Some Downtime in Indiana

The Little Man and I spent some time in Indiana last week. It was gloriously cool, beautiful weather and we got to catch up with our Indiana relatives. I had a goal of spending as much time outside as possible. I did a pretty good job of that. We have lots of activities while we were there, so here is the first of a couple of posts about our time there.

One thing that was fun to do while we were there was get LM and his 2010 Indiana cousin, Gibson, together. They are now both old enough to really interact. It is also evident how much they not only don't resemble one another, but don't really even look related. Funny story - I visited a good friend of mine for lunch the day after we returned to Dallas. I was showing her pictures of LM and his cousins. She commented how much LM looked like S and agreed he and his Dallas cousins look so much alike. Then I showed her a photo of Gibson. She said, "Well, finally a baby that looks like you!" Ha! That would be my NEPHEW!

Nevermind, it was fun to see these kids interact. It will be fun to see how they grow and change. I hope they will enjoy playing with one another as the years go by, even if it is intermittently when we visit.

One more story - when we first arrived on Friday at Gibson's house, Gibby's three older siblings descended on the babies. My brother Steve came in and said, "Do you remember last year when we got a kitten but then gave it away to a new home. What we were really doing was FREEING the kitten from being tortured with attention by our children." Or something close to that. Then he said, "They are sort of the same way with babies." Hee hee. They sort of are, but in a completely adorable, caring way.

Steve ran the big kids off and the babies "played". I put that word in quotes because the first thing LM did to Gibson was attack his head. From that point on, for a few days, Gibson was just a little bit afraid of the boy. I don't blame him. He can be sort of a brute. And, well, they are really too young to "play" - when they did interact, it was mainly because they wanted whatever toy it was the other one had. But, it was still fun to watch them spend time together.

Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Quite the charmer.

"who me?"

Cora is taking dance lessons - she had put on her dance outfit to show me her moves.

Uncle Steve is TALL.

In case you were wondering, LM can make a mess anywhere.

These were some of the toys in contention.

They went back and forth several times.

Winning!

Stealing!

And maybe my favorite photo - my child, palming the head of his cousin to steal the toy away.

While whining about it. 

I am SUCH a good parent.

Gibby got it back, though.

A fun time was had by all.

See you soon.

My Baby is a Toddler

My baby will transition next week to a toddler room at school. He'll leave the infant room behind because it is time. It's on my mind a lot though, so I thought I'd share what I'm thinking.

Reasons he needs to move:

- he is now a toddler, and as Ms. Jackie told me would happen, now that he can walk, the infant room is boring to him.

- he is now a toddler, and it's the normal progression of things. It's the first of many, many, many transitions he (and I) will make in his little life.

- he is now a toddler, and ready to do the things the toddlers do, and will really enjoy the activities in the new room.

Reasons I am apprehensive about the move:

- he still takes two good naps when left to his own schedule. In the toddler room, they all are on the same schedule and they take one long nap in the middle of the day. Will he transition to this without me having a whiney, tired boy every day when I pick him up?

- speaking of naps, they will sleep on little cots. I have to find a nap sack or two for him to use on the cots. They will apparently sit beside him until he gets the hang of not getting up during naptime. But, he uses a sleep sheep in the infant room and at home to help him know it's time to nap, and they won't use that in the toddler room. So, at first, he might not sleep much at all.

- they will eat all together at a little table. I understand they will get the hang of this quite quickly, as they just watch the other kids. I'm not too worried about this part, but it is a change he will have to learn to accommodate.

- if you've ever seen Toy Story 3, this is the CATERPILLER room. LM is TOTALLY a caterpillar right now, but so are the other nine children. I hope they can all get along and that he won't start any sort of problematic behavior like biting or pulling hair or pushing or whatever.

- I love his teacher, Ms. Jackie. And the other teachers he is with now, Ms. Sonia and Ms. Shanette. I am sure you will not be surprised to hear my husband was scoping out the new room teachers and received "recommendations" about which room to move him to. I have no idea whether this is the right move or not, really, but he is going to be in one of the "recommended" rooms. Will we like the new teachers, Ms. Tameka and Ms. Irma? Will they like my boy? Will they take good care of him while he is in their care? Will they care about his well being? These are the things a mother wants to know and feel good about.

- Transition is change. And I've learned I am apprehensive about change. Perhaps everyone is to some degree. I usually handle it just fine, but I worry about it before the fact. Can you tell? Ha. I'm dealing with a lot of change myself at work, as is S, so you know, it's just something else to process.

- There will be bumps in the road. I don't like bumps. I like smooth sailing. I like status quo. (see last bullet)

Good things about the move:

- By the time he gets to kindergarten, I should be an old pro at this transition thing. Right?

- It will be good for the boy to learn to continue to be flexible. He's a pretty flexible kid as it is - he doesn't usually have issues with new places or things. I'm sure this is because he is in daycare, where he has a routine but meets new people all the time. It probably also has to do with the fact he's seen nine states in his first year - he has learned to sleep in just about any spot, fly on a plane, tolerate a long car trip, and play in a hotel room. This is just another good experience for him. Perhaps all this managed change and learning to be flexible will make him better at change than his mother.

- It is time. This is normal. It is time. And I totally already feel better about it just writing it all down. 

See you soon.

Katherine's Dedication

Brooke and Michael had us all over for a little ceremony to dedicate their daughter to God in front of their family and friends. Luckily, it was this amazingly cool day - only like 88. I think God knew we were all going to go crazy without a small break from the relentless heat. Here are some photos from the occasion:

See you soon.

An Island Beach Party

LM's school had a little sensory activity the other day and the parents were invited. We weren't exactly sure what to expect, but it was fun. Little Man's teacher had been reading books to the kids about cruising and swimming at the beach and going to the Caribbean. They had been listening to island music and talking about these things for a week or two. This was the culminating activity. Ms. Jackie had on a grass skirt and had the island music playing. She then had buckets and shovels, sunglasses and fun hats and headbands for the kids to try on. Then, she had a "beach" where there were containers of water for them to splash in and make a mess.

I only took my camera phone, so I was pretty pleased any of these photos came out at all. Here are some photos of the event:

Daddy and LM before the fun really began.

Mommy and Little Man before the par-tay.

Hanging out near the kitchen with T-Baby

The kids were supposed to wear their swim clothes!

LM's friend Collier

A few weeks ago, T-Baby transitioned to a toddler classroom. (right after this event) Ms. Jackie thought LM and Collier would transition together later this month. Collier has the same birthday as LM's cousin Katherine, but has been early on everything - teeth, crawling, using a sippy, etc. Everyone assumed he'd be an early walker too - an important milestone before transitioning - but he's been a bit like LM was before walking - he knows how, he just isn't interested. So...LM will transition starting the 12th and Mr. Collier will come along when he's ready. The sad thing is they all three will probably end up in different classrooms. LM will miss his buddies, I'm sure, but will meet nine new friends. He's a social butterfly (not like his mama who would rather stay home in a hole by herself most of the time) so I think he'll do just fine. Now, if Mama can hold it together, we'll all be OK.

Down to business.

Check out the cutie in the bikini on the left.

A-DOR-ABLE.

Getting into the activity.

You will notice the other babies all have sunglasses or headbands on.

LM will have none of that.

Collier was watching the bubbles, not really visible in this photo.

Yes, there were bubbles too. Lots of sensory activity.

Check out LM in the boppy.

Silly boy.

Here, LM sort of took over the "beach" to himself.

Ms. Jackie was right, the kids loved it. It was nice of her to include us in the activity and to get to meet some of the other parents. Ms. Jackie is a great teacher who loves her babies, that's for sure. LM is lucky to have her!

See you soon.

Stephanie's Visit

I met Stephanie at a camp where we were paired as buddies back when I was eleven. We met back up at this camp for at least two years, maybe three - my mind is fuzzy - before Steph and her family moved to Michigan. After that, we became penpals and wrote letters - actual paper letters! - and cards back and forth. Over that time, her family moved to San Diego, I moved to Dallas, then Austin, then Dallas. We've seen each other in person three times now since camp way back when.

We have seen one another because Steph and her parents take a HUGE road trip every other summer - on the odd years - for like a month - all across the country, visiting friends and relatives along the way and checking out interesting things. Steph and her family came through Dallas in 1995 right before I moved to Austin. Then, they came through Vail when I was there with work in 2005, and now they came through Dallas again this year.

It almost worked out that I was going to miss them! I had a little relapse with my surgery pain on the day we were to originally meet. But, they were able to rearrange their schedule to accommodate a breakfast with us right before leaving town. I wish I could have had them over to my house, but having surgery and a pain relapse doesn't leave your house in any shape for company. So, we met them at a restaurant. It was so nice to visit with them again in person. These days, Steph and I write very few "paper" letters and cards, but we still keep up on email and now, yes, of course, on Facebook.

LM, eying the controls as Stephanie's dad took a photo.

I should say Stephanie was no novice to little fingers - when we went to take these photos, she turned the power off to her chair controls, knowing those controls would be the first thing to catch LM's eye when he sat down in her lap. This wasn't her first rodeo, you know what I mean!

LM, dubious that Steph had him figured out.

I hope we can make it out to San Diego to see them sometime soon. I hear it's a beautiful place and we know several people out there now, so it would be a fun place to check out. I hear the zoo is amazing...and of course, one of my dearest friends I met back in the day at camp lives there, so that's reason enough to check it out!

So glad to have visited in person once again! Thanks for coming our way!

See you soon.