We are now parents of a kindergartener!

A month like this one makes me realize I should have blogged more, but I guess it will have to be one big post.  

Esther is officially done with preschool and is so excited for kindergarten!  Registering Esther for kindergarten, I put that E's first language was Cantonese (at least for the her first 10 1/2 months of life), but this created a red flag for ESL.  ESL contacted me and wanted to evaluate her English.  Ha ha!  So I went back to the school and changed it to English as her first language.  Live and learn!  

Co-op preschool has been a wonderful experience for both of us, but I am glad summer is here.  Esther will start swimming lessons soon, and possibly a gymnastics or sports class, too.  At the end of July we will be headed to Kansas for a reunion with our fellow China travelers/adoptive families.  We haven't seen each other in 4 1/2 years and it will be so great to see everybody again.  

When we get home from that trip, we will might be getting a second dog.  Huddle is excited for this, Gene not so much!  Pretty funny since Gene is the one who wanted a dog in the first place.  Who knew I would turn out to be a dog person.

Enjoying one of the few sun breaks we've had, at the dog park.

Our silly girl.

Tired, hot, happy dog.

My peeps!  

Wow, her hair was long!  Esther decided she was ready for short hair again, and wanted a boy haircut like her friend, Theo.  We agreed on a bob.

Our two kids.

Up until recently, E didn't show much interest in writing her letters, but apparently she knew them all along.  Typical Esther...doing things on her own time.

"Animating" like Daddy.

"A robot bus, with people on it."

E's preschool friend's little brother invited Esther to his party.  The fire department delivered the cake and  let the kids check out their truck!  Esther was excited, to say the least.

Last field trip of the year was to the beach.  It was a really low tide that day so we got to see lots of cool things.  Esther's favorites were the dead crabs she found, which she carried around in the dog's Chuckit.

Showing off her find!

As preparation for kindergarten, the kids got to go on a real, live school bus.   They had a safety class first, then a little ride around the block.  On the bus Esther's reaction was, "This is SO cool!"

One classmate kept asking about why there were no seat belts.  It obviously concerned him very much. He will make a conscientious law-abiding citizen one day.

Although most of her short life E has played almost exclusively with boys, just recently she has begun to join in with the girls.  Here she is sitting by her favorite girlfriend, Maren.  She had me help her write a letter to her, telling her that she loved her and wanted to have a play date at Maren's house sometime.  She made sure I wrote that she would be very respectful of her toys, and maybe they could have a snack.

Teacher Kathy sitting in front of the quilt that our class created for her. I sewed it but each child contributed a drawn square and a special piece of fabric.

Last story time as a preschooler.  Tear.

Each kid got a book about themselves, and a mini stuffed guinea pig (like the one they all got to take home during the year.)  Esther was so pleased!

Although class is over, we will be having play dates all summer at different parks.  Unfortunately,
E won't have any of her buddies attending kindergarten with her.