So back when I penned the last post, I wrote "woohoo" at the bottom to remind me to write about "woohoo". But I spaced it. And then apparently I don't proofread my posts very well before posting and so it looks like my last post ended with an unenthusiastic "woohoo". It wasn't intended that way. So now I will explain the big "woohoo".
One evening we were eating dinner and I complimented my (extremely picky) daughter on eating well.
Silas perks up and says to her, "Yay Skadi, woohoo!"
And, of course, we all laughed.
Thus started the "woohoo phase".
Whenever anyone is praised for anything in the house Silas chimes in with a "woohoo".
"Yay Lay [Leif], woohoo!"
And there are days when the woohoos are less enthusiastic. It sounds like a very blah, "woohoo."
AB and I both get woohoos as well.
Me: "Yay, we aren't late today." (I mumble when we drop off at daycare.)
Silas: "Woohoo mama, woohoo!"
We have been laughing at the woohoos now for awhile and of course, you start wondering where they pick it up. And then we realize that neither AB or I *ever* say "woohoo".
I asked at daycare and sure enough - his lead teacher gives a woohoo whenever they do something good. Finish a book? Woohoo! Everyone sits down for group? Woohoo!
So woohoo everyone!
Showing posts with label daycare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label daycare. Show all posts
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Catching Up
I need some mental blogging capability. Because I really do enjoy blogging and love the journaling aspect. I really love flipping back to old blogs for reference (how big exactly were the older two at this age?) and when my kids are older I want to share some of the crazy things they did and said. In order to keep doing this, I need to keep blogging. And since adding hours in the day hasn’t panned out, maybe blogging mentally would work? I think about what I want to blog about and it just happens... someday it will be real.
Anyways, new fiscal year, let’s get it caught up and started out right.
Skadi: “Mom, pinky promise me you won’t tell dad?”
Me: “Ok.” (Crossing fingers because I tell AB everything.)
Skadi: “I have a boyfriend!!” Then she jumps up and down and squeals like the little girl she is!
Me: “Really!!” (Thrilled that she is telling me this and hoping she will continue to tell me these things as she gets older.) “What’s his name?”
Skadi: (Blank stare) “I don’t know that.”
----
Me: "Didn't you find your sweatpants in the dryer yesterday?"
Leif: "Yes, but they probably aren't there now."
Me: "Oh yeah, because our house elves came."
Leif: (eyeroll)
Minutes later the dishwasher is acting up.
Me: "Hans guess what you get to fit in today among everything else?"
AB: "Ugh."
Skadi: "What about the house elves?"
Leif: "Yes, but they probably aren't there now."
Me: "Oh yeah, because our house elves came."
Leif: (eyeroll)
Minutes later the dishwasher is acting up.
Me: "Hans guess what you get to fit in today among everything else?"
AB: "Ugh."
Skadi: "What about the house elves?"
---
Girl Scout Coordinator to Skadi: "Would you like to join Girl Scouts?"
Skadi: "No I just want to buy cookies."
Skadi: "No I just want to buy cookies."
---
Daycare floater: “I have to tell you, I just love when I get assigned to Infant A because I know I get to go in and have Silas smile and laugh with me for at least some portion of my day. He makes my day.”
Awww!
Friday, February 12, 2010
All that Valentine's Day Flap
One thing you tend to hear a lot about this time of year is what a racket Valentine’s Day. The camps are split and it seems like nearly an equal divide (completely unscientific assessment) on what I am seeing among friends regarding Valentine’s Day.
The “anti” camp in past years has seemed to be made up mostly of those who unfortunately don’t have a significant other at the time and may sport a little bitterness, which sucks and is understandable. This I buy and I understand.
But lately, ok, the last decade or so it is also made up a lot more of people in relationships. One sentiment that seems to be embraced by this “anti” camp is that it is retail driven and they refuse to celebrate their love because the retail industry tells them to. Is this really the point? I have to admit that this week when I have seen this on Facebook - yes all.over.Facebook - that I roll my eyes.
When I hear this I always wonder if those same people celebrate Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the like. Ok, so Christmas and Easter are religious holidays and aren't really comparable. And I do agree that Christmas is really over commercialized and I see a backlash against this and I applaud the more creative gifting (homemade gifts) and charitable donations as gifts.
But what about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day? If anything, these holidays are less rooted in tradition as Valentine’s Day, which was actually established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD.
Mother’s Day is actually only about 100 years old in the United States and was created to honor mothers and family relationships. Mother’s Day is, according to the National Restaurant Association, the most popular day of the year to dine out, also the day with the largest volume of phone calls placed and the busiest single day for florists. Obviously people are celebrating Mother’s Day! Assumably these people who boycott Valentine's Day are celebrating family love on other days.
I am not one of those die-hard Valentine’s Day nuts. I don’t plan a date usually since I hate trying to eat out or go out when there are crowds, or the fight to secure a babysitter. This year AB is getting a book and a box of candy (don’t worry, he never reads my blog). The kids got little boxes of chocolates and each a little something – Starbucks travel cups for their coveted hot cocoas, Leif got a Lego set and Skadi got the second Tinkerbell DVD. Honestly I wouldn’t have gone with the toys, but I had the DVD leftover from Christmas that I didn’t give her then as she had a large excess over Leif. So I decided it was time to dole that out and to make it fair, Leif got two new Star Wars Lego kits.
I don’t need much and AB tends to overdo Valentine’s Day with flowers AND top of the line chocolates. But who am I to complain?
On Valentine’s Day we will recognize the love between my husband and I, the love we share for our children and for our parents and grandparents.
Remember Valentine's Day when you were a kid? I loved decorating my shoe box and reading way more into the Valentine's from the boys in my class gave out. It wasn't my favorite party day at school, but it was fun!
My kids received a Valentine’s Day package from grandma and grandpa yesterday and could hardly wait to get into it. Leif got a card and two games (and then he stomped us at Trouble last night). Skadi got a card and a skirt and leggings set that she wore all evening and then to school today with her kitty cat rain boots.
Leif sat down to finish off his Valentine’s last night and I was happy I had bought a box of them for Skadi too. She wanted to send hers out. Her first plan was to send one entire stack to grandma and grandpa. I reminded her we had sent them cards and artwork earlier in the week, but I would be happy to send more Valentines too! Uncle Andy and baby Annika topped Skadi's must send list - but it quickly changed to her classmates as she listed off all but one classmate (yes, I walked into the classroom this morning and said, "darn it"). ;-)
Sunday we will enjoy a homemade turkey pot pie and then I am attempting chocolate melting cakes. All food made with love, like every other single meal (even frozen pizza night).
No, I don’t need a retail industry to tell me to celebrate the great loves of my life either. Neither does my husband, I feel loved on the other 364 days of the year. But as with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, why not celebrate your love and do something fun (and eat some chocolate)?
The “anti” camp in past years has seemed to be made up mostly of those who unfortunately don’t have a significant other at the time and may sport a little bitterness, which sucks and is understandable. This I buy and I understand.
But lately, ok, the last decade or so it is also made up a lot more of people in relationships. One sentiment that seems to be embraced by this “anti” camp is that it is retail driven and they refuse to celebrate their love because the retail industry tells them to. Is this really the point? I have to admit that this week when I have seen this on Facebook - yes all.over.Facebook - that I roll my eyes.
When I hear this I always wonder if those same people celebrate Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the like. Ok, so Christmas and Easter are religious holidays and aren't really comparable. And I do agree that Christmas is really over commercialized and I see a backlash against this and I applaud the more creative gifting (homemade gifts) and charitable donations as gifts.
But what about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day? If anything, these holidays are less rooted in tradition as Valentine’s Day, which was actually established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD.
Mother’s Day is actually only about 100 years old in the United States and was created to honor mothers and family relationships. Mother’s Day is, according to the National Restaurant Association, the most popular day of the year to dine out, also the day with the largest volume of phone calls placed and the busiest single day for florists. Obviously people are celebrating Mother’s Day! Assumably these people who boycott Valentine's Day are celebrating family love on other days.
I am not one of those die-hard Valentine’s Day nuts. I don’t plan a date usually since I hate trying to eat out or go out when there are crowds, or the fight to secure a babysitter. This year AB is getting a book and a box of candy (don’t worry, he never reads my blog). The kids got little boxes of chocolates and each a little something – Starbucks travel cups for their coveted hot cocoas, Leif got a Lego set and Skadi got the second Tinkerbell DVD. Honestly I wouldn’t have gone with the toys, but I had the DVD leftover from Christmas that I didn’t give her then as she had a large excess over Leif. So I decided it was time to dole that out and to make it fair, Leif got two new Star Wars Lego kits.
I don’t need much and AB tends to overdo Valentine’s Day with flowers AND top of the line chocolates. But who am I to complain?
On Valentine’s Day we will recognize the love between my husband and I, the love we share for our children and for our parents and grandparents.
Remember Valentine's Day when you were a kid? I loved decorating my shoe box and reading way more into the Valentine's from the boys in my class gave out. It wasn't my favorite party day at school, but it was fun!
My kids received a Valentine’s Day package from grandma and grandpa yesterday and could hardly wait to get into it. Leif got a card and two games (and then he stomped us at Trouble last night). Skadi got a card and a skirt and leggings set that she wore all evening and then to school today with her kitty cat rain boots.
Leif sat down to finish off his Valentine’s last night and I was happy I had bought a box of them for Skadi too. She wanted to send hers out. Her first plan was to send one entire stack to grandma and grandpa. I reminded her we had sent them cards and artwork earlier in the week, but I would be happy to send more Valentines too! Uncle Andy and baby Annika topped Skadi's must send list - but it quickly changed to her classmates as she listed off all but one classmate (yes, I walked into the classroom this morning and said, "darn it"). ;-)
Sunday we will enjoy a homemade turkey pot pie and then I am attempting chocolate melting cakes. All food made with love, like every other single meal (even frozen pizza night).
No, I don’t need a retail industry to tell me to celebrate the great loves of my life either. Neither does my husband, I feel loved on the other 364 days of the year. But as with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, why not celebrate your love and do something fun (and eat some chocolate)?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Already?!
It was something like a wall hitting me in the face.
My baby is going to preschool!
While I keep telling myself she still has four whole months left in her toddler room, the school , more specifically, my son’s classroom, has begun their preparations to accept new children into the room for next year. This seems too soon, I moaned to the head teacher this morning and she replied with some nonsense about the 1st and 2nd graders schedule needing to coincide with registration somewhere else for something else. And I guess this becomes an immediate trickle down effect. Get the youngest ones placed, then they will be asking me to register my oldest for kindergarten and then they can deal with their older kids that are worlds beyond my kids. Right? Worlds away, right?
Placing Skadi is an easy decision for me.
Not necessarily for AB.
As far as I am concerned she needs to go straight to her brother’s current room. I like and respect the teachers in there. They are fair, but firm and she needs the consistency and defined boundaries. Not to mention the convenience of taking both kids to the same room for a year – yippee! And all the fall picnics, Christmas parties, spring parties, pumpkin patch trips… just one set! Oh my goodness, I won’t know what to do with myself to only have to go to one set of events! Then there is the fact that she already knows the room and has interacted a fair amount with the teachers. It’s a no brainer.
Then AB reminds me, “but what about Leif? How will this impact him?” We have already, had a couple years of ups and downs with him in preschool. We have finally achieved a happy medium.
We went through the list of other options for Skadi and I have to keep reminding myself that even the “worst” rooms (by my assessment only) are far better than every other option available in our area. (Also my opinion only.)
But at the same time I remind myself I am NOT going to make the same mistake with Skadi that we did with Leif. Not that we really had control over a teacher who had been there for a decade leaving… and after finding out recently that she left due to a nasty cancer it makes me sorely regret my grumbling over it at the time.
AB’s answer is to look to Skadi’s 2nd teacher, “Ms S”. Ms S. told us from day one that Leif needed to go in the room he is in now, but we didn’t listen to her. We jumped on another room based upon our observations and really liking the head teacher, who then departed. And then later we dealt with problem after problem in this room. And then after a brutal year, moved him to his current room. My task this morning was to talk to Ms S and see where she would put Skadi.
Ms. S giggled and got in her two cents, “I TOLD you to put him in A.T., but you didn’t listen!!” she joked. I was about to offer to bow down before her and promise something, not sure what, when she whispered, “Put her in A.T. also.”
Then she and the head teacher went on to tell us that in anticipation of this they had already spoken with Leif’s teacher and that she was fine with having the siblings in her room and anticipated no problems at all.
The school offers observation times to the parents to go observe the rooms and see what they are all about. Naw, we don’t need to do this. We have a pretty good idea of what each room has to offer and who the teachers are. So as long as there is no great teacher change up, we should be golden.
Phew. One of the most stressful aspects is dealt with. It isn’t finalized, or submitted in writing yet. But it’s very nearly a done deal before the majority of her classroom has any inkling of what is hanging out there waiting for them. I love having the “been there, done that” advantage.
My baby is going to preschool!
While I keep telling myself she still has four whole months left in her toddler room, the school , more specifically, my son’s classroom, has begun their preparations to accept new children into the room for next year. This seems too soon, I moaned to the head teacher this morning and she replied with some nonsense about the 1st and 2nd graders schedule needing to coincide with registration somewhere else for something else. And I guess this becomes an immediate trickle down effect. Get the youngest ones placed, then they will be asking me to register my oldest for kindergarten and then they can deal with their older kids that are worlds beyond my kids. Right? Worlds away, right?
Placing Skadi is an easy decision for me.
Not necessarily for AB.
As far as I am concerned she needs to go straight to her brother’s current room. I like and respect the teachers in there. They are fair, but firm and she needs the consistency and defined boundaries. Not to mention the convenience of taking both kids to the same room for a year – yippee! And all the fall picnics, Christmas parties, spring parties, pumpkin patch trips… just one set! Oh my goodness, I won’t know what to do with myself to only have to go to one set of events! Then there is the fact that she already knows the room and has interacted a fair amount with the teachers. It’s a no brainer.
Then AB reminds me, “but what about Leif? How will this impact him?” We have already, had a couple years of ups and downs with him in preschool. We have finally achieved a happy medium.
We went through the list of other options for Skadi and I have to keep reminding myself that even the “worst” rooms (by my assessment only) are far better than every other option available in our area. (Also my opinion only.)
But at the same time I remind myself I am NOT going to make the same mistake with Skadi that we did with Leif. Not that we really had control over a teacher who had been there for a decade leaving… and after finding out recently that she left due to a nasty cancer it makes me sorely regret my grumbling over it at the time.
AB’s answer is to look to Skadi’s 2nd teacher, “Ms S”. Ms S. told us from day one that Leif needed to go in the room he is in now, but we didn’t listen to her. We jumped on another room based upon our observations and really liking the head teacher, who then departed. And then later we dealt with problem after problem in this room. And then after a brutal year, moved him to his current room. My task this morning was to talk to Ms S and see where she would put Skadi.
Ms. S giggled and got in her two cents, “I TOLD you to put him in A.T., but you didn’t listen!!” she joked. I was about to offer to bow down before her and promise something, not sure what, when she whispered, “Put her in A.T. also.”
Then she and the head teacher went on to tell us that in anticipation of this they had already spoken with Leif’s teacher and that she was fine with having the siblings in her room and anticipated no problems at all.
The school offers observation times to the parents to go observe the rooms and see what they are all about. Naw, we don’t need to do this. We have a pretty good idea of what each room has to offer and who the teachers are. So as long as there is no great teacher change up, we should be golden.
Phew. One of the most stressful aspects is dealt with. It isn’t finalized, or submitted in writing yet. But it’s very nearly a done deal before the majority of her classroom has any inkling of what is hanging out there waiting for them. I love having the “been there, done that” advantage.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Snow
So we woke up this morning to a few inches of snow. Looks pretty and looks heavy.
AB and I are off today but sending the kids into school. I am feeling a bit guilty about this since it is still in my mind "Christmas break" - though I did work Monday thru Wednesday. I keep reminding myself that there will be MANY years when our kids are in public school and we have to take off 2 weeks to relish the time when I do have care, plus the fact that I am paying for it.
Anyways... the snow.
Woke up to snow. Got the kids ready. AB is taking them in right now. We go to look at houses again starting at noon today and have a meeting with the builder a little later.
I sit down at the computer and open my work e-mail.
Work delay.
You HAVE to be kidding me.
Not that I actually get to take advantage of it with my scheduled time off. But I wouldn't have even guessed! All that week with mounds and mounds of snow and we had one work delay that started at 9:30am? And now this slushy couple of inches constitutes a delay till 10am?
My kids will be the first ones at school today. (More guilt.)
AB and I are off today but sending the kids into school. I am feeling a bit guilty about this since it is still in my mind "Christmas break" - though I did work Monday thru Wednesday. I keep reminding myself that there will be MANY years when our kids are in public school and we have to take off 2 weeks to relish the time when I do have care, plus the fact that I am paying for it.
Anyways... the snow.
Woke up to snow. Got the kids ready. AB is taking them in right now. We go to look at houses again starting at noon today and have a meeting with the builder a little later.
I sit down at the computer and open my work e-mail.
Work delay.
You HAVE to be kidding me.
Not that I actually get to take advantage of it with my scheduled time off. But I wouldn't have even guessed! All that week with mounds and mounds of snow and we had one work delay that started at 9:30am? And now this slushy couple of inches constitutes a delay till 10am?
My kids will be the first ones at school today. (More guilt.)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Must go finish those Blurb photo books...
But first I had to put up some pictures from Skadi's Halloween party today.
Skadi and her best friend:
Skadi's other buds - and the mom of one.
Look mom I found a pumpkin!
Helping "M" get a pumpkin too.
Oops! They dropped it.
Skadi is quite pleased with her pumpkin and wondering what she should do with it next?
Of course the only logical thing to do with a pumpkin now is to sit on it. (I am positive she got this notion from the pumpkin patch visit when I forced she and Leif to sit on pumpkins for pictures.)
Taking it a step further...
Friday, August 29, 2008
A day
AB convinced me to take the day off. Take the day off and drop the kids at daycare/preschool.
He did great at convincing me, I cleared my schedule. Then *I* dictated the task list.
Paint. We painted and painted.
AB went and picked up paint this morning after dropping the kids (while I ran on the treadmill - love that thing - and then started taping off the bathroom). After the drop off he went to Home Depot and came home with paint AND a power roller. Figuring that at minimum we have the Master Bath to paint, our hallway to the garage and *maybe* (if you talk to AB) but *certainly* (if you talk to me) the Master Bedroom, and more likely we will be painting the interior of a new home eventually.
We worked our tail off in the bathroom and got a good amount done, probably 2/3's done?
Leif thinks we just started destroying the room for some reason and hopes we might plan to put it back together someday so he can take a "Big Bath".
After we were completely sick of painting we cleaned up and AB kept his promise to take me out to lunch.
Lunch ended up being about 3:30pm and we were a touch crunched for time to get the kids. Tagaris has a freaky limited menu between lunch and dinner and so we ventured to Bookwalter and drank wine and ordered plates after plates of tapa style and antipasto plates.
We were starved.
And we never go out just the two of us anymore. We had to live it up.
And their wines were quite tastey.
It was a good day off, well worth my 8 hour expenditure.
He did great at convincing me, I cleared my schedule. Then *I* dictated the task list.
Paint. We painted and painted.
AB went and picked up paint this morning after dropping the kids (while I ran on the treadmill - love that thing - and then started taping off the bathroom). After the drop off he went to Home Depot and came home with paint AND a power roller. Figuring that at minimum we have the Master Bath to paint, our hallway to the garage and *maybe* (if you talk to AB) but *certainly* (if you talk to me) the Master Bedroom, and more likely we will be painting the interior of a new home eventually.
We worked our tail off in the bathroom and got a good amount done, probably 2/3's done?
Leif thinks we just started destroying the room for some reason and hopes we might plan to put it back together someday so he can take a "Big Bath".
After we were completely sick of painting we cleaned up and AB kept his promise to take me out to lunch.
Lunch ended up being about 3:30pm and we were a touch crunched for time to get the kids. Tagaris has a freaky limited menu between lunch and dinner and so we ventured to Bookwalter and drank wine and ordered plates after plates of tapa style and antipasto plates.
We were starved.
And we never go out just the two of us anymore. We had to live it up.
And their wines were quite tastey.
It was a good day off, well worth my 8 hour expenditure.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Weekend recap
This morning I grabbed my bill for Leif's preschool out of my mail envelope. I glanced at the total a little shocked. They usually don't make mistakes. In fact, I am usually shocked at how precise they get the bills.
Why then was my bill $400 more than I was anticipating?
I sat in the car going over it with a fine toothed comb until I came to the offending charge.
Nevermind I thought.
Skadi, June 16th-30th.
YAY! My daughter is really starting soon! They expect me to pay them!
Not only that but I revelled a little in the 10% sibling discount that each child received.
Last Friday I stopped by the director's office to remind her that we would only be at Skadi's current daycare for another two weeks.
"I know," she sighed, "though I don't think we are going to let this happen. [Her teacher] and I have agreed that we don't think you can take her away from us,"
The director is good at putting on a front. She is a super nice woman, but I am not kidding myself that they aren't counting the days as well. From the number of times I walk into her office complaining about little things, to Skadi screaming at the teachers most days. They aren't going to miss us. I don't expect there to be tears shed over our departure this time around.
Saturday we had the usual morning activities. Swimming and then a trip to Costco. Skadi loves her swimming class, far more than Leif did at this age. I can barely hold on to her when they release the balls all around her and her little body flails to grab balls and she climbs over the other babies to get to the basket to put them in. Her teacher did the ball routine four times as compared to the usual two only because Skadi was such a little riot to watch. She would be pleased to retrieve balls through the whole swim lesson.
We made a trip to Costco afterwards, pre-empting the planned trip to Farmer's Market when our friends told us it was a lot of fun if you want asparagus. We like asparagus... but there is only so much asparagus one family needs. Instead we went and spent way too much money at Costco.
After putting all the food away we decided on a new goal... aside from fresh fruits, veggies and milk, we are not buying anything at the grocery store. Our pantry and freezer have reached frightening stages. That stage where you just aren't even sure what is in there anymore so you just buy new. Yeah, that stage. The goal in the next three weeks is to empty it.
(Just glad I got two bags of my new favorite chips at Costco the other day!)
Saturday afternoon was a lot of playing in the backyard by Leif, a lot of cleaning and organizing the house by me, sleeping by Skadi, and working on stuff by AB. Then AB and Leif installed the new carseat in AB's car. That took a fair amount of time actually. The seat is a one size fits all type of thing that is substantially smaller than his Regent in my car. We bought it for AB's car so he can haul both kids on the rare occasion he does so, but mostly for travel because traveling with the Britax Regent might just be near impossible. We purchased a Graco Nautilus. I had intended to find and buy the seat a few months ago but apparently it is one of the hot new seats that everyone wants (goes from 30-100 lbs), and it was back ordered nearly everywhere.
Of course the installation of this seat prompted some lamenting from my husband that I have been fearing was coming.
"I need a new car, I cannot install these seats properly without LATCH," he said.
And no joke. We both worked on it with our little sidekick barking out commands on the side, "here let me sit in it and see if it works", "let's put a cup in the cup holder and see if it helps!" (You were right Pam, Leif loves the cup holder.)
We keep pushing back the actual purchase of a new car. We know what we want. My car is paid off this month. We can stick to our rule of not buying a new car until the other is paid off. But making that actual step is seeming painful right now.
I fear a minivan (Toyota Sienna) is in my future. I envision a love-hate relationship since I was one of those women who swore I would never own a minivan.
AB is looking over taking the reigns on my 4Runner. But I am not sure I am ready to surrender it. All over the news is talk about people scrambling to get rid of their SUVs thanks to high gas prices. I suppose maybe it's that I don't drive that much (I fill up every other week), or that I am lucky enough that while I don't like gas prices right now I can still afford them, or that I just plain like my 4Runner. More than like... I love my 4Runner.
Ah well... I am sure I will enjoy the amenities of a minivan as well.
Why then was my bill $400 more than I was anticipating?
I sat in the car going over it with a fine toothed comb until I came to the offending charge.
Nevermind I thought.
Skadi, June 16th-30th.
YAY! My daughter is really starting soon! They expect me to pay them!
Not only that but I revelled a little in the 10% sibling discount that each child received.
Last Friday I stopped by the director's office to remind her that we would only be at Skadi's current daycare for another two weeks.
"I know," she sighed, "though I don't think we are going to let this happen. [Her teacher] and I have agreed that we don't think you can take her away from us,"
The director is good at putting on a front. She is a super nice woman, but I am not kidding myself that they aren't counting the days as well. From the number of times I walk into her office complaining about little things, to Skadi screaming at the teachers most days. They aren't going to miss us. I don't expect there to be tears shed over our departure this time around.
Saturday we had the usual morning activities. Swimming and then a trip to Costco. Skadi loves her swimming class, far more than Leif did at this age. I can barely hold on to her when they release the balls all around her and her little body flails to grab balls and she climbs over the other babies to get to the basket to put them in. Her teacher did the ball routine four times as compared to the usual two only because Skadi was such a little riot to watch. She would be pleased to retrieve balls through the whole swim lesson.
We made a trip to Costco afterwards, pre-empting the planned trip to Farmer's Market when our friends told us it was a lot of fun if you want asparagus. We like asparagus... but there is only so much asparagus one family needs. Instead we went and spent way too much money at Costco.
After putting all the food away we decided on a new goal... aside from fresh fruits, veggies and milk, we are not buying anything at the grocery store. Our pantry and freezer have reached frightening stages. That stage where you just aren't even sure what is in there anymore so you just buy new. Yeah, that stage. The goal in the next three weeks is to empty it.
(Just glad I got two bags of my new favorite chips at Costco the other day!)
Saturday afternoon was a lot of playing in the backyard by Leif, a lot of cleaning and organizing the house by me, sleeping by Skadi, and working on stuff by AB. Then AB and Leif installed the new carseat in AB's car. That took a fair amount of time actually. The seat is a one size fits all type of thing that is substantially smaller than his Regent in my car. We bought it for AB's car so he can haul both kids on the rare occasion he does so, but mostly for travel because traveling with the Britax Regent might just be near impossible. We purchased a Graco Nautilus. I had intended to find and buy the seat a few months ago but apparently it is one of the hot new seats that everyone wants (goes from 30-100 lbs), and it was back ordered nearly everywhere.
Of course the installation of this seat prompted some lamenting from my husband that I have been fearing was coming.
"I need a new car, I cannot install these seats properly without LATCH," he said.
And no joke. We both worked on it with our little sidekick barking out commands on the side, "here let me sit in it and see if it works", "let's put a cup in the cup holder and see if it helps!" (You were right Pam, Leif loves the cup holder.)
We keep pushing back the actual purchase of a new car. We know what we want. My car is paid off this month. We can stick to our rule of not buying a new car until the other is paid off. But making that actual step is seeming painful right now.
I fear a minivan (Toyota Sienna) is in my future. I envision a love-hate relationship since I was one of those women who swore I would never own a minivan.
AB is looking over taking the reigns on my 4Runner. But I am not sure I am ready to surrender it. All over the news is talk about people scrambling to get rid of their SUVs thanks to high gas prices. I suppose maybe it's that I don't drive that much (I fill up every other week), or that I am lucky enough that while I don't like gas prices right now I can still afford them, or that I just plain like my 4Runner. More than like... I love my 4Runner.
Ah well... I am sure I will enjoy the amenities of a minivan as well.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Daycare Dramas
Those of you who know me, know that I am not overly prone to complaining about daycare. 99.9% of the time I am lucky to have superb daycare. We have had a few stumbles with Leif this past year in his first year of preschool, but we are on a good path with him. He will start in a new room on June 16th, again as a first year preschooler.
With his late summer birthday we don't expect to be putting him in kindergarten at age five. Of course it is all complicated given that we are in private preschool, he will do kindergarten at the private school and he will work at his own pace. So I guess I should be saying, we won't be putting him into 1st grade when he is 6. While I don't relish the thought of paying another year of tuition... and I still hold out hopes for another baby before I am 40 without having to pay three daycare/preschool tuitions, this is the best thing for him. And insuring his success in the future is the most important among those other things.
Then there is Skadi.
I left dropoff yesterday crying. I haven't cried dropping off a child at daycare since Leif's first day of daycare. I sat in my car and talked to AB on the phone contemplating going back in, retrieving my child, declaring myself on FMLA for the next three weeks and taking her home.
AB talked me down saying he would do some checking around and actually did end up with a few other options. I went to my office and waited the long 30 minutes before picking up the phone and calling her daycare to see if she had calmed down. She had. She said hi to me on the phone and was sitting at the table in Room Chaos eating crackers.
It is only three weeks until she starts at Leif's school. They thought of her having to transition twice to another intermediate temporary care before going to the other school kills me. She doesn't transition well at all. But it is an option. As is my taking 3 weeks off (without pay) to stay home with her.
She has two teachers right now. Quiet and Mean. Quiet is the head teacher who is always changing diapers. I mean when you have 14 toddlers in a room what else does one teacher do most of the time? Mean likes to sit there with her clipboard yelling and complaining.
Mean walked in with us this morning. She immediately hit the roof when she saw one of the children on the little kid size sink.
After she screamed at him she went off talking to me. "I don't know who the hell thought that a sink in this room was appropriate, but it isn't. That is THE stupidest idea ever." (Was not thrilled about her saying "hell" and "stupid" in front of the kids, but that is just something to add to my list.)
I said nothing.
See at the school Skadi will go to they also have a sink. And they have a stool. And they teach the kids in this age group how to use the stool to climb up, wash their hands, get a drink of water, turn the water on and off and to use the sink one at a time. And yes... they can play in it too.
Because it is JUST water.
My mantra is three weeks. Just three more weeks.
With his late summer birthday we don't expect to be putting him in kindergarten at age five. Of course it is all complicated given that we are in private preschool, he will do kindergarten at the private school and he will work at his own pace. So I guess I should be saying, we won't be putting him into 1st grade when he is 6. While I don't relish the thought of paying another year of tuition... and I still hold out hopes for another baby before I am 40 without having to pay three daycare/preschool tuitions, this is the best thing for him. And insuring his success in the future is the most important among those other things.
Then there is Skadi.
I left dropoff yesterday crying. I haven't cried dropping off a child at daycare since Leif's first day of daycare. I sat in my car and talked to AB on the phone contemplating going back in, retrieving my child, declaring myself on FMLA for the next three weeks and taking her home.
AB talked me down saying he would do some checking around and actually did end up with a few other options. I went to my office and waited the long 30 minutes before picking up the phone and calling her daycare to see if she had calmed down. She had. She said hi to me on the phone and was sitting at the table in Room Chaos eating crackers.
It is only three weeks until she starts at Leif's school. They thought of her having to transition twice to another intermediate temporary care before going to the other school kills me. She doesn't transition well at all. But it is an option. As is my taking 3 weeks off (without pay) to stay home with her.
She has two teachers right now. Quiet and Mean. Quiet is the head teacher who is always changing diapers. I mean when you have 14 toddlers in a room what else does one teacher do most of the time? Mean likes to sit there with her clipboard yelling and complaining.
Mean walked in with us this morning. She immediately hit the roof when she saw one of the children on the little kid size sink.
After she screamed at him she went off talking to me. "I don't know who the hell thought that a sink in this room was appropriate, but it isn't. That is THE stupidest idea ever." (Was not thrilled about her saying "hell" and "stupid" in front of the kids, but that is just something to add to my list.)
I said nothing.
See at the school Skadi will go to they also have a sink. And they have a stool. And they teach the kids in this age group how to use the stool to climb up, wash their hands, get a drink of water, turn the water on and off and to use the sink one at a time. And yes... they can play in it too.
Because it is JUST water.
My mantra is three weeks. Just three more weeks.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Vindication!
So I can't find if I actually posted this summer about my quandry with Leif's school and his clothes. I probably just whined to V about it. But the jist is they kept putting notes he needed clothes in his box. I kept bringing them in. None of them were coming home. He would need changes of clothes and they would send him home in oddball "extra" items from the classroom. When I brought it up, they denied that they had any extra clothes of his.
I was at my wits end. It was financially a hard time for us with AB being out of work and I couldn't just afford to keep losing clothes. It frustrated me and annoyed me.
Yesterday. Sitting in his box. Two bags with:
7 pairs of underwear
4 t-shirts
3 pairs of shorts
2 pairs of underwear that weren't his
1 pair of panties that were definitely not his
I am vindicated. Yes, they did have a ton of his clothing there.
Do I feel better? Not hugely since these were t-shirts and shorts that were out of commission the entire summer and won't fit him next summer most likely.
It also makes a case for having cheap clothes only go to school. AB noted (amazingly enough) that two of the t-shirts were even his nicer Gymborree t-shirts and not the cheap Old Navy or Target ones. Note to self... don't be lazy in the future. Send the crappy clothes as extras.
I was at my wits end. It was financially a hard time for us with AB being out of work and I couldn't just afford to keep losing clothes. It frustrated me and annoyed me.
Yesterday. Sitting in his box. Two bags with:
7 pairs of underwear
4 t-shirts
3 pairs of shorts
2 pairs of underwear that weren't his
1 pair of panties that were definitely not his
I am vindicated. Yes, they did have a ton of his clothing there.
Do I feel better? Not hugely since these were t-shirts and shorts that were out of commission the entire summer and won't fit him next summer most likely.
It also makes a case for having cheap clothes only go to school. AB noted (amazingly enough) that two of the t-shirts were even his nicer Gymborree t-shirts and not the cheap Old Navy or Target ones. Note to self... don't be lazy in the future. Send the crappy clothes as extras.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
So this explains the trend to have one parent stay home
It is weeks/months like the past few in our household.
With one child, who had been through the ailments and illnesses that accompany daycare, we could deal with us both working. Paying one daycare tuition was acceptable. And splitting time off when someone needed to be home with Leif was tolerable.
Then Skaders arrived. And she is truly one of the two best things that have ever happened to us. (I don't want to give the impression I am blaming her.) Then AB took an internship (read no benefits - vacation, sick time or insurance). All that was fine in the name of getting experience and I carried the family on my insurance. And it paid off. AB is in the process of being hired on fully by a great company (though one that doesn't realize there is a child who could really use the extra dental insurance in the next 7 days).
And here I am going to sound like an excessive whiner, but it is taking its toll. Being the sole one responsible for doctor's appointments and staying home with the kids when sick, while I wouldn't have it any other way given the choice, it is hard with a full time career. I have said it before, I will say it again, I don't know what single parents do. AB works out of town and with no paid leave, it just doesn't make sense for him to try and take off to do this stuff, particularly while he is trying to prove himself to his management.
My manager called me today. As explained previously, my manager never calls. And being that the last time she called I got a mid-year raise I have to admit hearing her voice raised my hopes there for a nanosecond.
Nope, she called to talk to me about my chargeable hours goal for the fiscal year and see what my plan was. I admitted to having missed filling out my timecard yesterday since I was home with a sick kid (that I DID e-mail her about). Therefore my chargeable goal was 8 hours off. And yes, I realize that still left me teetering on the brink, but I actually was (just barely) within guidelines.
She told me she was concerned as I had zero, zippo, nadda sick time left (thank you maternity leave policies that I could rant about). Yet in my e-mail regarding my schedule for the coming week I told her I would be out for a full day for my son's dental work. She fully understood this necessity, but reminded me this would either be on vacation time or she would authorize unpaid leave because I could not flex this time so close to the fiscal year end, nor could I use sick time. (Don't even get me started on my banked time sitting there, waiting to be "used when one most needs it"...)
She was quite polite about it all. She gets it, she has three kids. And she admitted that she knew how hard this is in the first year after a new baby. I don't blame her. I don't know who I blame. Nobody really. Maybe benefits a little for not letting me at those 24 or so banked hours...
Picking up Skadi didn't help a whole lot. She had a rough day thanks to tooth #2 pushing it's way through her little gum. Combined with the recovery from this skin issue she had and I blogged about yesterday. It was just a sucky day for her. I am tired of her getting bumped to the other room for no apparent reason. I am tired of the dipshit second teacher over there who is having serious bouts of pregnancy brain and threw her clothes away today. Brand new outfit in the trash. I stood there and waited for them to find her clothes... thankfully.
It is hard having been on "the other side" and seeing the other option for care conveniently only once the kids are 1 year old. Maybe it was this bad when Leif was there... maybe I just didn't know any better and now I do.
I went home and looked at AB (after going and buying last minute new shoes for Leif on the way home since his broke today at school and he was very upset about it). I told him if I went to 80% time I could take Mondays off, he will have Fridays off and we could drop Skaders to 3 days a week at daycare. He pointed at our son's mouth. Then reminded me of the debt that accumulated from a year of unemployment and three years of tuition for his Masters.
Nevermind.
Lotto anyone?
With one child, who had been through the ailments and illnesses that accompany daycare, we could deal with us both working. Paying one daycare tuition was acceptable. And splitting time off when someone needed to be home with Leif was tolerable.
Then Skaders arrived. And she is truly one of the two best things that have ever happened to us. (I don't want to give the impression I am blaming her.) Then AB took an internship (read no benefits - vacation, sick time or insurance). All that was fine in the name of getting experience and I carried the family on my insurance. And it paid off. AB is in the process of being hired on fully by a great company (though one that doesn't realize there is a child who could really use the extra dental insurance in the next 7 days).
And here I am going to sound like an excessive whiner, but it is taking its toll. Being the sole one responsible for doctor's appointments and staying home with the kids when sick, while I wouldn't have it any other way given the choice, it is hard with a full time career. I have said it before, I will say it again, I don't know what single parents do. AB works out of town and with no paid leave, it just doesn't make sense for him to try and take off to do this stuff, particularly while he is trying to prove himself to his management.
My manager called me today. As explained previously, my manager never calls. And being that the last time she called I got a mid-year raise I have to admit hearing her voice raised my hopes there for a nanosecond.
Nope, she called to talk to me about my chargeable hours goal for the fiscal year and see what my plan was. I admitted to having missed filling out my timecard yesterday since I was home with a sick kid (that I DID e-mail her about). Therefore my chargeable goal was 8 hours off. And yes, I realize that still left me teetering on the brink, but I actually was (just barely) within guidelines.
She told me she was concerned as I had zero, zippo, nadda sick time left (thank you maternity leave policies that I could rant about). Yet in my e-mail regarding my schedule for the coming week I told her I would be out for a full day for my son's dental work. She fully understood this necessity, but reminded me this would either be on vacation time or she would authorize unpaid leave because I could not flex this time so close to the fiscal year end, nor could I use sick time. (Don't even get me started on my banked time sitting there, waiting to be "used when one most needs it"...)
She was quite polite about it all. She gets it, she has three kids. And she admitted that she knew how hard this is in the first year after a new baby. I don't blame her. I don't know who I blame. Nobody really. Maybe benefits a little for not letting me at those 24 or so banked hours...
Picking up Skadi didn't help a whole lot. She had a rough day thanks to tooth #2 pushing it's way through her little gum. Combined with the recovery from this skin issue she had and I blogged about yesterday. It was just a sucky day for her. I am tired of her getting bumped to the other room for no apparent reason. I am tired of the dipshit second teacher over there who is having serious bouts of pregnancy brain and threw her clothes away today. Brand new outfit in the trash. I stood there and waited for them to find her clothes... thankfully.
It is hard having been on "the other side" and seeing the other option for care conveniently only once the kids are 1 year old. Maybe it was this bad when Leif was there... maybe I just didn't know any better and now I do.
I went home and looked at AB (after going and buying last minute new shoes for Leif on the way home since his broke today at school and he was very upset about it). I told him if I went to 80% time I could take Mondays off, he will have Fridays off and we could drop Skaders to 3 days a week at daycare. He pointed at our son's mouth. Then reminded me of the debt that accumulated from a year of unemployment and three years of tuition for his Masters.
Nevermind.
Lotto anyone?
Friday, August 17, 2007
The problem with really good childcare
Is that when it isn't "really good" it is glaringly obvious.
I am presently counting the weeks until Skadi moves over to Little AB's Montessori school. I hate the thought of being eager for her to grow up. I want her to stay little (ok, young... nothing little about my girl)... I want her to stay young for as long as possible. But I can't help being frustrated with "standard" childcare.
When the day came to put her in daycare I had no problem walking in and dropping her off with Leif's old teacher and her new accomplice. Over the summer enrollment has dropped. The new accomplice tendered her resignation in favor of working road construction as a flagger (?!?!). And here we are.
I would be fine if she was in the room all day with Leif's old teacher as I requested and was assured would happen. I was OK, when she started spending 2.5 hours in the afternoon until I could pick her up in the other infant room. I am not fine with her being over in the other room for full days now.
I realize it is all logistics. Our favorite teacher works from 6:30am to 2:30pm. There are four babies who arrive before we, and the other infant room teachers do. Which means that those four babies are set up in the room by the time lucky #5 arrives. (That would be us.)
Arriving earlier? Yeah I have been missing my Wednesday telecons partly because I haven't quite mastered getting both kids up and the three of us ready and out of the house at a decent time. (The other part being that the project is short on funds and since my role is strictly consultant, I am expendable. No need to walk in late.) Additionally arriving earlier would mean I would need to pay more for extra hours for Leif. Just not happening.
I can hope enrollment picks up when school starts, thereby forcing them to hire another teacher to work with Miss R. I can wait to see what shakes down next week when Skadi's cohort returns from visiting family in Germany (thereby increasing enrollment by one.) I can (and will) go and talk to the director about wanting Skadi in IR1 and the apparent lack of care in IR2. (And do I mention the fact that one of the IR2 teachers doesn't put her own children in proper carseats thereby forcing me to call into question her ability to safely and properly care for my kid?) All of these things I can say. Though I doubt it will force anyone into action. Logistics of a daycare business.
I have spent a little time today searching au pair and nanny sites. Maybe if I had someone to care for Skadi all day in our home and help me get Leif ready in the mornings things would run a little smoother for us all. But the going rate for personal care is not easy to swallow. (Not that I am getting by on the cheap with our current daycare where I am paying $35 more a week with Skadi than I did with Leif at this age - that's 18% more in three years. Not complaining... I am just saying.)
But then I come back to how much I like being able to go see and feed Skadi at lunchtime and her being only 5 minutes from me. How much is that worth?
I am presently counting the weeks until Skadi moves over to Little AB's Montessori school. I hate the thought of being eager for her to grow up. I want her to stay little (ok, young... nothing little about my girl)... I want her to stay young for as long as possible. But I can't help being frustrated with "standard" childcare.
When the day came to put her in daycare I had no problem walking in and dropping her off with Leif's old teacher and her new accomplice. Over the summer enrollment has dropped. The new accomplice tendered her resignation in favor of working road construction as a flagger (?!?!). And here we are.
I would be fine if she was in the room all day with Leif's old teacher as I requested and was assured would happen. I was OK, when she started spending 2.5 hours in the afternoon until I could pick her up in the other infant room. I am not fine with her being over in the other room for full days now.
I realize it is all logistics. Our favorite teacher works from 6:30am to 2:30pm. There are four babies who arrive before we, and the other infant room teachers do. Which means that those four babies are set up in the room by the time lucky #5 arrives. (That would be us.)
Arriving earlier? Yeah I have been missing my Wednesday telecons partly because I haven't quite mastered getting both kids up and the three of us ready and out of the house at a decent time. (The other part being that the project is short on funds and since my role is strictly consultant, I am expendable. No need to walk in late.) Additionally arriving earlier would mean I would need to pay more for extra hours for Leif. Just not happening.
I can hope enrollment picks up when school starts, thereby forcing them to hire another teacher to work with Miss R. I can wait to see what shakes down next week when Skadi's cohort returns from visiting family in Germany (thereby increasing enrollment by one.) I can (and will) go and talk to the director about wanting Skadi in IR1 and the apparent lack of care in IR2. (And do I mention the fact that one of the IR2 teachers doesn't put her own children in proper carseats thereby forcing me to call into question her ability to safely and properly care for my kid?) All of these things I can say. Though I doubt it will force anyone into action. Logistics of a daycare business.
I have spent a little time today searching au pair and nanny sites. Maybe if I had someone to care for Skadi all day in our home and help me get Leif ready in the mornings things would run a little smoother for us all. But the going rate for personal care is not easy to swallow. (Not that I am getting by on the cheap with our current daycare where I am paying $35 more a week with Skadi than I did with Leif at this age - that's 18% more in three years. Not complaining... I am just saying.)
But then I come back to how much I like being able to go see and feed Skadi at lunchtime and her being only 5 minutes from me. How much is that worth?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Something like being robbed
Yesterday when I went to pick Skadi up, one of my favorite substitutes was manning the room. She was a regular in the infant room when Leif was there. A little ditzy, but talk about love the kids. She does. And she really does try. (As compared to a few other teachers who amaze me with their abilities to shut off their brain to the screams of an unhappy infant.)
She told me while smiling that she and her new husband are going to try to have a baby here in a year or so and that their number one name for a girl is Skadi. Told me how she just loves the name.
I wonder if she felt the daggers from my eyeballs hit?
Skadi as a name, as I have said before, is either loved or hated. Some people are indifferent. Then there is my grandmother who spent a week with us in June and still can't figure out how to pronounce her name. It doesn't matter since we love it, it holds meaning for us and I can't imagine our daughter being named anything else.
If someone told me they wanted to name their son Leif, I would be fine with that. His is a popular enough name. I am not sure I can put into words why this bugs me so. Why I need my daughter to be the one and only.
When I told AB this last night he reminded me that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Also added in, "wouldn't it be cool if we started a trend?"
No! It wouldn't be cool! My daughter's name is unique (some might say uneek), but it is her. My red haired, blue eyed, fair skinned daughter IS Skadi, the one and only.
I know, if I am that torn up about it, tell her. But I could never do that. I mean, if you love a name, you should use it. No matter what. Maybe... over the next few years she will happen upon another name she loves. Maybe she won't even have a girl.
She told me while smiling that she and her new husband are going to try to have a baby here in a year or so and that their number one name for a girl is Skadi. Told me how she just loves the name.
I wonder if she felt the daggers from my eyeballs hit?
Skadi as a name, as I have said before, is either loved or hated. Some people are indifferent. Then there is my grandmother who spent a week with us in June and still can't figure out how to pronounce her name. It doesn't matter since we love it, it holds meaning for us and I can't imagine our daughter being named anything else.
If someone told me they wanted to name their son Leif, I would be fine with that. His is a popular enough name. I am not sure I can put into words why this bugs me so. Why I need my daughter to be the one and only.
When I told AB this last night he reminded me that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Also added in, "wouldn't it be cool if we started a trend?"
No! It wouldn't be cool! My daughter's name is unique (some might say uneek), but it is her. My red haired, blue eyed, fair skinned daughter IS Skadi, the one and only.
I know, if I am that torn up about it, tell her. But I could never do that. I mean, if you love a name, you should use it. No matter what. Maybe... over the next few years she will happen upon another name she loves. Maybe she won't even have a girl.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Blanket Update
All the illicit items had been taken to the office for pick-up by the parents. The provider didn't know this at the timeI picked up Skadi the other day. However, when I went to inquire as to how to contact the person who confiscated the blanket about getting it back, there it was with a stack of other items like two diaper bags with unsigned in medications in them.
Blanket is safe at home now.
Blanket is safe at home now.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Who steals a baby's blanket?
Evidently the State of Washington Health Department has no problem with that. Skadi? Not so happy about it.
The Health department showed up at daycare yesterday for an inspection. Glad they do it and all, but there might be a little bit of taking it to the extreme going on.
Apparently Skadi's blanket that I so lovingly picked out as her "daycare blanket" is not appropriate for an infant. Skadi likes to chew on things and pulls her blanket up and chews on it before she falls asleep. Well evidently this thick pile is not breathable enough, making it a SIDS risk.
*sigh*
I know... things happen, awful things can happen. And who wants to risk it? No, I don't want to risk it.
But they took her blanket AWAY!
(Now I have to go find a new blanket that meets specs... called my grandma to bug her about a nice holey crocheted blanket for her youngest great granddaughter and she is going to work on something... and you can assume that there was much drama surrounding this request, because lately nothing can be easy.)
The Health department showed up at daycare yesterday for an inspection. Glad they do it and all, but there might be a little bit of taking it to the extreme going on.
Apparently Skadi's blanket that I so lovingly picked out as her "daycare blanket" is not appropriate for an infant. Skadi likes to chew on things and pulls her blanket up and chews on it before she falls asleep. Well evidently this thick pile is not breathable enough, making it a SIDS risk.
*sigh*
I know... things happen, awful things can happen. And who wants to risk it? No, I don't want to risk it.
But they took her blanket AWAY!
(Now I have to go find a new blanket that meets specs... called my grandma to bug her about a nice holey crocheted blanket for her youngest great granddaughter and she is going to work on something... and you can assume that there was much drama surrounding this request, because lately nothing can be easy.)
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