He actually asked yesterday…but it was dead. So I charged it overnight and it was ready to go when he got home from school today. It was Katie’s first experience. She liked it okay at first…but then Owen jerked it a little and she wanted OUT.
Rocking Owen’s shades:
Left to her own devices…
So, Owen has been pretty much done with naps for awhile now, right? Right.
Until Pre-K started, apparently, when they have an hour scheduled for “rest” which can include a nap if they’re tired or just quiet time where they can draw or read.
So what do I read on his daily take-home sheet Monday? He slept. Okay, I thought, that was a fluke—maybe he was just really worn out or didn’t get a good night’s sleep. So, what did I read Tuesday? He slept. Hmmmm. Okay. And then today? HE SLEPT AGAIN! He has taken THREE naps this week!
So…I’m thinking he needs more sleep at night (even though he is already going to bed earlier and getting up at the same time—I haven’t had to wake him up for school once yet)…so I moved his bedtime to 7:30 instead of 8.
And since Katie WAS at 7:30 and I didn’t want them both going at the same time (a little rough on me), I moved her to 7—which is also likely a good thing because her daytime nap has moved back to 11 so she’s likely more tired at night.
And what might be the best bonus? More free time at night for me!
On her arms. I had to help her, but it’s been a good 15 minutes so far…
I just know she’s going to be the one headed to the ER while Tom is gone…she’s a bit more of a daredevil than Owen was.
And after baths…
I love how I never know what’s going to come out of his mouth.
We have the baseball playground (the playground next to where he plays baseball, of course!) and the playground that I typically refer to as “the one by Miss Katherine’s house” to which Owen usually replies “Big’s house?” which is true (Big is Katherine’s son) or “the one with the three slides” (yes).
But today after we had the typical exchange, he says “The one with the wood chips? Not the sand?” Um, wow. Yes. The baseball playground has sand and the other one has wood chips. Impressive.
Having a little snack:
Of course, it’s a kid!
I’m not sure what exact piece it had been missing, but this morning I had a fully restored phone complete with folders and contacts (with only a few very minor blips like missing passwords and a few previously-deleted apps that appeared again). But you can believe I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief…
Of course I’m leaving out LOTS of details…but suffice it to say it was NOT a fun experience. This was the error I kept seeing over and over and over and over…
Or it appeared to have restored, but there were no folders so I had 20 pages of apps all in a mish-mash and was missing anywhere from 10-30GB of who-knows-what depending on which restore I was on. Rebuilding from scratch was an option…just not a desired one (it probably would take a good 4-5 solid hours to get it back to “normal”). So I kept soldiering on, hoping it would finally JUST WORK.
I was posting as I went along on a forum I frequent and they were trying to help me. I’ve posted there many, many times about how technology hates me, and this was a PERFECT example. Someone posted this picture, which explains it just about perfectly (Robn is another user who always had odd issues that shouldn’t happen…but I’m obviously worse off):
Thanks to one of my besties, Ursula, for gifting me our favorite bottle of wine… I couldn’t even take a picture of it with my new phone since it was still in the middle of restore hell. And I wanted to Instagram it so didn’t want to use my real camera…so had to use the iPad. 🙂
FUNNY STORY. I haven’t had that wine in awhile and I forgot how REALLY VERY GOOD it is…and I managed to drink the whole bottle in under an hour. I started feeling a little oogy and realized I needed to eat some carbs (I chose pretzels) to soak up the alcohol. Whew. You’d think at 40 I’d know better than to drink the bottle that fast…but it was just soooooooooo good!
In the middle of making a double batch of double chocolate banana bread, I thought I was **GASP** out of butter! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! I ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST 2-3# IN THE FREEZER! After a frantic five-minute search through both freezers, I finally found 4# stuck in the side of the main freezer drawer! Phew!
Tom gave me the okay to upgrade…and actually placed the order for me from Afghanistan since it was lunchtime there (when pre-ordering opened) instead of me having to be up at 3am here! (I know—what a guy!)
That it was scheduled to arrived ON my birthday was just…icing on the cake so-to-speak. 🙂
Oooh…it’s sooo pretty… I hate to put a cover on it but I don’t trust myself OR the kids. It’s also why I bought a warranty on it. 🙂
This should be on 9/23. I’ll move it in a few days.
Of course he wanted to pose with his new sword!
And a side note? Never buy white shoes. Yes, those shoes were white and are now dirty gray. 🙂
Yes, I was having just a tiny bit of heart failure, sure she was going to fall down and smash her head on the marble…but she didn’t. And she was SOOOO cute. She was doing this for a good 2-3 minutes before I started recording!
Owen loves baths. He just had to take one due to a poop accident + being a hot sweaty mess from playing outside so since we had plenty of time I just let him play and play and play.
Since we’ve had water issues before (he sometimes has a hard time keeping it IN the tub), I warned him again today (multiple times, in fact) not to get water on the floor. (Now, I’m not talking about drops or random splashes, but buckets—I’m not evil.)
I checked on him a few times and everything was fine. But when I just went up to empty the tub and rinse him off…I discovered the rug half soaked and probably a gallon of standing water.
Breathe.
Breathe.
I know it’s not a HUGE deal in the grand scheme of things…but I’ve warned him SO many times that he needs to learn the lesson. So until further notice (or he earns them back) he gets quick baths only.
I’ve been woefully neglecting my basil plants…and today I finally got around to harvesting what was left of the wildly overgrown mess. And it was pathetic. By the time I picked around the caterpillar-eaten leaves and the brown leaves…I didn’t even get a full food-processor’s worth. Last year I gave a ton away plus filled a bunch of containers and ziplocked muffin-tin pucks for my freezer. This year? Barely enough for a few meals.
Last year? I think I made at least THREE full Cuisinarts full. This year? Barely 1/4 of one. 🙁
Me: Owen, do you want to try a dried cherry?
Owen: No.
Me: Are you sure? You’d get a bonus badge?
Owen: No. No cherries. I like blueberries!
Me: Okay. I turn to walk into the kitchen.
Owen: NO! DON’T GET THEM!
She has some 18m summer outfits that I’m trying to get her in before she outgrows them and the season changes! I can’t remember which Grandma this dress was from…but I paired it with a pair of white leggings. Cute!
She’s also becoming a bit of a PITA to get a picture of… I remember when Owen went through this stage…thankfully it only lasted about six months if I recall correctly.
One of her favorite pastimes…emptying the toy boxes.
Warming up (playing) before the game starts.
A drink break after a hard session of catch in the outfield.
Waiting for his turn to bat.
Ready to bat!
READY!
THE PITCH!
SMACK! He really cracked it! (And, once again, because I was taking pictures, he really hit it well. When I was taking a video on his next at-bat, he barely tapped it. From now on I’ll just video it.)
And he dropped the bat and ran in the right direction!
At first base!
Coming into second…
…with QUITE the spring in his step!
Heading for home!
Today’s lunch was pizza! Both kids LOVED it!
Or Katie’s old mobile which Owen was pretending was an umbrella…
The best self-portrait, but a little blurry.
A little better…
I invited the moms from my mommy group and my two oldest friends so we had a party of six!
Unfortunately, the restaurant ticked me off…oh, we weren’t late, but they told us we could only have the table until 7:30 because there was another reservation…so if we thought we’d be longer than an hour and a half, we had to move tables right then. I said “It might have been nice to know that when I called.” The owner didn’t respond. 🙁
So we missed out on the seating I wanted AND requested—cool bench seats and cushions with lots of space (it’s a middle eastern place) and instead got a cramped U-shaped booth which was hot and a little squished (we fit but it wasn’t as comfortable as I’d planned on).
To add insult to injury, we ended up being done about 7:35. And the drinks were weak. And while it was a really nice time and we had some great laughs, it wasn’t what I had imagined in my head…which was totally my own fault but still disappointing. (This is the same place we had a friends birthday dinner a few weeks back and we had an AWESOME waiter and the time just flew and I was annoyed to have to leave early.) Stupid me wanted to recreate that night and I should know that’s impossible. I should have just done Mexican like I first thought.
Karen (old friend) and Amy (mom group/our sitter):
Me and Alea (mom group/Braxton’s mom):
Kathryn (mom group) and me:
Ursula (old friend) was taking the pics so she didn’t get in one. She was also my DD for the night (even though it turned out I didn’t need it)!
But all in all it was a good way to ring in turning 40…I was with friends, I was home at a decent hour, and I didn’t drink enough to worry about a hangover. 🙂
Amazingly, Owen was Mr. Shy when we got there…hiding behind me and literally holding onto my shirt. He had already met the teacher, he was back in his old classroom, AND his buddy Braxton was there…so I have NO idea what was going on. It took me a good five minutes to get him to look for his cubby (and I only got him to do it by proclaiming I’d found it and pointing to a picture that was obviously NOT him which got him giggling). Then he wouldn’t give me a good smile.
Then he finally came back to his normal self…he told me the reading area had moved (the classroom had been completely rearranged).
Their daily schedule:
Watching the kids play outside:
Katie stacking Play-Doh:
They had the menu sitting out for next week so I took a look. As I expected, breakfasts and snacks were okay, but there was NOT ONE SINGLE THING he would eat on any of the lunches except cheese pizza (and milk).
I asked the teacher if there was ANYTHING we could do because he wouldn’t eat any of it. She said “Well, if he just eats some of it, it should be okay.” I said “No, you don’t understand, he won’t eat the chicken parmesan, the pasta, the green beans, the peaches, the soft tacos, the red beans, the pineapple, the turkey and cheese, the squash, the grilled chicken, the rice and gravy, the cranberry sauce, the peas, the corn, or the mandarin oranges.” Her response: “Oh, you really mean he won’t eat ANYTHING.” Yep. She sent me to talk to the main admin person. I went through almost the same thing with her verbatim.
Me: My son won’t eat anything on the lunch menu except the cheese pizza. Is there anything we can do?
Her: Well, as long as he eats something like the beans or the rice or the peaches…
Me: No, he won’t eat the chicken parmesan, the pasta, the green beans, the peaches, the soft tacos, the red beans, the pineapple, the turkey and cheese, the squash, the grilled chicken, the rice and gravy, the cranberry sauce, the peas, the corn, or the mandarin oranges.
Her: Oh. Wow. You really mean he won’t eat anything.
And of course I’m thinking WHY DOESN’T ANYONE EVER BELIEVE ME?!?!
And long story short, it’s tough luck. I can’t bring anything and they can’t even give him, say, that day’s breakfast or snack foods at lunch time. Each menu square is for that exact day/time only with NO exceptions. He can have a second helping at breakfast or a second helping at snack…but for lunch he’s just out of luck. They will, of course, promote trying the new foods (which I am totally a fan of) but if he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t eat. Too bad. I said “So after he hasn’t eaten anything for lunch for two weeks can we revisit this?” And she said yes, but she was sure everything would be fine. And I guess it might (hopefully peer pressure will work its magic), but it’s just VERY disconcerting to know your super picky eater who you KNOW won’t like anything and HATES to try new food won’t be eating lunch and there’s nothing you can do about it. On one hand I’m glad I don’t have to pack a lunch every day…but if it means he’s not eating lunch, then it’s kinda stupid. Damn government rules. Oh, and they never get PB&J due to allergy precautions, even though no one in his class has peanut allergies. (Okay, I’m really just guessing at that, but inwas told they do not get peanut butter, so I just extrapolated the rest from that.)
But on the positive side, I really hit it off with the teacher. She’s super nice and personable and we ended up chatting quite a bit since we were the last ones there. She’s a mom of three (5, 2, and 4mo), a military wife, and they’ve only been here a year. So I invited her to join our mom group since we’re always looking for new people!! Of course we don’t have a designated weekly group meet yet this school year (we’re still getting schedules worked out) but I told her she could come over to my house for a play date and then we’d go from there. She seems excited so that’s cool. And I figure it can’t hurt to get on the teacher’s good side… 🙂
I took a picture instead of scanning it…
And someone wanted attention…
…is the cat screeching loudly in protest because Katie is sitting on her. 🙂 I missed the better picture when you could see Charlie’s head on the other side.
I usually send Owen into Katie’s room because it keeps her somewhat quiet while I grab a quick shower…so thankfully she’s happy by the time I get in there. Today I grabbed the camera.
And in a Beson outfit today!
So as we were eating dinner, I was reminding him about bathroom routines and how he could always ask to use the bathroom—even if he was outside playing, etc., and that if his teacher asked him to try to poop he needed to listen to her and not get grouchy with her. Basically trying to lead up to “You have to wipe yourself—they can’t help you like mommy does.”
Then, appropriately, I smelled poop.
I asked Owen if he had poop in his pants and of course his answer was no. We go to the toilet and oh my was it a hot mess. Poop just caked thick in his underwear, covering about the size of your fist. And some was dried on so you knew it had been there A LONG TIME. 😥 So I explained to him that he had to try to wipe himself because if this happened at school his teacher wouldn’t be able to help him. And to his credit, he tried. But it was a miserable failure. We tried a few times from the back and then the front and then with wet wipes…and he still barely touched the mess. After he was done I still needed about three wipes with paper and three with wet wipes.
I know the teacher said it wasn’t really a big deal…but it kinda is. I bet I’m either making 1-2 trips a week or we get kicked out by Thanksgiving.
Just so you have some idea what I’m dealing with, here’s how I keep track of his pooping (it’s an app on my phone). This is only a small section (I also track Miralax/Ex-lax/Mineral Oil and consistency) but you can see that he NEVER initiates pooping and he has multiple dirty underwear incidents each day. Each week looks about the same.
Owen wanted to eat outside tonight…so we did!
I stripped Katie down since she was soaked from playing in the water table…so I figured it was a good time to let her try to eat a food pouch on her own (in the past when I’ve tried, she squeezes it ALL OVER the place). Of course, tonight she sucked it down like a pro (two, in fact) and didn’t waste one bit. I’m thinking the trick is to make sure she’s REALLY hungry. 🙂
I took 15 pictures and this is the best of the bunch.
She does whatever he does…
She’s fast!
The home visit was basically just to get to know the teacher and for them (the teacher and an admin) to hand out the laundry list of materials (handbook, calendar, supply list, etc.) and let you discuss anything about your child you felt needed discussion. She also took a picture of him to put on his bin. 🙂 But it wasn’t bad at all—and I really REALLY like the teacher, Mrs. Ashley.
We went over his general home life (baby sister, three pets, daddy deployed), his potential behavior issues (how he’s generally a very well-behaved and polite kid, but with a recent streak of attitude), his food issues, and of course his poop issues. As I’m sure you can guess, the last two are the biggest worries for me.
As with preschool, all food (in this case, breakfast, lunch, and a snack) are all provided—and you CANNOT bring anything from home. If you don’t like what’s served, too bad. And while on one hand I can understand that…on the other hand, Owen doesn’t like much so I anticipate him being hungry quite a bit. I did tell the teacher about Owen earning “bonus badges” for trying new foods, so she said she’d let me know what he ate or if he tried a new food (I told her it would likely be very obvious if he tried a new food because he would initially refuse to eat it). She says their policy is that the kids have to try something…so that might help Owen—especially if other kids are having to do it, too. They will also call if (for whatever reason) he doesn’t eat anything all day. I guess I’ll just have a stash of granola bars or crackers in the car for when I pick him up.
As far as poop…I reiterated the entire saga to them (a condensed version starting from Day 1 of potty training through being hospitalized last month and the likelihood that he’s already constipated again) because I wanted them to know that I wasn’t hiding anything. I even told them I was honestly TERRIFIED of him getting kicked out due to this issue and that I almost didn’t accept the Pre-K admission because of it. They tried to assure me that it wasn’t that big of a deal and that they “have seen it all” and they “have worked with other kids on this issue”…but at the end of the day, they can ask if he needs to go and suggest he try…but they can’t really can’t assist in any way (and to me, that’s where the biggest problem will be). As she said, “We can stand outside the door and say ‘I think you might need to wipe again’ but that’s about the extent of it.” If it’s something really bad, they have to call me. Yes, call me, so I can drive 15 minutes in to clean him up. 🙁
After they left I tried to tell Owen a little about his new class and expectations so he wouldn’t be surprised. I told him he’d be eating lunch there and he might not like everything but has to try it…and it was like talking to a wall. He doesn’t pay attention and it drives me nuts. So I guess he’ll learn the hard way…