Future student

I don't think I'll have to worry about Ava's school readiness. Not only is she already sitting flipping through books with a knowing look as if she's assessing the narrative arc and plot development (Ava on Pat the Bunny: nice!), her vocabulary is growing almost daily and she's starting to be bored with some of the shorter books in her collection.

She also loves this backpack my parents bought her when she was literally about 14 months old. She had barely started walking and would bop around the house with it on.

Note the scary-ish happy monster on the back. Yes, that is a matching coin purse.

I hope she loves school as much as I did. I loved it so much, I once ran six blocks, crying, chasing a school bus I'd missed. Only to catch it, out of breathe and sweaty and discover... it wasn't my bus. I trudged back home, dejected and had my dad call the late bus for pickup.

Needless to say, I was not a kid who my parents had to harangue to get going in the morning. In fact, since I was bussed to the other side of the city for many of my school years, including a two hour public bus ride from middle school on, part of my morning routine was to wake my parents up for work before I went to catch the bus and to let them know I was leaving. Fun times.
I don't know what Ava's school years will look like but I hope she has this same smile on her face when she heads off to school in less than 4 years.

Mom's night out

After a busy day at work, it's Mom's night out. Bookstore, reading by Heather Armstrong and a slice of quiche w/bacon and gruyere. An awesome trifecta! Always nice to hear from a mom who acknowledges some of the downside (in her case, many downsides) to mothering an infant. So I'm live-blogging this.

Having never been to this bookstore before, I came a bit early from my board meeting to get some food and roam the aisles. Because I don't care where it is, if you put me in a bookstore or library anywhere in the world, I'm at home. 

After roaming a bit, I bellied up to a table with my laptop, quiche and a beverage to people-watch. Within a few minutes, I'm 98.3% sure I'm the only person here w/any melanin. Not even someone with a slight tan! Interesting. But then, it IS Seattle in March. Oh, I stand corrected: there's an Indian couple... aaand they're leaving. Make that 100% sure.

This place is packed! I was able to snag a chair but many folks are standing in the back. See that distant figure with the lovely pregnant glow in the image below? Yep: Heather. She's quite funny and she talks like she writes, or vice versus. Either way, lots of laughs already.

Okay, logging out to immerse myself in the hilarity.