Schedules

Are schedules bad? I sometimes believe that is what my husband thinks. While I don't enjoy a rigid life, I do find that life with an almost 2 year old is greatly enhanced by following a general routine. In fact, it seems to give me more freedom, not less.

Knowing the needs of my crazy family and planning each day to fulfill those needs typically means that everyone feels fairly secure, fulfilled, and content. Which also means that we then have the freedom to randomly change things up, go the beach out of the blue, or stay up late. But most importantly it usually means having free time on a daily basis.

So, are schedules bad? Am I loosing my fun side :-) Let me know your thoughts!

I am currently enjoying a few minutes of peace as my son finishes up his nap! It has been a full 6 days while Nate was in Trinidad and I am very anxious to have my friend and co-parent home again! (If you want to see what he was up to check out his blog: www.natesykes.blogspot.com). Overall, it has been a rewarding time spent one-on-one with my growing boy. With the last of those pesky first teeth finally breaking through the gums, he has really become a much happier and OLDER child. I feel like I can't call him baby anymore!

Today we tried Kindermusik. It was a blast, right up his alley. I may try to sell off some of his old baby stuff to raise some money and take a whole session. He was having so much fun he even kissed one of the other girls... my little ladies man! He was up and dancing and just decided to say 'hi' to her, then moved in for a smack on the lips! Too cute.

I made the most delicious portobello mushroom/pico de gallo/guacamole/asiago cheese dinners while Nate was gone thinking that it was NOT something that he would enjoy, but as I described it to him over our video chat's he expressed his desire to try it, so Xander and I will be creating it again to share with Dad.

Google chat is amazing. We used to use Skype, but you have to sign-in and the video chat never works well for us. We switched to Google chat months ago, but this was the first real international test and it was perfect! Xander got used to sitting in front of the computer and expecting to see his Dad's face looking back, he even refused to go to bed at night unless he saw Nate just before slipping under the covers... 15 minutes earlier was not good enough! He is at a great age for understanding things like this, so much better than when he was younger and just cried until Nate came back.

Let's Play Pretend and Count to Ten!

Meeting Tigger

"Bulls Eye" a.k.a. X's new best friend, after riding a pony the day before he fell in love with this stuffed animal.

Xander about died meeting Bolt and Rhino... he could NOT stop giggling, kissing Bolt, and giving him high-fives, which he is doing vehemently in this picture.

This Easter weekend was quite an experience. Xander fell in love with MickeyMouse, and pretty much any character that crossed his path. I guess I should have seen it coming, a few weeks ago he started acting out his favorite TV episodes, and then his favorite movie, Bolt. All his stuffed animals and little characters seemed to take on an even greater role in games of pretend. But then something happened on a visit to Playhouse Disney where it all clicked. The characters he was used to seeing on the screen were out walking around in real life, and Xander was amazed. My normally shy child would RUN into the arms of any and every furry character that crossed his path, with stars in his eyes, and the biggest grin I have ever seen. I think he actually smiled beyond his eyes. It was pretty amazing to watch, I really didn't think such a dramatic shift would take place.

Also, a new development is counting! He started showing an interest several weeks ago when he became pretty proficient at exclaiming, "TWO" whenever I would count to three. He became totally fascinated by any and all counting, be it on a TV show, something he was overhearing, or me intentionally counting with him. Today he counted to ten all on his own! Mind you many of his numbers are not articulated well, but it was counting to ten!

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing!

Xander has spent the last hour playing with his stuffed animals. While it is not unusual, it is one of those times that turned into a priceless hour that I want to remember. It started off with a simple line-up of his 'moving and dancing' stuffed animals, but quickly progressed to a line-up of all his stuffed animals, laying with them, sitting, kissing, hugging, and feeding. It ended with Mommy holding all of them at once and dancing to the music we had playing while Xander laughed and danced too. I don't think the pictures can even begin to do it justice.

It's getting hot in here!

We had a very fun weekend around town! Saturday started off with a trip to our local fire station. The fire fighters were awesome! So nice to the kids and happy to answer all of the Dad's questions... :-) The afternoon was spent up at the neighborhood pool with our friends/neighbors. We are so grateful to have such a great street to live on! It is filled with young kids and involved parents. It fills my heart to walk down the street with Xander and know that he is going to see at least one 'friend' on our journey. It is also nice to know that in a pinch I can knock on almost any door and find a friendly face.

Sunday was an interesting day as well. We all woke up early and went to downtown Clermont to watch a triathalon. Clermont is home to numerous races, mostly tri's, and Nate has taken on the challenge of 4 sprint tri's this year. I was a bit dilusional to think I would also be ready to take one on in a short time, but I think with a good effort I may be ready for one by the end of summer. Xander loved the early activity. We stopped at the mounting spot for the cycling portion and he yelled, "Set, Go!" for each athlete. He was pretty amused and amusing. Afterward we strolled the farmer's market, made a not so great stop by church, and then visited our neighbor's grand opening of their pizza and sub shop, Smashmouth. It was delicious and fun to see our friends, even if we almost melted in the sun!

Overall, a very rewarding weekend.

Productivity!

We have been what you might call 'lazy' for the last few months. I call it recuperating. Yes, we were actually sick with back to back colds, but what I really mean is emotional recuperating. It has been such a stressful time for us that all three (yes, even the munchkin!) have been symbolically rolled up in the fetal position. Sleeping as late as possible, 'resting' in front of the tv, well... you get the point. It has been much needed, but at some point it has to come to an end!

With our latest achievements and breakthroughs I have been feeling much renewed. A renewed enthusiasm to greet the day, in particular. The backlog of things to do around the house doesn't seem so insurmountable anymore and I am very much looking forward to attacking our tasks!

This morning the family walked up to the pool. It was freezing! While Nate swam laps I ran X through some exercises from swim lessons last summer. What a difference a year makes! Instead of this confused infant I now have an enthusiastic toddler screaming "stroke, stroke!" as we move our arms and "tah-dah!" as we reach the end of the lap. This summer is going to be SO much fun!!

Glass half full or half empty... at least it's got beer!

We are just full of unusual days, today being no exception. Nate drove down to Miami for the day to number cases, while X and I went down to the splashpad for a fun morning with our Mom's group. Xander has been in love with water for the last week, even attacking us with the hose during an impromptu car washing. But, today was cloudy and even a bit chilly. He didn't last long, whimpering for the car. 30 minutes later... he was still awake and stayed that way until 4pm when he suddenly fell asleep. I have no doubt I am now in for a late night!

Saturday we popped down to Animal Kingdom and had a really great day full of drumming and gorilla's, I'm starting to think X has a deep and true love of animals. His love of his dog, Inca, and the cats were natural since he spends every day with them... but then his adoration of Bolt came along... and now he seems to want to hug, kiss, and observe with delight every animal (real or fake) that comes into his sight. I think Animal Kingdom is going to be seeing a lot of us this summer!

Aside from my adorable child, our unusual days have mostly been concentrated around the ever evolving state of our 'new' lives. This is the kind of stuff I would normally NEVER write about, but our therapist has pointed out to me that I need to learn to share more... so while it may be sloppy from time to time, or awkward, or out of the blue, I am using this blog as ONE of my new ways of sharing information and letting the hard times have as much time in the spotlight as the good. I am proud of Nate for finding the courage to finally be his own person, but it is a very hard journey involving healing very old wounds, coming to terms with the fact that you cannot always get what you expect, the past is painful, but it is in the past, and that you are in charge of your own future. I say this because as his wife I have to go along on the journey by proxy, so when he has a hard couple of weeks so do I.

As tends to happen when you flip your life around, there are big ups and huge downs. The last two weeks were huge downs. It seems to be the way of learning new things. Each time Xander is about to learn something new he seems to revert back to old ways of doing things. Crawling more before he took his first steps, crying more before he suddenly learns a bunch of new words. And so it was this way with Nate, falling back on bad habits of video games, not communicating his troubles... but we were rewarded with a great breakthrough. And while I still want to give a few people a piece of my mind, I am greatful to be in a better place than we were a few weeks ago.