Nap Hair...reprise

Nap is a silly thing to blog about...but this was pretty noteworthy. It was a hot summer day last week, so Cade got pants off nap time. (What??!! Act like you don't love pants off nap time.) Anyways, we got into the perfect cuddle groove, napping together with him on my chest and Sex and the City playing after the perf mommy snack of butter popcorn with peanut butter m&ms ?& DDP. The nap lasted forever and ever, we were so comfy. After a hard nap you either have one or other: drool puddle or nap hair. This kid had mega nap hair. I was in awe of the cuteness and yet kinda scared when I realized he looked like Frat Boy Cade. Take a look...




Front view

Back view

Proud of his nappage.

little reminders

One of the perks of motherhood is finding yourself equipped with totally unnecessary baby items at unexpected moments... It makes me so proud and giddy to be at a wedding reapplying my lip gloss in the ladies room and pull out a binky. It's so exhilirating to do a little shrug of the shoulders and smile at the lady next to me. Like Yes world, I'm a mother. Some little gorgeous being loves me and needs me and I'm his whole world. Yep, all I need to do in this life is go home to him and feel those soft fingers grab my neck and hair and pull me in tight. But I don't. Say that. The shrugging and big beaming smile as I look at that sweet little binks warms me every time.

I was starting a big presentation at work and as I pulled some notes out of my bag also pulled out a baby sock. Kinda bizarre, because Cade was 13 months at the time and it was SO an infant sock that I had in my hand at that moment. And in the middle of my intro, I stopped and did the sappy beam at the tiny little blue socklet in my hand. It felt like a 10 minute little coffee break, just looking at that sock and thinking of my baby. I'm hoping in hindsight it was just a few seconds, but I felt proud. The knowing chuckle of my coworkers was also a little reinforcing to this, I'm sure, obnoxious habit of mine of finding Cade artifacts and getting sap face.

So I was a little surprised when I was digging for my badge going into summer school this week and pulled out baby nail clippers instead. Briefly I thought "Ah-ha! Manicure day at summer school! Yesss!" but decided against it.... Side note: why must all special ed students have either creepy long fingernails or grossly chewed to the root nails? Special ed manicures aren't too much of a bad idea.

Anyways, I ditched the idea since I don't want to get sued for clipping Junior's claws, and I sappily smiled and tucked the baby nail clippers away. (Safely tucked away, that is. I had to go to two Targets and two grocery stores and one Babies R Us to find these perfect replacement nail clippers.) As much as I didn't want to be at summer school or go to work some days, it's finding the Cade artifacts that makes me appreciate my mommy-ness so much. Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder and the mommy grow crazier in her baby love habits. It's worth it, they took my shame card at the hospital last year. So, warning to family and friends, the sap face will live on. Deal.

more firsts!

After passing Cade's first birthday I wasn't sure how frequently I'd get to do more of his "firsts". I've chronicled (um, okay, mentally noted) his firsts...first car ride home, first bath, first tooth, first steps, first lunch at Chili's. So now that the firsts have slowed down I was majorly pumped today to have THREE firsts all in one week!!!

The first first o' the week: playing in a mall indoor playground. We went to Collin Creek to walk around and hang out with Grammie. I was a little sketched out by all the kids playing around and the signs to remove shoes...so we followed the rules but left on socks. My child pretty much ran from one climbing object to the next. He walked up slides backwards and slid down stairs on his butt. He was screaming with delight, it cracked me up. I was, howev, NOT impressed with the 9 year old who insisted on jumping from the top of the tall slide onto another bridge with a 4 foot leap. Um, I gave him my best pissed off face but it was probably a blur because psycho kid was a damn 70 lb flying squirrel. So I went to plan B which was to give disapproving looks to the parents sitting along the sides until I found Spiderman's mom. I saw what could have been his grandmother so I looked from her to him with my best dirty disapproving "are-you-going-to-discipline-your-spawn" look....but no dice. Cade was definitely the littlest boy playing there, and he totally rocked it out with his cool tricks of sliding down slides on his tummy and walking down slides. I'm sure one day I will regret my pride at his amazing gross motor skills as I sit in an ER with him.

Second first: The rear-facing car seat is now a forward-facing car seat!!! I did my "Safe Kids" car seat installation inspection with Nick a few months ago and learned how to tighten the hell outta a car seat. And use a pool noodle to increase balance of car seat! Can I say my mom and I switched my car seat tonight in less than 15 minutes and you cannot wiggle that thing more than 1/4 inch each way AND the balance ball is perfectly in the middle of the "green zone" on the built in balance? Score!!! Forward facing car seat riding is awesome. I can actually give Cade's little leg a love squeeze without dislocating my shoulder. (cool party trick, I could fish a binkie from any depth of the rear-facing car seat while keeping eyes on road. Sometimes having long gorilla arms is good for something, aside from keeping away high school potential homecoming dates) Also Cade could notice when I pointed and waved to our neighborhood alpacas and see exactly which dance moves we do for Lady Gaga and which ones are better suited for Carrie Underwood. I think he's gonna like it. ALSO (follow me as I head off on a tangent) I think it's cooler to brag about staying rear-facing as long as you can than breast-feeding as long as you can. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I'm just saying...

So for those of you still reading, thanks for not breast-feeding your preschooler, and lets continue to Cade's third first of the week. The first HAIRCUT!!! Before you cry that his little ducktail of curls is missing, it's not. It was more of a first hair TRIM situation than a first hair CUT. In fact, this should make you rest easy, it was technically a bang trim. Only reason I call it a first haircut is b/c we got a certificate with little attached baggie to insert the locks of hair that were trimmed. So his bangs are looking rockin and we took a little off above the ears. Grammie insisted on adding some layers to make his hair look fuller. He did not cry, he was so involved with checking out the stylist's technique (he's well trained) that he sat still enough to get the job done.

Pics to come soon...

ps i'm aware of the picture failure this week. got to pay up my Google storage account and we'll be good. thanks for imagining the pics of last 3 posts as you wait. you're a good faithful bloggie.

Crayola-ole!

Cade is finally showing an interest in coloring. We have the Crayola tadoodles or whatever they're called, but he wasn't a fan. So I took out some of my pretty, very finely sharped crayons (hello, I'm a teacher!!!) and let him have a go in his coloring pad. I showed him the colors first, then let him pick! He did good! It was more of a "color testing out" situation then a "creating a materpiece" situation, but he gets the gist-ish.

So he's taken his skills on the road and done it at our favorite breakfast spot now....

Okay, fess up #1: the first time he ate the green crayon.

fess up #2: He's very into taking out every crayon and coloring with each one for .5 second then tossing it to the side... (hopefully he doesn't get OCD like me and insist on using each color so the leftover ones don't feel sad)...so then after each crayon has been tested then tossed, he puts them up. Yay for me! My son's favorite part is "clean up" (fess up #3, yes I sing the clean up song) Please don't give him a 4 pack of red, yellow, green, blue. No, no, no, no....this guy likes to see a variety of colors and then put them all back in the cup one by one. He's so ready to graduate from the 12 pack to the 64...maybe Mommy will let him use hers one day soon.

Consider yourself informed.

The Walk

So my days of being a stay at home mom (temporarily) have begun. One of the things I despised --I mean I dreamed about being a stay at home mom myself was the long morning walks. If I wanted a long morning walk during the school year it would be at 4:30am. Not exactly ideal. Today I got to walk early enough that I could still enjoy a morning coffee and morning show (okay, morning Disney channel, but whatev......turns out Cade doesn't like the View since Meredith left, just like Mommy...even though Rosie's gone, it still kinda sucks)

So I packed up for the walk, you can't tell from the pics, but there was a a water bottle for each me, Cade, and Izzy, some Crunchies, baby hat and toys, tennis ball for Izzy, cell phone in case of emergency and extra SPF. Only minus that I chose not to bring and regretted was my iPod. I thought it would make me a rude mommy to Cade, but I think I would have been able to carry on a one sided convo with him even with some music. But then I could have sang something to him, which could have been good for him too.

We took a super long walking/biking trail by our house, took us 80 minutes total...I SO should have sported the pedometer, but I didn't want to look hardcore in case there were some cool potential mommy friends on the trail. But just in case, Cade was in a super cute seersucker romper WITH matching hat. Nick thought it was a little gay, but he can suck it, Cade was presh...Again, had there been a baby model scout we'd have been prepared. Had there been Clinton & Stacy to see me make-up free, I would have been prepared for that as well.... none of that happened.

Cade was a trooper. He loves being out and about and v. cutely pointed at squirrels and bunnies and dogs we saw on the trail. He v. preshly waved people we passed and v. appropriately pointed and did "What the?" with his upturned hand and gaze upward at me when the dude hand-pedaled past on his incumbent bike.

What I didn't expect was that the dog would wimp out before the homestretch. Like after we'd finished 65% of the trail she just slowed down and sat. I didn't even get a chance to throw a ball for her at the park on the last leg of the trip!!! Thank GOD I bought the super stroller, so I popped her in the basket underneath and convinced her it was a good, safe idea and continued. She was kinda sketched out at first, but got comfy after a few minutes of successful strolling. She didn't even jump out to save face in front of the 2 big dogs we passed....atta girl! Mama's Diva!

Izzy Girl in the basket

Cade wondering "wtf, Izzy?!"

I guess people on the trail are used to seeing this, or she was camoflaged enough they didn't notice. But I was a little alarmed that the lady we passed early on in our trip didn't ask where my dog went the second time. Anyways, super shout out to the makers of the Chicco. Love the stroller more every day!

A summer night

The first night of summer, and here I am thinking about the whirlwind of this year. It's strange and most people who are out of school probably don't still measure their lives in school years, but rather calendar years... I measure my life in school years. I make my summer resolutions in June and make my career resolutions in September. So looking back at the past year and my events in my family and work lives, you can understand my joy and my sorrow/disbelief/exhaustion.

I've cried off and on all day. It's not becoming to be a waterworks, esp since as a blue eyed girl my eyes get pinkish red and my eyelids swell if I cry for a total of more than 15 minutes. This morning I was so excited to just close the chapter on this year and looking forward to starting my next year with some summer resolutions. As the day went on and my time with my students waned I got emotional. This group of kids I distinctly and vividly remember when they were five and waddling in the door as kindergarteners. I remember trekking through the mud at the Outdoor Learning Center with them as second graders. I remember building our simple machines and eating popcorn during tutoring as third graders. And I remember this year. The ups and downs of friendships, their personalitites developing into little adults and their brains giving me back awesomeness during our lessons together.

Last night was graduation and today was one long slow goodbye. They have taken a piece of my heart with them as they left this summer. They've made a difference in my life. I hope I've made some little elf footprint of a difference on theirs. As hard as it was to leave Cade everyday coming to school, they made it easier. As soon as they came through my door I could drop my sadness and turn it on with them. I actually lost track of time teaching them and planning for them and thinking about them. They taught me that my heart has room for both Cade and teaching, and this must be the right job for me if I can love both at the same time.

I love my school babies. And to not end on a totally sappy note. I'll leave you with one of their jokes. "How do you wake Lady Gaga?" "Poke her face"