Conversation with Mariel
At dinner, Patrick commented that our neighbor, Cassie, was in the paper for her role on the high school softball team. Since Cassie is Mariel's hero, the conversation quickly turned to the idea that if Cassie plays on the "big girl" team, Mariel wants to play on a "little girl" team.
Me: Well, you could maybe play Little League in a few years. Or T ball. T ball is for little girls.
Mariel: T ball? I could play that.
Me: Sure. I don't know how old you have to be, but we can find out.
Mariel: When do I get the cups for the tea?
Maybe we are not talking about the same thing here...

Mariel's first day of pre-school, 2009.

She's all grown up. She has been excited to go back for weeks, so this was a big day! It will be strange for me, as the nanny will usually be the one taking her and picking her up. Major control issues at play here, and I am not used to relinquishing any of my control over my kids... or, well, anything. So, we'll see how I do.

The nanny asked (as we listened to another preschooler scream non-stop for the entire 10 minutes we were on the school campus) if Mariel ever had trouble being dropped off at school. I chuckled a little. Does Mariel have problems being dropped off anywhere? Going with someone else? Um, no. She's pretty much ready to be as independent as she can get away with (at the ripe old age of 3 and a half, as of tomorrow).

Oh right, so I guess I probably do need to work on this letting go problem of mine...

Post Toronto
I made it home yesterday, surprisingly tired after my "holiday." Something about having early morning meetings, days packed with paper presentations and other events, early morning flights, and doing my best to stay out late with friends I rarely see anymore. And for those doubters, I did manage to stay up until about 2:30 on Thursday night :) I did sneak away one afternoon for a long walk along the gorgeous Toronto harbor, watching sailboats and plane flyovers from an airshow. It made me nostalgic for Sydney, perhaps because of the relaxing feeling of walking around a city, by the water and through parks with no place special to go- and noone waiting for me anywhere. Of course, when I lived in Sydney I walked everywhere not only because I enjoyed it (or learned to), but primarily because I actually could often not afford the extra few dollars for an impromptu bus or subway ride.
I came home to happy kids and a tired Patrick. Noella is now free-standing for about 10 or more seconds, which seems a little ominous. She does it best when she forgets what she is doing. I brought Mariel home a dinosaur print umbrella, which is a big deal. And I brought myself home a long to do list for work, which I now turn to....