This is the first month we’re switching to calendar-based monthly photos (rather than cutting off the month based on the day of the month the kids were born). We just posted the August 2008 photos.

Since their thirty-six month update, there have been a lot of changes in our kids’ lives. Prior to September, we took the kids down to our parents’ houses every weekend where the kids have been napping while we’ve been holding open houses. Just after Labor Day, the kids started their new school, and we moved out of the house and into an apartment near the new school. With the apartment, we also moved the kids from their cribs to beds, which has gone well.

The kids have largely taken the changes in stride, though there has been some acting up by both of them. Miranda will passively resist when she’s frustrated. When we ask her to do something, she’ll claim “I can’t” and make a very feeble attempt at whatever we asked her to do. Yesterday I asked her to get her shoes, and she pretended like she couldn’t get them out of the shoe rack. When she accidentally did, she put the shoes back in and continued to claim that she couldn’t pull them out. I’m not quite sure how to deal with this one, but I guess it usually means that she’s frustrated for other reasons that I should be examining. Eleanor has generally become more clingy with Agnes.

It’s practically the end of September now, so hopefully that will mean that I’ll be ready to post new pictures in just a week or two.

We finally left the Hollywood Bowl at 11:30. Fortunately the kids slept in the car while we waited.

We left the Sound of Music sing-along after the Good Night song, but found our car trapped in the stacked lot. We’re in the car until 10:30.

About six weeks ago, we put our house on the market, and it’s been a little disruptive to our lives ever since. Every weekend we have taken the kids down Agnes’ parents’ house so that Agnes and I could clean up the house and make it presentable for an Open House for each day of the weekend. Every day we made the fifty minute drive to see the kids between their nap and their bedtime before returning to our house. Their Sunday nap was at my parents’ house, and then they returned to our house to start the week.

This scheduled became more complicated after Labor Day when the kids started school in the city where we want to move. It meant that in addition to this weekend schedule, we were driving twenty miles (twenty-five minutes in the morning, forty-five minutes in the evening) to shuttle the kids between school and home. Finally, this past weekend, we moved into an apartment close to the new school. Theoretically, by not living at the house, it should always be in a presentable state for prospective buyers.

Something that’s been lost in this disruption to our routine is the fact that suddenly, we’re no longer in our house. This is the first house we bought, and it’s the only house that the kids have ever known. While it has some quirks, it’s a cute house, and it makes me sad that we’re never really going back to it.

Miranda said earlier this week that she wanted to go back to “607” (the street number for our house) and that she didn’t like our new house (apartment). Agnes has been trying to convince her that the swimming pool makes the new place better, but I’m not sure she’s buying it. She’s been moody. I don’t think my attitude has helped because of my own feelings of displacement. I’m also not a fan of the low popcorn ceilings in the apartment and the sloppy glossy paint job on the walls, but it’s just a temporary arrangement.

In a week or two, I’m sure we’ll get settled in and establish a new routine. We’re still seeking out restaurants and parks and the like. The kids won’t be shipped off to their grandparents. And ideally, we’ll sell our house soon, buy a new one, move, and get started with the rest of our lives.

We had brunch at IHOP today. Miranda finished the Rooty Jr: 1 egg, 1 pancake, and 2 sausages. Eleanor had silver dollar pancakes.

The jig is up: Agnes’ mom told the kids that the pull-ups with cars are for boys. Unfortunately, the “girl” pull-ups have princesses.

Eleanor to Agnes: “If you take off your earrings, you’re going to be Daddy”.

August 29th was the kids’ last day at their old school. Since we are moving inland to Cerritos, we’ve transferred the kids to a new school in that area. The kids had a little party on their last day. I brought a “fruit bouquet” for the teachers and some cupcakes for the kids. I think Eleanor and Miranda had some idea what was going on. It was nice to get pictures with their current teachers and go around to their old classrooms (the infant and toddler rooms) and say goodbye to their old teachers. After the kids had cupcakes, the whole class lined up and gave Eleanor and Miranda hugs. It was like a receiving line after a wedding. They each hugged fifteen kids. Miranda noticed that her picture had been taken down from her cubby and that her cubby had been emptied out. When I asked her why that happened, she said, “Because it’s our last day.”

Eleanor and Miranda in the morning on their last day of school.

The fruit bouquet for the teachers.

Having cupcakes before saying goodbye.

I think overall I was the most traumatized since they’ve been at this school since they were six months old. They literally learned to eat solid foods, crawl, cruise, walk, talk, and potty train at this school. I laugh when I think about that time when Miranda almost got suspended because she was biting someone everyday, and the week that Eleanor couldn’t stop pooping in her underwear. They’ve come a long way.

I drove on five different freeways to get from our house to the kids’ new school and then to work. Fortunately, there wasn’t much traffic.

We dropped off the kids at their new school. They were a little tentative, but didn’t complain when we said bye.