Waiting for June 1st

Is it June yet? While we have some great plans this summer that I am anxious to get to and I normally don't want to wish for time to go faster, I can't wait for June 1st.

That is when we are finally back at Lucas' first child care center. Every day that Marc complains about something that annoyed him about our current center, I always remind him that we are almost done. You have to pick your battles right? And there really isn't anything we can do to change things. But then yesterday I picked Lucas up and neither of the two teachers who were overseeing the afternoon pick ups acknowledged me or said good bye. GRRRRRR.

They weren't even playing attention to what was happening on the playground. When I got there I looked over to they could see me and said hi. But I got nothing from them in return. They kept talking, not even making eye contact. The kids are better at seeing which parent was there and calling out the appropriate child's name.

But on June 1st, it will all change. We can last that long right?

The gift of neighbors

With the warmer weather finally reaching southwestern PA, we have been able to get outside and play more. And with venturing outside, we get to spend time with our neighbors:) We are lucky to have two really great families on either side of us-one has two little ones right around the same age as Lucas and the other one has a little girl about 9. Last night we had dinner outside with the two kids-it was so much fun! They had tacos and loved eating at Lucas' little picnic table. And after dinner off they went to throw balls, play on the swing set and run around while Jenn and I sat and chatted. I love how comfortable the kids are with each other. Every time we get together, it is like they just pick up where they had left off the last time.

When I told Lucas they were coming over for dinner, he got so excited and wanted me to get home faster. He spent the 30 minutes from the time we got home until when they were supposed to come over pacing the floor, staring at the back door and whining that he wanted M and C to come over.

It is important to me that he has these times. when I was growing up we always played with our neighbors. We were lucky enough to have several families on our street. I swear we were like a gang sometimes-playing kick ball, capture the flag, swimming in our next door neighbor's pool. I hope Lucas has the same kind of experience as he gets older.

Dreaming of Graduation

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of working all day are our school's graduation ceremony. Since Pitt is so big, many of the schools elect to have a separate ceremony to recognize the graduates. My school, the College of Business Administration, holds their ceremony the day before the main Pitt ceremony.

Having participated in two of my own graduation ceremonies where my name was called as I walked across the stage, I see the excitement in being recognized individually but all day on a Saturday? And it is only our office of four that stays the whole time . . .

Anyway, the point to all of this is that as the families started to arrive for the ceremony, a co-worker and fairly new mom asked me if I ever thought how I would look when Lucas graduates from college (in 2029). I said I would look great of course. But then I got thinking to how I would feel that day. Since I have had the benefit and privilege of a higher education-including my master's degree, I admit it is assumed that Lucas will got to college. And the way things are in high ed these days, he will need to go to Pitt where he will get free tuition, as long as I stay here until then. And if he goes to Pitt, he needs to be in engineering or business-but no pressure:)

Let's say all my skeaming works out and he does come here and does get a degree in business, and I am still working in CBA, I think it would be so amazing to be able to hand Lucas his diploma holder as he is recognized for graduating. I am normally not into being in the spotlight but I think it would be pretty cool to give my son his degree.