Home Sweet Home

Somehow this pool already feels very far away. Sigh.

To think I was enjoying it just a couple of days ago.

(Apparently Ruby is not a fan of aquatic adventures)

After three very full weeks of visiting friends, family, and dear ones, and after trekking through Northern California all the way down to San Diego and hitting up lots of places in between, we are home. As we drove up our street Little M shouted, "Home! I want see my's purple room at home!" I guess she was ready to be back in her own spot again.

So today I have been unpacking, grocery shopping, opening mail, and settling in. I probably owe you an email or a phone call because we completely dropped off the face of the earth this month. It was, I admit, kind of nice to feel disconnected from our routine.

Tomorrow is the first day back at school. Last year I was so excited, and for a bunch of reasons that I don't need to get into, I don't have that same anticipation this year. Before M was born, and before we knew she was deaf, we never would have planned to have her start school so early. (She started going to therapy and an infant group at 6 months old.) This year she will be going to class 3 days a week, from 8:30 in the morning until noon. That means a long day for a toddler (and her baby sister). It takes an hour to get to her school, so we leave the house by 7:30 at the very latest and won't get home until 1 in the afternoon at the very earliest.

I guess it all makes me want to guard the rest of her childhood even more fiercely - from such a young age she has been in structured environments, actively being encouraged to think, to follow directions, to participate. There are a lot of benefits to this I'm sure, but I also want to make sure she has time and space to just imagine, play, discover, dawdle, and be a kid.

P.S. Even though I am a fan of channeling e.e. cummings and rocking all lower case on this blog, I am flirting with using correct punctuation. I figure it might make this blog more readable. Thoughts?