This is a beautiful post by another blogger. I wish I was as eloquent. One of my fears when leaving either kid in someone else’s full-time care is that no one can love them like I do, especially in the rough times.
Why I stay home.
1
Where will you be next Tuesday?
I will be at the dentist with a drugged up little boy having a tooth removed. Yep, removed! Poor boy. Remember awhile back when I was doing daycare and Lex and a little girl were wrestling and he cracked his chin on her head, resulting in an emergency trip to the dentist (his first trip to the dentist!). At the time they thought the roots were damaged, but it seemed to get better over time. Well, I guess not.
Lex woke up Saturday morning saying his tooth was sore and he’s been on a self-prescribed “soft foods” diet all weekend. This morning I dropped him off at school and came home to call the dentist. I was hoping for a nice afternoon, post-nap appointment, but no luck. Apparently during the school year their afterschool hours are booked months in advance. My options were 10:30 this morning or sometime next week. This morning we were also expecting a Sears service guy and we had Eve’s first day of gymnastics. Busy! Alan skipped out of work to pick up Lex, we swapped kids in the parking lot of the dentists office and I took Lex for his appointment while Alan and Eve went home to meet the Sears guy. Lex did an AWESOME job at his appointment. He opened his mouth for the dentist, sat still, and even let them take an x-ray! I was very impressed. Then the dentist showed me the x-ray, which showed a clear Y-shaped crack in his tooth. Bummer! The dentist gave him some antibiotics to reduce the swelling and infection and schedule us for extraction next Tueday. So far Lex is pretty cool with things, but I can’t imagine he really understands what’s going to happen. I think he’ll be a little surprised to find himself missing a tooth next week.
The dentist also gave me a preview of the grown-up teeth queuing up and he said most likely we’ll be facing further extractions to make way for them. Apparently Lex has large teeth and small jaw. Hmm… sounds familiar. I think everyone in both side of this family has/had dental issues, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if Lex and Eve find themselves with less than perfect teeth. Sigh. I’m not ready to think about dental work yet. What happened to my babies?? Where did they go?!
Quick weekend update
I’m super tired and have 6 loads of laundry waiting for me in the living room, but I wanted to do a quick weekend update. We had a busy one! Saturday started early with a WW meeting (lost 3.6lbs!!) and then I came home to a tired, fussy Eve so we did early lunch and nap while Alan and Lex ran errands (recycled a ton of old computer equipment from the basement!) After Lex had a nap we went downtown for “Glory Days of the Railroad.” This is a whole day event with vendors and music and food and entertainment, all centered around the railroad station. The highlight, as always, was a ride on the train. We got there towards the end of the day so we mostly just did the train ride and climbed around on a few old fashioned trains. We rode up to the science museum where more people got on (including our neighbors) and then back to the station. Afterwards we decided, fairly impromptu, to get tickets for “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” at Northern Stage. The ensemble is all kids (8-18yrs, I think they said) and it was great! We had dinner at a local pub (french fries for all!) and then went to the 7pm show. I was worried about the kids being up so late, but they were awesome! Lex laughed hysterically at a few parts (he seems to love slap-stick stuff) and Eve got a little scared (by the same parts Lex laughed at!) but they both did great all the way until we got home at 9:30pm. Luckily the meltdown was short and bedtime wasn’t too rough.
Today we spent at home, hanging out, doing some craft projects, and playing outside. This afternoon we had a new babysitter come visit and Alan and I snuck out for some dinner. The kids barely noticed we were gone and were having blast with her when we got back. Yay!
Ok, now I’m off to do the laundry and finish off that wine from the other night! Tomorrow it’s back to routine. Actually, we’re introducing a new component to the routine as Eve starts gymnastics classes tomorrow. Fun, fun.
Reading
The fact that Lex can read is funny sometimes. Here is a situation that often occurs… When we leave him with someone new (teacher, babysitter, etc.) we tell them that he can read and that he settles himself with books. They nod and say ok. Sometimes I try to emphasize that he really CAN read, but other times I just say it and move on. Invariably, when we get home the person says, “He can READ!” :) We always laugh and say, yes, we told you he can read. I don’t think people really get it until they hear him read. Sometimes I wonder if people think we are exaggerating, or just don’t fully grasp the idea, or what, but it’s funny how impressed people are when they actually see it!
This post was prompted by the reaction from our new babysitter. Our old (and only) sitter went away to college a few weeks ago so we had to find a new one. Always a scary process, for me. Luckily the kids are awesome! They were pretty obnoxious for Alan and I today (overtired from yesterday) but apparently put on their A-game for her tonight. At dinner Lex was flipping through a magazine and apparently read something that shocked her. She said she figured he could recognize words, but was amazed to hear him sounding out big words. I think her example was “vinaigrette.” That’s a big word to hear a little boy sound out :)
Prime Time Together
For those of you wondering what sparked my romantic payload, yesterday marked 13 years that we have been together. We were kind of together for a few months before that, but we weren’t really committed as a couple until that day in 1996. We usually don’t celebrate minor anniversaries as such, mostly because we forget until a few days later, but I thought the prime number deserved a little something. Next up, 17, then 19… OK, I’ll probably pay some attention to powers of 2 as well. ;p
My yummy day
Today was great. After a relatively calm and easy morning we made it out the door to preschool. Back home for exercise and a shower then Eve and I headed out to a friends house for a short playdate. Back to preschool to pick up a very happy boy. Home for lunch and naps. Yay naps! While they napped I got the kitchen/dining room cleaned up, just in time to make a huge mess again! We spent the afternoon making Italian bread, two loaves of Honey-Spice Cake (yummy!), a batch of apple butter and a batch of apple sauce. So delish!! I managed to make a salad for dinner and Alan came home with a movie, wine and flowers! What a day!
Delicious food
How he sees people
Lex has started making friends at school. This makes me very happy. After many months at daycare (just 2 days a week) he still says he doesn’t know anyone, but he regularly talks about kids from school. When I picked him up yesterday he started telling me about a girl named Anthem. I asked what she looks like (I like to put a face to the people he talks about) and he said she has long blond hair and brown and green eyes. Then he told me about another boy who has “a white body and blue eyes and black eyelashes and eyebrows.” His description struck me as interesting because a) it’s the first time he’s ever commented on skin color and b) he choose to tell me about the boy’s eyes instead of the normal grown-up descriptors such as height, weight, hair color, etc. After a moment’s pause he added, “everyone has white bodies.” I said “Everyone in your class, but not everyone everywhere.” He thought for a moment and then said “some of the kids in gym today have light brown bodies.” And that was it, he moved on to talking about other things. We don’t exactly live in a racially diverse part of the country, so its interesting to watch as he starts noticing these difference. I’m really happy with school so far :)
A little about me
I don’t normally talk about myself here (although the whole blog is all about me!) but I just wanted to make quick post and then I’ll go back to raving about my little ones. Are you feeling overwhelmed with the quantity of posts lately? Sometimes I get a little blog happy :)
Anyway, I just wanted to share a little personal success I’m feeling proud about. As you all know, I joined WW last spring, did well all last summer and then fell really, really, far off the wagon during the winter. I rejoined, 10lbs up, this spring and its has been a hard, but mostly successful venture since then. Recently I was super excited to buy new jeans in a size I haven’t worn since high-school… or maybe junior high? I don’t even remember EVER wearing a size 10, but I’m sure I must have at some point in life :) Probably a very quick point! Anyhow, here I am! Yay! I have also been slowly trying to work a little running (Alan calls it slow jogging ;) ) into my life. I’m not really a fan of running, but it seems like such an efficient use of limited exercise time. Last week I was out for a stroll with some co-workers and we started talking about running and decided to give it a try at work. Today two of us went out for a run. It was a short run, with some walking mixed in, but I’m happy. Mostly because I didn’t die of embarrassment putting on exercise clothes and running in public, but also because I did it! I didn’t think I could, but I did. And we are going back tomorrow :)
Ok, enough about me. Check the quotes page for another one from Eve (poop is always funny!) and I’ll post more later.
The moment you’ve been waiting for…
The final product of our paint and egg carton project.
Because I love them
I even think they'll eat everything!