Carter's Second Day

Well, today was an emotionally exhausting morning all around. When I mentioned going to preschool this morning Carter immediately told me that he didn't want to go and that he didn't like preschool. That was not what I was hoping for! I tried everything I could think of to convince the kid to go, but he would not budge. When we pulled into the parking lot he didn't want to go in and I got him through the door without crying, but as soon as we sat down to put his slippers on he just started screaming. Mary came over and "took over" and I said a quick goodbye and walked out - a heart-wrenching thing to do! Of course I was crying as well having to leave him like that. I overreacted to the situation and started thinking that I would have to take him out of school because it was never going to work - I guess those were my emotions in overdrive. I was worried that he would be upset on and off for the entire two hours and was fully expecting Mary to tell me as much. Thankfully, it was not as bad as I thought it would be and was probably harder on me than him! It did take them 30 minutes to get him to calm down, but after that he had fun with his "work" and played on the playground. His teachers agreed that he's not so good with groups, so they are staying aware of that and trying to help him through those situations. THANKFULLY, one of his assistant teachers is wonderful and sits with him when he is upset and they have bonded well. Also, it sounds like he has become friends with a little boy named JJ who was also a little sad at drop-off time today. Oh, and Carter and JJ have the same red crocs, so they must be friends :) Mary suggested that I bring Carter in 15 minutes early tomorrow so he can get settled in without the other children around. When I mentioned to Carter that we were going to go early tomorrow so that he could sit at his favorite place and get out his favorite work he gave his standard reply that he DID NOT want to go. When I asked him if he wanted to go with Teah and have her show him some work he actually said yes, so I think that I'll bring her along as well. So, I have higher hopes for tomorrow and today didn't turn out near as bad as my imagination made it out to be!

Carter's First Day

This week is Carter's orientation week for his first year of preschool at the Montessori School. Orientation week kicked off yesterday with a 45 minutes individual meeting with his teacher, Mary. Today, tomorrow, and Friday the new students are in the classroom from 9am until 11am (normal hours are 9am to noon). For those not familiar with Montessori, the classrooms have multiple ages and the primary classrooms consist of ages 3, 4, and 5 (two years of preschool and kindergarten). Teah was in Mary's classroom last year as a 4 year old and will continue to be in her classroom, with Carter, as a 5 year old this year. Since this week is for new students only, Carter has been on his own without his sister.

I was a little nervous going into this week with Carter because he has always been pretty attached to me as well as not really being a fan of being in large groups of children. Anything over 5 or 6 kids has been a challenge for him in the past when we attended gymnastics class, library story time, etc. Thankfully, Carter is familiar with Mary and the classroom since Teah was there all last year, so that's at least a good start. His meeting with Mary yesterday went well. I stayed for a few minutes while Mary started giving Carter lessons on the "work" of his choice and then I left the classroom to go to the office for 15 minutes or so. Carter did a great job and seemed excited for today. He told me that his favorite lesson was the "tong work" where he uses a child-sized set of tongs to move small wooden animals from one bowl to another.

This morning I made his favorite breakfast before preschool - french toast. I even used cinnamon bread instead of regular bread to make it extra special :) Robert is on vacation this week, so I have been able to fully concentrate on Carter and his transition. Drop-off went well this morning. I stayed in the coat room while Carter put his slippers on and went off into the classroom to start doing some of the great work he learned about yesterday. While he was in the classroom I was thankful to have the distraction of the parent's coffee with Pam (the director of the school). I picked him up on the playground at 11am. I found him happily playing on the jungle gym and the minute he saw me he started crying and hid under the structure. I think this is just his way of dealing with the change, because he said he didn't want to stay and play, but that he didn't want to leave either. Mary told me that Carter had a few difficult periods in the classroom during transition times. When it was time for meeting he cried and was taken into the quiet room where one of the teachers helped him to feel better so that he could rejoin the class. He also had a crying episode on the playground when he was trying to play in the little house that was full of other children.

So, his first day wasn't as bad as it could've been, but wasn't great either. I really think that his insecure feelings when it comes to transition times will get significantly better when Teah is in the classroom with him. I told her today (with Carter out of earshot) that Carter had a tough time at meeting today and asked her if she could help him out next week. I suggested that maybe he could sit next to her during meeting and she told me matter-of-factly that Nathan and Maddie sat next to each other last year and they are brother and sister. So, we have two more Teah-free days to get through and then I'm hoping things will start looking up.

As for my transition, I was less emotional than I thought I would be, but I think it will really hit me next week when I drop both of my babies off! I snapped a few pictures yesterday and today and wanted to share - here is the link to the album: Carter's First Week

Kid Questions

The kids ask the funniest questions sometimes, so I've decided to start posting some of them. Today, Teah asked me:

Mom, why is it called your pinky if it isn't pink?

hmmmm....

Also, today was Carter's 3rd birthday and we finally decided that it was time to take his bottles away (I know - it's about time). When I was giving him his cup this evening he asked me:

Mom, when will I turn 2 again?

He did go to sleep without any problems at all with his new big boy cup.

Ribbit

I couldn't resist Carter in his froggy towel after his bath:

A New Uno

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago we lost one of our little mousy pets to what I hope was old age and not some type of poor caring for on our part. I told the kids that Uno the mouse had gotten old and died and they seemed to accept it pretty well. It seemed like a problem, though, that now we had mice named Dos and Tres. Without the introductory mouse the names seemed off. Teah suggested that we change Dos' name to Uno and Tres' name to Dos. Carter was the one who suggested replacing Uno the mouse with a new mousy friend. We waited until after vacation and finally made it to the pet store today to get a replacement Uno, also being called Uno numero dos, Uno 1.1, and The New Uno. For those of you who are freaked out by rodents, I apologize for the close-up, but I of course think that she's the cutest little mouse. She's much smaller than any of the three we originally bought, so hopefully we actually ended up with a baby mouse to start off with this time.

The New Uno

Uno checking out Teah

Atlanta - Day 1

Today was our first full day in Atlanta after taking two days to drive down and arriving at our rental condo late last night. Robert will be taking his Anesthesia oral board exam tomorrow (wish him luck!) and then we'll spend the rest of the week vacationing as a family. With Robert in his hotel room studying most of the day today, the kids and I hit Lenox Square Mall and Piedmont Park. We stayed at the mall just long enough for me to stop at Sephora (woohoo!) and grab lunch at the food court. Once again we used vrbo.com and found a rental condo instead of going for a hotel room. The condo is 4 blocks from Piedmont park with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, plus kitchen, living room, and small sun room - not as spacious as the house in Tampa, but soooo much nicer than an itty bitty hotel room for the 4 of us. After a short rest at the condo, we took advantage of the location and walked to Piedmont Park. I used to take Scrappy to the dog park at Piedmont when we lived in Atlanta and the park was generally just always a beautiful place to go. The kids were brave enough to venture into the dog park (a fenced in area where the dogs can run off-leash and play) and try to pet some of the dogs. I also discovered that Piedmont Park has a playground for kids - funny that I never saw it when we lived here before, but since we moved away when Teah was only 6 months old, I never had the need to pay attention! I brought my new baby, Canon t1i :), to the park with us and took some pictures of the kids. Unfortunately, the upload speed of the internet at the condo is too slow, but I will for sure be posting pics when we get home. Robert took time off of studying for dinner and we ate at Everybody's Pizza with one of our great friends, Sarah. Overall, a great day.

Quote of the Day

"I'm not cranky because I'm tired. I'm cranky because you say no to ALL of the things that I want."

~Teah, 5 years old

Conversations with Carter

Carter is getting to be so big and has really started to be quite the conversationalist. So, I'm going to start a new type of blog entry called, "Conversations with Carter". This post is a video of a conversation I had with the little guy. I had no idea where it would lead, but it ended up being hilarious!

Smile!

This morning as I got into the van after dropping Teah off at preschool Carter said, "Mommy, smile!". I smiled and asked him why I was smiling and he replied, "Because I love you". He can turn on the charm when he wants to :)

Teah's Gymnastics Class

I took a few pictures of Teah in her gymnastics class back in November and am just now getting around to posting them. She has been taking Gymnastics at Kids Gym in Portage now for 3 months and she has a great time (as you can see in the pictures).

Quote of the Day

"This bowl isn't big enough to fit on my head anymore. When I was 4 I could fit it on my head."

~Teah, who just turned 5 years old

Teah's 5th Birthday!

Teah turned 5 on December 21st and had 4 separate celebrations. Teah celebrated with her preschool on the 17th (the last day of school before their holiday party since her birthday was over break). The Montessori birthday tradition is called "Walk Around the Sun" and is a beautiful way to celebrate a child's years on this earth. All of the children sit in a circle with a candle in the middle. Around the candle they place 12 different cards for each month of the year. The birthday child holds a globe and stands next to the month of their birthday. At Teah's school they have you bring in a newborn picture of the child as well as a picture for each of their years (1, 2, 3, 4, etc). The candle is lit and then the teacher walks around and shows the students the newborn picture. Then all of the students recite the months of the year as the birthday students walks around "the sun". When they get back to their birthday month they stop and the teacher shows a picture of when they were 1 year old and then the months and walking again. This continues until their age. Then they sing happy birthday and the birthday students blows out the candle and everyone claps. Teah was really excited for her turn to walk around the sun and I was able to sit in the classroom and watch. Teah even decided she wanted to wear her princess dress for the occasion, which was big, since she rarely wants to wear a dress. Here is a video of the beginning of the celebration. I ran out of space on my card on my camera, so unfortunately I didn't tape the whole thing.

The weekend brought more birthday celebrations. On Saturday we drove to Flint and celebration Teah's birthday with Robert's parents, his grandmother, and his Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Dennis and their children Emily and Sarah. Emily and Sarah are Robert's cousins, but they are 4 and 7 years old, so they are very much like first cousins to Teah. We also celebrated Christmas with them and they had a great time! I forgot to bring my camera, but hopefully I will be able to get ahold of the pictures Teresa took and post them soon. On Sunday we had a small family celebration at our house with my parents, my sister Annette, her daughter and granddaughter, and a few friends of theirs. Teah has a piece of pretend cake that she plays with in her pretend kitchen and she told me that she wanted her birthday cake to look just like it except that it should have little Einsteins on the top. She also told me that she wanted a surprise party. So, I made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and filling and my mother did an excellent job piping on the pink frosting to make the cake look just like its plastic counterpart. Before bringing out the cake and lighting the candles we had Teah go down into the basement. We got out the cake, like the candles, and hid around the corner of the kitchen. We told her to come back up and jumped out and said, "Surprise"! It was exactly what she wanted :) Teah has been wanting pet mice for a long time, so I bought her 3 for her birthday (sorry Robert and Leslie!). She has named them Uno, Dos, and Tres. We returned the original cage shown in the video to get a bigger one which is shown in the pictures. Finally, on Monday, which was Teah's actual birthday, we had Teah's best neighbor friends come over and finish off the cake. That night when I was tucking her into bed she told me, "Mom, I don't feel any different". :) Here are some pictures and video from our Sunday celebration:

Two Year Old Manners

Teaching a two year old manners :) I took this video in mid-November, but just found it again on our old camera. Enjoy!

Breakfast with Santa

The morning after getting home from vacation we had breakfast with Santa at the Moors Golf Club put on by Robert's practice. Teah had her list all made to give to Santa and I thought I had convinced Carter to ask Santa for a dump truck. After a yummy breakfast we stood in line for to talk to Santa. As soon as Carter saw Santa he decided that he wanted nothing to do with him (we weren't even to the front of the line yet). I told him that Santa wouldn't be able to bring him a dump truck if he didn't tell him and Carter responded by telling me that he didn't like dump trucks. I told him that Santa brought presents and he told me that he didn't like presents. This kid was having nothing to do with Santa at any cost! He sat on my lap for a picture with Santa and all was well. At some point during the affair I thought that Robert was watching Carter, Robert thought that I was watching Carter and it turns out that he had escaped into the golf store at the front of the clubhouse. I went to get him and found him with a child's golf club and a ball just putting away all by himself in the store. A lot of damage could've been done with that club, but instead he was just gently putting the ball across the floor. What a funny guy! Here are some pictures:

Tampa - Day 5

Thursday was our last day in Tampa before flying home on Friday. We spent a very relaxing morning at the rental house and then headed over the Marj and Eric's apartment to hang out and see their place before dinner. We helped them put up their Christmas tree and toured the apartments, which included 3 pools, one of which is ON Tampa Bay. As they say - location, location, location. We all had dinner together and spent the evening hanging out at the rental house after putting the kids to bed. A great last day!

Friday was our travel day, and although it was long, it went very well. While we were gone we missed a snow storm of over a foot of snow. There was NO snow at all before we left and here is what we came home to.

Outtake

Here is an outtake from our Christmas card photo session in Tampa. Of course I love how the kids are both laughing, but I love how Carter has his hand on Teah's leg. So cute!

Quote of the Day

Our conversation while sitting at a gas station. Teah was obviously perusing the signs in the window...

Teah: "Mom, what does b-u-d spell?"

Me: "Bud"

Teah: "Mom, what is Bud Light?"

Tampa - Day 4

Wednesday we returned for our second day at Busch Gardens. The first day was pretty chilly (for Florida) with a high of 60 degrees, so it was perfect that our second day was sunny and 80 degrees. This time around the kids were able to put their suits on and play in the water play area. We also went on the standard flume ride as a family. Teah wasn't a big fan of the idea, but we convinced her to get on and I decided she would sit in the back with me and hopefully be less afraid than if she were in the front. Robert sat in the front of the log with Carter. Teah was pretty scared the entire ride, but Carter loved it - until he was splashed in the face at the end going down the big drop. He was having a great time and when the water hit his face he just started crying and saying "I got wet". Thankfully he got over it pretty quickly. We checked out our picture that was taken on the way down the big drop and Teah had a look of pure terror on her face. Eric was working during the day, but Marj was able to get the day off and come with us again. She was brave enough to watch both of the kids (while the kids went on the kiddie rides) and let Robert and I go on SheiKra again. This time I kept my eyes open for most of the ride and was even pretty steady on my feet afterwards. We had time to go on the rides we missed the first time around and I of course was able to get some good old souvenir shopping done. It was another great day at the park! Here are the pictures from the day:

Tampa - Day 3

Today we decided to take advantage of the nicer weather and with a high of 80 degrees headed out to find a beach. We took the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which is something like 4 miles long crossing Tampa Bay over to the St. Petersburg area. We ended up finding Pass-a-Grille Beach, which is a nice public beach with lots of shells on the white sand beach. The water was too cold to swim in, but the kids had a great time collecting seashells, digging holes in the sand, making sandcastles, and kicking their feet in the water. Mom and Dad had an enjoyable time too being able to relax while the kids were entertained by nature. The beach was pretty empty, so the kids had a lot of room to explore. Teah helped me find seashells to take home with us and Carter mostly enjoyed picking up sand and putting it somewhere else. It was a tropical day! We headed back to our rental home for dinner and grilled out by the pool. The pool was only 70 degrees, but the kid still put their suits on and stuck their feet in. Carter gave us a bit of a scare when he fell into the deep end of the pool (while the cover was still on). Robert ran over and scooped him out without any harm done, but it took Mom just as long to recover as Carter. Carter wore his swim vest after that even though he wasn't in the pool! After the excitement it was nice to have a "home-cooked" meal and relax for the evening. Here are some pictures of the kids at the beach:

Tampa - Day 2

Marj and Eric were working today, so we had a lazy morning at the house. The kids and I investigated the fruit trees in the backyard after breakfast. I thought they were orange trees, but when I cut open a fruit (it was orange in color, so I figured it was ripe) it tasted more like a lemon! The debate is still on as to whether it is a lemon tree or an orange tree - google here I come. It was a bit of a gray and raining day, but the temps were in the mid-70's so I am NOT complaining! But we did decide to do a mostly indoor activity. We made it out by 11 to have some Cici's pizza for lunch before heading to the International Plaza Mall (very near the Tampa airport). This mall seriously has every store imaginable as well as an Earl of Sandwich (very yummy) and a Cheesecake Factory. Robert was nice enough to watch the kids while they played in the play area or Build-a-Bear and I was able to get a pedicure (really, what's a vacation without a pedicure :) and do some shopping. A great time was had by all. On the way back to the rental house we played a game of "I Spy". Carter mostly gets the concept and even wants a turn to "spy" something. Here's a video of the kids playing: