School Days

Just a quick note about my changing children. Canon has now moved into an official "preschool" class. Last week I received a supply list, complete with Jumbo crayons, a pencil box, and a backpack that he will carry to school each day! He'll spend the next two weeks just getting used to his new teachers and classroom, and official lessons will begin on August 15. When I walked him to his class this morning, he went straight for the toys. I basically dumped his blankets and bag on his new teacher, kissed him good-bye, then ran back down the hall to Tera's new classroom. He didn't seem to mind. He'll be with the same children he has been with the past year, so only the scenery will change for now.

That's right. Tera started daycare today, too. I actually handled it better than I did the first time I took Canon last fall (and he was 16 months old at the time). Tera, like Canon, has wonderful teachers, so I'm not worried at all about her care. I was more sad that the time has passed so quickly, and we are already to this point of having to leave her all day. She didn't seem to mind, and after at least thirty minutes of postponing the inevitable, I finally left her under someone else's care. She'll do better than me, I'm sure!



After dropping both kids off, I had planned to go to the school to get my room ready for the coming year, but a broken A/C there closed everything down. Instead, I spent the day at home putting everything away from our weekend away and Tera's baby shower in Winfield. (I'll write more about that later). I would stop periodically throughout the day and wonder where I had last left Tera . . . then remembered that it was at daycare. It's funny how dettaching something that has been there for so long can be so difficult!

Showered

It's difficult to talk about how enormously generous the world has been to us since Tera's unexpected early entrance. Everything I come up with sounds understated . . . just not strong enough to express the true and overwhelming gratitude we feel for the compassion that everyone has poured out to us. It makes it easy to see how good the world really is.

And with that, I'm not going to say too much about the Baby Shower that was held for Tera in Winfield. We were hesitant to even allow it to happen (people had already done so much for Tera while she was in the hospital), but I eventually relented and let Nonna's friends do whatever they wanted to shower Tera with even more love - as if that were possible. In true Winfield style, there were lots of friends and family in attendance and even more gifts to open. I'll let the pictures tell of the big event.














































Thank you again, Winfield friends and family!

Trains! Trains! Trains!

Comparing Genes

Instead of continuing to wonder who our children look like, I've decided to do a bit of investigating to determine who (or whom?) Canon and Tera resemble most.

We'll start with Baby Canon:

Now Baby Barry:

And Baby Deborah:

Though he inherited a lot from us both, I think he looked more like me as a baby. His face is round like mine, and his nose turns up a little. Even our eyes look very similar.

As Canon gets older, things change a bit.

Here is Barry at about 22 months (I'm making this assumption based on the Christmas tree in the background. It might be closer to his third birthday instead of his second though).


Canon is a little younger here - about 16 months old - but more similarities are starting to appear. The droopy eyes, especially.

This is me at 16 months old.

And I thought this picture looked most like the one above. Still beginning to resemble Barry more and more though.

Which brings us to Present-Day Canon:

Barry is four (or almost four) here, so we can refer to the one above if needed.

Two-Year-Old Deborah, still sporting the Cheek Chub.

And three-year-old Deborah.

I can only assume that Barry and I will be taking a similar picture in the months to come.

Still safe to say that Canon is probably going to end up looking most like his Daddy, though he started out with a lot more of his Mom than most of us thought. There is a picture hanging in Barry's grandmother's house that was taken when Barry was about three, I think. It looks A LOT like Canon . . . especially the eyes, of course.

Now for Baby Tera.

Here is Baby Barry again:

This is Barry at 5 1/2 months, just one month older than Tera is now.

What a chunker!!

And Baby Tera again.

No . . . wait. That's me!! After spending so much time in the hospital thinking that Tera looked just like her Daddy, I was surprised when I saw this picture of me. I know it won't last, but I think I definitely win the prize for look-a-like with this baby girl.

Well, Canon and I both win it I guess. Baby Canon and Baby Tera look almost identical.

After my investigation, my conclusion is that while our babies initially look more like their Mom, with age, their looks will take a dramatic spiral downwards and end up resembling their Daddy.

Only two things are for sure. Both babies have looked like this . . .

. . . and neither will ever look like this!