This morning I dropped the kids off at their brand new day care / preschool and, despite the demands of work, could not stop wondering how they were doing all day long. Much like our house, we chose this center without ever having visited it (we were under the impression that we needed to enroll by February or risk losing spots at any place that was especially popular). We did end up visiting last April when we came to look for a house, and felt OK about it, but we still worried that perhaps it wasn’t the right choice for our kids (and our dollar). Kristin took the kids for a couple of visits this summer and ended up feeling pretty good after sitting down with the woman in charge, so I felt hopeful. Still, I was anxious all day yesterday and didn’t sleep well, and I’m sure that it’s because I was so worried about how things would go. I have so many fears about them not making friends and other kids being mean, and sending them off to a big center full of kids feels so much scarier to me than sending them to Gladys ever did (although I think that there’s a good bit of revisionist history there as well). The twins are probably too young to have registered any anxiety leading up to this morning, but I worried about Jonah and apparently didn’t need to. He woke up in a good mood, and when we pulled into the parking lot and I climbed into the back of the minivan to unclip his car seat he said “I think it’s going to be a good first day at school.” I needed that. We came inside and everyone there made me feel better, it felt like a truly warm and friendly place. Jonah seemed just fine, Vivi was much clingier than I’d expected, but Jude seemed happy as a clam. We probably have a bit more adjusting to do, but I think they’re going to be OK. I think it’s the right spot for them. They all came home sweaty and dirty (Jonah most of all) and Jonah seemed to LOVE his day. Vivi acted like she hadn’t been given a drop of liquid all day (I probably should have told her teachers that she only asks for water in Spanish? Oops), but we can fix that.

Back to Labor Day weekend though. My sister and the kids came up from Charleston for a long weekend visit, and it was probably the most fun Jonah’s had since our move. He really doesn’t have any friends here yet, and while at his age that’s not a huge loneliness factor (since kids his age often play in parallel rather than truly playing together anyway) I realized how much I’ve missed seeing him play with friends as I watched his joy with his cousin M. So many times throughout the weekend, my mom commented sarcastically “It’s too bad they don’t like each other” – they are practically inseparable.

We spent Saturday in South Haven, and I didn’t realize until we got there that the twins have never been there before. It’s been such a big part of my Michigan life and Jonah even knows it well, but because my parents sold their cottage last summer, we’ve never vacationed there with the twins. It was nice to see all of the kids enjoying the sand and the freezing cold edge of the water.

It occurred to us on Sunday evening that we ought to try to get a photo of the cousins together. We tried this right after F was born, when we were visiting Charleston, and it resulted in a hilariously awful series of photos that Kira turned into a very funny Christmas ornament. Given that experience, our expectations were low, but by some miracle we ended up with some pretty wonderful photos.

I sure wish their cousins lived a lot closer because these kiddos are a lot of fun and I love them to pieces. It was a nice way to wrap up a summer that’s been mostly busy and not very vacation-like.