My boys

Mom, what is on top of the world?

With Ada out of school and big questions coming at a fast pace, we are having fun finding ways to answer those big questions.

We have been learning about the solar system with the aid of printable coloring pages and heading to the library. I love Peep and Big Wide World -- Joan Cusak as the narrator couldn't be more perfect -- and this episode on the moon is fun.

We will sadly miss astronomer's night at the Science Museum of Virginia (they are setting up their gigantic telescopes), but for a good reason -- Ada's ballet recital is tomorrow night!

We hope to smuggle a camera in to capture her performance, which she says she is "very nervous" about. 

Books
If you decide to go to the moon
Papa, please get the moon for me
Our solar system
Moon

Coloring Pages
Planets
Our Solar System
Planet Cut-Out Templates
Planets and their Moons
Earth

Q bathtime

Jack and Jill

8 months

Just chillin'

A ballerina in black and white

When the city dance program Ada is part of opened its doors for parents, allowing us to come in and watch our children practice in the studio for one night only, Sam agreed to stay home with the boys so I could attend.

I was excited to see what she has been learning, and jumped at the chance to take pictures and soak in my girl flitting about the dance studio in her ballet slippers.

I was in for so much more than I anticipated though. 

She hung on Ms. Ebony's every word.

She had sweet interactions with her closest friends in class.

She was disciplined in a way that surprised me and made me so proud.

It was the first time I really appreciated Ada as a person all her own -- separate from me, separate from her Dad, separate from our family. It is a wonderful thing to watch, and yet the distance that this level of independence creates is uncomfortable.

I knew it would happen. 

Preschool. 

Dance. 

All of the experiences that you want for your children so they can learn, and grow, and have fun -- they are good, and independence is good, and learning who you are is good.

It's all good.

Learning how to slowly let go is my job...and "it ain't easy," folks.

But you already knew that, didn't you.

The easy job? Watching this girl DANCE!

Ada and her fellow ballerinas will be "birds" in a performance of Cinderella at their recital in June