Dog Days

When school first lets out, summer is a fresh promise of endless delights. June is beautiful. June is practically May, which is a fine month indeed. June is the rubbery smell of new flip flops, the smooth tightness of a brand-new swimsuit. the clean smell of freshly-turned garden soil.

In July, the summer fun reaches a fever pitch. July is gunpowder and freshly-cut grass. July is the invigorating sting of chlorine, the dazzle of fireworks, the explosion of flowers in your garden bed, the sticky juice of watermelon dribbling down your chin.

But August? There's a reason they call them the dog days of August. The novelty of summer has worn off, but temperatures (and tempers) are running high. Both the swimsuits and the morale are beginning to sag. A mother's patience wears as thin as the sole of her flip flops. Even the weeds give up and start looking a little rangy.

And then come September. The long morning shadows, the sweet inky smell of worksheets still warm from the copier, and the rustle of renewed good intentions that strike us all at the beginning of a new school year.

Well, that's almost right, anyway. School actually started on August 22nd for us this year. And Elizabeth goes to a school that is roughly as old as her grandparents, which means it's brimming with authentic retro charm but is also without air-conditioning. With the temperatures still climbing into the mid-90s, the classrooms are sweltering. I'm surprised the crayons haven't all melted. The PTA has gone all out, setting up fans and doling out Otter Pops, even putting out sprinklers at recess for the kids to cool off. Still, Elizabeth comes home each day with pink cheeks and hair plastered to her forehead. She's a trooper, though; she didn't even mention the heat until I asked her point-blank if her classroom was hot. "Yeah, even with two fans blowing it's still hot!" she brightly replied. Yup, this girl loves first grade, hot classroom and all.

Elizabeth, excited for the first day of school

Anna's preschool, on the other hand, doesn't start until after Labor Day. For the first week, she basked in the glory of having Mom and Ben all to herself--but it didn't last. Poor girl was so lonely today; she pulled out her dolls and set them up half-heartedly, then told me, "I'll wait till Nano comes home so we can play together."

Anna, all set to walk Elizabeth to school. By the time we reach home, she's already asking when first grade will be over so Nano can come home again.

Ben celebrated the start of the school year with his own new accomplishments: rolling over, sitting up, and cutting two new teeth.


For the most part he's been a happy little guy through it all, though he did have an exceptionally bad day this week: already crabby from cutting tooth #1, while he was sitting on my bed he tipped over, rolled off the edge, and face-planted in the carpet, giving himself a rug burn on the side of his nose. Ouch.

Ohhh, he's a handsome little devil, isn't he?

Despite the summer heat, Jared is plugging along in the backyard. Our original goal this summer was to put a lawn in the backyard. So far we've gotten a new fence, sprinklers in the front yard, and a beautiful new wet saw. But that's just how we roll around here. Our family motto is "Might as well", as in, "Well, since we've already got the trencher, we might as well dig up the front yard too. And since we've already got the yard dug up, we might as well put in a new patio. . ."

(Oops. Photos of the patio-in-progress are still on my camera. I'll post them later. Maybe.)

We've had to take a break from his projects this week, though; it seems like whenever we embark on a new home improvement project, something breaks on one of the cars. Along with the new sprinklers last month, I got a new radiator in my car. And Jared is getting a new fuel pump in his car along with the patio he's been working on this month.

And then there's me. Hmm, what did I do in August? Ran a 5K. Baked some really fabulous bread. Washed and folded an endless stream of laundry. Went swimming and to the zoo and to the park and to Red Butte Garden. Changed a few hundred diapers. Ate the sole cherry tomato that grew on the plant I stuck in a pot on our patio. Read two of my childhood favorite books to my girls (Little House in the Big Woods for Elizabeth; The Sleep Book for Anna). Squished Ben's chubby little thighs a couple thousand times.




Mmm, yeah. It was a good summer, dog days and all.