Thanksgiving and Family

We visited family in New Jersey and New York for Thanksgiving and had a blast. The first of all blessings to be thankful for is that Michael did so well in the 7.5 hour car ride there. He played and even took a 2 hour nap. Tim and I passed the car time by listening to an unabridged version of Pride and Prejudice - a story with great characters, fun narration, and lots of laughs that just goes on and on - perfect for a long car ride.
When we get there of course, everyone is thrilled to see Michael and he was flooded with questions and toys to play with. After his first initial five minutes of cautious watching from Mom's arms, he jumped right into the family mix. He learned everyone's names and seemed to feel right at home. Here are a couple of pictures from our New York trip.












Michael refers to his great-grandpa as GG-Pa and he was so excited to get dressed that morning in his special clothes from GG-Pa. And we got to their place, Sandy offered us drinks including a sweet juice for Michael. When I showed Michael this last picture he says, "GG-Pa, Michael, Sandy - orange juice!

Big Boy

This past Monday we went out and purchased a twin bed for Michael - or as we call it here, a Big Boy Bed at Michael's House. It was delivered yesterday. Michael and Noah (the 3 yo I sit for) were watching the truck pull up to the house. Truck watching, mind you, is a highlight of their day. As the bed is being carried into the house, Noah is jumping circles (yes it was much more energetic than just running circles) around Michael saying, "Aren't you 'cited Michael?" over and over. Michael on the other hand is in his quiet "watch and figure this all out" mode. So they watch the guys put it together and Michael is quite proud of it all when it's done.
Fast forward to nap time. I'm really unsure how this is going to go. We set the bed up with just the bottom sheet and a bed rail - no pillow. I figured this was as similar to the crib experience that we could get. I lay Michael down and go downstairs to listen. He starts talking and moving around and even singing - all of which has become normal for his naps. (This of course is a whole other story I could entitle - A Two Year Old Should Not Be Aloud to Give Up His Naps!) And finally he quiets down.
Come evening he goes down no problem! So our 2 year old has had his first successful nap and night sleep in his Big Boy Bed. Here is a picture I took in the middle of the night (the scrapbooker in me couldn't resist) and one of Michael showing off the bed in the morning:

The Weather

It's a weather roller coaster outside today - reminding me of those days back in Michigan! I turned the news on this morning to hear that there would be a high of 44 today. Later that morning the sun was shining and the thermometer on the back porch read 70. At Michael's insistence, he even went outside and played! He comes back in and I turn around a couple minutes later and everything outside is wet. It rained?- when did that happen? Later, I look only to find it hailing. Needless to say the thermometer now reads just under 40. And just now, the sun is peaking out again and things are drying off. A true variety day.

We went out!

Well, Tim and I actually got a night out. For Pastor appreciation, our Pastor took staff out for a nice dinner. We got a babysitter for Michael and had a wonderful time. We went to a nice seafood restaurant and I actually tried some Calamari. What we were served looked a lot like this picture. I ate some of those that look like onion rings, and told my mouth that's what they were. The ones that actually look like squids just completely freaked me out.

The best thing about the dinner out was the adult conversation of course and the fact that I actually forgot about rushing to pick up Michael from the sitter! That is a true sign of enjoying oneself I believe!

An experiment

So how long do you think one can be in the presents of toddlers before on looses half of one's vocabulary? I spend most days caring for Michael and another toddler. Then I spent Sunday night doing nursery for a church function and tomorrow I get to teach the Pioneer toddler class. There have been way to many times recently when I've found myself thinking, "I can't believe my conversations have come to this." Today, for example, I found myself arguing about who is a boy and who is a girl, confirming that yes infact we don't eat play-do, and repeating the line "What was that?" from a book 50 times to a crowd of laughing toddlers. I even find myself quoting Michael to myself when something doesn't go well: "Miss.... Try 'gain!" Somebody please find me an adult conversation!!!!

Halloween

Well, Halloween was on Wednesday this year. Wednesday is church night for us - I usually teach the kid's programs on Wed. Assuming that I wouldn't have too many kids come this last week, we canceled the kid's classes, but still offered child care for the youth workers and the Bible study participants that would be meeting that night.
So Tim and I got to run the nursery. We figured that Michael isn't old enough now to miss trick-or-treating. So I tried to find him a Halloween shirt to wear instead of a costume this year. I was shocked, checking at Target, Kohls, and a couple of other places that I couldn't find one! The girl shirts (all of them had frills and things on the sleves/neck) were all cute with cats and pumpkins, while the boy shirts had spiders and mummies and said phrase that I was less than pleased with. Finally though I found a pumpkin sweatshirt that Michael loved. Here are some pictures of him outside that morning!

The Bears

I was looking through a new book with Michael the other day and we came to this page:
I asked Michael what he saw on the page. He pointed to the mom and said, "Mommy Bear." Then to the dad with "Daddy Bear." And finally he touched the baby and said "Michael Bear." Isn't that just too cute?!

He's his parent's child

For those of you who don't know me and my hubby, we both majored/minored in math in college. And also I could note that "FUN" for me growing up was begging my parents to write out math problems for me to solve. So anyway, our son Michael is starting to become curious about letters/numbers these days. We have some abc magnets on the fridge and he loves to learn "N" for Noah (a friend), "M" for Michael, "G" for grandma, "B" for baseball, and of course "R" for Red Sox! Anyway, while he can pick out the letter when asked, he still calls most letters "N"s. So we get "N" for Noah, "N" for grandma, "N" for baseball, etc. Well, to get back to the math, just the other day we were looking through a book of trains where each page shows a number. The first page has a train with one car and the number 1 on it, the second page has a two car train with the number 2 on it, etc. He was pointing to each number and reading it correctly. I totally assumed that he was just counting in order - still impressive but he has been doing this for a couple of months now. So then the next day we took some some Thomas trains that are numbered. In no order I pointed to them and asked what number that was. He got everyone right except for the 9 which he called a 6! I was baffled. I have the smartest two year old! Don't you agree?!! LOL

Some Pictures

I got around to uploading some pictures from my camera today and thought I'd share. These first two are from our trip to the zoo when my mom was visiting. Funny story behind this one. First, you will see that there is a lion above and to the left of them. My intention was to take a picture of them looking at the lion and of course, my son was having a sagging diaper problem and showing a bit too much crack, so we opted for the front view.
This second picture is of course of an elephant. The elephant that we saw at the zoo was splashing in the water and Michael got to see him drink some, so now every time Michael sees a picture of an elephant, he says, "Elephant - drink water" as if that is the animals full scientific name.








The other pictures are from our night of jack-o-lantern making. I bought the pumpkin full of all the great memories I have of carving pumpkins with my dad each year growing up. We always had a pumpkin for each child in the family and often tried to size them appropriately according to age. (I as the oldest always loved this part more than my siblings probably!) :) And then when I taught elementary school I always carved them with my students each year - it was so much fun!
I brought the pumpkin home and told my husband with joy that I had a great evening activity for him and his son. He responded with less the enthusiasm I was expecting. lol Come to find out that he never really like carving pumpkins - or so he says. Although he did comment that he liked eating all the yummy things that his mom made from the insides.
So I guess my son will get to make memories about carving a pumpkin with his mom! I was so excited to do this with him. We first drew the face on the pumpkin. This is so cute since Michael is getting interested in drawing faces a lot. And of course we added some hair on the top because to my 2 year old a face isn't a face without some hair. So then I go to cut off the top and when I pull it off Michael freaks out! He kept wanting me to put it back on - I think he was in shock that I cut off the top of it's head. :) When I finally convinced him that it was ok, he helped me clean out the inside and cut out the face. We put a candle in it and turned out the lights in the room and Michael just sat in awe for a while. When Daddy came in the room he asked Michael what the pumpkin's name was and Michael's response was, "Hot!"

A Special Treat for All

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, my dear son has been admitted to the toddler club. And that includes the fight to get him to eat his supper. Now, my son likes the food - he'll even eat green vegetables, but at the dinner table he is so highly amused by the sounds his fork can make banging on things and the way his food squishes between his fingers that he seems to forget about the eating part. So, hubby decided to offer him a "special treat" if he finished his food tonight.

Let me for a moment step aside from this story to tell you about "Special Treat." About a week ago, my husband had Michael for the night while I was at Bible study and decided to take him out for a "special treat." This was to split a piece of cheesecake at Barnes and Noble and let Michael play with the train set there. Michael thought this was the best! And everyday - well closer to every couple of hours, he has asked for a special treat - every time we got in the car, when he woke up each morning, at every meal, when Daddy came home from work - you get the picture. Of course, the logic that a special treat is no longer special if comes every day just falls flat with a toddler - trust me I tried.

So anyway, hubby and son go off tonight to have their "special treat" leaving me for my own "special treat" time at home. So what did I do you ask? Maybe I could draw a nice bubble bath and soak away the cares of the day. Maybe I could call up a couple girl friends and go out for coffee to chat about the latest happenings. Maybe I could light some candles and curl up with a good book to get lost in its pages! Well, actually I watched an episode of Frasier - lame isn't it?!

Why did I select that particular activity? Because all the further I got was the couch. Mind you it was 6:30pm. My day started at 6:30 am with a shower and devotions. Then by 7:30 I had not only my son to watch but two others that I do daycare for. So the next few hours were full of running a three year old to the bathroom, saying "It's so and so's turn now," making pancakes, singing Old MacDonald, pushing around tricycles, and trying to come up with creative ways to use old toys to keep them entertained. Now, don't let me fool you, I did let them watch Sesame Street so there was a bit on selfish me time in there too! :) And then came "lunch break" - making sandwiches, cutting up bananas, feeding the baby a bottle, cleaning up with the washcloth over and over, and oh yah - eating a piece of toast and banana myself. Don't get me wrong, I love my job at home with my son - I am embellishing it a bit for this story here. I wouldn't change being a stay at home mom for a day at the office for anything (ok, maybe a day now and again, but not usually lol). Anyway, after fixing dinner and doing airplane to feed a two year old, I was pooped! So I got to the couch and made it no further.

Luckily the half hour "special treat" trip turned out to last longer so after the TV show I was able to dust the second floor, and vacuum the whole house! How much of an accomplishment was that?! My question though, is how come a "special treat" for a child is dessert out and 45 minutes with a favorite toy, and a "special treat" for a mom is to be able to vacuum the stairs without a toddler hanging on her leg? LOL

Wow - if you made it through that whole thing congratulations! Let me leave by telling you that I absolutely love being a Mom - and in a strange way this evening was a "special treat" for me. So leave me a comment and let me know what is a "special treat" for you? I can't wait to read what you have to say! :) :)

My Son Can Read

So I think I have the most brilliant son on the planet! :) (At least in my biased mom view!) I guess I should preface this by saying that my hubby is a huge sports fan - and a Boston sports fan through and through. His family bought us Red Sox shirts one year for Christmas and I was wearing mine the other day. Michael comes up to me and points at my shirt, from right to left, and proudly says "Red Sox!" Now I know that most kids read McDonalds as their first word, but my dear hubby was so proud that my son had a unique first read!
Fairly connected with this, I want to encourage everyone who has kids and might be reading this. Do you tell your kids that they are the best? Give it a try. It is so important to speak positive words into the lives of your children. I often tell Michael, "Do you know that I love you?" and he often says, "Yah." with a matter of fact response. Well, at my pastor's suggestion I told him he was the best the other day, and he said, "Noooooo, I Michael!" How cute is that!

Tantrum

Who teaches 2 year olds how to throw temper tantrums? Is there some class that they all sneak off to? Or are humans just build to kick and scream the same way at 2 years old? Now, let me start by saying that I think my son is a pretty good kid and fairly calm for 2. And of course that is the side that he shows to everyone outside of the home leading many to think that I am crazy when I say that he knows how to tantrum with the best of them! Just the other day Michael asked to wash his hands. Now normally this is a fine thing, but there are times - like when you've helped him wash his hands 7 times already that morning - when you just have to say No to such requests! So I did. And right there on the floor in front of the bathroom he falls face down to the ground. The fists go over his head to pound and the feet kick up and down, high in the air to have the greatest impact with the ground. And the whiny cry begins. This is how it goes: Kick, kick, kick, and scream; pause to peak up and see if I'm watching; kick, kick, kick and scream; pause for the parental check again; and so on! :) Just the perfect 2 year old temper tantrum! And to show you how much I think these are funny occasions, here is a picture I took of his first tantrum and not yet 1.5 years old. (A true scrapbooking mom, I know.)

Joy

Ever feel like you just get through a day but don't really live? I've been having some days like that recently. All morning I think "OK, I just have to do this, this, and this, and then I can put Michael down for a nap." Then its a list of things to get through before Tim gets home and then before we go to bed. And after all that I have made it through the day with very little joy.
In my Bible study we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit and this week is joy. I am reminded about how I have joy because of all that Christ has done for me and the security I have in him. That was all head knowledge that I already know, but today we talked about how we can lose our joy. There were two reasons that popped out at me. 1. I have been working/serving more than I'm taking in. I need to fill up more with Christ. 2. I am tired. I just can't seem to get enough sleep. Tim and I are both night owls. Some nights I try to go to bed earlier, but I just don't like going to bed alone! I feel so empty with Tim on the other side of the bed. And of course I have to get up before 7 to be ready for the kids I care for during the day. So that would be the lack of sleep.
So after all this rambling, what is my point? I guess I need to get some sleep so that I have energy for searching out Christ and filling up with Him so that I can bring His joy back into my daily life. So how do I do that?! :)

Potty

Sorry to those of you who might find this gross, but moms will understand! Do you know how much of my brain power has revolved around my son's bathroom habits in his short two year life? Crazy! When he was a newborn, I was suppose to be keeping track of all his diapers so I knew if he was eating enough. Now, he is getting into toilet training so we seem to be back to checking the diaper every hour.
Now granted, my son has only recently turned 2, so I'm not really expecting him to be potty trained all that soon, but he is really interested in it, so I figured it was worth a try. Off and on for the past month now, he has wanted to sit on the "little potty" as he calls it. He sits there, smiles, chats about "pee pee" and nothing happens. I've even tried turning on the water in the sink to see if that could get things flowing. But no. Instead I'm reduced to trying to explain to a 2 year old what it means to go pee.
And then yesterday it finally happened! He got up from his nap and his diaper was still dry - after 3 hours. So quickly we went to the bathroom. I got him some juice to drink and he sat there chatting with me as normal. Then he froze, looked up at me wide eyed and then down into the potty saying very enthusiastically, "Pee pee!" And sure enough, there it was! We had a huge celebration and daddy got him a piece of candy for a treat. It is so funny how excited even I can get over a little bit of pee.
Well, then the story moves on to today. He wanted to try again all the time, so I decided to let him go around without a diaper for a bit instead of continually pulling it on and off him. You probably know where this is going. He is playing with his toys on the floor while I sit on the couch - "Do you have to go potty?" I ask. "No." And then a minute later I smell something - oh no!!! Sure enough. When I pick him up I see his #2 in process. Poor kid was so startled by me running him to the bathroom and depositing him on the "big potty" and then rushing back to clean up the carpet before anything settled in. lol I think we will stick with diapers for a bit longer!

Welcome

It is always so hard to figure out what to post in the first post of a new blog. So, I've decided to just post this entry and then I can come back later tonight and talk about something more fun! So welcome to my new blog. :)