Michelena Graduates Preschool! [MOMLIFE]

Is this really happening? 

Honestly, having a hard time grappling with this moment. She's 4 but feels like she's going on 14. Her preschool days are over and I think I'm supposed to be crying right now but you know when things happen so fast it takes a while before it hits you? This is one of those moments and it still hasn't hit me.

This was honestly a rough day. She was excited for this event, as she's excited for all school-related events, but came to the sudden realization during the performance, when her best friends were missing, that this year is coming to an end as is her daily life with those best friends not graduating along with her. Instead, she's forced to sit among another class, singing strange songs she's been prepping to sing only in the last few weeks or so.

A day later, now looking back, I realize how odd and strange this setup was for the kids in her class who were moving to higher level schools. Had I known the effect, I honestly wouldn't have brought her. 

Transition is tough. And the lesson I learned this weekend is change might be harder going forward as she grows older, more aware, and more attached.

Nonetheless, we got through it. I continually remind her how much I love her, how valuable our family is, that we are a team and will always stick together. Because that is what families do. Amongst all the change that surrounds them, those that are true to each other will always move through change together, as a unit, as a team. 

Another day, another milestone, and How proud I am of her and how far she's come.

For memory: She can spell her name backwards and simple words forward :> She can read level 2 books and can do simple arithmetic. She can identify Google cars on the road and can run, skip, and hop. She can listen in on and interject in adult conversation, and even understands some Chinese though her accent is just as horrendous as mine. Her humor is impeccable and she loves playing with her friends. She loves play doh, legos, and monopoly. Killer smile, huge heart, love of technology and toys. xo

Homemade Dinner Baby Food! [FOOD, MOMLIFE]

Ingredients:

Avocado

Rice

Chicken

Broccoli

Milk

Purée the first four ingredients in a blender sparingly with milk. Add milk little by little until smooth.

Baby loved this! I got a small, personal-cup-sized blender this weekend and baby will be eating what we eat (as often as I can), going forward.

This made about 1 cup of food and she ate almost all of it. Super impressed. She's growing. So fast that I'm hoping this will stick in her belly to make it through the night :> xo

Sheryl Sandberg, Life, Survival, And Achievement

'You will be defined not just by what you achieve, but by how you survive.'

It's a good thing I didn't read Lean In because I'm not upset by what Sandberg did or did not say in that book and how she's changed her tune since.

We have to remember we are all human. No individual knows everything and no individual is without flaws, including leaders of large corporations. So she's learned a lesson and changed her mind, albeit the hard way, through loss of a loved one. Forgive her. Like the rest of us, she's still learning and growing.

That said, I love the above quote, which she said in her speech at UC Berkeley's recent commencement. Sharing her vulnerability humanizes the thoughtful leader and inspires others with her influence.

Surviving difficult situations or circumstances alone is an unrecognized achievement in and of itself that all too many of us, myself included, overlook.

As a survivor, I am reminded once again to not overlook the things I have overcome and ultimately achieved, though unrecognized through classic conventions of what successful means.

To be human is to struggle. To overcome struggle is to achieve. xo