A Lot of Tears

It's been a week of school so far and Ingrid is not liking it.  She started with five half days at 3 years old, which she loved.  She would run right to the door, wave good bye and never ever cried.  Ever.  Same thing last year, she'd find a friend on the playground and run to the door when the bell rang, with barely a glance in my direction.  This year, it's been nothing but tears. 

K5 is all day.  She eats lunch and then they have an afternoon session and are let out at 2:30.  This shouldn't be a big deal, I feel like, because when coming home at lunch time, she always seemed bored in the afternoon.  She doesn't nap, she barely rests, she would always be doing something while I laid down with Otis.  So why not do this at school?  Where you get to have fun and do art and gym?  I don't know, something about it rubs her the wrong way.

So we have tears. 

Ingrid is also riding the bus home most days, as Otis is napping and I don't want to wake him up and drag him to school.  The first day she was SO EXCITED about it.  Then it became a little scary, and now it's full blown anxiety about riding the bus home, wake Otis up, come get me, I'm scared, I don't know anyone on the bus, I'll get lost, it's too hard.  No matter how I tried to spin it, she wasn't having it.  Ugh.

Yesterday from the time she got off the bus to the time she went to bed, she cried.  She worried about school, staying all day, missing me, taking the bus home.  Every time she'd calm down, suddenly she'd think of something else to worry about.  It breaks my heart.  I don't know how to help her!  I feel so helpless, I just tried to tell her she's strong, she can do this, it will get easier.  I tried to have her imagine happy things and focus on the good things about school, like her friends and getting chocolate milk for lunch.  I got another mom to bring her home instead of taking the bus.  Nothing seems to make her feel better.  So then I get sick of hearing the same thing over and over and I lose my patience like a bitchy mom and just say forget about it!  You don't have a choice, you are GOING to school!  And then she cries harder. 

Why on earth is she so upset this year??  When she is home, she's sassy and bored and complaining about everything, so I don't really know why she wants to stay home.  It's not like she's having any fun here...I end up yelling at her all the time.  Blah!  I wish I could say never mind, we'll homeschool, like I did when she was 3, but I don't want to have her home.  She's in a great school that has a huge wait list, we are so lucky to be at this school!  And I don't want to be a teacher.  I don't want to homeschool.  I don't even want to unschool, this summer SUCKED, she was so crazy and I felt like physically and emotionally drained at the end of each day. 

Send us some good vibes that school will cease to be a thing she stresses about!  I'm not sure how much more I can take. 

Big Kid

I took these pictures with my Canon the other day and as I was looking at them I realized how much of a little boy Otis is now.  No more baby or even toddler, he is all boy!  He is getting so big, putting on his own shoes, taking care of his dishes after dinner, getting into bed by himself.  No more babies.  He starts preschool in the fall, and when we drive by the church it's in, he says "There's my school!"  His school.  He's big.

2 Years 2 Months 2 Days

It's time for an Otis update.  He's *about* 2years, 2months and 2days old, although I may be a couple days late.  What is he up to now, you ask?  WELL!

 

He is now in a big boy bed!  We got a twin bed for Ingrid this past weekend and the toddler bed got moved into Otis' room.  He automatically curled up with a book and a bowling ball and got cozy.  We haven't had any issues with him at all, he just lays down with his teddy bear and goes to sleep.  In the morning he still sits in bed and calls "Oh MAMA, where are you?"  Same as Ingrid, he doesn't understand quite yet that he can get out of bed.  Which is good.

 He is now as much of a chatterbox as Ingrid ever was.  He loves to talk, and sing, and read books.  His favorite books right now are the Gabba on he has in the picture above, and The Doorbell Rang, which was a thrifted find that has become a daily read. 

 Favorite things these days--yogurt.  He wakes up and first thing he wants is a HUGE bowl of yogurt.  Any flavor, doesn't matter.  It amazes me how much he can shove in his mouth...Otis has caught the Gabba bug, much like his sister did at this age.  He loves to watch it and sing along, but his favorite part is the Knock Knock Joke of the Day.  He is a killer knock knock joke teller!  This kid is a comedic genius for being 2!

 He is always busy, but is never too busy for a cuddle.  This kid loves to cuddle, he is so huggy and kissy and adorable.  I will take it while it lasts! 

First Day of School K4

Today was Ingrid's first day of K4.  She bounded out of bed at 6am asking if it was time to go yet!  I know it will get old, and she won't be so helpful, but I have never ever had her so willing to get dressed and eat breakfast in the morning!  Usually she wants to do things her way, she balks whenever I ask her to do anything, but this morning it was "Okay, mommy!"  Let's see how long this lasts, right?

I cannot even tell you how much better I like this school she is now at.  Last year I walked into a cafeteria of crying and screaming kids, this year it's a playground full of parents I know, happy kids running around.  I did see a few criers, but not as many as last year.  Plus the drive to school is about ten seconds on streets where people actually follow the rules of the road, unlike last year where I was in the hood and I'd be surprised if half the drivers actually had their licenses.  No kidding.

So this year starts off well.  I am so happy to see Ingrid so happy!  She's a little nerd, just like I was!

doesn't she look so tiny by her huge school??

Nostalgia

We found a DVD of old videos of Ingrid today.  She was so small and such a little smartypants!  It made me realize how much I miss hanging out with her.  I love Otis to pieces, but I forgot how nice it was to have one on one time with Ingrid.  She is so emotional and sassy lately, I forget how sweet she used to be!

Anyway, got me thinking of babies and them growing up and how on the one hand I'm glad to be done with bottles and sleepless nights, and on the other hand that means no more squishy 6mo olds with their two little teeth and big chubby cheeks smiling at you.  So I will just look back at pictures instead, that's more economical than having another one, right?

Harvesting

Yesterday we went to check on our zucchinis and found five enormous ones just waiting to be picked!  One is so huge, it's like the size of my forearm, and so heavy Ingrid could barely hold it!  Nothing like homegrown produce.  I made a loaf of zucchini bread last night, it is amazing!  Our green beans are flowering and our strawberries are late bloomers, hopefully the birds won't eat them.  Also, our lettuce is finally not being eaten by whatever was nibbling on it, so we actually have beautiful big leaves.  I'm so happy to have a little urban garden, how fun!

Otis is a Bully. Our Trip to the Museum.

Otis woke up from his nap yesterday in a funk.  Days like that, I know to leave the house as soon as possible to get his mind off whatever is making him crabby.  Usually a walk or a trip to the store will be enough to turn his mood.  Yesterday we decided to go to the Public Museum. 

It did not go well. 

As soon as we got there, Otis did not want to be in the stroller.  Which is fine, run off some steam, go look and explore.  Except he didn't want to walk, either.  He'd go all jelly legs and throw his head back.  So I set him down on the floor, where he commenced the temper tantrum.  This happened at least four times.  It seems the only thing he wanted to do was push the stroller, which is too high for him to reach the handle.  Which does not matter to a one and a half year old, he wants what he wants and he wants it RIGHT NOW. 

At one point, there was a group of school kids nearby.  An 8 year old boy came up near where Otis was screaming.  Otis looked up at him, stood up, and gave a mighty push right in the poor kid's stomach.  My baby don't take no shit!  The kid looked a little dumbfounded, like "did I just get beat up by a baby??"  I think that was the point we decided to leave.  We have a membership, we can always go back some other day...

I am a little worried, for real, about how to deal with Otis.  He is very frustrated lately about not being able to communicate.  We tried signing with him like we did with Ingrid, but he just never did it.  So now we are faced with grunts and points and lots of mad tears.  I feel for him, I do, it must suck to want something and have no way of getting your point across.  But I can't take much more of this hitting, shoving, kicking, and tantrums, and I know it's only gonna get worse.  Terrible Twos are real, ya'll.  I've been there.  I remember thinking Ingrid was being a brat and then she turned two and it was game on.  I'm scared for my future.

Anyway, we did have a little fun while at the museum.  Ingrid got a butterfly to land on her in the butterfly garden.  She thought it was cool at first but quickly decided she wanted it off right now.

  She also enjoyed the Streets of Old Milwaukee section, which has always been my favorite, too.  I felt kind of bad, she was having a good time and then little bro acted up and we had to go.  Boo.

Here's hoping today will be better.

Hot Hot Hot, or Thank God for A/C

It's been in the 90s here for days.  Last year we made a little getaway in our room with a window air conditioner, but this year--we have it in the whole house.  The whole house.  It's amazing. Granted, the upstairs is still a bit stuffy even with a/c on, but it's not 90 degrees. 

We have done a bit of going outside to break up the day.  Our poor neighbors must hate us, we are outside at 6am watering the garden, running around in our pjs and making a ruckus at the crack of dawn.  Sorry guys!

 Our garden is exploding.  None of the carrot seeds took, but everything else is growing like mad.  We saw a peek of a couple flowers on our zucchini, and the tomatoes are all getting bigger and bigger.  I saved one lavender plant on the side of the house and it is gorgeous.  I'm so glad to have a garden!

  Other than that, not much going on here.  Cleaning and doing laundry.  Hanging said laundry up to dry on the clothesline.  Another thing I absolutely LOVE about this house--a simple rope to hang clothes on.  It makes me so happy to hang my laundry up, how silly?  I've been trying to instill a sense of teamwork in Ingrid by making her help with little chores.  Today she washed the big window in the living room.  Doesn't she look ten feet tall?  She is growing as well as our tomatoes...

Summer is here.  Bring it!

Helping

Ingrid still thinks Otis is a tiny baby that needs her help.  Lately she has taken to holding his hand and dragging him around as he squeals and cries and tries to get out of her hold.  The other day she felt she needed to "catch" him as he came down our little slide.  It's so funny because he is getting to be near her size, definitely doesn't need the help she thinks he does!

Big Dude

Otis is becoming quite the little toddler.  I remember it happening with Ingrid, too--one day she wasn't such a baby anymore...This dude is growing like mad, I had to go through his clothes and get his summer stuff out and I was amazed it all fit.  I remember thinking it would be the fall before he'd fit into the 24mo. stuff we had as hand-me-downs, but nope, he's wearing it now.  Today he was a real pisser, just crying at every little thing.  I looked into his mouth while he was screaming and found a random molar on top I had no idea he was even getting!  Makes total sense now.

Fun things Otis is doing these days--dancing.  Which is really just flailing his arms around while smiling.  And pretending to eat food--that's my favorite.  He will pick food off a book picture and bring his fingers by his mouth and say nom nom.  It's incredible.  Tonight we went to dinner with the grandparents and they were highly amused by him using a fork and pretending to eat food that wasn't there.  Just as big of a ham as his sister--I think I have two major extroverts on my hands here, no quiet wallflowers in this family!

Nothing but love for this little guy.

He's Walking!

It started out with tentative steps and has turned into full blown, across the house walking!  I forgot how much I just love watching new walkers--they have such precarious balance, their arms stuck straight out, a few drunken sailor steps here and there.  But they are so proud of themselves!  Such a  new thing to learn, how exciting.

This video is sure to be one Otis hates me for later on.  He has a vintage Hawaiian shirt (the first ever vintage kid thing I bought when I was 19) socks and shoes.  And no pants.  He was wearing pants 90% of the day and I just happened to choose the five minutes he wasn't to take this video.  My poor children, I find pants optional apparently...

Yesterday we also tried giving Otis a spoon and some yogurt.  He loves yogurt and applesauce but hates to be fed, so I gave him a bowl and a spoon and let him at it.  He threw the spoon aside and used his hand to slurp the yogurt off of.  It was pretty messy, we had bathtime in the middle of the day.  I used to let Ingrid make messes all the time and she just loved it, I need to remember this with Otis!

Troublemaker.

Otis has begun getting into things in a major way.  Every time I'm not looking he gets into something.  First it was the catbox.  Now it's climbing on things.  My sewing nook is not safe...

He has started walking, too, which means even more trouble!!  I forgot how fun it is to watch a baby learn how to walk.  He's so proud of himself!

Another fun thing is to see Otis doing things Ingrid used to do.  We made black bean soup and he went to town on it, much like Ingrid did at that age.

Mmmmmmmm.

Big Stuff Happening!

First of all, look at this guy:

Standing like a pro!  He refuses to move his legs, but he's got the whole balance thing down pretty well.  I remember how strange it was with Ingrid to see her upright with no one holding her, and it's the same with Otis.  He doesn't seem big enough for this, but he's 13 months today, so I guess he is.  Some kids are honest to god walking at this age, so...I'm in for it.

Speaking of in for it, I got out of the shower the other day to find the roll of toilet paper shredded, a box of tampons strewn about, and a babbling baby doing this:

First the cat box, now this.  He is going to HATE me for these pictures later in life!

The other big thing around here is my new Etsy shop!  For awhile now I've been buying things when I find them and sending them to my pal Heather at 3Ring Circus.  But, she also finds a ton of stuff, and I'm not always the best at sending them out to her.  So, Toadstool Vintage was born!  I now have a vintage kid's clothes shop on Etsy, and I love it!  I've had it open two days and already sold three things, it's so fun.  There are so many supportive vintage sellers, I love it.  Instead of thinking of another shop as competition, all these lovely ladies have completely welcomed me into the fold.  I love it!

Year In Pictures

Ahhh, the end of another year.  Let's see what's happened in 365 days, shall we?