End of Summer Review

      Tomorrow I begin new teacher orientation, and my summer break officially comes to an end. I feel like this summer has FLOWN by, but I also feel like so much has changed over the summer, that I need a review just to keep track of it all. Rylee has changed so much over these few short months. She's grown some physically, but her personality has changed much more drastically.

       Here are a few ways in which Rylee has changed from the beginning of May to the end of July:

• She will let me leave her side without a huge meltdown. She will even stay in the church nursery with complete strangers without getting the least bit upset.
• She stands up for herself. She always let Kaden be the boss when they played, but now if she wants something, she will fight for it.
• She willingly interacts with other children. She is becoming more social and more affectionate all the time.
• She will drink from a hard spout sippy cup and give it to herself. We've always struggled to keep her hydrated, but now she will drink about 3-4 full sippys each day, and she will hold them herself.
• She is becoming slightly less anxious about trying new foods.
• She no longer sucks her fingers to go to sleep.
• She has learned to more often use her words than throw a tantrum or cry.
• She is becoming increasingly fearless. She will try new things, climb, run and experiment in ways that she was too timid to before.
• She is so amazingly intelligent! Okay that hasn't changed, but she blows me away with all the things she knows. She talks in sentences and has something to say about everything. She notices so much about the world around her, and she picks up on things extremely quickly. She knows her alphabet, she can count to 10, she is learning letter sounds (she knows sounds for s, c, k, t, and h), she speaks a few words of Mandarin, she knows most of her colors and shapes, she knows and can verbally label almost any animal or food that she sees, she can label several of her body parts and can specifically tell me where something hurts if she is in pain, she labels her emotions (happy, sad, mad, scared, and excited), she can sing pretty much in tune, and so much more. Like I said, she blows me away!

      I love having breaks where I can be a stay-at-home-mom with my Rylee. I am going to miss spending all my time with her, but this year it is not nearly as hard going back as it was last year. Last year, I had to be in Memphis 4 nights a week, I'd much rather work 5 days a week and get to be home with her at night. I am thankful that I have a job to go to and a sweet family to come home to. It also makes it easier for me to go back right now knowing Rylee will be home with Ryan while I work. I think it is a blessing in disguise that he hasn't yet found a new job. The right one will come along in God's perfect timing. When Ryan does find a new job, Rylee will probably have to go to daycare, and that will be a whole new adventure in itself. I am just a little relieved that I don't have the added stress of her starting daycare right now as I start this new adventure of being a teacher. I have faith that Ryan will find a good job soon, and everything will work out fine.