Good Night to the Autumn Leaves That Fall from the Trees

We had a great start to the day!

At Gymboree, Ms. LouAnn started art class by giving the kids orange paint for free painting.  After a few minutes, she added a squirt of blue to their pallets.  Almost as soon as the first drop of blue landed on Shawn’s paper-plate pallet, he announced, “Chicago Bears!”  Ms. LouAnn was beside herself (especially since they were off-shades of blue and orange, but he still made the connection).  Dadda will be so proud!

The rest of the class time focused on a fall theme. The kids colored the outer rings of paper plates with red, yellow, orange, and green creamy crayons. Then they glued on various shapes, sizes, and colors of leaves that Ms. LouAnn had collected.

During the break, she read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert while the students had Winnie the Pook cookies and water.  For the final project, they glued a brown rectangle to a large piece of paper.  Then, Ms. LouAnn passed out sea sponges and we practiced dabbing them on the paper before she gave anyone paint.  One color at a time, the kids received red, orange, and then yellow paint to sponge onto their trees.  Finally, Ms. LouAnn showed them how to tear apart leftover leaves into little pieces and stick them onto their painted trees.  (I thought they looked great without the added leaves, but that’s okay.)

For the last activity, Ms. LouAnn revealed a tub full of balls and shapes that they pretended were leaves.  The kids had fun throwing and retrieving the ‘leaves’ from the tub over and over again.

Throughout the day, at random moments (like riding in the car), Abby would break into song.  Not just any song though, she’d sing, “No more pee-pee in my underwear!” (A little ditty that I made up in an effort to encourage… well, I guess it’s pretty obvious…

This evening I had a doctor’s appointment to follow up from my visit on August 24.  The lump in my left breast is still there, but I feel like it has changed a little – softer maybe?  They did a pregnancy test, since hormones can do all kinds of crazy things - negative.  They sent me to get blood work to see if my thyroid is to blame.  I also have to set up an appointment for a mammogram and an ultrasound to make sure what we think is a ‘collapsed cyst’ really is just that.  I’m not looking forward to my first mammogram, but I am looking forward to finding out the results!

Meanwhile, Raj and Shawn opted to play outside in the gorgeous weather rather than go to Open Gym at Gymboree.  Abby joined them with her mom and grandfather for fun time with chalk and ‘baseball.’  A great evening to be outside!

When it was time to tuck Shawn into bed, I had him read Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown to me.  It was interesting to listen to his rendition.  (I’ll definitely have to record him ‘reading’ sometime.)  Afterwards, I read it to him and he helped me fill in missing words.  When he noticed that the “old lady who whispered, ‘Hush’” was no longer in the room with the little rabbit, he asked where she went.  I explained that she went to sleep in her own room.  A little while later, we pulled up his covers, gave each other goodnight kisses, said our, “I love you – always and forever!” lines.  With the lights turned off, I sat on the ottoman next to his bed while he settled in for the night.  About five minutes later, he looked up at me and revealed, “You can go to sleep in your bed now, Momma.  It’s okay.”  Really??  Seriously??  And before he had a chance to change his mind, I kissed him one more time and left.  Good night to the little boy who grows up so fast!