The End of Summer

Hi Sidra,

Well you and i have had a terrific summer. I want to thank you for that. We will have other summers, of course, but it will be hard to beat the experiences we had this year. It's been a gas showing you new stuff and watching you change by the day. Our nearly nightly bike rides are going to be missed.

You know in the last post I said that you and your mom charmed the ship's captain into letting you take the wheel of the ship. In that case your mom definitely helped you out. However, even that afternoon as we meandered through Saturday Market I watched with interest how people are charmed by you. I've seen it in many different situations. I raise the issue because I hope that it is a quality that you use for good and not selfishly. I can see that you will be able to steer people into doing things that you want them to do. I just hope that you will use that power judiciously and not manipulate others too much. I guess it will be up to us as parents to help you use your influence in the right way.

Another feeling that I have as the summer comes to a close is that it is all passing by so quickly. Right now I feel like I'm at the controls of the Millennium Falcon as it pauses slightly before hitting lightspeed and making everything a blur. When I return to school this week all our time together will be compressed and we won't have much time to savor anything until next summer. I will have some time off when your new sister arrives but then of course it will be different.

I thought I would share with you some of the expressions you are using now as your language skill improves constantly. You used to say 'hold you' all the time and now you are saying 'can you hold me?' instead. You are also saying 'what should we do?' quite frequently now. Another favorite is 'will you play a game with me?' and your favorite game is The Ladybug Game. When you are hungry you say 'I want something' and we're supposed to know that it means you want something to eat. But you have also learned to say nicely 'please may I have __' although you use it sporadically. 'What did you do?' is another frequent question.

The two pictures here are you in the bumper boats at the Enchanted Forest and you being pushed on the swing by Cooper.

I notice that I've been posting like crazy this month compared to any other time. I hope it won't be another month before I make another post. You are starting your pre school in a about a week and I will surely want to report on that.

Love, Aba