Brayden is on the verge of talking — at last! Yesterday while I was making dinner he picked out a couple E’s from the magnetic letters on the fridge, looked at me, and said very clearly, “Eee!” He’s been able to recognize letters for a long time (whenever Sesame Street announces the letter of the day he goes and finds it in his alphabet puzzle and holds on to it for the rest of the show) but he could never pronounce any of them, so this is a big deal. He’s pretty good with Z and D but the others aren’t so clear. Still, it’s progress, and we’re excited.

We’re also impressed with how Justin has adapted to preschool. Not once has he played shy or tried to cling to us, and whenever I pick him up he’s always busy playing with the other kids. The teacher tells me they even managed to get him to go on the potty, which is awesome. Maybe kindergarten won’t be the traumatic experience I keep envisioning it to be.

Three weeks until Chris and I leave for Florida. The weather around here has actually been astoundingly nice, so the warm weather down south won’t be that big a deal (the humidity might be another story). But I can’t wait to have five straight days with no child care responsibilities. Tick tock…