After the boy of summer is gone

Gabriel and I dancing to a mariachi band in San Antonio. More about our trip to come.

Even though my kids are too little for REAL back to school blues, I still feel a little sad that Gabriel goes back to Mother's Day Out next week. I am amused by the fact that I was slightly terrified when the summer started. How was I going to cope with those Tuesdays and Thursdays that normally kept him busy most of the day? Well, we have had such a fantastic and fun-filled summer that I can't keep up with everything we've done.

We had zoo trips, with and without Joel. All of which were fun. We had a FW Museum of Science and History visit. We had the funnest 4th of July weekend, with a parade, a Ranger game, and Toy Story 3. We had his best friend's Lenah's birthday party. We went to a dancing dinosaur show. We had a terrific visit from our NJ friends. We had two weeks of swim lessons. We had Joel's baptism and barbecue. We had family birthdays and tons of grandparent time. We had three play dates in one week. We had our fantastic trip to the beach. And there were things on my "list of things to do" in my head that we never got to, like visit Daddy for lunch one day.

But sometime during the summer, I realized that I was craving some "do nothing" time. So I started making sure we had a little more of it. Time to just sit on the floor and enjoy this boy, who is no longer a toddler. Time to get down the Sesame Street car repair shop down and turn it into a dinosaur playground. Time to gather every emergency vehicle we can find and make our own 4th of July parade. Time to key up the Ting Tings on the Ipod and jump around the room until we collapse in a heap on the floor. Time to sit on the porch swing and watch the orange butterflies that now come back every summer flitting around the yard. Time to just hold him, because he is growing up so very, very fast, and doesn't want to sit still for long anymore.

I've loved every stinking minute of it, and I am sad to see it go.