School Days

I have to say that I was looking forward to the first day of school.  Nearly six weeks of being cooped up inside and around the house was pretty boring for Boy O, resulting in more than the usual picking at his brother and fighting over the silliest of things.  Boy O was incredibly excited for his first day of first grade.  Here he is posing with Baby O who was proud to dress himself that morning-can you tell? 

New school, new teacher and a whole new routine.  At his old school, we lived just a few houses down from the school and I walked him to and from school every day while he would wistfully look at the kids getting off the bus or being dropped off by car.  Now he gets the best of both worlds-Daddy O drops him off in the morning and he gets to ride the bus home all by himself!  I have never seen him smile so big as when he got off that bus the first day to tell me about it.  Unfortunately that picture didn't turn out so great, but I certainly managed to embarrass him plenty.

First grade seems to be going well.  I was so involved with Kindergarten last year that I was a little bit nervous the first week not really knowing what was going on, but now that we are into the third week of school and a sort of parent orientation has taken place in addition to several conversations with his teacher, I feel much, much better.  Most importantly, he's loving it.

WHILE THE CAT'S AWAY, THE MICE WILL PLAY
We still do fun stuff when Boy O is around, but we can't just sit around all day...so we decided to pack up, play some tennis, walk, ride scooters and feed the ducks yesterday.  Newbie O seems to enjoy all the activity.  She's all smiles now.

When we have these outings, I am reminded of this post from years past.  Doing any type of prolonged activity with Baby O, I still have to remind myself to smell the roses.  Enjoy the journey and don't worry so much about the destination.

Tennis does not last too long.  Maybe ten minutes or so.  Then it's off to riding his scooter.  You might think that he's far away and I should call him to come back to the stroller, but I know better.

There are too many distractions, like trees to climb...

...pebbles to examine....

 ...tarantula exoskeletons...yes, we live in Texas and they are so cool!...

...a better view...

 ...feed the ducks...Baby O would rather eat the bread himself...

...check on his new sister...

... and by the time we get home, both kids are ready for naps.  Newbie O is a fighter though-she much prefers to hold on as long as possible.  I think she's just taking a lesson from her big brother and trying to smell the roses for as long as she can.

Let's Celebrate...Again

Forget the schools that are rated as so called party schools.  Kindergarten is the place to be.  Pajama day, western wear day, fifties day, inside out day, crazy hair day....you name it, they've done it.  Add in a couple of juice boxes and some goldfish and it can turn into one wild party.

This week's party: 100 days of school. The kids and teachers dressed up like they were 100 years old.  The teachers outdid themselves and many students didn't recognize them with walkers, canes, white hair, spectacles and some questionable extra padding.  Absolutely hilarious.

A little baby powder and eyeliner can go a long way...they looked more nerdy/silly than old, but they sure had a great time.

Boy O doesn't get to have all the fun-while he's off partying all day long, Baby O and I have some fun too.  Gymnastics is a great activity for Baby O.  As a former gymnast and coach I can say that I am quite impressed with his fearlessness. 

The librarian is our rock star.  She brought in the firefighters this week to read a story, talk about fire safety, show us the firetruck and of course make valentines (with the firemen and firewomen!).

Glue is one of Baby O's favorite things to mess around with.  I try hard to keep it out of sight and reach in our household and am always glad when someone else provides it and I don't have to clean up the mess.

Valentine's day is next week, so stay tuned...more crafts and parties to come!

Dragons, Snakes And Other Tall Tales

DRAGONS
Having a son in Kindergarten is endless celebration and fun.  Last week was the Chinese New Year and after focusing on the Chinese culture through books, crafts and  food (attempting to eat noodles and rice with chopsticks), they celebrated the year of the dragon by parading through the halls as the giant beast itself.  This took quite a bit of time and preparation of course....

In full parade mode:  Boy O as part of the dragon body:

Documenting anything in the classroom can be a difficult task for me.  I would call it at best-controlled chaos-and then add in trying to keep Baby O from playing in the water fountain/sink that is just his size.  Two seconds after this photo was taken, I had to mop up a large puddle that Baby O had a fantastic time creating.

The kids had a great time taking turns being the dragon's head during the parade.

Each Kindergarten class walked through the halls as all the other grades stood outside their classrooms, cheered them on and gave them high fives.  It was so loud that even Baby O covered his ears. 

SNAKES 

To the outside world, Baby O looks like a normal toddler (left), but in secret actually resembles the picture on the right.  

               

He will eat like there is no tomorrow and then take a few days to digest his meal.  Daddy O's sister calls it the "snake phase".  Does anyone else feel this way about their toddler's eating habits?



OTHER TALES
Teeth are coming in and being lost at race pace lately.  Baby O is getting the last of his second molars in and teething seems to be remarkably smoother than when the first set made their appearance early  last year.  Maybe this set just doesn't hurt as bad, maybe it's the fact that he can communicate better this time around, or maybe it's the large bottle of Ibuprofen I have at the ready, but we have not experienced the sleep deprivation to the same degree.  Whew.

Boy O lost his third tooth last week.  It had been loose and hanging by a thread for months and as a result, the adult tooth behind it was already half way in.  The tooth came out while he was eating lunch in the cafeteria and if you ask him the best way to pull out a tooth, he will tell you to eat a large chunk of salami.  Best dental advice ever.

Baby O is clearly talented.  He is exceptionally verbal.  He has the vocabulary of a three year old and speaks so clearly that even his pediatrician said she has never seen anything like it.  It will be interesting to see how this gift plays out in the future.  As his parents we are always dreaming big, thinking of future professions as a famous linguist, orator, or maybe a U. N. interpreter.  He's going to need it because although he may be next to incredible with his speech...his skills are lacking in the potty department.  We have done everything we can do to potty train this kid and although he will happily sit on his froggy potty for hours, I just don't have the time anymore.  I'm tired of stickers, M & M's,  making up songs about doo doo and celebrating with poop parties.  Put him on at the right time and everything works beautifully.  But he will not TELL me if he has to go or not.  So, if I look at the accomplishments of my two year old and then into a crystal ball 25 years from now- I see a PhD in linguistics/still wearing a diaper. 
 
At the moment, two out of four of us are under the weather.  Last night I spent four hours in the E.R. with Boy O.  After carefully monitoring his temperature all day, it climbed to 104 degrees at 7 p.m. (with Ibuprofen).  I drove dangerously fast to the hospital where they gave him a dose of Tylenol. In just an hours time he was building forts with the sheets and bouncing off the walls.  He was the poster child for perfect health.  I felt relieved but ridiculous when the doctor walked in to examine him three hours later to say he just had a viral infection and that I could give him Tylenol and Ibuprofen at the same time.  Daddy O officially woke up with the virus this morning and I'm sure that Baby O and I will have it soon.  We are all in our jammies watching the old speed racer cartoons. Good times!

Letting Go (a little)

I really do have so much to write about, but the past week and a half has just flown by-we have been incredibly busy with a new schedule.  On top of that I ran a marathon on Sunday, so stay tuned in for when I recover enough to write up a decent race report and an account of my pre-marathon jitters (which were pretty significant).

Scores of activities seemed to roll in as summer suddenly materialized these past few weeks.  I found myself weeding through descriptions of Kung Fu instruction and soccer camps, and even considered making the hour drive one way for zoo camp (it just sounds so cool-who wouldn't want to spend all day at the zoo?). Time and time again I kept coming back to swimming.  It's just an important life skill and I wasn't quite satisfied/confident that if my son were to fall in the water whether he would be able to swim to the side without the help of another person.   Boy O had taken a few lessons a couple months back and we had been going once a week for a family swim hour at the local YMCA but I wasn't convinced.  During family swim time, I had a difficult time furthering any sort of swim skills with Boy O other than encouraging just having fun in a life jacket.  Holding Baby O was also a full time job and I never felt like I was giving Boy O the attention he needed.  Not to mention that the open swim coincided perfectly with a somewhat older crowd doing rehabilitation classes and I always felt the need to keep Boy O from splashing (virtually impossible for a 5 year old) and could feel the stare down when he attempted to kick his legs to propel him forward. 

So, tired of the same old thing, I decided to try out a new pool and swim program that I had heard good things about.  I arrived an hour early on Monday morning to sign the boys up and get a good idea of what I was in for and was pleasantly surprised that Baby O could take a class as well.  I wasn't hoping for much since the line of questioning went something like this: Is he 2 years old yet?  Is he potty trained?  Ummm...Not quite.  I even came prepared with activities that might distract him from the fact that everyone else would be in the water, but despite his shortcomings on age and a new bad attitude towards the toilet, he joined a class of kids almost twice his age.

I admit that I did not have high expectations, but this has been an amazing experience for all of us.  One hour a day and four days later, Boy O is swimming in the deep end and jumping off the diving board by himself.  He is even doing some great dives and I could not be more impressed.  In addition there is no family changing room here and Boy O is responsible for his swim back pack, showering after class, and getting dressed and ready all by himself (he did have some trouble remembering where his sandals were today, but he eventually found them...).  He loves his new found independence.

 Baby O has no fear and gives me heart palpitations from time to time with his fearlessness, but it is amazing that he can navigate through the water in his arm floaties all by himself.  He still needs my help sometimes climbing up the ladder and getting in line, but the fact that he is holding his own with kids twice his age is crazy.  WOW!  He also loves the independence.

I find myself sitting on the sidelines, helping every once in a while, but mostly cheering, high-fiving, and clapping for my boys.   My kids are learning to swim and I'm taking notes on how to let go, even if it's just a little bit. 

Waiting for class to start (Yes, I am one of those parents that thinks matching anything is cute).

This isn't the best photograph, but I managed to catch Boy O in midair during one of his first dives in the deep end.

Baby O sitting on the edge, waiting for his turn.  As you can imagine, he already has everyone wrapped around his little finger.

A short video of Boy O jumping off the diving board.  He is ecstatic!

A short video of Baby O's favorite activity.  He asks his teachers about the slide all the time.

The Last #$@! Game and Other Fun Tales

The last soccer game.  Or as Baby O refers to it: Foccer.  I did not understand what it meant at first and for several days blamed Daddy O for our sweet baby's potty mouth (in Daddy O's defense, this is absolutely not a word in his vocabulary, but there was nothing else I could think of).  Boy O would appear decked out in shin guards and cleats, Baby O would point to him and say: Foccer, Foccer!  It really did sound like something else and the true meaning did not even occur to me.  Once the words 'ball' and 'game' were added, I finally got it, but I admit that I was a bit perplexed and somewhat embarrassed when it was impressed upon total strangers.

Foccer season was great.  Boy O did a fantastic job playing a year ahead and seemed to fit right in with his teammates.  The days of scoring over 10 goals per game were over but he managed to fit more than a few in this season and it was great to see him get so excited.  More impressive to me was observing the transition from being a ball hog to understanding the concept of passing the ball to one another and calling the ball instead of fighting his own teammate for it.  This wasn't always consistent from week to week, but I think the idea of what a team is might be sinking in. 

The entire team celebrated the last game by going to Chuck E. Cheese's where Boy O was presented with the team spirit award and his very own soccer trophy.  The coach said that no matter what the game was looking like, Boy O was always in high spirits and ready for a team cheer.  Here's Mr. Team Spirit himself:

I asked Boy O what he was thinking in this picture because it didn't seem to be his normal out of this world smile.  He told me that the picture lady told him to say the word 'stinky' instead of smile or cheese and he was a bit confused.  The team picture of course looks very different-all the kids were laughing together as they yelled STINKY!

Back to the Chuck E. Cheese celebration-Daddy O and I have avoided this kid magnet like the plague but could elude it no longer. And before I go into it, here's a confession:  when we celebrated our one year anniversary at Hotel Water Park, we did in fact take the boys to the arcade.  As we were in discussions on how many tokens to purchase, we noticed that they were having a fabulous time just running from machine to machine, pushing the endless amount of buttons.  Boy O had no idea that coins were involved and that they were actually games.  So we took advantage of it and spent one wonderful yet economical hour in the arcade. 

Chuck E. Cheese was definitely a different experience, but it was a relatively mellow atmosphere on a week night.  I was unable to get a proper picture of Boy O since he was in perpetual motion, but I got a couple of good ones of Baby O (also in perpetual motion, but held in place by Daddy O).

Once again, good times had by all and many thanks to our coach who graciously volunteered her time all season.  We'll have to figure out what to do without practice and Saturday games.  We'll miss it, but it will be nice to have our weekend back...

 

One Year Later: Celebration

For the past several years when there was business up north, we would pass a huge multi-colored contraption resembling a large funnel jutting out alongside the highway.  We would look at each other and say, We have GOT to go there!  Upon further inquiry, we learned that it was a water park  This wasn't just any water park-this was a fabulous water park, where in order to gain entry, all parties involved must stay overnight in the fabulous themed lodge complete with a fabulous arcade, fabulous kid's spa, build-a-bear workshop, story times and activities...

A fun, fabulous place for kids and their parents?

We promptly booked an all-inclusive trip to the island of Antigua (it was fabulous).


That was two years ago and now that we actually have kids to run around after, we had a fabulous excuse to visit.  So in celebration of one year home as a family, we packed up our swimming trunks and overnight bags to see what this place was all about.

Of course it seemed as if anyone who was anyone had already been there and we made sure to ask for tips and advice.  Don't stay on a weekend, check in at least three hours before the room is ready, bring snacks and drinks, don't worry about towels/life jackets etc...I followed it all to a tee.  We left the house with our swimsuits on, arrived around one o'clock in the afternoon and were able to check into our room right away.  Within ten minutes we were down the elevator and entered into the water park.   Even my eyes were big.  Water slides galore for every age and size, toddler activity pool, wave pool, random water squirting everywhere.....

The next few hours were filled with water and fun as we made our way down all of the slides over and over again, pulled every rope, pushed every button, ran through every fountain and jumped over all the waves.  Believe it or not, I didn't take a lot of pictures-the heat from all the water caused the pictures to be foggy and the quality was so poor that I ended up putting the camera down for most of the trip (much to every one's relief).  Here are a few to give you the general idea, but for most of the time we just ran around like crazy folk, splashing and screaming with the kids.

After three hours of wet chaos, we managed to drag the boys away from the water to explore the hotel and look for sustenance only to discover that every child in the hotel  seemed to be waving around their hands with what appeared to be a magic wand.  Boy O was intrigued to say the least as we just finished reading the first installment of Harry Potter two weeks ago.  Daddy O and I looked at each other with knowing looks and (not out loud) said, No way are we gonna be one of those parents that falls for that trap!

Three hours later as Daddy O and Boy O walked back to the room from another visit to the water park (Baby O and I had enjoyed some free time looking around), I hung my head low and whispered to my husband as Boy O skipped into the room,  Please don't hate me, but.....

All I can say is that I am weak.  So weak.  I just couldn't take it-the kids looked like they were having so much fun and as I wandered the hotel with Baby O, we just happened upon the magic wand store...and...well...you know the rest...

Just point it and things light up and talk.



The bear hanging on the wall actually lifted it's head and talked.  Worth it?  Absolutely.  If you go, get the wand!

We spent an hour running all over the hotel, pointing the wand at everything.  I tried to tell Boy O that there was no magic past the fourth floor, but we visited every floor anyway-just in case.  Eight o'clock was story hour and we were mighty impressed when the trees and animals came alive and started singing:

Boy O and I walked back to room where Baby O was fast asleep and we all retired for the evening.  I remember Daddy O saying, Hey-even though we are in a hotel, maybe we'll actually get some sleep tonight since they are so exhausted.  Famous last words.

I remember waking up briefly around 3:15 am, looking at the clock and thinking Wow, we've almost made it...  Then 4:38 am rolled around.  We tried to fight it for about 20 minutes, doing everything we could to avoid the inevitable-putting Baby O in between us, cooing and singing softly... It was just not meant to be.  But making it until almost five in the morning is a new record for us, so I should have been ecstatic.

Waking up at five in the morning does present its problems though.  Magic wands apparently don't work anywhere except the front lobby before seven and there were no restaurants open.  Not even coffee.  The water park didn't open until nine.  With time to kill, we hopped in the car and took a short drive around the country side, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and made it back by seven.  Only two hours left until the water park opened....

Two hours of bed jumping, cartoon watching and running all over the hotel and we made it back into the water park.  In hindsight, we pushed our water park limits with Baby O and within two hours, he was practically limp and fell asleep before we had even changed.  Good news was that both boys slept all the way home and then some. 

Our celebration could not have been more wonderful but it certainly gives me pause when thinking about a longer trip to someplace like Disney World.  I admire the stamina and endurance of some parents who take their kids for week long trips.  I'm still in recovery from the water park-I think 24 hours was plenty.

A Day to Remember

I did not plan on posting anything this Mother's Day-mostly because there is nothing that could top our homecoming last year on you guessed it-Mother's Day.  I wish that I could have somehow captured Boy O traipsing into our bedroom this morning at 5:47 am, completely dressed, coat and boots on, scissors in hand, nudging Daddy O awake.  I had no idea until I was nudged awake myself a half hour later that Boy O had been intent on cutting me a few of my favorite tulips from the garden and making me my favorite breakfast, poached eggs on English muffins with Canadian bacon and Bearnaise sauce.  How lovely! 

He was so excited to wake up Baby O so I could open the card they had decorated and the beautiful butterfly brooch they both picked out just for me.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommy's out there!

One Fine Day

It only takes one day of glorious sunshine and a temperature of barely 70 degrees to illicit this type of response from Family O:

It leaves me wondering whether we will keep this up when we move considering that 70 degree weather might be considered cold by the local residents.  Are we going to be that weird family that walks around shirtless and shoeless in the middle of winter?

Hmmm.....Probably.