Reese Lately

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve focused solely on the girls and their development, interests, likes, and whatnot and I thought I’d take a pause of the general banter about sicknesses (because they are never-ending), work and the day to day to talk a little bit about each of my girls.

Reese…ah, bugaboo. She is definitely growing up and we see that in so many ways, and then she prefers to sit on our lap on the couch, lay down with her at bed, wipe her booty, or refuse to go anywhere in the house herself and I realize she is still just four. And her latest saying is that she does not want to grow up. But in comparison to Brooke she does seem grown up most of the time.

Reese is definitely well liked at school and daily brings home drawings or art projects that were made by her friends to show us. I finally asked if she gives hers to others and she said no. When I asked why her friends always give her their projects she said, “Because they like me.” She had her first playdate with one of the new kids at school last week and this was truly before Bryan and I had even gotten to know her parents very well. They live around the corner from school and picked her up from school, got the girls pizza, and we just showed up at 7 pm to meet them and retrieve her. We definitely had the feeling like we were missing something until late in the evening. She has also had playdates with Clara her bestie at school, went downhill skiing for the first time with Lily, and had her old friend Georgie and family over for dinner this week.

I’m continually reminded of Reese’s true personality traits when she is at play with her good friends. And she is a good friend. But she also gets her friends to break out of their shells, take bigger risks, be more daring, be louder, and generally excitement overtakes everyone. Without fail this happens. I’m not sure the other parents should be thanking us!

So Reese loved the skiing, which was great and a very hopeful sign that there might be many more family ski days and trips in our future. She was all smiles and even protested leaving the mountain. She was totally fine continuing on skiing even after her friend and family were already headed back to Seattle. She also really enjoyed the ice skating that we did in Chicago and I’ve been wanting to take her to the rink here sometime soon.

Since the beginning of the year with the new room all set up and shared with Brooke we have really leaned into to the routine chart that we got her years ago for bedtime. She loves doing it every night which has really helped streamline the bedtime routine, be more consistent with going to the bathroom and brushing her teeth before bed, and we’ve been reading books in the glider before going to bed quietly so as not to wake up Brooke. I’ve been enjoying reading in the glider with Reese again.

The other big news with Reese is that we are currently in the process of touring schools for Kindergarten for her to start at next year. We really have three we are looking at; Madrona (our local zoned school), Stephens (where her preschool is currently located and where Brooke could end up at in another year plus), and Tops (an alternative preschool, still public though, that a few of her friends will be going to and we have heard good things about). We are firstly already enrolled in Seattle Public Schools so there is that. We toured both Stephens and Tops this week and brought Reese (and Brooke) with us. Both had a lot of positive qualities to it. I don’t think we have a wrong choice and I am now eager to tour Madrona, but now we also have a difficult choice. I still can’t believe she will be in Kindergarten next year!

We have a dentist appointment set up in a few weeks, a hair cut and an eye doctor appointment are needing to be scheduled, and in a few weeks Bryan is taking Reese on a daddy daughter trip to Phoenix to visit his parents while Reese has two days off of school and to give me a little more time to study. Reese is still Reese, and that’s exactly what she wants to be!

Chelsea