Last night Art slept over at Bubbe’s with Emily and me.  We set him up in her tiny den with his own special bed.  He was pretty wired so he didn’t end up going to sleep until almost 9:30pm but that is totally expected at a sleepover.  Here he is “reading” Richard Scary in his special bed.

We are trying to give Art a lot of extra time at Bubbe’s house.  He is old enough to understand and be upset about what is happening to his special friend and we want to honor his need to be near her.  He likes to play with her toys, the same favorites he’s been playing with over there for his five short years, and he likes to help me bring things to her like coffee or even her medicine and then dart out and dance around or play in the living room.

Today, after a few meltdowns over some marble toys building with blocks, he just started saying, “I just love Bubbe.  I just love Bubbe.  She’s my best friend in the whole world and I want to go over to her house.”  Best friend may be the wrong title for her place in his life, but the gravity of the statement is there:  She is someone so very special and I want to be nearby.

A kindergarten test-run as the parents talked about stuff (Art’s back center):

And a little performance by current kindergartners chanting things like, “Kindergarten is coming!” and “Kindergarten is fun!” Both things are true I think.

Art, upon being asked to put on his seat belt, clarified the rules for wearing them. "You can only not wear seat belts if you're going to Walgreens, right Papa?"

I just found this photo on my phone. I don’t remember taking and love it and the three girls in it.

Tomorrow is kindergarten registration/orientation for Arthur at his new school. I think we’re equally excited. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the other kids and parents and learning about what to expect for next year. Last week Art and I went to the Barton band concert just for the HELL OF IT! It was really fun. We sat in back but quickly moved up to the front row so Arthur could get a good look at all the different instruments and kids playing them. The concert started at 7 and he wanted to stay through to the end. They had a beginner band (4th/5th grade) that played simple stuff like hot cross buns. Art was so impressed. An intermediate group, older group and a jazz band. The latter was the finale and the most fun since there were drums, a piano and even soloists.

Today Lewis joined Arthur at school for the entire day, something Lewis loves (Thanks so much for having him, Ms. Jen…). I’m sure Lewis feels like such a big kid, and he is. He’s three! Here are some photos Jen posted on the school blog.

as photographed by Uncle Dick Parker

Bubbe is home now on hospice care. Yesterday after dinner I took Arthur and Lewis over to her house to for a visit (Jessica and Emily were already there and stayed the night). We’ve tried to be honest with Arthur and Lewis both about what’s happening. This morning Art’s preschool teacher mentioned how last week in school he told everyone that his grandma is going to die. So he knows what’s going.

At Bubbe’s house last night Art was acting in a vivid and unpredictable way. Super expressive, jumping around and pretending to be deathly afraid of Emmett, her cat. It was behavior we’ve never seen but also entirely fine, play therapy of sorts for our five year old. At one point he and Lewis came into Bubbe’s room looking very mischievous. They had told each other a secret and were careful not to let anyone know what it was. They walked over to Bubbe’s bed and revealed their plans, a big hug!

Then later I went back in the bedroom and Art had gotten under the covers with Bubbe to lay next to her. This breaks my heart. I know he knows exactly what’s going on, that he will soon lose one of his best friends in the whole world, a woman who loves him completely, without judgement and treats him as an entire person unto himself and always has since the moment he was born.

Art can’t just get a big hug and cry about what’s going on, he doesn’t process things that way and we wouldn’t expect him to. But he can get under the covers with Bubbe, lay next to her and tell her about the May Day Parade he went to. He can tell me and Jessica that he doesn’t want to go home, that he wants to play with Bubbe some more and wait until she wakes up.

Lewis, however. He’s only three and for some reason I’m just not worried about him. I’m not sure if he knows what’s going on but I think he’ll be fine. And, more importantly, he still got a ‘treat’ when he went to Bubbe’s house, a little piece of dark chocolate: