black, but has a little pocket on the side for a water bottle and looks like a big boy backpack, but it's actually his size. I thought that was cute. Alex thought it was cute. Until he got to school and saw that another kid had a Sponge Bob backpack. He looked at me and said "Mom, you are so not cool. Where's my cartoon character backpack?"


Ok, he didn't really. But that's what I thought he said. It may have been something more like "Mommy- Sponge Bob! Where my Sponge Bob backpack?!?"

I'd say that's a pretty direct translation. And so it begins....(the part about me not being cool)

Anyway, here's one more....


"Mom, stop taking pictures, let's go to school!"