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!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a SUPER fun weekend!

Friday
After my first week back, I was ready for some play time.  We headed to the Held's house for dinner.  Callie and Charlie were hilarious (as usual) and Callie had fun with "Baby Nabel" too.

We're too cute to be stinkers!

Happy girls

Saturday
It is hard to believe, but Saturday was the 1 year anniversary of the car accident that Chris, Dave, Nate and Nik were in out in Washington.  It has been a year of doctor's visits, recovery, pain, frustration, relief and everything in between for all of them.  To commemorate the day, they spent it together playing games (Nate "hung out" with them virtually via video games).  So while they were having dude bonding time, Callie and I spent the day at the condo and then had dinner with Cherilyn, Sydney and Kylie.

Chowing down on farmer's market donuts!

Chowing down on breakfast-for-dinner

Sunday

We spent most of the day today over at G-ma and G-pa's house.  It was a great day relaxing, playing games and hanging out in the beautiful weather!

We love the zebra pool!

Swinging and relaxing with Uncle Dan and G-ma

On a walk with Auntie Cat (a.k.a. BEST BUDDY)

Callie did a great job transitioning back to our fall schedule. We are still muddling through the whole potty training adventure but we're getting there (except for poop, still not getting anywhere with that).  And waking up earlier has made her more tired by the end of the day, so bed time has been MUCH easier than earlier this summer (knock on wood). 

Life is good.  :)

32 Months Old!

This girl is getting way too close to 3 than I am comfortable with.  And lately she only has one speed- FAST!

And just for fun, here is a couple pictures for comparison of me around this age with my dad and my mini-me with her dad.
.

Lucky

Almost exactly two years ago, I posted a blog entitled Reflections of a WoMOM. 

This time of transition between being at home all summer with Callie and going back to work full time is tricky.  There are feelings of guilt that inevitably surface.  There are feelings of jealousy the come in to play when I see or hear about full time stay at home moms.  There are feelings of anxiety that arise about how she'll react to me leaving her again.

But this summer was kind of hard.  Staying home all day with my willful 2-year-old wasn't as easy as it had been the two summers before.  With all the fun and the laughter and the snuggles there were tantrums and stubbornness and battles.

So while I still felt the guilt and jealousy and anxiety about returning to work, I have to admit there was also excitement and a little relief.

Is that awful?

But here is why I allow myself to feel the excitement and relief along with all the other things:

1) Two + years later we are STILL blessed to have family childcare.  So Callie's days will be filled with lots of adventures with and tons of love from grandparents and her Daddy.

2) I LOVE what I do.  I LOVE the students I work with.  I LOVE the people I work with.  As crazy and stressful as it gets, I really do love it.

3) I know that I get many more days off and longer breaks than other working moms.  I'm thankful for that.

So today really was great.  I went to work, leaving my girl in the very capable hands of her Daddy.  I gave a presentation where I was able to share about the successful special education program I've helped build.  I worked and collaborated with other teachers and spent time discussing students who I am so excited to see next week.  I came home to spend the evening with my girl. We played and went to dinner and read books and laughed and imagined and sang Call Me, Maybe toddler-appropriate songs over and over again.  At bedtime she fell asleep in my arms.  Now I'm hanging out and chatting with my husband.  This is what content feels like.

We are lucky

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Where's-the-Poop? Edition

I apologize in advance for the amount of poop talk you're about to read.

Yep.  We spent all weekend waiting for poop...since by Friday it had already been 48 hours and counting since the last one.

All.  Weekend.  Waiting.  For.  Toddler.  Poop.

Fun times.  But we also stayed busy.

Friday

Callie and I spent the morning at the zoo with the Wicks family and their friend Michelle and her baby Elena.

Buddies

We rode a camel!

Three of the four girls...Baby Kylie was sleeping

After nap time we swung over to see the Ericksons for some poop distraction.  Casey has been a great cheerleader and support through this whole potty training adventure, so it was great to see her in person to chat instead of over the phone and texting!  And Callie always loves playing with Ciri and Gianni.

Cute girls

Saturday

We had a lazy morning doing...guess...???  Waiting for poop!

Mr. Bear used to help, but not lately

So after a few failed attempts, we headed to do some shopping and choo choo riding at Southdale.

Happy little non-pooper

After nap time Mari came over, and after a few more failed attempts, we headed to the Castle Park.  You may remember it from this poop debacle.  At this point, I didn't even care if we had another blow-out.  No such luck, but we did have some fun playtime.

Sunday

Still no poop, but WIDE AWAKE at 6:15am.  That's almost 2 hours earlier than her normal wake-up time this summer.  She must sense that summer is over.  And we had a BUSY day to boot.  We spent the first part of the morning walking around Lake Nokomis with our friends Josh and Alison and Alison's family to remember and honor her mom on her 60th birthday.  It was a beautiful morning for a walk, and a few times Callie took the lead by running ahead of the big group.

After the walk we headed to church to see Baby Mabel get baptized.  Callie loved watching the baptism and actually knowing the people at the front of the church!

Then came nap time.  It was a lovely, quiet 2 hours.  Then somehow I didn't hear her get out of bed, but heard her coming down the stairs.  With a pull up FULL of poop.  I asked here where she pooped and she proudly replied "YOUR bed, Mommy!"  I ran up there and, sure enough, I could tell she had gotten up on our bed with her blankies and animals.  Who knows how long she had been there!  But I was just relieved that the poop was out.  Now we start the cycle again...sigh...

We ended the day with some time at Boom and Bops' house and then a Lynx game.

Looking at some of Bops' "treasures" from his school days

SOOO excited to see Prowl again!

Go Lynx!

I'll end with a Lynx game QOTD.  It may give you an indication as to how, er, expressive Chris is when watching basketball.

As we were walking out, Callie said, "Don't yell at the basketball players, okay Daddy?"

He made sure that she understood that he wasn't yelling AT them, he was cheering FOR them.  I'm not sure she understood.

So there you have it...the last Weekend Wrap-Up of the summer.  Bring on the fall!