Bye, Bye, Binky

Everett's binky provided him comfort for over 3 years.  He LOVED his binky and lovey together and if he was upset in the day he would tell me that he needed binkylovey to "feel me better."  Unlike Emily though, he didn't damage his own binky with his teeth and we finally had to tell him that binkies have a 3 year life span and slowly, cracks started appearing.  On August 3rd, it was time to clip off the tip of the binky because the cracks were getting close to each other and binky was about to become a choking hazard.

I asked him if he wanted to snip the binky on the 2nd, but he told me that he would be ready on the 3rd.  So, that's when we pulled out the same giraffe scissors that snipped away Emily's binky tip and had him take care of business.

After a few nips and snips, his binky was in 2 pieces.

He made a comment about how it was broken and didn't work any more but there weren't any tears involved in bed time and he fell asleep quickly with the binky in his hand.

Thankfully, things have continued to go just as smoothly with a broken binky - Everett is happy to snuggle lovey and hold his bink.   And... about a month after, when we visited the dentist, Everett was rewarded for stopping the use of his binky with a certificate and a gift card to Golden Spoon frozen yogurt. 

He shared his money with Emily and took her out for froyo after dinner on his first day of school.

A Little "Lately"

(Grrr... already wrote this post and it's lost.  Going to try to duplicate but not feeling overly enthusiastic about it.)

Here are some pictures to tell the story of the end of our summer... what's been going on lately.

We have been visiting the library to check out new (to us) movies and Emily has been reading to Everett.

On the 31st of August, Emily had a great time getting her make up done by Elsa,

posing with her and the birthday crowd,

as well as joining Elsa's tea party!

The following Tuesday marked the beginning of soccer season...

and this season, Daddy is the assistant coach!

I think they all had fun playing at that first practice.

The kids had a couple of days of surprise mail - a favorite!  Everett received his quilt from Nana and couldn't wait to sleep with it! 

Emily's quilt, also made by Nana, was returned and she too was insistent on having it in her bed that night.

Then, Everett was excited to receive his favorite doggy in the mail!  Doggy returned to Mimi's hospital in Texas for a little stitching up...

and now he's good as new!

On Thursday, September 4th, Emily was given the opportunity to pick a restaurant to celebrate her first day of kindergarten!  Of course, she chose Farrell's and the newest sundae in the joint.

(Everett enjoys his job as "official cherry eater" - none of the rest of us like them and he LOVES them!)

Then, if all of the rest wasn't enough, Emily had her first "Purple Lightning" soccer game on Saturday, the 6th.  (Didn't realize at the time what a poor picture of Emily it was.  oops)

We were glad it was an early morning game, because it was already plenty hot outside!

That afternoon, in the cool indoors, Emily and Daddy were invited to see a dinosaur show...

with some friends!  The girls (Emily, Sydney, and Katie) got front row suite seats and never-ending snacks!  What fun!

Growing Pains

Today will go down in our family history.  It was spectacular - spectacularly insane.  Without going into too much detail I will just say that we haven't quite adjusted to the new school schedule and nap/rest time is suffering.  Everett has started a new habit of getting out of his bed.  Too much.  And his favorite place to visit is the bathroom - my least favorite room in the house.  Plus, if he is not laying in his bed, there is no way he is resting (let alone sleeping) so it was time to break this habit.  

The plan, remove the kid lock that has been on the inside of Emily's door (inactive) since the previous owners and move it to the inside of Everett's door so he wouldn't have the freedom to leave anymore.  :)  All started well but there was a hiccup with door handle removal - which delayed the lock removal.  As I was trying to figure a solution, Everett took a trip to the bathroom.  Soon after came a conference between Mama and Everett in his room.  While we were talking, Emily came over to interrupt.  Unfortunately, when she returned to her room she shut her door that was left ajar because it didn't have a handle.  Insert sigh.  So, there she was, on the inside of her room with the door handles AND the hinges of the door which meant that I could see her inside, but couldn't open or remove the door from it's hinges.             

That's when I told Emily that she was completely locked in her room and I went to finish my door handle removal research.  She cried and waited.

Eventually, I went back up to peer at her up close from the outside...

 and talk to her from a step or two back.

That's when I took a picture of her smile and said that I wanted to have it so I could look at it since she was locked away...

and she sobbed about being locked in her room f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Then I instructed her to choose the right handle (that had the post attached) and to stick it through the square hole.

That was great, but when she tried to turn the lever down on the inside, it ran into the kid lock (of course, I had JUST locked it to see how it functioned and make sure it worked correctly).  UGH!  Downstairs I went to retrieve some pliers to hold the post and function as the missing lever.

With a slow turn of the post, I soon had this face looking at me.

With that problem solved,  it was time to go in the room and work on the door handle.  But, I first noticed that I am, indeed, quite pregnant.  :)

And as I worked with the screwdriver I decided that Bittrois is probably close in length to the screwdriver.

(As it turns out, you can't see the metal part of the screwdriver very well in the picture but I still think it's funny how Emily squeezed right up next to me.)
A-n-y-w-a-y... I worked on the door handle and managed to get it removed so that I could detach and move the lock.  Once that was complete, I moved the lock to Everett's door and attached everything again.  BUT... it didn't function properly there and it was obvious that it wasn't going to serve it's purpose.  SO... we pulled out an old knob and I stuck that on the door with our tried and true kid lock we had with Emily.  Insert exhale.

Let's just say Everett better not even come close to mastering this lock before he drops the habit of leaving his bedroom to pass the time.  Please, oh please...

BMOC

A lot of people asked me why Everett wasn't in preschool last year.  Mostly because they were dropping off their second child (while also dropping off a classmate of Emily's) and just assumed he was the same age as their preschooler since he interacted well with them.  BUT, Everett only just became old enough this past May and boy was he ready!  As is the custom with the 3 year old class, his teacher came out to our house on August 19th to meet Everett in a comfortable setting for him.  She also read him a story,

(Emily too)

introduced him to "Chester" their special class friend,

and finished up with some stamps and stickers.

We are all thrilled that Everett will have Mrs. MacDonald because we loved her as Emily's teacher.  (She is also excited because she has known Everett since he was only 4 months old!)

The next time we saw Mrs. MacDonald was on Monday, September 8th, in his classroom when we were all invited to explore the classroom and meet some classmates for 40 minutes.  Everett really liked the magnet maze,

play dough,

and the science area.

(Everett put the goggles on himself and enjoyed comparing the weight of objects in the classroom balance.)

Both of those visits, prepared Everett for his very first day of preschool today, September 9th.  He knew the drill... pictures in front of the school sign.

As well as one hug with Emily...

and Mama.

Then, Emily showed him how to hold his tote bag over his shoulder,

and walk to class.

(Emily enjoys the fact that she gets to drop him off and took advantage of her chance at some hugs with past teachers)

He walked right in, hung up his tote bag, and found a spot on the rug.  Then with a wave and a smile, he sent me on my way...

until pick up time almost 3 hours later.

Everett had a wonderful first day and said he thought "it was amazing."

We also got a phone call from Mrs. MacDonald to report that he had a great first day.  He "came in like a pro, listened nicely, was kind to friends, and explored the classroom and what it had to offer."

Nothing less than what we expected from our sweet big shot boy!

For fun, here are a couple of pictures of Emily meeting Chester and Mrs. MacDonald in 2011.