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Busted!

17 Sep

At first I thought it would just be our little secret.  Nia would never have to know that Nate and I entered her sanctuary while she was at school.  He just gets so happy when the door is left open so he can run in and look wide-eyed at everything he never gets to play with – then go to town with a huge smile on his face.  I thought, if I just put all the toys he’s enjoying back before we go to pick her up, she’ll never know that her precious princess room had been invaded. How could I forget that Nia is very special and has a genius brain and awesome memory?

We were only back in the house for like 5 minutes when she walked over to me holding a ball and had a look on her face like she knew something was fishy.

“Momma.  Why is this ball out of my room?”

BUSTED!  I smile at her not really knowing what to say.  Should I lie?  “I don’t know why that’s out of your room.  How would I know how it got out of your room?”  Should I fall on the floor and beg for forgiveness for allowing her little brother – the one she always slams the door on as she scurries off in her room – to touch all the toys that she freaks out when he has?  WHAT?  First of all, what kind of example would I be if I lied to my child?  (Plus, I can’t lie for my life.) Second, she’s 4!  Why in the world am I worried that a 4-year-old will be mad at me?  Who’s the adult here?  What’s my deal?

I look at her and smile and say, “Nate brought it out here.”

“How did Nate get it?”
“I let him in your room while I was putting your clean clothes away.”  (NOT A LIE – This is the true reason why we were in there in the first place – I just thought it would be a shame to kick him out after I was finished – he was having so much fun!)
“Mommmmmaaaaa” she says with her head to the side and a look of disappointment on her face.

Phew.  I got away with it this time!  I’ll have to be more careful next time!

 

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We have Communication!

15 Sep

Our little man is finally trying to speak!  It is so fun and sweet to hear him try to say words.  There are some words he says really well – “bubbles” and “no” are two that quickly come to mind.  With other words he still has a long way to go – his “thank you” is more a “de de” and his “Nia” is still a “ea” but still – it’s the fact that he’s trying!  In fact, just now he came up to me and said “Mommy. Nack? Nack?”  (He’s adorably asking for a snack.)  He just finished breakfast but how could I tell him no?!?!  He even walked to the pantry door as he was saying “nack” and tried to say “please” – “peas?”  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for baby speak.

I know other kids his age (around 20-21 months) are speaking much better and saying more words but I also know every child develops differently.  He might have been walking way earlier than they were.  (He was practically running by 12 months.)  Nia was singing her alphabet and knew her colors and shapes by now but she took a good 3 months longer to walk than him.  I was just getting worried that he would never grow out of his caveman grunts and his deafening shrieks. I’m so glad I don’t have to decipher (or brace myself for) those anymore!

Just to give you an example of some of the things he says now – I tried to get him to Nate-speak on video.  Here’s how it came out –

Oh yeah – in case you were wondering why I ask him to say “pee-pee” – well, let’s just say his daddy taught him that word and he was saying it more than he was saying “mommy” for awhile.  I see where I stand.

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Nia’s Advice to Mom

15 Sep

Sometimes, it is really difficult to get Nia moving.  She eats super slow.  She walks super slow.  She follows instructions super slow.  That’s all fine when we’re not in a hurry to get somewhere or we haven’t told her a gazillion times to do something.  That’s what was happening the other night.

It was almost time to start the bedtime routine so I told her to go potty and put on her pajamas.  She kept playing.  I told her it wasn’t play time now – it was night-night time and again told her to get pjs.  At that point, she got up from the toys and walked toward the bathroom but she stopped at every toy along the way and even took a few with her.  Again, I told her to get ready for bed.  (Of course, I wasn’t using the sweet mommy voice anymore – I was using the exhausted, haven’t I told you this like 3 times already mommy voice.)

Her response was so awesome.  She looked at me so funny and put her hands up and said, “It’s ok Momma, please don’t freak out – I’m just putting the toys in my room.”

What could I say to that?  All I could do is laugh. It’s funny too because I really didn’t care anymore that she wasn’t moving fast enough.  What was the hurry anyway?  I really do need to follow her advice more often.  Don’t freak out.
 

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Nate: The Dancing Fool

13 Sep

I don’t know what it is about certain Justin Timberlake songs – but whenever Nate hears them, he freezes and then runs to where the music is coming from and breaks it down.  As you can see, he really gets into it. (Sometimes a little too much.)

 

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Nia’s Concept of Age

13 Sep

Me – “What was your favorite thing to do at the beach?”

Nia – “Going in the big waves with daddy.”

Me – “You were so brave. I was scared because daddy took you out so far but you were very brave.”

Nia – “Yeah, that’s cause I’m 4T.  When you’re 1T or 2T or 3T* you aren’t brave but when you are 4T you are.”

*(In case you don’t know what 1T, 2T, 3T or 4T means – it’s the sizes of children’s clothes.  2 Toddler, 3 Toddler, 4 Toddler.  There’s no such thing as a 1T but Nia thinks there is since that’s the way her clothes have been labeled.)

Catchin' Some Waves

"I'm 4T!"

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Beach Memories

7 Sep

Beautiful Beach
Where to begin? I just really don’t know. Right now, two days after leaving Tybee Island, the adults are pooped and the kids are sick.  I kind of feel like a need a vacation from the vacation. It’s not to say that I didn’t have a great time – I did – at times. At other times – well, it’s just hard being away from the comforts of home. It’s so hard to write about the negatives when, looking back on it all, so many positive things happened and some of them even came out of the negatives. That’s why I’m going to take a somewhat easy way out and basically summarize the entire trip (the good, the crazy and the yuck) through my experiences.

  • Great quality time, conversations and laughs with loved ones – especially sitting outside until 1 am-ish just hours before the storm rolled in and playing games (BUNCO! RULES and Nia and I totally need to stay away from Guitar Hero)
  • Getting to visit with friends – Paul, Karen, Brian and Baby Andrew – thanks for coming all the way out to share smiles!  Miss you!
  • Sharing the beauty of the beach with Andrew’s parents and my mom – Nia loved looking for sandy treasures with her Papa Dave – very special
  • Watching Nia and her BFF Avery play like they’re together all the time
  • Getting to see how much our niece (Baby Ella) is growing up – she has the cutest little voice and pronounces words so precise – it’s adorable!  The word “yes” is especially cute.
  • Getting to see (sort of) our other baby niece who is now comfy and cozy in her mommy’s belly (the prettiest pregnant lady in the world!)
  • Screaming children (Nate) in confined spaces
  • Screaming children (many) in awesome waves
  • Leaky roof, pots filled with slimy, brown water (when we called the rental agency, they told us there was a mop in the closet! ha!)
  • Laughing about the leaky roof and the
  • No power for an hour on our first morning
  • Andrew acting giddy because we have no power
  • Soaking rain for our first two days
  • Playing in the rain (Ginger and I being carefree and braving the rough waves)
  • Taking advantage of the sunny spots during the rainy days (we didn’t miss a day on the beach!)
  • Sick children (3 children diagnosed with strep – 2 of them also have ear infections and Nia is struggling with a high fever and sore throat now – so far no strep but she still has something!)
  • Happy children – (before, during and after the illnesses) – it was so hard to tear them away from the beach
  • Bad eye luck – Ginger was forced to bury a contact in the sand (she was on her last pair at the time) – Nate the Destroyer got his mitts on Andrew’s glasses at the same time one of his last contacts was unwearable – my mom accidentally dropped her glasses on the concrete and now has two chips right in the middle of a lens
  • Getting to go on a hot date with my husband of 7 years – we’re so glad we could share our anniversary with so many people we love
  • Eating my very own crab legs for the first time – I can’t believe I cracked them all by myself!
  • Can you say yum?  I certainly did thanks to Breakfast Chef Ginger.  (Eggs, bacon, grits, sausage, biscuits and gravy – I just had me some more of ’em grits today – I’m hooked!)
  • Four scoops of ice cream that ended up hitting the table before Nia could even taste it
  • Daddy making it all ok and telling both of his girls not to cry over spilled ice cream
  • New dents for Nate’s skull – I think he hit his head something like 3 times in 3 hours.  And don’t even get me started about one table that was the perfect toddler/infant height!  3 kids had bruised heads!
  • Speaking of heads and dangerous objects – this is all I have to say – ceiling fan. Those who know what I’m talking about will understand – those who don’t – you’ll have to ask me one day – it’s just too hard to describe on here without coming across as a complete jerk
  • Being on WSAV – I thought I quit?!?!  Paul – that was all for you buddy
  • Running after Nate as he chased birds on the beach yelling “B”
  • Witnessing the immense joy and excitement the ocean stirred up in the kids – their happiness topped everything
Hitchin’ a Ride
Getting Sandy
The chase is on…
The Happy Heidels
Givin’ Hugs
Death Grip on Daddy
Waving Bye to the Ocean
Addicted
Loves the Waves

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Internet, Earwigs and a Vacation

30 Aug

We are now legitimately back online!  We’re going to have a new email address though so I will let you know what that is when we have it 100% finalized.

Anyway, as far as the vallesfam goes – we’ve been keeping busy this week getting ready to head back to the SAV!  We’re renting a beach house on Tybee and I am just so excited to hit the road and get there!  I think it’s so funny how we could have picked any beach to spend our vacation (certainly there are more luxurious and tourist-friendly areas than Tybee) but we knew going back would mean we’d get to see our very missed friends and family.  That beats clear blue water and boardwalks anytime!

I just hope the Earwigs don’t eat the house while we’re gone.  Maybe one will crawl over the alarm sensor and set off the alarm.  That would be our luck.  I’m telling you – these things are wicked.  They just won’t go away.  I’m seriously afraid how many we’ll come home to since we won’t be able to kill them as we see them.  That’s another reason I’m so excited about our trip – NO FREAKING EARWIGS.  I say that but wait – one little bastard will stow away in our luggage or something.  You don’t even want to know the wrath I will unleash on it…

I need a vacation!
 

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Some of My Preschool Observations

28 Aug
  • The backpacks are bigger than the kids.  It’s just so comical to me.  (Just wait until you see a picture of Nia wearing hers!)
  • Door to door service.  All we have to do is wait in a bumper-to-bumper line for 20 minutes and our children will be walked from the school door to our car door.
  • In some cases, the teachers don’t even have to open the vehicle’s door.  I was behind 4 minivans that had those automatic opening/shutting doors – I laughed out loud at the sight of it.  I’m not making fun of the convenience – I know they’re awesome when it comes to that – it was just like something out of a funny movie – van after van pulling up – door after door sliding open – kid after kid climbing in – door after door sliding shut.  It just struck me funny.
  • Parents have homework.  Once a week, Nia has to bring something that starts with a certain short vowel sound.  Yes, I know it’s a great teaching exercise – trust me – it’s teaching me too!  I have to rack my brain trying to think about what we have in this house that starts with the short “i” sound.  Igloo – no.  Inchworm – no.  Insect – yes but no thank you.  I finally decided on an ‘inkpen’.  We’ll see – I’ve thought about her and I making an igloo with construction paper but I don’t know – the point is – I really have to think about this stuff and I know it’s just the beginning!  I feel so dumb!  At least her starting school will give me a chance to become re-educated!  How pathetic is that?!?!

 

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Our Little Student

28 Aug

First Day of School

I wish I had more pictures of Nia’s first day of school to share with you but we’re still not up and running with our own internet so we have to keep all of our online activity short and simple.  With that said – I just wanted to let you all know that Nia (and Mommy) did super.  Even Nate handled the whole thing well.

After he and I walked her to her classroom (which I plan to do for the first few weeks of school), we ran some errands together and then came back home where we read some books and snacked. (He had Goldfish crackers and juice while I had coffee – this was the earliest I had to be up in like 10 months or something!  Talk about spoiled!)

It was really nice getting to devote all my attention to Nate. He’s always had to share mommy and daddy so I’m really glad I’m able to give him some quality one-on-one time now.  This first day though I felt like it was more like I was watching the clock – I really couldn’t wait for us to get back in the car and pick up the big sis from school.

Nia told me she had a lot of fun and her teacher said she was wonderful (I’m sure she tells all the parents that during the first week but it was still nice to hear).  Nia said she did all the typical preschool stuff – heard stories, colored/drew pictures, ate snacks, played (and she “shared the toy doggy”)…  I’m just so excited for her and all the neat things she’s going to get to do.  She even got her first sticker from the teacher from being good in class – it says “100%”  Nate even got a sticker today – his said “I visited the Post Office.”

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And So It Begins…

27 Aug

I’m a mess. Tomorrow is Nia’s first day of school (Pre-K) and I’m freaking out.  I never thought I would be like this.  I’ve always been able to handle leaving the kids on their own with daycare workers or at the YMCA child watch.  This is different though.  This time I’m dropping her off all by herself and it’s not to have fun with friends like at daycare.  It’s to learn and listen and make new friends.  From tomorrow on, she will be judged for how much she knows and how she acts.  It’s just unnerving to me.  I’m even totally stressing out about where to drop her off – you should see the freaking map we have to follow for drop off and pick up!  I’m so afraid I’m going to be ‘that parent’ who drives the wrong way or something!

She doesn’t seem fazed by the idea of starting school.  I took her there for an open house last week and she walked right in and started playing with the toy kitchen. She was fine.  She was also ok that a few other little kids were  playing together – when two of them came over to play with the kitchen, she didn’t want to play with them.  That made me worry that she might not make friends or something but by the end of our time there she was playing with them.  I know it will all work out the way it’s supposed to – I just wish I didn’t worry about it so much.  I know Nia will adjust and have a good time there – as long as I make it through drop off and pick up, the rest should be a breeze.

 

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