When I pictured my life down the road, I saw all of my kids living nearby. I figured John and I would be able to visit them easily and often. Thankfully, with Ethan and Rebecca moving to Dayton this past summer, at least one of those dreams has come true. And with Baby's birthday happening the last week of October, it was a breeze to drive down, surprise her, and celebrate!
Who can even believe that Baby is SEVEN? It feels like just yesterday that she was being strolled all over Poland with her leg hanging over the side of the stroller like some reclining beach babe ;-) She made John and me grandparents, and it's been nothing but pure joy.
Since John was still positive for COVID, I got up early and drove down to Dayton by myself. Baby comes home for lunch on Thursdays, and since her birthday conveniently fell on a Thursday, we were supposed to pick her up at 11:30 to take her to Panera. Between my bad eyes not spotting her right away, and her not expecting me, it took us a moment to find each other when she exited E.D. Smith Elementary school, but she eventually ran up to give me a big old hug <3
I could see the stress on her face as she ate her lunch, and she was clingy to Rebecca, so I asked what was going on. Turns out, she hadn't slept well, and she was very nervous about turning seven (or maybe a bit stressed about all the festivities at school). In a moment of parenting brilliance, I decided to review with her all of the things that she had done when she was six--learning to read, having a new brother, moving, going to a new school--and told her that I thought SEVEN was going to be much easier. I don't know if that helped, but at least I got my grandparent two-cents-worth in ;-)
She then headed back to school, Brother went down for a nap, and I ran to Joann's to get some last minute fabric for Glo's 80s Halloween costume (I find it crazy that clothes I regularly wore to school are now called a "costume"!). When I got back to the house, I was just talking to Ethan and Rebecca, and nobody bothered to tell me that I was picking up Baby from school in ten minutes! Holy smokes, it's a good eight blocks. Needless to say, I was a few minutes LATE (ugh...) but we found each other again. I asked Baby if she'd like to walk along Far Hills with me and do a little window shopping, and she said "yes", but as soon as we passed the library, she asked if we could go in there instead. Never one to say "no" to reading, we headed in. We read a chapter of a book, and read a picture books, and she played with puppets (I still have no ability for pretend) and dressed up in some of the provided costumes. It was a great 45 minutes.
We then decided to head back home, but not before she stopped at the playground to play with her friends for a few minutes.
On the way home, we collected all kinds of leaves--little Linden, black maple, sycamore, and tulip tree. I wish I had been on the lookout for more because there were leaves everywhere.
After Brother got home from his violin lesson, we drove to Fairborn for some good old Texas Roadhouse. It wasn't the same with Poppie, but I was glad Baby let the servers "yee-haw" to her ;-)
Then back to the house to open presents, and I hopped in the car and drove home.
Yep, those dreams are coming true!
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