Preschool

The 'before' picture.

On Monday, Maddy went to her first day of preschool. All summer long we've been talking about it, playing 'school' at home and telling her what to expect. She was excited and in the morning she was in good spirits. She indulged me in some "first day of the preschool" pictures before going and even a short video clip by the car. When we got there, she quickly went to the craft table and was too busy to even smile for the camera. (Yes I know, I was one of those parents who even brought the camera to the school) Anyway, when I left she was happy and sticking letters to a piece of paper. I thought things were great and that we were golden.

Uh oh. Think again.

I got there a little before dismissal time and when I first went in, they were sitting at circle time. At first, I wondered where Maddy was. Then I noticed she was sitting in the teacher's lap and crying so hard that she was doing that weird breathing thing. Noooooo! Ugh, it was so sad the way she came running to me. Talk about breaking your heart. :( I wanted to make sure that we we didn't leave with her crying like that so we stayed until she calmed and made sure she said bye to her teachers. One teacher commented on how she wished she could have some of the noodles that I told Maddy we were going home to eat.

You wouldn't think so, but this was the 'after' picture once we got home.

At home, it was a fine balance between not talking about going back, because she'd say more and more about how she didn't want to go; and talking about preschool so that it wasn't a surprise when we did go back. Not easy. The upside to all this was that Maddy was super loving towards me and told me over and over that she loved me (She's usually a papa's girl). Anyway in an attempt to get her to try again, I told her that she could bring some of the noodles to Kim. She agreed on the condition that I stay until she found a friend.

So we got there today and she was ok going in. We gave Kim the noodles (Don't worry I told her quietly not to eat the old leftovers) and then settled at the craft table again. Shortly after, I told her it was time for me to go. Oh Boy. Clinging-to-me, tons-of-tears, begging-me-to-stay. It took a lot of strength to give her a good kiss, tell her I loved her and walk away without looking back. Ugh, I felt like crap going back to the car with Ethan. :(

The whole time I was dreading going back to pick her up in case she had another bad day. I knew we'd be in trouble for getting her to go again on Monday. Thank goodness things were way better today. She was sitting at the circle (on the carpet) and talking to the teacher. When she was dismissed, she came running over to me, "Mama, I didn't cry today!" Oh the relief!!

Anyway, this turned out to be a longer post than I thought, but I wanted to save these memories for Maddy later on. I love you Maddy, I hope you continue to have awesome days at preschool.


Edited later on: It's been two steps forward and one step back. The day 3rd day she cried all over again and I was so thankful to have even gotten her there. At the end of the day, she was totally fine and had a great day. On the 4th day, she was trying so hard to be brave. I saw her little lip quiver as she bravely waved bye to me. At the end of the day, she came running over to me, "Mama, I didn't cry at all today!!" Things are better better slowly. We can now mention the word "preschool" without a flood of tears. This is definitely the universe paying me back for the what I put my own mother through.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

The little monkey climbed into the laundry basket while I was folding.

Our baby boy is one today!! It really is bittersweet as we look forward to the freedoms of toddlerhood. I'm definitely happy that we are more mobile and can be more spontaneous in our activities. On the other side I'm sad that he's growing so fast and his baby days are but a memory.

Trying on the new hat Oma made for him.

This last month has mostly been focused on enjoying the end of the summer, going out to as many activities as we could and getting ready for the transition of going to daycare. We've been trying to stretch out Ethan's awake time so that we can move to just one long nap in the day. It's a slow process and we're still not there yet. He has days where he can last a long time in the morning and other days he dead tired and needing a nap my 9:30!

Lately, Ethan has been nursing about 4 times a day but each session lasts about 2-3 mins! I figured that he wasn't really relying on the nursing for food, so I didn't worry too much about weaning him for when I'm at work. Sure enough, these last 2 weeks when I've been at work he didn't seem bothered by my absence. For him it's more "out of sight, out of mind". I have to admit that it sure was nice to come home and see him happy to see me and nurse happily again. We've also started giving Ethan some homo milk in his sippy cup. It was quite funny to see him drink for the first little while. He'd shake his head and shudder a little in dislike or sometimes he'd just open his mouth and let it all out. The last couple days have been better and I think he's getting used to the taste.

Ethan is not yet walking but we can definitely see that his legs are getting stronger. It won't be long and I'm really hoping that he'll pick it up soon so that he won't have to crawl around in this yucky weather.

The best development of this last month is that Ethan is communicating his wants to us by pointing. When Josh picks him up in the morning, he'll point to the direction that I'm in so that he can nurse. Just today Josh came into the playroom with a morning snack and if pointing had a sound to it, he'd be screaming. Another great development is that I've noticed a change in my role in the playroom recently. I used to be the bodyguard and make sure that Ethan wasn't about to eat a toy or hurt himself. Now I'm finding that I'm more of a referee between Maddy and Ethan, making sure that they share the toys fairly. I love this new role because it also means that if they are both doing their own thing, I can be working in the kitchen.

His first birthday party

We celebrated Ethan's birthday with just family over the weekend. Even though it was a smaller affair, it was so much fun and just perfect for him. We had an easy low key morning and just as he woke after his morning nap, the party was ready for him.

We showed him his cake the morning of his party and he nearly killed it before the big event.

The chunky monkey

"Awww, mom, this is SO not cool." Thank you for humouring your Mama Ethan.

We started with a BBQ lunch and he devoured the short ribs and BBQ chicken. Definitely eating like a 1 year old! Then we moved onto opening presents. This was so fun because mostly he's been playing with Jeh-Jeh's toys like tea sets, food and strollers. The smile he had on his face, when the more boy oriented toys came out, was priceless. Ethan is usually a more serious boy and mostly with us he'll smile, but after seeing his new toys, he had the biggest grin. It was almost as if to say, "Finally, some of my own toys!!"

This is Ethan's usual 'serious' face.

All smiles.

"Look! Welcome my very own 'man cave'."

From presents, we moved on to cake. I decided to make a 'monkey' cake because after he was born it was apparent that he was no 'lil peanut' and instead a total 'monkey'. (Besides, you'd have to be very careful with making a 'peanut' cake for fear of it looking like something else! ;) ) Ethan loved it when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and smiled through the whole thing. Maddy was also so cute as she stood beside him the whole time and them reached over and kissed his little hand afterwards. Ahhh...the memories I'll hold forever in my heart!

He loved when we sang to him.

I made a banana shaped smash cake because I thought Ethan would LOVE to get in there and make a mess. I thought we would get some really great photos.

The beginning of the cake smash

We even let Jeh-Jeh get in there to show him what to do.

I think my kids just don't get the idea of a cake smash. But isn't he cute!?!

I was so wrong, but that's ok. We had to take the cake away after a while because Maddy was ready to tear into the cake and show him how it's done. All in all, it was a fantastic birthday. Ethan was so happy and we even got to talk to cousins Frances and Pippa on Skype from Hong Kong that evening.

Happy 1st birthday my dear sweet boy. We love you so much and are so, so proud of you.

xoxo

All our love,

Mama, Papa and Maddy.

Transition time

I've always felt like September is the beginning of the 'new year' instead of January. I tend to want to make resolutions this time of year because being a teacher, you get a fresh start. This year is no different and with so many transitions coming up, it's definitely feeling like a new chapter for the Blommesteins

I go back to work in two days. YIKES!! Actually, I'm looking forward to it and can hardly believe that my maternity leave is done now. I'm so happy to be going back part time so I have the best of both worlds. It's also really nice to be going back to the same school and teaching partner from before my leave.

A week after school starts, Maddy will be heading off to preschool. Is it really time for that already? She will be going on Mondays and Wednesdays in the morning and I look forward to taking Ethan to the local Strong Start program.

Finally, Ethan will be starting daycare with Lucy a few weeks after the start of school. I remember being really nervous and anxious before Maddy started, but knowing that his big sister will be there, I don't worry as much. He really loves to play and do whatever Maddy is doing, so I'm sure he'll have a blast following all the other big kids.

I haven't had much time to post about what we did the rest of the summer but here are some pictures to make up for it...

Playing with the can at the PNE. This was right before she cut her lip open with one of the cans. We still don't really know what happened.

They had this awesome attraction where the kids could paint old cars. Best of all, it was free!

Ethan really loves giving the stuffed toys big hugs.

We wish Joanne, Philip, Frances and Pippa all the best in their big move to Hong Kong. We miss you guys!!

Ethan loved the bunnies at Maplewood Farm

They are quite well fed, and a little on the scary side but Ethan didn't seem to mind.

Josh, the Goat Whisperer.

Little Miss Sunshine

We hope you all had a good 'rest of the summer'. Looks like Fall is definitely here. Now, it's the countdown to Ethan's birthday and going back to school.