What T.V. series are you looking forward to starting back up in the fall?
Smantha Who? and the next season of The Amazing Race. Not sure what else. I don't watch too much TV.
So far Sesame Street has started the season good. They did a parody called Preschool Musical today that was pretty funny and I know there's more fun to come. Not that I watch it much, but there's often something humorous that I see while Stephan's watching.
And, as far as cheesy reality that has me hooked ... The Hills and Newport Beach. I know it makes me sound 13yo but they are addicting.
Something I found amazing today (besides the fact that Stephan’s still going down for nap/bed without a huge fuss): he asked for, liked and ate a ton of SALMON.
We’ve tried on multiple occasions to give him salmon to try, we like it and get frozen fillets and eat them a few times a month. usually he’ll eat one bite and after that spits subsequent bites out.
Today, however, he asked for salmon, which may have made all the difference. On the way to and from the gym this morning he was listening to I Don’t Like by BNL (from Snacktime) over and over and over. I guess after hearing “salmon” thirteen times you just want some? Oddly enough, the lyric goes “I don’t like … salmon.” He mentions all these things he likes to eat and then says he doesn’t like salmon. Another BNL says that he does like salmon, and then the song moves on to non food related things.
As we get out of the car Stephan starts asking for salmon. While he might have been asking to hear the song again, I just took it at face value and told him I’d make him some salmon for lunch. We had a packet of salmon, similar to the packets of tuna, and I mixed it with a little mayo and garlic powder. He ate it … ALL OF IT! I did sneak a few bites, but he ate the whole little packet, a few crackers, some grapes and Cheerios snack mix. Impressive lunch for a 2yo.
Wonder if he’ll ever eat it again?
During our trip last week to Breck we stopped at the outlets in Silverthorne. I think I mentioned stopping at my favorite store, the Coach outlet. Ever since I've been coveting a purse I saw there. I've been trying to find a picture to post but apparently Coach only shows their regular collection online, not the purses sold in the outlets. While looking for said pictures I stumbled across this article. Worst article ever. I like coach purses. Think they are cute and stylish, well at least most of them anyway. The article seems to come from valley-girl-land. "Like I love Coach purses, they are like totally great and like stylish and stuff."
The things you find on the internets.
I'm pretty sure that purse will be the only thing on my birthday wish list. Should be able to get it as the parents usually send some cash and that coupled with what we usually spend on birthdays should just about do it. I can't wait for October!
Oh the joy of walking outside after church and discovering that the sun was back out again warming things up and drying them out.
Speaking of church, Andy and I have agreed to co-teach Stephan's class during second hour. I'm a bit freaked by the prospect but am up for the challenge. We will hopefully be sharing the responsibility with another couple so thankfully it won't be every week. As soon as the other couple is found we will hash out the schedule of who will teach when. It might be a couple we know, and that would be great, though getting to know someone new would be fine as well.
My greatest uncertainty is the size of the class. There are a significant number of 2yo at our church. Andy and I will have help, but classroom management is not my strength. I'll have to work on that. When I taught 4th grade a few years ago there were only 8 kids in the class which suited me fine as I can manage eight kids. Maybe there will be more kids on the roster each week than show up. Sure there will be regulars, but hopefully not too many kids overall each week.
I know all will work out fine, especially once we get started and figure things out and get to know the kids.
Exciting news: Stephan has gone down for nap/bed quite nicely the past two days. Last night he got out of bed once after I thought he was asleep but I just had to tell him once that I wasn't going to tuck him in, he could do so himself, and after a minute of tears he climbed in bed and went to sleep. He does tend to ask that we put up both gates (one on top of the other), which is fine with me if that's what he needs to remind himself to stay in bed. I'm just glad he doesn't scream and try and get out of his room for 45 minutes anymore. Makes life a whole lot smoother!
So, the debate is this: is he sleeping better because the full moon has passed, or is it because of all that we have done over the past two weeks to establish firm boundaries. I would guess it's a bit of both. We've been working hard with him and I'm sure his behavior got a bit worse with coming of the FM, but regardless, Stephan's learned that we are going to stay firm with the boundaries and that's the important piece. Funny how the two coincided though.
One of my first posts this month was about how HOT it was as the NaBloPoMo theme for the month was HOT. Yesterday we completely kicked hot in the arse and apparently it's staying away for a bit. We are getting a TON of rain too. Went from sunshine and 80s to rain, rain, rain and 50s. Tomorrow it's still supposed to be rainy, but maybe in the 70s and then back to the 80s Monday. Nice to have a little respite from the heat.
It's also nice to experience a super rainy couple days. We don't get a whole lot of moisture out here, especially not this time of year. Once a dj on KBCO referenced the month of June as the "greening of Colorado" and another said that time of year was followed rapidly by the "browning" which is typically July/August. Often when rain comes this time of year it's a brief afternoon thunderstorm. So two, maybe three, days of pretty much solid rain is unusual. Sort of like a location warp and we now live in Seattle or something.
Unfortunately, the gym was SUPER busy because of the rain and the fact that it's Saturday. There was a waiting list for the kids club. Thankfully, Stephan was first in line and after debating for a few minutes if we should wait or not, a couple kids got picked up and Stephan was in. We were able to get a decent workout in and by the time we left the rain had let up a bit.
Tonight Andy's off to his first Bronco game in his new universe of season tickets. I feel a bit bad for him, having to go in a potential rainstorm, but he'll make it and I'm sure he and his friend will have a great time together!
TGIF!
Excited it’s the weekend again, especially after having started work this week. I like alliteration, have since good old HR in junior English class. This post is usually something I do on Thursday and I like to call it something like Thankful Thursday. Hence the somewhat odd title, in case you were curious or about to tell me I need spell check.
This week was interesting and full of stress, but here are the things I’m grateful for in the midst of all that.
Childcare. We have a wonderful set of caregivers. Nana and papa are fabulous and love hanging out with Stephan as much as he loves hanging out with them! Mrs. Sarah also adores Stephan and he has a blast playing there. So much so he didn’t nap today. Well, that and maybe the thunderstorm, who knows.
Tonight’s Bedtime. After so many nights of drama at bedtime the kid went to bed without a fight and without getting out of bed ONCE. That’s right. We didn’t even need to put up both gates. Probably wouldn’t have even needed one. Guess that’s the blessing from no nap earlier. We won’t be getting rid of nap time anytime soon though. I’m not quite ready to give up that break!
Scheduling. For now it appears my schedule is working out the way I need it too. Hopefully that will stick and no one at my new school will be annoyed with me about the days I need to work.
Free burritos. So I got tacos and Andy got a burrito, details. I won a few prizes at my sometimes boring all day psych/sw meeting, both including a free burrito coupon for Chipotle. We got an impromptu dinner out for very little cash and it was TASTY!
Savings on gas. The grocery store has a deal where if you spend $100 in groceries you can save 10cents per gallon on gas. We don’t usually spend enough money there since we shop at Super Target, but my MIL does most of her shopping there and there are no stores with gas stations nearby so we get to use her gas savings! So pretty much every time we fill up this month we get to save 10cents. Makes it slightly more bearable to get gas.
Reconnecting. I enjoyed reconnecting with several of my coworkers. I don’t often get to chat with my fellow psychs and see the social workers I’ve worked with at various schools. Today at our meeting there was some time to see how everyone was doing, discover some are preggo and that one friend had a baby girl six months ago. Good times.
The hubby. We had a great time up in the mountains on Monday and he’s been working hard all week. I’m also happy that his physical went pretty well this afternoon. Some things to take care of but nothing that can’t be remedied.
The kidlet. He’s a sweetie even though he can drive me nuts at times. I love it when he says. “I love you,” and when he wants to give kisses. He’s precious!
Five years ago, Sean and his cousin dubbed the summer in 2003 "The Summer of Camping." I think they camped once. Two years later and living in separate states they again identified the summer in the same way, this time making it a competition to be the one to camp more. Sean and I camped once. I'm not sure if his cousin camped at all. So this year we've set a record with our two camping trips and I think we get bonus points for camping with a toddler. Granted, we did have help with family present for the first trip, but last weekend we struck out on our own and the weekend was a beautiful success.
First we camped over the Independence Day weekend, and had a blast with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ian. The campground was a little rough around the edges, but we were there for the fresh air and stars, campfire and smores and freedom from phones and all that clutter of modern life. We endured a little more rain than we would have liked that weekend but survived due in large part to our mammoth tent. This thing is probably our best purchase of 2008.
Will was just beginning to walk in earnest that weekend, so he was our major source of entertainment. We spread out a huge tarp so he's have a dry place away from the mud to play with toys and practice those new steps. Our neighbors
were intent on celebrating the holiday with loud and highly illegal fireworks late at night. Amazingly, The Boy slept through all the ruckus and I decided that it wasn't illegal for us to enjoy the fireworks-- and so we did.
Last weekend we camped at Promised Land State Park. The park offered all the beauty and serenity belied in it's name and we had a really, really great time. We'll be going back to that park again and again for all the beauty of hiking trails, swimming lake and amazing amenities it has to offer. I'm not a total "rough it" kind of camper. I like a hot shower and flush toilet when I camp. So the fact that this park offered newly built bath houses with a family bathroom, dish washing stations and a laundry room really excited me. One would not expect to need laundry facilities on a short weekend camping trip however, camping with a toddler in diapers introduces interesting variables: "Code Brown" at 6:30 am being a prime example.
I mentioned camping with a toddler and bonus points. The Ergo Baby made this camping trip a lot easier. It allowed for setup of the tent and preparing meals without all the interruptions to fish rocks out of his mouth and steer him away from the fire ring, or quiet his protests at being cooped up in the port-a-crib. I felt a little bad about his early morning wake up calls because of the close proximity of our neighbors. But then again, it isn't my fault that they stayed up talking (loudly) well past midnight. I felt the need to bring a bag of toys but I should've known that Will would find other things to amuse him. He decided that his favorite place at the site was the cement barrier marking the parking spot. It had holes in it that were perfectly appointed to be stuffed with rocks, dirt and sticks. His ever more steady gait meant that I didn't have to worry so much about the dirt because there was less crawling and almost all walking to explore the area.
Saturday we took a side trip to New Jersey's High Point State Park and Sean got to add to his list another state's high point. It was the 4th in his quest for all 50 state high points.
We managed to escape the rain by seconds. Literally. Sunday morning after breakfast we started packing up under a clear and sunny sky. As we packed the last bag into the full car and closed the door, the first raindrops started to fall. The rain drops grew to a steady and heavy downpour punctuated by hail and lightning. We were so glad we had planned to pack up before driving to Uncle Ian's church for their morning worship service. After church as we tailgated with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoyed our meatloaf sandwiches we again missed rain by seconds. We were finishing our last bites as the dark clouds and thunder began rolling our way over the distant mountain horizon.
First day jitters are now over.
I was nervous more about the scheduling concerns at my new school and really wanting to start off on the right foot. Thankfully, while most of the staffing team seem disappointed that things will not be the same as last year, they appear to be coping okay with the days I need to be there. I feel bad, but there's not much I can do to change my schedule. When I finally got to touch base with the principal she seemed totally fine with the days I needed to be there and working every other week a full day instead of half days every week (this will save us close to $20 on the weeks I don't work!).
Moving on to my other school, where I've been for three years now ... The afternoon professional development was regarding PBS. Not the tv station, Positive Behavior Support. I am glad I was there as I discovered that several people seem to think I'm a PBS queen. I went to one conference. ONE. Apparently that and the title "psychologist" make me some sort of expert. I don't completely mind. The principal thinks I'm a data guru and can help a lot with collecting and analyzing data. Again, I don't mind. Makes me nervous as I've never really done anything like that, but I'm sure I can get some help and guidance from someone who's had more experience. The reason I don't mind (though don't get me wrong, I'm a little freaked out) is that I'm hoping being involved in this whole PBS process as much as humanly possible in one day a week will help the principal begin to recognize that I am valuable and possibly even worth finding some money to buy me more time next year. Thankfully there are those at the school who do value what I do. A teacher I worked with last year thanked me today and the SPED director told me I was the best psychologist. Sometimes you need the warm compliments to remember why you leave your toddler to go to work.
We'll see how the year pans out, but so far I think it will be a good year. Tough and challenging, but still good.
This was a comment left in a note to me after Grandma watched Will yesterday when I was working:
At 14 months, this kid is just devouring anything new and assimilating information and skills like crazy. He picks up something new every day. I love to see him put new things into context. We took a book about planes out of the library two weeks ago. Last week he began pointing to the sky a lot at the clouds and trees. Early this week he began looking to the sky whenever we would hear a plane. We can often see planes passing overhead en route to the nearby air base and international airport. Sometimes we hear the engine but despite searching the sky we don't see anything. When we do see a plane however, it is a moment full of excitement.
"He played with my keys from my purse. I talk about the car and house keys. I WAS SURPRISED when he took the keys to the door and reached up to try to get them by the knob."
There a lots of dogs in our neighborhood, a fire station at the end of our street, and lawn services constantly in action. So there is a lot of noise to stimulate a young brain. I don't realize how much I tune out all that noise, but Will perks up when he hears a dog and this week he started imitating the "woof" sound. He imitates the fire siren and when he hears any kind of lawn equipment, we must run to the window to see what kind of machine is at work on our street. Monday mornings are fun. We get to watch the trash and recycling trucks come by.
So much to learn, so much to be excited about!
Let me just say that finding pictures for this meme was highly difficult and I don't like how this turned out really. However, the alternative of taking pictures of my own books seemed way too time consuming.
- Micheal Phillips is my favorite author of all time. Followed by Angela Hunt. I also enjoy Karen Kingsbury who you can actually fin photos of on Flickr.
- I'm currently reading/the last book I read was Date Night in a Minivan by Lorilee Cracker.
- My favorite childhood book was The Monster at the End of this Book.
- I think every young adult should read In the Grip of Grace by Max Lucado just once.
- A book that made a very strong impact on my life is The Bible.
- Books and a comfy chair go perfect together!
Sorry, forgot to credit the actual photogs. Oops.
