Morning ritual... and evening fun!

Maria has been so interested in the school buses each morning when we come downstairs to play. The middle-school bus stop just happens to be in our front yard, so we get a lot of action out there in the morning! Her favorite part, though, is watching the kids with their backpacks. I had forgotten that she had one of her own, until she dug it out of her toy basket last week. When she sees the kids on the curb, she goes to get her backpack. She likes to be able to see it though, so we have to put it on her front!

Here she is crouching down to look out the window for the bus....

....and here she is just after the bus has arrived with her back pack.

I'm sure she'll be thrilled when she can ride that big bus on her own. I pray I'll be able to handle it when she does!

And later that day, Nonna came over to watch Maria while mommy and daddy were both at work. They watched attentively at the window for daddy to come home, and Maria even included her stuffed animals (at least the downstairs population) in the waiting game. She and Nonna put up all the animals at the window to watch for daddy! She was a little upset when I took them down during one of her naps, so a few of her favorites are still standing guard at the window.