reanbean Tiny & Buba: gymnastics camp me time school vacation
by reanbean
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Drop and Shop Gymnastics
Buba and Tiny’s last day of preschool for 2011 was last Friday, December 16th. That meant that we had an entire week to get through before Christmas with no real plans or set routines. Fortunately, the gym where Buba and Tiny take gymnastics was offering a three hour “drop and shop” gymnastics session for kids ages 3 and up. And, amazingly, it was completely affordable- just $15 per child per day. Since both kids are still loving gymnastics, I jumped at the chance to give them two days of fun gymnastics activities and myself a three hour chunk of just me time.
Yesterday, after dropping the kids off, I headed straight to the gym for my Zumba class. Normally, I have Tiny and Buba with me on Wednesdays, and they play in the gym’s playroom while I workout. They can only take about an hour down there, so I usually rush off to retrieve them once the class is over. But since I didn’t need to pick them up from the playroom this time, I decided to stay a bit longer and tried out some of the African dance class as well. Today, I headed down to the gym again, but did my own workout and didn’t stay quite as long. After a tough workout and a quick shower, I headed out to a (much needed) haircut appointment. And then finished up my free time with a delicious coffee treat from Starbucks. The whole experience was quite nice and well timed. It was the perfect preschool substitute experience we all needed to make it through an otherwise long and uneventful week.
Gymnastics update: Last spring, Tiny’s coaches really wanted to put her into a group for advanced preschool gymnasts. I was kind of on the fence about whether or not I wanted her to be in the group. The timing was really bad (the class took place during the kids’ nap time), and I just wasn’t sure I wanted her to be in a group that would involve mostly older kids. Still, we said okay, and started the year with her in the advanced group and Buba in a boys only group that met at the same time. After just one session, I made the decision to switch them back to regular old 3-year-old gymnastics. I could tell after just one class, that the class time was going to be a big issue for us, and Buba had a really hard time not being in the same group as Tiny. I don’t regret either decision one bit. I’m glad we gave the advanced and boys only classes a try, and I’m very glad that we switched back to a standard morning time gymnastics class. The kids are very happy with their coach and the other kids in their group, and I’m not at all worried about whether or not Tiny is progressing at an advanced rate or not. For now, it’s just all about getting some exercise and having fun. And both Buba and Tiny are getting a whole lot of that!
My Morning with Buba
Last Saturday night, Tiny threw up big time after dinner. She’d been fine all day, and had no temperature when I checked after we’d clean up the yucky mess, so we really weren’t quite sure about what was going on. She slept through the night, and woke up Sunday morning hungry for breakfast. We figured it must have been that she ate something that didn’t agree with her (I’m thinking it was the beef jerky sample that she thought was bacon when we were shopping at BJ’s earlier.). She was feeling fine and acting just fine, but just to be safe, T and I decided that she should have a stay-at-home day to be sure there weren’t any more surprises to come.
There was no real need to keep Buba home, though, so I decided that we should have some Mommy and Buba time. The sad truth is that neither of my kids get much one-to-one time from T or me. And even sadder is that when we do have a chance to do one-to-one time, it often works out to be mother/daughter, father/son time. So, this time that I had to spend with just Buba was quite a treat.
I had some errands I needed to run, but I wanted to make things fun for him. So, after a quick trip to Carter’s, we popped into the L.L. Bean next door just to ride up and down the escalator. We also stopped to peek into their giant fish tank, and took ride in the elevator before heading off to do more errands.
Next up was a quick trip to Kohl’s. We were in and out in a flash, so we walked just a few doors down to the dollar store. Both Buba and Tiny have been heavily into jigsaw puzzles lately. They’ll sit with a puzzle for a good long time trying to figure it out, and more times than not, they are successful (up to 24 pieces). The puzzles have been great activities for quiet time, but they’ve done the ones we have so many times and have become hungry for some new ones. The dollar store seemed to be a good place to look. It didn’t take long at all before we found several Disney themed 24-piece puzzles. Buba chose a Winnie the Pooh puzzle and picked a nice Tinkerbell puzzle for Tiny. He also found new bouncy balls, Mickey and Disney princess number puzzles, Cars and Disney princess bath books, and wash cloths. At $1 a piece, it hardly seemed worth it to say no. And he was having such a great time picking out little treats to take home to Tiny. Fortunately it didn’t take long for him to want to leave with his goodies. We spent about 20 minutes and $16 before heading back towards home again.
I spend a lot of time with Buba practically every day, but nothing comes close to the way it feels to be with just him and do the kinds of things that make him happy. I know that life will only get busier with work and school and the kids’ activities, but I hope that we’ll always remember, every now and then, to stop and take the time to have these little dates with our kids. And I’m sure the busier we get, the more important they’ll be.
Santa Shops at Market Basket
It’s true. Tiny and I saw him with our own eyes.
We were making our way down the bread and cracker aisle, when we saw Santa coming up the aisle towards us. I can’t remember if he was was wearing khakis or jeans, but he had on a bright red collared shirt underneath his everyday jacket. We’re not sure if he was trying to pass for just the average shopper, but his white hair, beard, and of course, the signature Santa hat definitely gave him away.
As he came closer and closer, Tiny watched with eyes wide open, drawing closer and closer into me. Just as he approached, she whispered, “Is that…”
But before she could finish, Santa reached into his jacket and pulled out a tightly wrapped candy cane. “Merry Christmas,” he said in a low voice meant just for us to hear. Tiny beamed as she looked at the candy cane with wonder and exclaimed, “Thank you, Santa!”
And just like that, he continued quietly on his way, unnoticed by the other grown up shoppers quickly working to fill their carts and be on their way. He had come and was gone in only a minute or so, but the happiness he gave to one little girl lingered on and on.
Yes, some day there will be questions about Santa, and there will come a time when the truth will have to be told, but not today. And not this holiday season. For now, we’ll enjoy being wrapped up in the fun and the magic of believing in Santa.
Not Once, But Twice
It’s been quite a while since I’ve participated in the 52 Weeks of Me link-up, partly because I’ve recently found it challenging to find the time for blogging, and partly because I haven’t been doing much for myself. The first few months of fall were insanely busy- more hours for work, more hours of volunteer work, and trying to figure out how to balance all the things I needed/wanted to do in light of our new school year schedule.
Finding time to spend with friends has been especially challenging, but this week I met up with friends at Starbucks not once, but twice! Both Wednesday and Thursday, after T and I put the kids to bed, I snuck out for about an hour an a half to enjoy a tasty, hot drink (Have you had the Caramel Brule Latte? It’s like liquid candy.) and some good conversations (and not just all kid talk). Although this is a relatively simple way of pampering myself, it was just the thing I needed before the craziness of the holiday season sets in.
preschool preschoolers reanbean Tiny & Buba: lost parent/teacher conference Santa
by reanbean
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The Day We Saw Santa
Two weeks ago, Tiny, Buba, and I went to visit Santa at the mall. It was definitely the highlight of our day, but there was much more to our morning than just a photo session with the big guy in red.
First up that day was a parent/teacher conference with Buba and Tiny’s teachers. I ran plenty of conferences back in my classroom teaching days, and it was really interesting for me to be on the other side of the table this time. The teachers had written up narrative progress reports on each child, and it was fun to see what they chose to point out.
From Buba’s report: Buba explores the room freely. He loves the moon sand and playdough and spends good amounts of time manipulating these materials…His teachers have noted his long attention span and ability to concentrate on the task at hand…Buba has a terrific sense of humor and is well liked by his peers…Buba is well able to occupy himself independently…
From Tiny’s report: Tiny is an incredibly happy child who comes into the classroom with a huge smile and a hug for the teachers each day…Tiny is happy playing with friends or working diligently on an art project alone…Tiny is a kind and thoughtful friend to the other children…Recently she was overheard in the kitchen area saying to a friend, “What do you want? I’ll cook it for you.”
Needless to say, I was very pleased to hear how well both Tiny and Buba have transitioned to preschool. We are all loving their school and their teachers, and look forward to seeing how the kids continue to grow as the year unfolds.
After the conference, we headed down to the mall for our annual visit with Santa (year #4!). Both Buba and Tiny were very excited to see Santa, and went right up to him when they were called to sit on his lap for photos. After they’d had their pictures taken, Santa asked each of them what they would like for Christmas. Tiny responded that she would like Tinkerbell, and Buba answered with, “Um…toys.” Santa chuckled and reminded them to be very good for their Mommy and Daddy (something we’re constantly working on, of course), and then sent us away with a candy cane for each kid. Fortunately, Buba and Tiny do not yet know about candy canes and did not protest at all when I took them away and explained that I would keep these fragile decorations safe until we were ready to hang them on our Christmas tree.
Next the kids picked out one ornament each to add to their personal collection of ornaments that we started their very first Christmas. Tiny picked a fire truck, and Buba picked an ambulance.
Our last stop was to be at the Apple Store to pick up a gift card for a cousin’s birthday present. One interesting, but sometimes difficult, thing about this store is that there is no specific are for check out. A team member comes to you and completes your transaction on the spot using (I believe) an iPhone that is able to run a credit card (not sure if or how they handle cash transactions). So, we picked up our gift card, and then I let the Buba and Tiny sit down and play on the kid computers while I waited for someone to come to ring up our sale. The woman who came was having trouble getting a good signal where we were, so she stepped away from the computers towards the back of the store. I started to follow her, but then explained that I needed to be able to see my kids. She nodded, and I turned back towards the computers to see just Tiny sitting on the little stool in front of the computers.
“Where is your brother?” I asked her. No response. Panic creeps up my spine. “I’m sure he’s just browsing the store,” another team member offered, but one quick sweep and I knew he was no longer in the store. Major panic. I grabbed Tiny and tried to run. I’m sure I looked absolutely crazy, and for good reason. Fortunately, the team member remained calm. “What does he look like?” she asked. 3 feet tall. Brown hair. Bright yellow rain jacket. No sooner had I spoken those words and she was on her head set communicating the same information to every team member in the store. By the time I got out to the mall walkway, I could see an Apple member about three stores down with Buba, who was sobbing. It had only been about 45 seconds from the time I realized he was gone until we found him, but they were the longest and most terrifying 45 seconds of my life. I was shaking and crying as I picked him up and squeezed him tightly.
We paid for our gift card, and promptly left the mall. I felt horrible, absolutely horrible. The magic of the Santa visit was gone, replaced with guilt and disappointment. Buba and Tiny recovered quickly, but it still kills me every time I think about this. My kids are usually so good at staying right by me when we’re out and about, but this recent scare has made it necessary to have even more rules and consequences for behavior when I need to take them shopping with me.
Fortunately the magic of Christmas has prevailed. I won’t forget that horrible experience, but I can’t dwell on it forever either. We’ve got Christmas music playing daily in our house, and soon we’ll be baking and addressing Christmas cards. It’s a happy time of year, and it should feel happy. But you’d be right to think that I hold Buba’s hand extra tight whenever we go into a store, even if it’s just a quick trip. Lesson learned.
Best Friends Post and Shutterfly Winners
It’s my day to post over at HDYDI.com. Please head over to read my Best Friends post when you get a chance.
And now, chosen by Random.org, the three winners of 25 free cards from Shutterfly are:
#5 Heather
#7 Wendy
and
#3 Heather
I’ll be sending you the code for your free cards later today. Congratulations and thanks to all who stopped by to enter!
Holiday Time
I know lots of people don’t care to think about Christmas until Thanksgiving has passed, but since Buba and Tiny were born it just seems like there’s not enough time between the two holidays to get everything done. Don’t get me wrong, we won’t put our tree up until sometime in December, and it will still be a few weeks before I take out any of our Christmas themed decorations. But gift shopping and our annual photo card are something I always like to get an early start on.
I’m excited to be teaming up once again with Shutterfly this holiday season (read on to learn how you can win free cards from Shutterfly!). T and I have been using Shutterfly to create our Christmas photo cards for at least 6 or 7 years now. When we first started making holiday photo cards, we often just used one nice photo of the two of us. However, capturing one great photo with both Tiny and Buba can sometimes be a challenge. With all the options Shutterfly has to offer, I can choose a card that allows me to add 2, 3, 4, or more photos, so we can all send our best smiles out to all our friends and relatives.
We also use Shutterfly to create a photo calendar for ourselves, and often make copies to give as gifts to the grandparents. I love to go through all the photos from the current year to find ones to include in our calendar. I always make a point to chose photos from a particular month to appear on the page for that month in the coming year (so January 2011 photos will appear on our January 2012 page). We all love seeing the photos as we journey through the year, and it’s always great to see how much the kids have grown and changed in just 12 months.
I’ve come to rely on Shutterfly whenever I need to create a new photo project. I used Shutterfly to announce Buba and Tiny’s birth, to make Father’s Day mugs for T and the grandpas, and to create beautiful photo books to store all our best photo memories. Each project is always so easy to do, and I’ve never been disappointed with the finished product.
For sharing my Shutterfly experiences with you, I’ll be getting 50 free photo cards this holiday season. And three lucky readers will win 25 free cards for themselves. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling about one or more of your favorite holiday traditions. It’s that simple. Comments must be received by midnight on November 17th (EST), and I’ll announce the winners on November 18th. Good luck!
No Power. No Heat. No School.
They said it was coming, but I just couldn’t believe it. A Nor’easter in October? I’ve lived in New England long enough to know that when it comes to the weather, anything is possible. But this time, I just refused to believe that a major snowstorm was headed our way. Even when the first flakes started to fall yesterday afternoon, I told myself It’s just snow.
After putting the kids to bed last night, T and I settle down to watch Scream 3 (streamed from Netflix). Normally, I’m not one for scary movies (T loves a good suspense/horror film), but from what I remembered (having seen all the Scream movies when they first came out), it was more of a funny scary than a terrifying scary. So, in the spirit of Halloween, I agreed to watch the movie with him.
About 30 minutes into the movie, the power started flickering on and off. Lightening flashed outside as the heavy, wet snow fell rapidly. And then the tree branches began crashing down on all sides of our house. Suddenly, the movie seem much more terrifying than I’d bargained for. T went right to bed when it ended, but I remained awake, searching the Internet, buying Christmas gifts, trying to slow my heart rate to a normal pace. Around 11:45pm, I was finally ready to turn out the lights. Ready for a peaceful night of sleep. And just then, the power surged and every little bit of light went out.
Somehow, I managed to fall asleep, but not for long. At 4am, I woke to a beeping sound- like a smoke detector with a low battery, but that wasn’t it. T heard it too, and we both searched in the pitch black dark. We couldn’t find the source and quickly gave up and went back to bed. The sound was completely annoying, and I would have looked longer, but it was freezing in our house. No power. No heat.
Around 4:30am I heard Tiny cry and went to comfort her. She was upset that her Good Nite Lite wasn’t working, and I had to explain the whole no power situation. I told her to keep warm under her covers and try to go back to sleep. I was hopeful that she would do just that, but not too long after, I heard Tiny and Buba talking and giggling to with each other. This was a bad sign. They did not go back to sleep.
Even with all the beeping and chattering, I managed to drift in and out of sleep (having some really bizarre dreams) until 7am when the alarm clock went off (no lights were lit, but apparently the back up battery was hard at work (and was the source of the beeping- not two feet from my head!)). I went right in to let the kids know it was finally appropriate for them to be awake, and they immediately wanted to go out and play in the snow. So we did.
There wasn’t actually that much snow on the ground, but the kids had fun playing around and surveying the damage while T and I brushed snow off the cars and shoveled the drive and walk ways. We spent the day (and now the night) with T’s parents at their well lit and heated home just one town over (feeling very fortunate that we’re able to do this and are able to avoid spending the night in a shelter). After naptime, the kids and I went back home to check on the power (still out) and pick up items needed for an overnight with Grammy and Grandpa. We also snuck in another 30 minutes of playtime in our still snowy yard.
Around dinnertime, we received the news that Tiny and Buba’s preschool will be closed tomorrow. No power. No heat. No school. Tiny was heartbroken. “Noooooooooo!” she cried. “I need to learn!” (It sounds very dramatic, but she was dead serious, which made it all the more funny.) Hopefully, power will be restored soon and we’ll still be able to trick-or-treat and return to our normal schedule and routines very soon. But in the meantime, I’m working on a plan B for how we’ll spend our day tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll think of something.
Getting Big
At bedtime…
Tiny: (pointing to an old bib I’d thrown in the laundry pile) Why are you washing that?
Me: Well, I need to clean it.
Tiny: And then I can wear it again?
Me: Probably not. You’re getting too big to wear that old bib.
Tiny: But you don’t want me to get big.
Me: I just don’t want you to get big too fast.
Tiny: But I want to be big as you.
Me: You will. Someday.
Tiny: Why you don’t want me to get big?
Me: Well, I guess because I know that when you grow up you’ll move away and maybe have your own family. And then I won’t see you everyday and I’ll miss you.
Tiny: And then a new family can live in this house?
Me: Why? Where will I live? Will I come and live with you?
Tiny: Yep! And then a new family can live in this house because you will live with me!
Me: (with a very big smile for my sweet, sweet girl) Thank you for saying that. I love you so much.
Tiny: And I love YOU so much!
A Morning for Me
Overextended. Frazzled. Stressed out. Just a few words to describe how I’ve been feeling for most of the last four weeks. I thought September would bring more routine to my life- a weekly rhythm that I could coast along with comfort and ease. But that was not the case. It hasn’t been any one thing in particular keeping me busy. Just a whole lot of separate commitments and very little down time.
By the end of last week, I was really feeling it- a HUGE need for some time where I did absolutely nothing and nothing was expected of me. So I scheduled a long overdue massage (using a gift certificate that I’d received for my birthday last December), and today was my lucky day.
I dropped the kids off at preschool, did just a few quick errands, and then headed to the spa for 60 minutes of pure rest and relaxation. It was heavenly and passed by way too quickly. But it really was just what I needed. Nothing in my life has changed. I still have all the same commitments and all the same chores and projects waiting for me to complete. But as I left the spa, I felt truly relaxed and clam, as though a huge weight had been lifted. I felt happy again.
Clearly, this is something I should do more often.