Summer Goals and Milestones

It's hard to believe that in less than two days, my first-born starts 2nd grade. Then, the day after that, my second-born has his first day of preschool. Seriously, folks, where did this summer go??


When school ended in June, I noticed an uptick of Facebook posts about "surviving" summer with children home, and feeling "crazy" with children in the house, and parents counting down the days until school began again in August. I was on the other end - I had a hard time sending my girl off all day to first grade, trusting in others to care for her all.day.long without me, and I was grateful to have her home all day again, planning out trips to the library and some mini "field trips" in-between me being at the office and working from home. No, our summer days weren't all "Father Knows Best" Anderson family-ish. We had our fair share of sibling fights, meltdowns, claims of boredom, and irritation. But overall, it was a full, adventurous, purposeful summer, chock-full of swimming, playing, swinging, and growth.


Each of our kiddos accomplished a lot this summer, and the biggest goals for the older two were exciting to see. First, for Caedon - our laid-back (dare I say lazy) boy. ;o) He has a mind of his own and has always done things in his own time. We really wanted him to learn how to swim without arm swimmies/floaties, and we were (somewhat) working on it last summer. So, sometime in June, he announced that he didn't need his swimmies/floaties, proceeded to get in our neighbor's pool without them, and swam his heart out, arm floaty-free! He continually improved since that day and is officially an independent swimmer. :)

Next up: Danae riding a bike. This was a goal from last summer as well, but her fear got in the way and it never happened. She rides well...as long as the training wheels are still attached. After the recommendation of my friend Sarah to create our own Strider bike by removing the pedals and training wheels from her current bike (which is too small for her), Danae practiced balancing on our homemade Strider for most of the summer. Just this week we made a Craigslist find of the right bike size for her (sans training wheels) and picked it up. Wouldn't you know - within five minutes of having the bike at home, the girl hopped on and rode around the driveway and backyard like a pro. Whaaaat?? Goal #2 - checked off the list, just in time.

And Mr. Jude - well, he's a rolling, baby food-eating, babbling, maneuvering himself around the room boy these days. He just proved his "sitting on my own" skills and the beginning of "army crawling" today. Such a doll, such a little love.

Now we will go and enjoy what is, essentially, the last weekend of the summer, and start a new chapter next week!