Part of the routine

By far, the best part of my day is seeing Audrey first thing in the morning, and when I pick her up at night. Audrey withdrawal is no fun.

I love that Eric and I have our own special things to do with her. And she knows the routine well. As the Monday mornings have been getting a little cooler, we have been postponing our walks to the park until the sun has been up for a bit longer. I ask her what she would like for me to make her for breakfast, and the typical response is 'Eggs!' She then proceeds to sit on the floor. Anyone else would find this odd, but not us as this is the best spot for her to see me prep her egg! I crack it on the counter but we whisk it and add milk while sitting on the floor! She then gets to watch it cook, and leaves no part of that egg uneaten. We also added into the changing-weather routine playing with her new magnetic letter set for the refrigerator. One morning, I sat down on the floor with her, and she absolutely loved it. Sitting on the kitchen floor? Mommy? And not for making eggs??? She loved it. So, now I am instructed to "Sit Down!" I do, with my coffee in hand, and we review our letters. She is such a sponge, and it is so much fun to teach this little sponge. We of course head to the park a little later, with yesterday's walk including a lesson in seeing our breath!

Most days I cannot leave work early enough to pick her up. She usually does a lap or two around her classroom when I arrive, but she keeps her eye on me the whole time to make sure I stick around to swoop her up. From there, she steals my keys, waves and says 'Bye!' and 'Tank You!' to her teachers and friends, and she takes my hand down the hallway. I get my keys back and we head home. I ask her what she wants for dinner, and she gives me a few ideas (sometimes only things for dessert!). The past few weeks we've been driving by pumpkins and flowers so we talk about those. She's learning what a green vs red light means (Go go go! or STOP!). The favorite part of our drive home though are the 2 hills. Audrey LOVES to go whee! The first hill is just ok, but the second one immediately following is perfect. I love, love, love, that after the first hill, I see in my rearview mirror, an index finger being held up, and hear a little voice that says, 'One more time?' I confirm the one more time, and she giggles, giggles, giggles after the second hill. I used to ask if it was fun, and she would say, 'YES!' but she has started saying on her own, 'FUN!' We then drive by flags and signs (she labels the sign shapes now!). She would then call a building we drive by a house and I would correct her to label it a building. She now says, 'House? No, building!' And giggles. Her developing sense of humor makes me smile. And is another signal that she is not so little anymore.

We head home to get the mail, and she lets me carry her out to the mailbox. I get a nice hug on the way out to it, but she insists on walking back to the house with the piece of mail she is to put on the table. And we head to the stairs to take off our shoes. She's getting better at taking her own shoes off, and puts her socks in the laundry. Fris heads downstairs to greet us, and we greet her back. Tonight, Audrey puckered her lips and made a smooch sound, which we use to cue Fris for a kiss. Audrey was ecstatic that Fris kissed her back.

I love our little routine.