Riley and Avery

...so we let it go and Riley found it dead by our back porch in the morning.  Ooops.  But regardless if we had gotten it to a rehabilitator that night, I'm pretty sure that it still would have been dead too soon to do anything for it.  Still, Riley was heartbroken!

I forgot to post this picture.  It's of how Riley fell asleep after her first day of school.  

This is the picture that Mom asked me to take of Riley's missing tooth.  I obey really well since Riley is still on the phone with Mom when I took the picture!

Hmmm, nothing much has really happened...let me see...

Oh, Rudi has two appointments for evaluation for Social Security Disability.  He has a psych evaluation on the 28th and a medical appointment on October 1st.  I'm hoping this is a good sign, that not everyone gets moved along to evals.  Like, do some people get rejected right off the bat, and some who are "promising" get evaluated?  I like to tell myself that even if it's not true :)

Riley and Avery are both doing phenomenally in school.  The teachers say that Riley is a little reader, that that's her strength.  She is really lucky this year as there are only 3 Kindergarteners in her school, so she is getting a lot of individual attention.  I hate to say it, but the school is seeming really nice this year.  Why do I hate to say that, you ask?  Because ALL of the "problem" boys are gone.  In fact, there are precious few boys there this year, maybe two?  Not that boys in general are a problem, because they're not, but for the past few years there have been a group of boys who were really rambunctious, friends outside of school, and schoolmates for years.  They ran the roost.  Or at least tried to.  They were a little too comfortable around each other, not afraid to do in a group what they would never do individually.  It's just shaping up to be a nice, quiet, productive school year.  Rae said that it is really nice to be an educator again, not a fight-resolver, or a disciplinarian.  I agree.

Avery is just a school kind of kid.   I always knew she would be.  She is so night-and-day different from Riley.  Avery just thrives in a school environment.  And she is the Montessori poster child.  She likes helping and doing.   SO Montessori!  I also think that she's learned so much just by being the little sister.  She can count to 16 without help.  The other day, she was counting her favorite bead collection.  She asked me what came after 16, then what came after 17, and so on, until we got to 20.  Then I said 21 and 22 and she figured out on her own that there was a pattern and counted from 23 to 29 without help.  She also can recognize a lot of letters.  It's amazing what a younger child can absorb just by having an older sibling!

I think going to school together is cementing the girls' relationship.  I am glad it turned out that way.  I was afraid that Avery wouldn't have her own space as a result of going to the same school as Riley.  They play cooperatively A LOT more, and the fighting is reduced.  Yes, sometimes it gets ugly still, but so much more cooperation.

Lola is still in love with Rudi.  It's hilarious.  He can't get up to pee without her following him.  She comes down in the morning for me to take her for a walk, and then goes right back upstairs to sleep with Rudi some more.  She'll usually do this two or three more times, using me for a walk, and then going back to bed.  I get back at Rudi my taking her for a walk in the wet morning grass and then letting her go back to bed without drying her, just to hear Rudi shout about it.  It's fun.  Hee hee.