This morning was a little hectic around the house but Kaylee was pretty calm.  It took awhile to convince her to eat breakfast, causing some anxiety about being late but, in the end, it all worked out.  Out the door, backpack on and loaded:

Once there, we hung up the backpack and signed in. Kaylee immediately started playing and making herself at home. In a few minutes, it was clear that we were no longer needed so we left her. After class was done, Mommy, Grandpa Roger, and Grandma Mona took Kaylee out for a special lunch in honor of her big day. When I got home, she didn’t have much to say but I think she’ll be ready to go back.

Good thing we didn’t have anything big planned today.  Kaylee took a tumble in her room and split her head open on her bedframe.  I was at work but Nicole and the girls handled it with grace.  After some initial crying and a lot of blood (wounds to the head bleed like you wouldn’t believe), Kaylee calmed down and was pretty cool as Nicole wiped the blood away to see how bad it was.  Meanwhile, Rayna raced off to get the Neosporin and bandaids.  That’s what you get for an owie, right?  After debating whether to call 911, Nicole decided to take Kaylee in to the doctor’s office herself.  She thanked Rayna for the Neosporin and bandaids but said that they needed to go to the doctor.  “Is it that bad?”, Rayna asked.  Told yes, she said “OK, I’ll go get my shoes on”.  In the waiting room, she danced and twirled to make Kaylee laugh and cheer her up.  Did I mention that Rayna had been playing dress-up and was still wearing her princess costume?  They must have made quite a sight at the doctor’s, Nicole carrying in Kaylee with blood still streaming out of her face and Rayna in her princess gown…

In the end, they decided to send Kaylee to St. Mary’s in Rochester, where they could use sedation to keep her still while they did the stitching.  When you see where the cut was, it makes sense.  They wanted to make the stitches as small as possible to minimize the scarring.  I met them at the hospital ER.

The staff at St. Mary’s was great.  They put on a Tinkerbell movie to keep Kaylee entertained and gave her a light sedative, similar to what you might get at the dentist.  Enough to calm things down without knocking her out completely.  14 stitches later (3 deep inside the cut and 11 on the surface) it was done.  Big thanks to Roger, Nicole’s dad, who stayed with Rayna while we all were at the hospital.

Kaylee is in pretty good spirits.  The doctors gave us lots of instructions on how to minimize the scarring and we’ll go back in 5 days to get the stitches out.  Tonight, we went out to Burger King to celebrate how brave Kaylee and Rayna both were.  And now, I’m going to bed…

2)  I dreamed about taking Skittles (our dog) for a walk!

Occasionally, she dreams about being a superhero taking Skittles for a walk. 

Now matter how many times I hear her say this, I still chuckle.

Rayna is excited to be going to Kindergarten but is a little worried about missing her friends.  Every night, when we do our bedtime prayers, she has been adding “And don’t let me forget my friends from preschool” to the end.  The teachers prepared a little book for each student with art and projects they did over the year, some photos of the students, and few other goodies.  Rayna has been looking at those pictures a lot, along with a slideshow they included on a CD.  She likes to sit in front of the computer and watch that.  I’m hoping some of the other kids will be in her Kindergarten class this Fall.

Another fun thing they put in her little book was a collection of funny/cute things each child said at some point during the year.  That is fun reading.  My favorite concerns my job:  when asked what I do for a living, she replied “My Daddy makes books for the Kasson Library!”

As a little graduation keepsake, we got her a charm bracelet.  Right now, it has a tiny unicorn  and an R (her favorite letter).  As she gets older, we’ll add a new charm each Spring to commemorate the ending school year.  By the time she graduates high school, she should have a nice keepsake to treasure.  Kaylee will get the same treatment, of course.

It seems like yesterday that we took her to preschool for her very first day.  This Fall, it’ll be Kaylee’s turn.  And we’ll be taking Rayna to Kindergarten.  It’s such a cliche but the time really does fly faster and faster with each year.

We started the summer a little early with a trip in May to Missouri to see my Mom.  The girls are getting old enough to appreciate the Grandma that they don’t see as often as they do their other relatives.  I think the highlight was chasing ants and butterflies around Mom’s yard.

Rayna has been to, not one but, two vacation bible schools.  First, she spent a week at a Baptist church in Rochester at the invitation of Emily, her best friend from preschool.  And then, of course, bible school at our own church.  She returned the favor and invited Emily to come along.  Both girls had a great time.

As reported previously, both Rayna and Kaylee have been spending a lot of time in the pool at the Rochester Athletic Club.  Both took swimming lessons and are coming along nicely.  I personally had a great time in Kaylee’s parent/child lessons.

A few weeks ago, we all went to the Minnesota Zoo and had a good day.  I personally enjoyed the giant fish tanks the most.  Kaylee really seemed to get into that too, although she beat a hasty retreat when a shark suddenly swam close by.  Everyone had fun watching a brown bear who was quite a ham and put on a good show for the crowd.

So, it’s been a good summer so far.  Here’s looking forward to a great August!

This morning, we’re going out mattress shopping to get Kaylee a big girl bed.  We told her that we’d take this big step when she started using the potty so now it’s time to ante up.  We don’t need a headboard; her bed can be disassembled and (some of) the pieces reassembled in a different configuration to serve in that capacity.  All we need is mattress, frame, and bedding.  There are a lot of 4th of July sales at the furniture stores this weekend so the timing is good.

After that, we’re going out for lunch and ice cream in honor of Kaylee’s big achievement.  Should be a great day!

Kaylee was in rare form tonight.  The teacher put out some noodles for us to use and within a few minutes, Kaylee was swimming by herself.  I was a little nervous about my 2 1/2 year-old, but she insisted that I not hold on to her while she clung to the noodle and propelled herself around the pool by kicking her legs.  Over and over again, she kept saying “I don’t need you, Daddy!”  It wasn’t dismissive or mean.  It was a cry of triumph and I couldn’t have been more proud.  I knew she was really happy when she suddenly blurted out, “I love you, Daddy.”

Once we finished playing with the noodles, it was time to jump off the side of the pool into the water.  Kaylee really likes this.  But after a few jumps, she seemed to lose interest.  I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to do at first.  She laid down on her belly at the pool edge and then kicked her legs out and slid right into the water while holding onto the edge.  I started to grab her but it was clear that she was in control and didn’t want any help.  Next thing I knew, she pushed off with her legs and shot back through the water into my arms.  We did that five or six times, with me putting her out of the pool so she could slip back in and push off.  The teacher came over and complemented me on getting her to do this but I had to admit that it had all been her idea.

All in all, it was quite an evening.

In June, we went down to Missouri to visit my Mom for a few days.  It was a great visit, marred only by the 100 degree, 99% humidity weather.  The girls loved seeing “Grandma Lambright”, who was a bit of a mystery to them, in the flesh.  Rayna still is talking about wanting to go see Grandma Lambright again.  Other highlights of the visit included seeing my old friends Vince and Droid, along with their families, and a trip to see my Dad’s resting place in St. Joe.  The swans and fish were out in force at the cemetery’s pool and the girls had a wonderful time tossing bits of bread into the water to be devoured.

Shortly after we returned from Missouri, Nicole and I decided it was time for Rayna to make the transition to a full-sized bed.  She did really well in the hotel bed on the trip and there didn’t seem any reason to wait.  So, we went to the furniture store and got her a new bed.  We didn’t get a headboard; the side of her toddler bed was designed to function as a headboard when the child moves to a bigger bed.  We then went to Wal-Mart and let her pick her own bedding.  It was a close race and I thought for a minute that she was going to opt for Micky Mouse; in the end, however, it was the Princess gear that got the nod.  Rayna loves her big bed; even now she occasionally thanks me for putting it together.

Kaylee got a little grumpy at all this.  When it dawned on us that she was jealous, we went ahead and converted her crib to a toddler bed, which immediately brightened her mood.  She loves getting in and out of bed on her own. She can’t open the door yet but she’s trying and it’s just a matter of time.  It’s hard to believe how she’s grown.

Speaking of Kaylee, she continues to come into her own.  All her teeth seem to be in, save the four eyeteeth which still give her fits sometimes.  Her vocabulary has exploded this summer and it seems like she’s coming up with new words every day.  She really gets a kick out of saying Rayna’s name and uses it every chance she gets.  Some of her other favorites are “juice”, “Elmo”, and “naked”, which gets used a lot at bathtime.

This year marked Nicole and my fourth wedding anniversary, which doesn’t seem possible.  The time has really flown.  We treated ourselves to a day trip to the Twin Cities while the girls stayed home with a babysitter.  Nothing fancy, just a little shopping and lunch.  It’s just nice to get away by ourselves occasionally.

Speaking of Elmo, we all went to Sesame Street Live last weekend and had a great time.  Kaylee had never been to anything like this and she really likes Elmo so she spent the whole show entranced.  It was fun watching her try to figure out cotton candy.  First she tried chewing it, which didn’t really work.  Licking like a sucker was even less successful.  Finally, she figured out how to just let it dissolve in her mouth.  We got her an Elmo pendent which is up in her room.

We have a massive backlog of photos, which I need to organize, tag, and get loaded to our page on flickr.  I posted a bunch yesterday (including Christmas 2008) and will continue to work on that in the coming days.  Our photostream isn’t in strict chronological order anymore, which offends my sense of the linear, but it’s more important to get stuff up.  I’ll post here when the particularly choice bits go up.