Fun with Santa...

............NOT! 

Each year my school holds an annual 'Lunch with Santa' where tots can make Christmas crafts, eat lunch, and of course, sit on Santa's lap.  As soon as we walked in, Jackson begged to see Santa.  Demanded to see Santa.  Cried to see Santa.  As I took him to get our tickets, he tried to escape to see Santa.  I was excited by the excitement that he possessed about Santa!   Then it was out turn, time for us to walk down the red carpet toward Santa..... and then...... meltdown city.  

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE SANTA!"

 Trying to desperately get away!

I even tried to do a picture together, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would be alright with me there too.  Um, a big fat no to that one too, thank you very much.

Nothing that a few instruments and some Backyardigans couldn't solve though...

 In Mommy's class room, making noise music

Backyardigans on the big screen can make almost anything better.

The best part of the whole Santa incident was really the conversation that came after.  

M:  "Tell Daddy whose lap you sat on today."

J: "Santa's, but I didn't want to, I cried."

M:  "You didn't like sitting on Santa's lap very much did you buddy?"

J:  "No, I didn't, but you made me (short pause for dramatic effect), and I cried."

 Ah! The wonder of the holiday season!

Happy Holidays

Yes folks, it's that time again!

Playing Catch Up

Blogging has so taken a back seat to this CRAZY thing we call life.  But don't worry blogging world, I haven't forgotten about you.  In fact you are in the forefront of my mind, but ah, time is the culprit.  Yes that thing called time that I seem to have none of these days.  Well I seem to have found a sparse few minutes, so here we go!

Thanksgiving
This year we spent our Thanksgiving festivities at home and then with friends.  It was so low key, and so non-stress, that it ended up being EXACTLY what we needed.  I made a cheesecake and then we spent the rest of the day with friends and family.  Mari and Dennis, hosted the most beautiful and delicious dinner party I have attended in a very very long time!  And, they get an extra shout out for making it kid friendly to the only kid there *by letting him take over your basement for the evening!  We thank you so much for that!  Pictures are lacking (I am totally off my game right now!)  Of course, Jackson missed his Grandparents very much, but all in all it was a wonderful day.  We are and continue to be thankful. 

Playing with his racetrack in his *boy cave

Fall

We have tried to pack the most into fall as usual, and the weather has been so unusually warm and just pain awesome this year.  We have gone on hikes, trips to the city, played in the leaves, gone to the playground...you name it.  Amidst the craziness of Mommy working a lot, we are still trying to squeeze in some fun. 

 A Christmas card finalist that did not make the final cut....Daddy picked this year so when you get it....you'll understand....

 little blue eyed lad

Hope fall is wrapping up nicely for you!

Trick or Treat

Our Halloween festivities stretched over the course of a couple weeks and costumes as they seem to every year. We enjoyed our annual trip to the pumpkin patch, although this time we knew to go to the much less commercialized and drastically cheaper farm that was still complete with hayride to the pumpkins!

Jackson, our animal aficionado, begged us to take him to the zoo for "Boo at the Zoo". (He asks to go to the zoo at least once a day anyway, so it really was not a surprise... zoo + candy = two-year-old-bliss! I think was I was the only parent who caved though and let him eat candy for lunch.... I heard screams and cries all around from tots and parents of all sizes.... "I want candy." "After Lunch." "I want candy NOW!" "NOT UNTIL AFTER LUNCH!!!". And on it went all day.... Not for us though, Jack and Daddy (ok me too) happily chomped om chocolate and treats and enjoyed our day. And, the best part? Jackson wolfed down his extremely healthy dinner of baked fish and broccoli that night! Win-win!

This year Jackson informed me upon seeing the costumes that Old Navy had to offer (half off...) that he wanted to be a scary dragon.  So, a not so scary dragon he  was!  The day before Halloween we attended a birthday party complete with face painting and the face painter was amazing and painted a really cool dragon on his face.  I am disappointed that I didn't get a picture of dragon boy with dragon face, but it just wasn't meant to be I guess.

Trick or Treating was much more interesting this year.  The concept of "getting candy" was understood.  No problems with that one.  I think Jack's trick was to see how much he could quickly grab from each candy bowl when the unsuspecting candy-passer-outer put it in his reach.  Shouldn't they have learned by now? 

 Frank's trick - slaying the scary-candy-stealing dragon

All in all, a spooktacular Halloween! 

The Lie

 I cannot tell a lie

A few days ago I walked into the living room to find dried beans scattered all over the floor.  I obviously knew where they had come from (the candle vase on the dining room table) and how they had gotten there (one very blond, very spirited little kid).  But I figured I would ask the inevitable and try to make a teachable moment out of it.  I figured our conversation would go something like this:

Me: "How did these beans get here?"

Jackson: "I put them there" (he is extremely and utterly...well...honest.)

Me: "Where do the beans go?"

Jackson:  "In the dining room"

Me:  "Ok, let's put them back there"

Jackson "Ok Mommy"

I figured wrong.  The true version of this story was ironically a lie.  An, in your face, flat out, bold faced, LIE.  The real conversation:

Me: "How did these beans get here?"

Jackson: "I don't know"

Me: "Well, how do you think they got there?"

Jackson:  "Zoe put them there"

Me:  Shocked silence/stifling laughs

Jackson:  Big smile

Me:  "Why did YOU put them there?"

Jackson:  "Because, I put them there, but I don't want to clean them up"

I guess that answered that!  In the end we cleaned up the beans together and went on with our day.  Still, even I as write this, I am laughing, but at the same time I am so not laughing.  Parents out there, please, PLEASE tell me... How do you deal with lying?  Even the cutest, whitest lies?  I didn't think I would have to deal with this until at least three.

On second thought, I can...

Ode To A Working Mom

Mommy is so busy,

she can't find time to blog.

She is working, working, working,

and her head is in a fog.

She realizes, as the days fly by,

she hasn't written many posts.

And then she stops to remind herself,

of the thing that matters most.

Mommy takes a minute,

to cut herself a break,

For loving her wonderful child,

is something she could never fake.

Basket-Head Jackson

Behold...he is not trying to scare you...he is just...

BASKET-HEAD JACKSON!

On Children

On Children

 Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I read this poem recently after an acupuncture treatment and the words were so meaningful...so meaningful that I just sat and re-read...stunned.  It is so easy to let your own mindset take over, or someone-else's for that matter.  Hence, how another parent wants me to react when my kid takes the train from their kids hand at the train table at Barnes and Noble, and then tells their kid to come and play on the other side away from him....  This puts it all in perspective.  I can guide and model good and loving behavior, but I can not and will not CONTROL my child.  I can remove him from a situation if necessary and/or take a break with him if need be, but not scream and yell at him and force him to apologize.  It just isn't in me anymore....and when the last little bits of it seep out....that feeling of "need to control" I am ashamed and I re-evaluate.  I realize that re-evaluation may be a life long process and some days it comes easier than others, but when I look into my child's eyes I am doing the best that I can to be the best mom I can be.    He seems happy enough anyway...

Big Boy Bed

For quite a long time (I won't say how long) Frank and I have been tossing around the idea that we should take the front off of Jack's crib and convert into the next step, ie, toddler bed.  Maybe it was because of this... or maybe it was because, as all things seem to happen in our house, it was just time. 

There was limited adjustment to his "big boy bed" (which we still all refer to as his crib..and probably will until he is 15).  There was only minimal crying when he saw Daddy take the front away and when he realized that the fun of climbing was no more (at least in and out - he climbs up on the side to turn the light on and off now...he won't be stopped!)  At nap time we followed our normal routine (reading 26780870989873408 books) and...

He was OUT!  And, he loves his new crib bed!

 Sleep tight little guy...and stop growing up so fast!

End of Summer, A New Beginning

The last day of summer vacation is a hard reality.   Tomorrow brings uncertainty, unknown... I will remind myself to look at it as a new adventure.  I am saddened that I will not be returning to direct the middle school choir this year, but I am excited (and nervous) to direct the high school choral program.  Big changes, big responsibility....  I am drawing on the positive and I know it will be a good year.

Just as so many changes are occurring, I take comfort in the familiar.  Jackson will be returning to Bebe's, to see old friends and, as he said "eat yummy lunches, like Arthur Loops".  (His favorite organic spaghetti O's).  I will enjoy seeing and having coffee (or my dreaded green tea - blah) with amazing co-workers each morning (THANK GOD that's not changing yet)!

Although I am not ready for summer to end, I look forward to a new school year.  New possibilities, new students, new challenges, new adventure.  As we all take a few weeks to adjust, I must remind myself of the amazing family, job and life that I have!


Goodbye Summer....

The Wonderful World Of Disney

Maybe I should say, the wonderfully expensive world of Disney?  Aside from the money that you get suckered out of, they do make you feel like you are in the "most magical place on earth".  I guess it's called that for a reason.  I forgot just how magical it is, and is it hundreds of times better when you experience it through your child's eyes.  Maybe it is because Jackson is just shy of two-and-a-half and gets excited about things like puddles, but he was in pure amazement and bliss pretty much everywhere we went. 

 Happy x 109783847826387462983471937

We were very lucky really to not wait in many long lines.  The longest that we waited was only about 20 minutes to see Mickey and Minnie, by which Jackson was completely star-stuck.

Same deal with Pluto...

 

 One of my very favorite things about this trip was the amount of relax time we allowed ourselves.  Time to lay by the pool and just 'hang out' was so necessary!  This one little kid I know became extremely brave in the water with the help of a beloved Disney yellow life jacket.  Too bad we couldn't just 'forget' to turn that in at the end of our stay...

 Professor Swims-A-Lot

In case you are wondering, those glasses belong to Disney World's own Mr. Potato Head complete with Mickey ears, glasses, ice cream bars....you name it.  (yes we were suckered into buying it....one of only two souvenirs that Jack acquired I am happy to say though)

 

 I love how they are both squinting with the same eye...

We loved our trip to Disney so much that we decided we should go back at least every two years....I guess I'll let you know in two years how that one turns out! 

Here are some of my favorite random snapshots...

 Diapers in Disney on the splash pad

 Jack swore up and down that was a real giraffe 

(and a real dinosaur was going to eat him at the t-rex restaurant too) 

 A special shout-out to our Disney tour guide Jaime!  We love you!!

The Yummiest Mickey Waffle...that sat in my stomach like a rock for 5 days

 kid in a candy store

 

More diapers in Disney!

Our trip was magical, so magical in fact that we missed the earth quake that shook the New Jersey and Hurricane Irene completely bypassed Orlando.  No delayed or cancelled flights....no craters in our front yard...success!

Magic