A More Positive Post

I've been whining a lot lately in the blog, so I'm gonna turn that frown upside down and post about the good stuff that is going on in our lives right now. Plus, the wood flooring is done so we have our 1st floor back (well, except for the powder room, ceramic tile guy did not show again today) and I feel like the end is in sight for the flooring project.

Hank has been doing well at school and appears to really enjoy being there. His teachers report that he is helpful, well-behaved, and gets lots of work done each day. He brings us home a drawing every day with "Henry," "Mom," and "Dad" printed so legibly on the back that Mike did a double-take today. "He wrote this?" Mike asked. Yes, indeedy, he did. His printing really is very good for a kid who just turned 4.

The last few months, Hank has really been interested in maps, signs, and directions. In fact, most of his drawings at school are drawings of maps, except the one drawing he did of our new house, where he predominantly featured the squirrel feeder my dad brought him. He is always asking questions when we are in the car. "What does that sign say? What direction are we going? What street are we on?" I made a wrong turn the other day (hey, I'm allowed to still be doing that, right? That's why I am keeping the Maine plates for a while - to let everyone know that its okay that I don't know where I am going) and Hank piped up from the back, "That's not the right street, Mommy. You need a GPS." But who needs a GPS when you've got a Hank? He always seems to know where we are at any given time and can very nearly give us turn-by-turn directions to any place that we've been before, even if it was only once. He's always been very aware of his surroundings, but his spatial ability seems to be very good.

And Georgie is doing well too, he is quickly becoming interested in trains like his big brother and has taken a special liking to the GeoTrax. He loves watching Elmo and dancing to any type of music that he hears. I turned on the radio the other day and he was grooving to NPR. Now that's a kid that likes music - if you can dance to the horns that play in 5-second clips between news story transitions on Morning Edition, you can dance to anything. I'm going to try to get him into the mom & baby swim class next session during Hank's lessons. But on second thought, that involves me being in a bathing suit in the middle of the winter. Hmm, I'll have to think about that one...

So despite my whining about the remodeling, everything else is going really well. Mike loves the position at the university, I've met some nice moms through Kindermusik and Moms' Club, and our neighborhood is awesome - everyone has been so nice and welcoming. Most of the people have been here since the neighborhood was built in the late '80s/early 90's, so there has been little turnover in residents and they are a close-knit group that has gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. The three newbies on the street are all clustered together and we all have boys about the same age which is fun. So remodeling drama aside, I think we made a very good decision in buying this house!