Pretty QOTD

G-pa texted me a cute QOTD yesterday that I thought I'd share on this beautiful Friday afternoon.

Backstory: Usually the first thing I say to Callie in the morning is "Hi pretty girl!"

G-pa: The sky is pretty.  The flowers are pretty.
Callie: And I'm pretty!

Have a great weekend!

QOTD: All about Birthdays and Ages

We ran into Callie's pal Ciri at Target this evening.  She just happens to be 4-years-old today, so Callie got to wish her happy birthday (well, actually, she just stared at her and smiled while Chris and I did the actual birthday greeting).  Later in the car we had the following conversation.

Callie: It is Ciri's birthday today!
Me: Yep.  She is four.
Callie: I'm two today, but it isn't my birthday.
Me: Nope.  Your birthday is in December.  Right before Christmas.
Callie: (pausing to think for a second) But I DON'T want to see Santa!

*Sigh* This camera-wielding mom is going to be sad, come the holidays, when her almost-three-year-old refuses the Santa trip.

Anyway...here's another one.  Many times in the past few weeks, when negotiating having or doing a number of something, we get the same response.

Us: You can pick out ONE book. --OR-- I'll  give you THREE goldfish.
Callie: (holding up two fingers) But I'm TWO!!!

It is particularly difficult to reason with that logic, especially when only offering her ONE of something. So then:

Us: It is ONE or NONE.
Callie: (every. single. time.) NONE!
Us: You don't want any?
Callie: Okay. One!

We win! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Labor Day Weekend Edition

It is the end of a three-day weekend, and I'd sum this weekend up by saying there were some high highs and some low lows.  Here goes...

Friday
On Friday night I went to a Lynx game with Adrea, while Callie and Chris went to G-ma and G-pa's for dinner.  Callie always loves to water the flowers in G-ma's garden.

Saturday
STATE FAIR DAY!!!!!!!  We had a blast at the fair with Boom, Bops, Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari.  We did everything we wanted to do, ate all the food we wanted to, and Callie peed in various potties three times.

Rides, corn, lemonade, name noodle

Little Hands Farm, G-ma's quilt, big slide, space needle, souvenir- Fairy the Cow

We took our annual family picture in front of the space needle.

We love the State Fair!

On Saturday afternoon, we went to see my college roommate Melissa, her husband Bobby, and their 22-month-old Teddy.  They were in town from New York and it was great to see them and see the kids play!

On the run!

Two cuties in a lady bug

A hug goodbye

Sunday
I'll call Sunday the day of complete potty training regression.  Let's just say a certain toddler went through at least 5 pairs of undies, had approximately 75,623 tantrums, and by 5:00 her beyond exhausted parents needed a break so she went to G-ma and G-pa's house for a couple hours.  But we did manage to get a couple photos from the non-tantrum moments.

Giving a squirrel a thumbs up

Tired face, long day

Monday
Today was better, though we're still having some potty battles.  We've gone back to bribery and doling out gummy bears.  Grrr.  But anyway, we met the whole Gosselin clan for a delicious Indian lunch at India Palace.

Naan bread!

New toy from Nana and Papa- named Spiky Phil

This afternoon we went on a couple walks, played in the sprinkler, hung out with Dan and Anna, and ended the evening with a Menchie's treat.

Girl on the run

A combination of summer and fall

Hello?  Uncle Dan?

Photo courtesy of Callie Joy

That's about it!  We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Cincuenta September

This post has absolutely nothing to do with Baby Goose. So if you're looking for the usual OHMYGOSH HOW ARE WE GOING TO SURVIVE TODDLERHOOD story you'll just have to come back later.  Probably tomorrow.

Right now, I need to talk about me.

You may be aware that, for the past 5 years, I have considered myself a runner.  I started in 2007 when I wanted to lose 20 pounds.  I had a great support group of runners at work, and we eventually all did a couple half marathons and then the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon.

Throughout the past five years I have completed 1 full marathon, six half marathons, one 10-mile race, a couple 10Ks and dozens of 5Ks.  You'd think, that after all that running, it would just be a habit.

It is not.

I realized (again) this summer (after my 6th half marathon on June 3rd), that if I am not signed up to run a long distance race, I have a really hard time getting out to run just for fun.

I ran 6 times in June.
I ran 6 times in July.
I ran 2 times in August.

Pathetic.

So it is September, and while I am not signed up for a race, I committing to getting more active.  Henceforth, I have started "Cincuenta September."

I am going to walk, jog or run 50 (or in espanol, cincuenta) miles this month.  It is a lofty goal seeing as I will be working full time, but I need to do it.  My pants are getting tight.  I'm feeling the BLAH feeling that comes with lack of exercise.  It just needs to happen.

So, like the teacher that I am, I made myself a sticker chart/calendar.  And like the special education teacher that I am, I wrote down a measurable goal.

Using the Pillsbury Dough Boy magnet was completely intentional.

So there you have it.  Cincuenta September has commenced.  And you all know and can hold me accountable.  Feel free to ask me what my mileage is throughout the month. :)

And on another note, since this is a long weekend, I'll be doing our weekend wrap-up tomorrow night.  Happy Labor Day weekend!

FRIDAY!

It is that time of year again when weekends become awesome.

And since it is the first Friday of the school year, and since I last blogged about getting older, I thought I'd share a QOTD today from one of my students that made me feel old. 

While reading a poem, a boom box was referenced.  I attempted to explain what that was.
Me: A boom box is, um, a big black box.  With speakers.  And a tape deck.  Do you know what that is? (child nods, I'm relieved) And you listen to your tapes, but if you want to hear a certain song you have to push the fast forward button.  And it doesn't bring you right there like CDs and iPods, you have to push play and see where you are at and keep going.
Student: That sounds like really hard work.


How's that for hilarious?  Have a great labor day weekend!

Getting Older

So I'm settling into my 30s.  Callie is definitely closer to 3 than 2.

And it is freaking me out a little bit.

A couple things this week have totally weirded me out.

1) I have gotten to the point at work where I am now the same age or sometimes older than the parents of some of my students.  Granted, I work with a population in which they have children pretty young, but still.  For the first half dozen years of my career I was used to being younger than the parents.  Now we could be in the same peer group, and it freaks me out.

2) We're going to be volunteering in Callie's 2-year-old Sunday school class, so we went to a training session for it tonight.  The training session was just for adults, so we put Callie in the nursery.  Since Callie has always come to church with us, she has never been to the nursery.  And up until the past couple of months I thought she would be SO distraught if we were to leave her somewhere like that with teenagers (or any strangers in general).  So this situation is weird for a few reasons.
A) My toddler is getting older and had NO problem when we said goodbye and headed out.  We were the annoying parents hanging around...delaying the goodbye.  Turns out she had a blast and couldn't have cared less that we were gone. 
B) When I was a teenager I was the one doing the babysitting of all the kids in the nursery at the church we went to.  So I was the one greeting the middle-aged  probably 30-year-old parents and playing with their children.  And then I start doing some math in my head and realize that the kids that I babysat in the nursery are now like 23 years old.


I don't know why, but it is just SUPER weird for me to think about these things...you know, life coming full circle, etc.

And then I feel old.

And then I feel so thankful that I am where I am. 

It is exactly where I want to be.

First Day of School QOTD

In honor of the first day of school, here is an adorable QOTD from my little toddler. 

Going over the plan before bedtime.
Me: We are going to go potty, take Kona for a walk and then read some books.
Callie: I want to do that when I grow up.
Me: What do you want to do when you grow up?
Callie: I want to read!

It was music to this teacher's ears!