Settling In

Ben attended his first full morning of kindergarten on Friday. I waited in front of the school with all the other eager parents to pick him up at 11:15, expecting him to run to me for a big hug like all the other kids, but he never came out the door. I went inside and found him holding open the door to his classroom. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Mrs. B asked me to hold the door today." I guess he didn't realized that once all the kids were through the door he was also able to leave. But that's Ben, he follows the rules, and if Mrs. B did not tell him to leave his post, at his post he was going to stay!

We had a relaxing Labor Day weekend at home. We took the boat out on Friday night and Mark got a little water skiing in, most probably the last of the season. We visited the farmer's market on Saturday and took a hike around Kamiak Butte on Sunday. Yesterday was spent making elk jerky and getting ready for the week ahead. It is predicted to be calm and steady around here this week; next week gymnastics and soccer begins, but this week we'll spend settling into our new routine.

Thyroid Update: My hormone levels are normal. There are three nodules on the thyroid, one much larger than the others. Tomorrow I will go to the hospital and swallow a little radioactive pill, then be scanned at noon and again at noon on Thursday to see how the iodine is moving through my body. This test can tell them if the nodules are cancerous. If they're not, we'll probably just watch them to see how they change. If they are, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I certainly need to have all of this taken care of before we leave for Germany.

Ben has his first loose tooth and he's very proud. I think Claire had lost 4 or 5 by this time, so he's a little jealous about missing out on the tooth fairy. Hopefully, the tooth fairy won't forget where we live like she's been doing recently!