<p>Oldest got into town last night, weve already seen youngest a few times as we dropped off food.
( she is busy packing & finishing up)
Going to take the dog to the doge park again this morning to get him good & worn out so he can sleep in the car.
I asked D if she wanted flowers or a plant for graduation.
She asked for a tomato plant!
Doesnt really fit underneath my chair though.
I told her I would get her flowers then she could give them to her grandpa if he comes for Fathers day.
( Ill get her a tomato plant when she can plant it)</p>
<p>ekc4, I probably would have just brought a few things for the young kids and not asked, but my relationship with my kids is fine. Given what your daughter wrote, I’d probably still bring a couple of times, but not take them out unless necessary, i.e. unless the little kids get bored and rowdy. And I wouldn’t bring any favorite old toys! Just some third string stuff. </p>
<p>It was a nice thought. If you could execute it in a low key way, that would be great. I enjoy little kids and it is fun to pull out some old chestnut of a distraction (Itsy bitsy spider? little bunny foo foo?) and have it work. </p>
<p>I’m not going to bring anything.
If I have a chance tonight at dinner I might say I washed some of her premie outfits in case her nephew/nieces would like them for their dolls. They might get a kick out of how small they were.
Neither of the kids have expressed any interest in any of their things.
Actually the opposite as the youngest has been activity advocating for us to donate it so someone else can get some use out of it.</p>
<p>I think that your heart is in the right place, but I would not come on too strong with the children. It might appear that way to your daughter. I would not mention the preemie cloths, but donate them instead. I would also find a very small tomato plant that would fit under your seat for your other daughter. You asked what she wanted and she told you, even if you think she is not ready to plant it yet. I would NOT get flowers. If you ask her what she wants, follow her wishes, not yours. This may be one reason why the girls don’t engage with you as often as you would like. You are so eager to please, yet it appears just the opposite to them. I’m so sorry if this sounds harsh as you have such a kind spirit. Just an outside perspective. I am very happy for you this weekend and next and wish you the best.</p>
<p>Update:
I got D flowers she loved them & the house cat loves them even more!
We met at her house before graduation and walked up together, and my H made Ds boyfriend drop off his parents. The celebration went well, it was in an auditorium and was just about 250 students, maybe not even that many. There was a nice musical interlude that involved dancing on stage to the house band and culminated with all the graduates getting a 2’ fir seedling.( environmental college)
Pictures went well if chilly, grandpa & grandma went back home but the rest of us walked to dinner( although I had worn heels, so I had to borrow some shoes from younger daughter as she lives on top of a hill.)
It went very well and it was even cool enough that we just left the dog in the car as it was parked at her house- taking him out for a while every time we stopped by.
So all in all, it went very well.
No apparent tension btw between oldest & myself, that I could detect anyway. I sat next to her at dinner.</p>
<p>Emerald- I’m so happy for you that everything went well! BIG SMILE!!!</p>
<p>So happy foryou, EK :D</p>
<p>Im even going to go with H when he drops off oldest at the bus stop tomorrow morning.
A thrill was seeing my youngest getting a lot of attention and seeing her enjoy it.
So proud of her.</p>
<p>So glad it went well! And congrats to your D.</p>
<p>So glad to hear it went well, EK.</p>
<p>Congrats to you and your daughter on her graduation. </p>
<p>I am glad things went well all around, ek. You have come home with some nice memories. </p>
<p>It is nice that the graduation came before the wedding as hopefully it took a bit of the worry and anxiety away for next weeks (?) wedding. </p>
<p>Have a great rest of your weekend.</p>
<p>It also was a very nice graduation. D wanted to skip the main graduation, as the speaker is usually ( & actually the original named speaker was a local businessman)geared to the business school, although Gary Locke ( former Wa gov & ambassador to China) spoke, & Ive always liked Gary.</p>
<p>However her environmental school had a seperate celebration for about 250 students, and an alum speaker who was interesting even though it didn’t come together till the end. There was a faculty band & dancing on the stage and also a pretty great speech by one of the students. The size of the college, seemed really nice as evident in how her profs spoke of her, which you don’t always expect at a public university.</p>
<p>Now we just have to get most of her accumulation back home, as her first job provides room & board and is furnished.
Its times like these that I miss the extended mini van we had with the first Ds college.</p>
<p>I’m so glad you had such a nice weekend!</p>