The bags are just about packed and everything's all set to go. The housesitter is moving in tomorrow right after we leave. We're flying into Columbus, Ohio then driving to Chicago for my cousin's wedding and then to Kentucky to visit my brother in law and sister in law. Then back to Ohio to fly back home. Road trip, baby!
Normally I don't pack snacks for flights or really many toys because it's only a couple hours. Plus no matter how fabulous the snack is that I would bring, nothing beats the slightly crushed slightly stale snacks they have on the airplane that my kids absolutely love. It doesn't matter what it is, the fact that it's from an airplane makes it way better than anything I would have brought. Plus if you're a little kid, they'll give you as much as you want. Be aware that this doesn't work nearly as well for adults.
This time though because of all the driving, we are definitely bringing more for the kids. They're very excited about it. Did I mention that we have to drive with them from Ohio to Chicago? Hmm...perhaps I need some special snacks in my bag as well like a couple bars of chocolate and perhaps a few Valium to munch on during the trip.
A couple months ago, we received a letter in the mail saying that the town had opened another section of full day kindergarten and our older (OS) was on the waitlist for it. I was excited about it. I called to find out where on the waitlist he was, and since he wasn't the first or second spot, I just assumed that he wouldn't get into the class. Plus the secretary said as much.
Still when the phone rang last month and I saw it was the school, I was sure they were calling me to tell me that a spot had opened. Instead it was a call to say that I hadn't followed directions on the school camp form; I had put an "x" next to the week I wanted instead of circling the week like the directions stated. They needed to confirm which week I wanted. Before they called me, though they had mixed up my phone number with my emergency contact's number and called her up to talk about this. I swear I'm not making this up!
This morning the phone rang and I saw it was the town. Did I fill something else out wrong? Did they hear about my plans for a Doggie Dooley system? It was the principal saying that a spot had opened and OS could have it if we wanted it! I immediately said yes.
I was talking about it later to someone and she mentioned OS getting on the bus in the fall with his new solar system lunch box. Um...why would his lunch box being going with him? Somehow I forgot that full day means that he'll be eating lunch there!
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Sometime you really do get off the waitlist.
Happy Birthday, Big Giraffe. I know this past week I told you that the reason I write birthday posts for the kids is so that there is some sort of documentation about the little, but important events in that year that don't always make it into my blog posts. I won't even mention the baby books which are pretty much empty and collecting dust.
Did you think I would forget about you? Without further ado, here are the highlights of your 38th year of life. At least the ones that I remember and keep in mind that for a brief moment both of us thought last night was Friday night.
Alright honestly I'm drawing a blank about what happened at the end of last June, but I do remember the 4th of July. We decided to take the kids to the fire works, but they were fast asleep by the time they rolled around. We vowed to take them next year (this year). This vow has become a tradition for us, as our firework trip was rained out the year before. July was also the month we went on vacation with Suzanne, her husband and several friends. Most importantly, one of your closest friends was there, and you stayed up into the wee hours talking with him. You spent hours arguing with a Republican friend whom you used to debate when you were both in Political Spectrum in college, and you played many board games including Who's the Boss and Who Killed Mr. Lucky. It was great to see you enjoying yourself so much.
We game back and the next weekend you and the boys cheered me on as I competed in the Webster Triathlon. You joked that despite bringing two boys and their gear, you made it to the finish line first. Since it's your birthday, I'll concede that you were technically right.
I'm drawing a blank on the rest of August, but in September we threw our first away-from-home birthday party for our older son (OS). We stared at each other in disbelief over how easy the setup and cleanup were compared to hosting a party in the yard. In October we went to see So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour in Boston. We had a terrific time. We also got a call from the sitter during intermission saying that your mom had suprised us with a visit. (We knew she was driving from Kentucky, but she told us she wasn't leaving until the next day.)
OS was a red octopus for Halloween, and YS was Nemo. You wore the boys old giraffe suit on your head again to work and allegedly entertained people with different jokes. In November we went over to Sally HP's place for Thanksgiving. In December your mom came and spent Christmas with us. It was also the Christmas that my aunt gave us the Wii and Wii Fit.
January was when YS had his surgery. We were really worried about it, but it went really well. We joked that the two people who looked like they were recovering from surgery in our house were you and me. We also started our parenting class. While the class wasn't what we expected in any way, shape or form, we used to dicuss what type of parents we wanted to be. We also were able to learn a little more about each other. Hey, let's be honest, it's the first time we had the opportunity to gossip together about events we both were part of! Purina anyone?
In April the class ended. We went out for brunch with Sally HP and her family for Easter. We also almost forgot to take the boys to see the Easter Bunny, We were amazed about the big line of equally "negligent" parents who waited until the day before Easter to see the bunny. See! We're not alone in this crazy parenting adventure. April was also the month during which you dusted off your toasting skills to host a bachelor party in Atlantic City and be the best man in a friend's wedding in Virginia.
In May OS started soccer. You practiced with him, and we both cheered him on. May was also the month we went to both Storyland and Santa's Village. It was the first family vacation we've taken with just the four of us. It went really well. The next weekend you flew out to visit your mom in rehab.
That brings us to this month. OS finished preschool and his first soccer season. YS turned 3. It was going to be our last at-home birthday party until inclement weather caused us to make last minute reservations at a candlepin bowling alley. Everyone had a great time! The moment that birthday ended, we immediately turned to your birthday. The boys were extremely excited to pick out a soccer birthday cake for you, even though the only remaining soccer figurines at the store were of female players. The bakery claimed it currently wasn't making boy soccer birthday cakes. Those females did look pretty androgonous.
I think this last part sums up your year as a 37 year-old pretty well. Forget the lady at the bakery who was shocked that any dad would want a birthday cake like yours. You were happy simply because the boys were so happy.
I hope your 38th birthday was all that wanted it to be. I love you.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned Twice in a Week: A lot can happen in a year.
The day had come at last! We are liberated from schlepping around giant bags of baby items for every outing. No more bottles, baby food or diapers (even for overnight trips). No more stroller. I wanted to do cartwheels across the floor.
I was pretty excited...that is until we went on our first outing to Davis Farmland carrying our lunches, the boys' swimsuits and towels. Where was I going to put all the stuff? I was so used to throwing it in the basket under the stroller. Yes, I could carry it, but that wouldn't be very much fun for me. I know myself well enough to know I would be rushing the boys past all the farm animals so that I could more quickly get to a table and put down all my things. It's hard to pet a goat while your arms are full.
Then I did the unthinkable. Well, what I had thought of as unthinkable a few weeks earlier. I brought along a stroller simply to hold our things. Except that our stroller was sitting in the back of the Big Giraffe's car, which was parked at his office. That required me to do something even more unthinkable. I rented a stroller. That's right. I paid $5 to rent a stroller that I knew no one would use. I paid money for the sole purpose of toting around our stuff. Brace yourself for the next one: I did it twice! I forgot to take the stroller out of the car before our next Davis Farmland trip.
Today we went to the aquarium, and I again dragged the stroller with me. Yes, it was a lunch bag holder and coat rack on wheels. My triathlon training partner did the same thing. I'm guessing that at some point outings will become less frequent with school, sports and my kids hating me. My older son (OS) already seems to already be working on hating me. Maybe then outings will be rare enough that we'll just go out to lunch when we got the aquarium.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Kids outgrow baby gear before parents do.
Staples has this great cart on wheels thing that's collapsible and works for all those things (I use it for teaching, but now, too, for other things during the summer):
Happy birthday, YS! It's hard to believe that you're already three.
When I look back over the year, it's hard to pinpoint each and every accomplishment because there were so many and the year went by so fast. Let me give you some of the highlights.
Right after you turned two, we went on vacation with Suzanne and friends and you had a blast. From swimming in the pool, to your first water park you had a lot of fun. You did better than all of us on the raft ride. We were all nervous, but you were eager to go.
September brought on your being a community kid in the Early Intervention playgroup. It was your first time in a structured environment, and you did great. I thought that they might have to get me the first time I left you alone to go to parent group, but you did fine. You loved doing puzzles there and playing with the busy boxes, particularly the one that you always made me do with you including the hot air balloons, trains, and cars. I wish I had a recording of the way you said "hot air balloons," because it was so cute. Of course your favorite part was having snack.
In October, you were Nemo for Halloween. That worked out well, not only because Finding Nemo was your favorite movie but because I had gotten the costume the spring before Halloween.
November brought along authentic potty training. Yes, you had dabbled with the concept over the summer, but once you announced you wanted to wear underwear in November, that was it. December was the first time you were aware of Christmas and appreciated Santa Claus. You were so excited about it and unlike the year before, you weren't at all scared of Santa Claus.
January was your surgery to remove your tonsils and adenoids. I was so worried about the recovery, but you didn't even act like you had surgery. There were a couple rougher nights, but they were no rougher than anything that one expects of a a two year-old. Your favorite movie by then was Cars.
In March we found out you had grown two inches since your sugery in January. The surgery was clearly a success. March also seemed to bring out your mischevious curious side. In the spring you got into my makeup and made yourself into a "cat" complete with the "eyebrow"whiskers. You also climbed on the bathroom sink and opened up the medicine cabinet to get the nail scissors and give yourself a haircut.
This spring also brought on your obsession sense of...duty to the public to make sure all the public bathrooms are clean. Whereever we are, you insist on using the bathroom. During OS's soccer games and practices, the other parents all smiled as we headed to the portapotty for a second and third time. You claimed it was to use the bathroom, but we all knew you just wanted to make sure that the orange peel and Starbucks coffee cup were still inside the portapotty, and I don't mean sitting next to the seat either, even though the town claims that it is cleaned every week.. And yes, you always managed to pee.
This spring has brought along so many changes in you. Your speech has improved so much, your fine motor skills are soaring and you've successfully learned to ride a tricycle. You are now learning to ride a bike with training wheels. You know what you want and aren't afraid to express it. You still have a shy side to you that reminds me of your brother at the same age; big groups aren't your cup of tea. When it all gets to be too much, whether a larger group of people, or not getting something that you want, you respond in an age appropriate manner by either clinging to me or melting down. While I would prefer that you used words, the meltdowns do remind me of one thing: you are just three. As grown up as you may seem, you still have a baby face, dimples in your hands and still look like a baby. You are still one after all. Thank God for that! We have many many years at home together.
Happy Birthday, YS! I hope you had a fabulous birthday and birthday party.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: A lot can happen in a year.
Today was my younger son's (YS) playgroup birthday party. I can't believe that he'll be three this weekend! Just yesterday I was at Davis Farmland and reminisced about how three years ago I felt my first contractions and thought I was going to give birth among the goats. The pregnant goats and I go be roomies.
Because YS is the baby, I wanted to do something extra special for his playgroup birthday party today. I went on-line and searched through a dozen different party sites to come up with the perfect cupcake decorations.
Alright that's not really what happened. The Big Giraffe and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a pitcher of sangria and I had a slight hangover the next morning. I was watching the Today Show with a big cup of coffee and Martha Stewart happened to be on talking about her new cupcake book. She gave a demo of how to make basketball cupcakes. They looked pretty easy and so when YS asked for them I agreed.
Those were the hardest cupcakes I ever made! By the end I was sweating bullets and felt like I was going to die. My whole body ached. Oh, wait that was giving birth to YS. The cupcakes? I learned how to do it with a hangover so it can't be that bad, right?
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned:Everyone can have a Martha Stewart moment, even us Crafts for the Clueless people.
I totally would have not been able to bake those. LOL, okay not to sound like a stalker but HOLY COINCIDENCES Batman...
My daughter is turning 3 tomorrow (i bought the cupcakes for her school party - go me). And I live relatively close to Davis Farmland. It's so fun there for the kiddos!
I lived in Hoboken, NJ for two years after college. While I loved where I lived, enjoyed my job and of course reveled in the whole social scene, I realized I was getting a little stressed out. Studying for the LSATs didn't help. I decided to take yoga.
Once a week for about two years I showed up for yoga at the Y. I would take my mat, get setup and enjoy an hour all to myself. While the class was really good for me, there are very few things in my life at which I have been worse. I was truly awful when I started doing yoga, and I was truly awful two years later when I moved out of Hoboken. I was even awful at prenatal yoga, which I tried briefly during my first pregnancy three years later.
Some of it was nervousness. For example, I have to confess that the first time we sent Omms to India, I tried hard to stifle a laugh. I did not succeed. I ended up being the crazy lady whom no one knows sitting there laughing out loud. Having to announce my color to the class didn't help either. I think I said I was chartreuse or something like that. The instructor paused for a moment and then went on take great delight in the next person's choice of color. The main problem, however, was that despite what the name of my blog might suggest, I am inflexible. (Hush up there, Big Giraffe! I mean my body not my personality!) Even when participating in multiple sports and in my best shape, my flexibility has been a huge weakness for me. My high school fencing coach made it her mission to work with me on it, and she was disappointed with how little I improved.
About a month ago, my triathlon training buddy told me she was going to start participating in a yoga class. She asked me if I wanted to join her. My first reaction was "no." There was no way I was going near a hot yoga class. Now technically her class is not a hot yoga class, but it follows immediately after one. She had warned me that the room is really hot. Why would I want to do that? After hearing for a couple of weeks how good it made her feel, I reflected on my own positive history with yoga and decided to give it a try.
Our family miracle for 2009 is that I actually managed to find my old yoga mat. No, not the one from Hoboken; the one from prenatal yoga. It was in the exact spot in our messy basement where I had left it 6 years ago! Unfortunately, the mat smelled somewhat musty, mainly because it had sat in our basement for so long. It went well with my yoga pants. The pants smelled like a dog had slept on them, mainly because a dog had slept on them.
When I first walked into the room, I couldn't get over how hot it was. A classmate informed me that it was in the low 90's. I immediately chose a spot by the open window. The same classmate was kind enough to warn me that my spot was actually in the front of the classroom. I immediately moved next to another window. Everyone dropped their mat and some special yoga towel with grips whose purpose I did not understand. They then began to rub down their mats with tree tree oil, apparently to help them relax. I also began to rub down my mat with tree oil to attempt to rid it of the damp basement smell. I figured alleviating the odor would be a huge source of relaxation. Any relaxation directly from the oil would be a nice side benefit.
Once the class started, I couldn't get over two things 1) How hard it was ) how much I sweated. I found myself slipping on my mat. I then understood why most of the students had that special towel. When some of the students were balanced with their feet on the back of their arms, I was doing the "modification." The modification involved me crouching down and sitting on a block. The teacher suggested adding a second block. I immediately did so. I still found it challenging. Needless to say my bridge did not go into a full back bend later on in the class!
Yes, I am still awful at yoga, and yes I was drenched by the end of the class. However, I really did enjoy it. I was even able to stretch further than I had been at the beginning. I also felt very relaxed...until I got into my car and the windows completely fogged. I couldn't see anything.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Bring a towel with grips to a hot yoga class or a yoga class right after hot yoga.
I take yoga and I am soooooo inflexible as well. But I don't care very much...usually in a forward bend where others put their hands on the mat, I'm somewhere dangling mine at kneelevel. When I'm supposed to stretch a leg, I never do.
But our class is quite relaxing, it helps me. And the average age of the people taking it is far higher than me. Nobody is dressed in the right outfits or so, which is cool.
we rarely do ooohms and that's good as I find them so weird. Positions , stretches and turns: ok I can see the body value for it and concentrating on those does clear my mind. Breathing excercises: ok I can see how that relaxes us. But chanting, colors, chakra's? Huh, no no not for me.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
how much time in the car estimated?