::milestones::

Some kids pick flowers for their moms. Mine picks up stones. 

Whether we are taking a walk around the block or exploring a nature trail, our pockets come home a little heavier with rocks and stones J hand selects for us.

Some C and I drop and leave outside. (How many concrete bits do we really need?)

But others we save. 

Both C and I have held on to some of these stones. We cherish them for what they symbolize:

:: our little nature lover

:: hand-picked gifts for mama and daddy

:: his idea of what is beautiful

I'm reminded of these stones as J cheerfully greeted another milestone today.

As I stood outside his classroom door today, my jaw dropped as he bustled in, said hello to his teacher, and hung his backpack up. When he wandered past the door again, I leaped in and asked for a goodbye kiss. 

I asked for the kiss that last year he would never let me leave without.

~~~

Thanks again to Stephanie of Adventures in Babywearing for sharing this idea for back-to-school pictures.

Back to School

I'm prepping J big time right now as he starts back to school on Tuesday. He's playing it tough, but I can tell he is nervous. I've been trying to build excitement and interest with this great new picture book from Laura Ljungkvist called Follow the Line to School. The artwork is really cool; it's very interactive; has a sort of "I Spy" quality to it, and it's hopefully helping to alleviate some of those back to school jitters.

I was also lucky enough to run into his preschool teacher at the library a week ago and got the inside scoop that for the first month of school, his class will be doing a unit on dinosaurs. As you know from my previous post, dinosaurs are somewhat of a staple in our home. Knowing a little about what to expect seems to be helping him too. Oh, how I remember those first-day nerves. I'm trying to strike a balance between addressing his nervousness but staying positive and almost sort of casual about it. Maybe the less I make it into a big deal, the less it will be a big deal to him?

For those of you with older children, back to school means back to routines: earlier bedtimes, homework, and possibly a reinforcement of rules that have gone lax over the summer. If this has you stressed (as I'm sure it will have me next year), take a look at this Back to School Contract. Stephanie, known as Ooph on Twitter, covered all the bases here. I'm bookmarking this for the future.

Wish us luck on Tuesday! Check back for a first day of school pic of J. I was inspired by another Stephanie's series of back to school pics of her kids. I love these First Day Pics on Adventures in Babywearing! Plan to try it with J bright and early on Tuesday morning.