Last Day of School

Yesterday was Tyler's last day of preschool. I'm not sure who is more sad about the school year being over, Tyler or mommy. He had so much fun and I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

I began a habit of taking a picture (with my iPhone) of the "Today in Preschool" board when I picked Tyler up. It started when I realized that I couldn't remember the great things that the teachers posted about the day when we got to dinner time and Tyler and I were trying to tell Steve what had happened at school. Most days there was a picture or two posted on the board, so I would take pictures of those as well (especially if Tyler was in them).

Happy Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  It snowed all day around the Tudor House today.  Tyler is so excitied.  This is the first major snow of the season, and only the second snow so far.  It was really cold and blowing like crazy today so we didn't go out to play.  I'm sure it will happen sometime tomorrow, either during the morning at preschool or at home in the afternoon, or possibly both.  I updated the sidebar with a picture of the house decked out in its Christmas finest.

We are enjoying opening a new door on our advent calendar each morning.  This year we have a pop-up advent calendar from Eric Carle based on his "Dream Snow" book.  We also added the story to our collection, and have been enjoying reading that.  I had the pleasure of being Guest Reader at preschool last week and "Dream Snow" was the book that was chosen for the event.  It was a lot of fun reading to the class.

Last Friday we went to a reading of "The Polar Express" at the local Barnes and Noble.  After the story Santa Claus came in and the kids had the chance to sit on his lap and tell him what they would like for Christmas.  Tyler quite enjoyed this and was happy to wait his turn so that he could inform Santa that he would "like three (more) large dinosaurs and one smaller one." 

Emma wanted nothing to do with Santa.  She started screaming when he came down the escalator, and really lost it when he walked past on his way to the chair.  Tyler will have to pass along her wish list for her this year.  We were glad we figured this out when we did and not after waiting in a long line to see a mall Santa. 

Hopefully this weekend we will finish getting the indoor decorations up.  Our pre-lit tree doesn't seem to be so well lighted this year, so no ornaments on it yet.  I did finish knitting Emma's personalized stocking, so she will have a stocking with her name on it this year, just like the rest of the family.  I'll post pictures of the decorations as soon as they are ready.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas!

Catching Up

So I realized the other day when I was posting about the stitches that I hadn't posted in quite a while. Things had gotten really crazy around here! I didn't post for a while because the hard drive in the computer was full. At first I just couldn't download pictures, but towards the end the hard drive was so stuffed to the gills that even surfing the Internet was painful. We purchased a new HP Pavilion PC with a 1T hard drive during the back to school sales in early September. (Let's see how long it takes Paparazzi Steve to fill this one!)

So, what was my excuse for not posting once the computer problem was solved? I started a new job, and Tyler returned to preschool. Life got in the way! So, here is a quick recap on what we have been up to.

I was offered an assistant coaching position with Mercy Crew, which I accepted. I'm officially in charge of the novice team, but I help out where ever I'm told. I now have one-day weekends (if I'm lucky!), but have a lot of fun travelling with the team to the regattas. I'll be going to Boston for the Head of the Charles in two weeks. After that it's off to Philadelphia for the Head of the Schuylkill regatta. I'm really excited for that one because I'll get to catch up with one of my former athletes who is still rowing and a senior at UPenn this year. Philadelphia will be the novices' first trip, so that should be exciting...

Tyler returned to the Woodbury Preschool the week after Labor Day. He was so excited to be going back to school. In the last weeks of summer he noticed that a few leaves in the tree in our front yard were changing. He insisted that meant that fall was here and he should be going to school. He is in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday AM class this year and just loving it. This year's class has 14 students, 7 girls and 7 boys, all four-year-olds. The teachers for the class are the same as last year, Mrs. Maya and Mrs. Cheryl. The aide from last year (Mrs. Theresa) has taken a new position, so this year we have Ms. Marlene. There is also a student teacher for the first few weeks of school, so there are four adults and 14 kids, a 3.5:1 ratio. Charlie the Tortoise (class pet) is very active in the morning at drop off and has really piqued Tyler's interest. Tyler selects a new leaf from the backyard every morning to bring to Charlie. Tyler has already drawn some pictures at school! We will get to see them on Curriculum Night. Can't wait!

Emma continues to grow like crazy. She is beginning to assert her independence. She wants to try to dress herself, particularly the bloomers she wears under dresses. She also insists on feeding herself, using utensils, and drinking from a big-girl cup. Yes, it's getting really messy around here. She says more new words each day. Right now one of her favorites is, "all aboard!" She says this whenever the show Dinosaur Train is on. We have also started going to a co-op music class together on Wednesdays while Tyler is at school. She loves to play with the instruments and dance. She even knows many of the movements already and joins in while we sing. It is really cute.

First trauma

Tyler had his first trip to the Emergency Room this afternoon. He was sitting in the recliner chair in the living room watching a PBS Kids TV show, apparently got a little antsy and decided to exit the chair head-first over the side, right onto the magazine rack. All I heard was thump, SCREAM! I was sitting nearby using the computer at the time. I came around the corner as he was standing up and saw the blood running down his face. Not good. I knew immediately he was going to have to get stitches. I went right into First Aid Training mode, found some tissues and began putting pressure on the wound. I got Tyler to calm down so I could use the phone to call Steve and the pediatrician. We were told to head to the Emergency Room, so I started to pack everyone up for the walk over there. Luckily the nanny arrived just then, so I could leave Emma with her (I was supposed to be on my way to coach rowing practice). So I scooped Tyler up and headed over to the hospital. It is surprisingly convenient to be able to walk to the hospital!

In the Emergency Room, before stitches

The staff in the pediatric emergency department at Strong Memorial Hospital was very helpful. It seemed funny to have the third year medical student come in and explain that he was going to gather info and then present it to his Resident or Attending physician. We knew the system already thanks to all of our neighbors. I knew he didn't have his M.D. yet because he had a short coat! We had many different doctors/future doctors come in to ask us questions (everyone was very concerned about the possibility of a concussion) and give care. While we were waiting for the topical anesthetic to work a Radiology Resident asked if he could practice his ultrasound technique on Tyler by looking at his heart and gall bladder. Tyler agreed, and had fun watching his heart beat. His gall bladder was hiding.

The Wound

Steve and I had the soul-crushing job of holding Tyler down while they put the stitches in. It took three stitches to close up the gash. The lidocaine injections were worse than the actual stitches.

All Better

We made it out of the hospital by 4:30PM. Came home to make a quick dinner and have a quiet evening. We actually went over to the playground for a bit, but kept it low key. He will have the stitches for about 5 days. We were given a suture removal kit, so we can take them out ourselves. I think we will get a little professional neighbor help. We just keep changing the bandage and putting more antibiotic ointment on the wound. So far it seems to be healing pretty well. I see a bit of Mederma in our future...

It finally warmed up

It finally made it into the 60s today, our last full day in Florida. Since the temps were now above freezing we decided to get icecream. Tyler had "Superman".

Daytona Beach

We've been at Daytona Beach since Monday afternoon. It was pouring rain when we got to the hotel. Tyler didn't care, he wanted to go out on the beach anyway. Steve obliged his request and they went out in swim trunks and t-shirts. Once they finished on the beach they hopped in the hotel's outdoor heated pool. Tyler complained that the water was too hot at first, but then he got used to it and had fun splashing around. Those swimming lessons sure are paying off!

Yesterday we went to the Turtle Sanctuary, caught up with my Grandma Bluett, and went on a boat ride. Here is Emma at the turtle sanctuary:

Preschool

Tyler started preschool this week. He's going to the Woodbury Preschool. Here he is charging into the museum on his first day. He'd had me worried that morning, and even during the car ride to school. He would wimper, "Mommy, please don't leave me at preschool."

I thought we were in for a big meltdown at drop off, but when he got out of the car he really suprized me. He got all excited and started running into the museum. Luckily a good friend had volunteered to stay with Emma so I didn't have to tote her along while trying to keep up.

Here he is, making his "CHEESE!" face at the door of the drop off room. You can see the two teachers, Mrs. Cheryl (standing) and Mrs. Maya (sitting with her back to the camera) in the background. He wanted to burst into the room.
First order of business is putting the book bag (Tyler informs me I can only call it a backpack) in your cubby. He recognized his name when I pointed it out to him, then promptly spelled it for me. He's really into spelling words right now...
And then, he was off. It was time to play and he dove right in, not even stopping to look back at either Steve or me as we were standing, hovering in the doorway. He went straight for the plastic elephants. He has some that are very similar at home and he LOVES playing with them. We had also been to the zoo the day before, so he had animals on the brain.
He took the elephant over to this table to play. Later he informed me, "The king didn't like to live with the elephants... they kept breaking the castle." I guess he was acting out a scene from The King, the Mice, and the Cheese. I hope he didn't do too much damage...

The first day was shortened, only an hour long. They played in the first room for about 50 minutes while the parents went to a conference room for tea & coffee and to hear about the procedures for the preschool. We were given our security badges and had our pictures taken. Then we were allowed into the observation area (there are mirrored windows into one of the rooms so you can see the kids but they can't see you) to watch our kids for the last 10 minutes. It was neat to get to peak at what they were doing. Tyler decided to draw a picture instead of participate in circle time while we were observing. He's very proud of his drawing, which he informed us is a picture of the night.

"The Night"

Growing

So many things are growing around the Tudor House... here's a list:

The garden! A neighbor gave us a few iris rhizomes the other day. This is the same neighbor that agreed to take our extra rose bushes back in March, so it seems we have a bit of a plant exchange going on. The irises have been added to the garden that borders our back deck. (Three of the rose bushes were relocated here as well.) I'm so proud that this garden is finally taking shape and looking presentable. The lilac bloomed beautifully in early May. Now the rose bushes are at it (only the ones that weren't transplanted). I'm hoping to finally transplant many of the perennials that I started from seed this spring into the garden this weekend. They have grown like crazy under the lights in our basement. Here's hoping they do as well outdoors.

The kids! Emma and Tyler are both growing like weeds. Emma weighs more than 12 pounds according to our bathroom scale. The accuracy of this measurement is supported by the fact that she's also growing out of the 0-3 month sized clothing. She's taken on a pleasantly plump appearance which we find adorable. She has periods of time that she's actually awake now. She likes to spend them kicking her feet and watching her big brother. Speaking of the big brother, Tyler is learning to dress himself. He can take his clothes off without a problem and does a great job pulling a t-shirt over his head. He still needs a bit of help pulling his pants all the way up and getting his shoes on the correct feet. Socks are his nemesis. He doesn't know it yet, but in a few weeks he is going to experience an intense week of potty-training while Steve is on vacation from work. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us!

Tyler's New Room

Tyler has been sleeping in his "little boy" room for about a week now.

He insists he isn't a "big boy", and that the nursey is still his room, too. He was very upset with my today when I was putting baby clothes in the closet in the nursey. Tyler wanted me to put them in the closet in his room instead. He likes to try to tell me that his new room is Emma's room. I'm sure he'll get used to all of these changes eventually.

We had a lot of fun setting up Tyler's new room. Most of the furniture comes from family members or was moved from other rooms in the house. The bed comes from my side of the family. At least three generations have slept in it before Tyler: my sister and I, my maternal grandmother and her siblings, and her father's generation before that. (Where this bed was while my mother and her sister were toddlers is a mystery.) The nightstand came from Steve's Opa's house. The reading chair belonged to Steve's mom. We decided on "ABC 123" and primary colors for the theme. I made the curtains and bedding with fabric we found at JoAnn's since the bed is not a standard size. Tyler says the sheets have "Put Me in the Zoo" print.

There are still a few things we'd like to do in the room. We're planning to get this rug that has a town mapped out on it. We have a cute mobile from Pottery Barn Kids to hang up. We'd also like to put up a large bulletin board on the wall between the door and the closet so that Tyler has a place to hang his latest works of art and other collections.