Sailing Away Party

Today was Taelyn's last day of school at her South African preschool.  We leave next week for our summer travels, and then Taelyn will start at our school in August.  To celebrate her last day, Taelyn's teacher put together a going away party for her and her friend, Rafi, who is also ending at the school.  We work with his parents, and they are now moving back to the US this summer.

In preparation for the going away party, Taelyn has been asking all week, "Is it my sailing away party today?!"  After correcting the word "sailing" a few times, she would still ask the same question but then stop and ask, "Wait, mom, what's my party called again?"

At the party, Taelyn brought in cupcakes that we made the night before, and gave them to her classmates, the "Rockets."  Taelyn and Rafi were the guests of honor and performed a little song before cupcake time.  After cupcakes, they got to play with their friends on the playground for one last time.

It has been really interesting (and heartbreaking at times) to hear Taelyn's thinking process out loud as she puts together what it means to leave one school and start at another.  It all began when she learned that Rafi was moving back to the US.  For a couple of weeks, she told us how she didn't want him to go.  We took that opporunity to talk to her about how someday we will move away from South Africa too.  Then at the start of this past week, it hit her that she would not be going back to her school any more and that she wouldn't be able to play with her best Rocket buddies, Michael and Kale.  Taelyn has been excited to come to our school all year long, but last week she started to mention that she didn't want to go there and leave her school.  So we took her to her new school over the weekend to show her her new teacher's classroom (Ms. Kate) and her new playground.  She LOVED the school and was thrilled that she will be going there.  That definitely helped for this week as she said goodbye to her current school.  She was completely okay with and is now ready to join the American school when we get from our summer vacation.

Here is a look at Taelyn's "sailing" away party and some of her schoolwork and artwork from the school year.

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Getting Ready to Go!

With just two weeks left in our school year, we are definitely ready to pack up and start our summer vacation.  This summer our travels will include Italy, Disney World, Michigan, Chicago, NYC, Atlantic City, and Canada.  We are very excited to get started and to, of course, visit with family and friends.  Here are a few comments that the girls have been making as they think about our upcoming summer.

Taelyn: I wish I could fly to Michigan really fast so I can get some Lucky Charms and bring them back to South Africa.

Kaelia: Is it my birthday today?  Are we going to Disney World?!?!

Sarah: Girls, what are we going to do in Italy?
Taelyn: Eat ice cream every day!

Kaelia: Look, Mom. This is where we're going this summer! (as she finds a picture of the cottage in Canada)

"Kaelia Hit Me!"

Taelyn had a pretty exciting morning today.  Just before she went to school, she and Kaelia were playing with their dollies in the living room when all of a sudden, Taelyn yelled, "Kaelia hit me!"  Our nanny, Maria, turned around and didn't see Kaelia next to Taelyn, and Kaelia said that she didn't touch her sister, so the preparation for school went on.  When Taelyn started putting on her shirt, she told Maria to look at her mouth.  Suddenly it was very clear that there was a tooth missing!  Maria looked all around and found it on the floor and realized that Taelyn just lost her first baby tooth.  It turned out that when Taelyn said her sister hit her, she really lost her tooth and couldn't explain how that happened, so she came up with her most logical reasoning: Kaelia must have done it!

It does seem really, really early for Taelyn to start losing her baby teeth, but we found out that it can happen as early as four years old.  What's odd is that we had no idea that it was even loose.

Taelyn is even more excited for tonight when the tooth fairy will come.  She has been keeping her tooth in an Easter egg for safe-keeping all day so that it is ready for bedtime.  I wonder what the tooth fairy will bring!

Rhyme Rhyme Rhyme all the Time Time Time

During the past month, Taelyn has perfected the concept of rhyming and has grown a bit obsessed with it.  She is often rhyming in every sentence that is spoken.  If I were to ask her to get in to the car, for example, she will likely answer, "I will go to the bar, bar, bar" because "bar" rhymes with "car."  And she especially likes to rhyme in sets of threes so that it makes a rhythm.  As I am writing this post, Taelyn is currently talking about the TV and how it is turned off.

Here is what she is saying right now:

The Tv is off off off in the boff boff boff.
It's toff toff toff in the noff noff noff.

Little Surgery, Big Girl

Taelyn waits for her surgery

After careful consideration with a doctor, we decided to have Taelyn's birthmark removed, and the procedure was yesterday.  It was a really long day, but Taelyn was a champ.  We got to the hospital at 6:30am, checked in to Taelyn's room in the paediatric ward, and waited and waited and waited.  She finally went in to surgery at 10am.  I got to go in with her to start until she was sedated.  The anaesthesiologist was fantastic (brought in specifically to work with young children) and played some balloon blowing games with her until she fell asleep.  She also got to bring her blankie with her on the operating table to feel comfortable.

The surgery was only an hour long, and then Taelyn was brought back to her room to "wake up" a bit from the anaesthesia.  Once she got some lunch, she was bouncing all around the ward.  She had such a blast going from room to room, playing with the other kids, meeting up in the playroom from time to time, and then taking a break to watch Disney Junior from her bed.

Post-surgery picture

After meeting back up with surgeon at the end of the day, we were finally released at 4:30pm to go home.  To celebrate a fantastic day, our whole family went to our school to watch the MS theatre production of Beauty and the Beast.  The girls absolutely loved the performance.  Taelyn was pretty calm and lay in Justin's lap most of the time, but Kaelia was a little chatterbox.  She found the quietest moments in the play to  say something loud enough for everyone around to hear: "They want to kill the beast!" "He's a human!" "He said spider!" etc.  She was a riot.

For the next week or so, Taelyn will have some bandages on her forehead, and then her stitches will be removed and the scar-healing process begins.  The doctor says it should take about 6-8 months before it looks like a normal, small scar, but it shouldn't be too noticeable.  Taelyn is certainly okay with the decision and looks back on the day fondly as she remembers all the fun she had in the paediatric ward.