Back To School

I'm heading back to my other life as a middle school teacher in just a few days, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on my summer with Aven. Since two-year-old kids have such a bad reputation for being difficult I thought I'd list my top ten favorite things about spending the summer with a two-year-old:

1. Hearing her use new words every single day. I'm always amazed at how fast she picks up new language. I really must stop listening to The Lonely Island when she's in the car with me.

2. Her enthusiasm for absolutely EVERYTHING. There aren't very many things I can think of that don't fascinate her.

3. Listening to her pretend phone conversations is one of the best parts of the day "Hiyo. Hi. How you? Oh good." Need I say more?

4. The simplest things keep her busy and entertained. She'll play with rocks and water in the backyard for an hour at a time while I relax on the patio.

5. She goes to bed early and sleeps in EVERYDAY. Ian and I get some down time in the evening and I get to sleep until eight o' clock every morning- not too shabby.

6. She has become a sound aficionado. She can correctly identify almost any sound she hears from a distance: trains, helicopters, lawn mowers, garbage trucks. It amazes me for some reason.

7. She is a huge Stephen Colbert fan. I got into a rather bad habit of watching The Colbert Report on Hulu during breakfast and now she puts in a request for him every morning. As we watch she laughs hysterically and exclaims "Colbert funny!"

8. For once I'm actually the one to see her demonstrate a new skill first. I love my job and have no qualms about her going to daycare, but it does sting just a little when her daycare teacher tells me about the amazing thing she did or said for the first time.

9. Hugs all day long. I am seriously going to miss the constant onslaught of toddler love. I have the feeling I'm going to develop a hug deficiency.

10. I get a two hour break every afternoon during nap time. As a teacher I get a 25 minute lunch. In the words of Liz Lemon: blerg!

Below are a couple pictures from our last week of full-time summer fun:

Swimming at Payton's house. She keeps saying "I go wimmin at my Payton's house?"

Comparing herself to an Orangutan at the zoo.

It's been an awesome summer with my sweet little girl. I'm lucky that I get to have a job I love and still be a stay-at-home mom some of the time.