Fall Update

As always, the school year got off to a hectic start. Ethan started a new daycare, and for that reason we had to adjust our mornings a little bit.  No big deal, but it took awhile to settle into a new routine. Fortunately, Ethan loves daycare and adjusted to the change beautifully.  He loves daycare so much, in fact, that he now calls for his teacher by name when he goes to sleep, wakes up in the morning, and when he's upset.  I guess I should be happy that Ethan loves his teacher so much, but it did break my heart just a little bit.  So on top of the new daycare, myself starting a new school year (where I promptly got sick and felt like I was dying a slow death for a month), and Ben's hockey schedule picking up, we had two weddings to attend, a weekend trip out of town, and various other events that kept us running. Even with our busy calendar and my mostly rigid adherence to Ethan's nap schedule, we found some time to have some fall family fun.  Here's the rundown...

- Fall trip to the zoo
- Pumpkin picking at Powers Farm Market
- Hiking at Abraham Lincoln Park
- Hiking and playground playing at Tinker Park
- A visit to Johnson City & Jackson Farms
- Playdates with Avery, Leyla and Cousin Adam
- Walks around the neighborhood
- Halloween dress-up & playing with pumpkin guts
- Puddle splashing
- Family pictures

We had our first snow of the season this weekend, so Ethan is all ready to go with boots, snowpants, and other gear to brave the snow.  Unfortunately, he did not enjoy the snow. Hopefully, he gets used to it, because we're counting down the days until we can put Ethan on his first pair of skis.  Until then, I think I'm going to have to come up with a fun list of indoor, winter activities.  Any suggestions?

No Pants and "Peas"

Spending the summer with Ethan helps to assuage the feelings of guilt I have for seeing him so little on weekdays during the school year.  It's been great to be with him this summer because now that Ethan's a toddler, he's just so much more fun to be around.* Ethan does the funniest, cutest, things that are probably only funny to me and my husband.  This, for example...

I've also been amazed by Ethan's language development this summer.  I'm so happy to have been with him so much during the last few months to see the daily progress.  Right now, his vocabulary is rapidly expanding and it's helping him become more communicative and expressive. Most recently he's started to say "peas" (please) unprompted when he wants something.  He's saying "uh oh," "oh no," and, "oops," at the right time, and he also has started to say "more" and "milk" instead of using his baby sign language.  The cutest thing Ethan does right now, though, is "read" books.  He will sit down, flip through the pages of the book, and babble away.  I love that he loves books so much right now. I guess our weekly trips to the library this summer have paid off.

* Not that I didn't enjoy being around him last summer, but it's a very different experience to take care of a 16 month old than a 4 month old.

Baby Adam

The last few weeks have been exciting for my family because my sister and her husband made the big move back to Rochester, after living in Northern Virginia for the last several years.  I'm beyond excited they are back, for many different reasons, but one of the most important reasons is because Ethan will get to grow up around his new baby cousin.  They are so close in age (only 14 months apart) so I hope they grow up to be great friends.

So, after four months of Facetime chats, Ethan and Adam finally got to meet, and it was just so sweet.  Ethan was so excited to see Adam in person and couldn't stop pointing to him and saying "babay."  He hugged the baby, held the baby, and gave him kisses; the pictures are precious! Ethan is still practically a baby himself (18 months), though, and so he still has a lot to learn about being around them, especially about being gentle.  Adam got poked in the eye when Ethan decided to show us that he knows where Adam's eye is, and, fortunately, Adam took it like a champ.  Anyway, it won't be too long before Adam can poke Ethan right back!

Schoolwork and Spaghetti

Even though I have the summer off, I have some extra school responsibilities that require me to come in for a few summer work days.  Mostly I sat in meetings, but I also got the chance to develop some Common Core aligned materials to use in my classroom, which was great.  I had to be at school for four days, so my husband took a few days off from work to spend some time with just him and "the boy". They had a lot of fun, although, not without a few injuries, namely, a bump on the noggin and a scraped nose.

In between applications of Neosporin, ice packs, and summer work days, we still found some time for some fun activities.  Here are a few in no particular order...

Fun with Spaghetti...





















Notice the injuries...

Another jaunt to the zoo... the lions were very active and a treat to see!

Pool Party!!!

Zoo

The heat wave finally ended, so yesterday my husband and I thought it would be fun to take Ethan to the zoo for the first time.  We went in the late afternoon, post-nap, and since we only planned to be there an hour or two, we decided to use our Kelty hiking backpack.  Well, my husband decided to, since he would be wearing it.  I wasn't sure how Ethan would do in the pack; he's a very busy boy and so I thought he might get a little antsy, but actually, he did great!  The pack gave him a great vantage point to see all the sights the zoo has to offer. He liked the "baboos" (baboons) and really enjoyed seeing the male orangutan swing from the ropes and play with the big ball in his cage.  The Seneca Park Zoo is a great little zoo, so I will definitely plan on taking Ethan there by myself again this summer to get a better look at some of the other animals we missed.

Fun in the Sun

Holy hotness!!!  Today was day four of scorching hot 90 degree weather so instead of heading to the zoo as planned with some girlfriends, I hosted a play date for the kiddos to splash around in water at my house.  I broke out the baby pool, sprinkler, and assembled a makeshift water slide. The kids had a blast splashing around and it was nice to chat with my friends.  We made sure to be sun smart - hats, SPF shirts, gobs of sunscreen - and you know we were chasing our little ones around with sippy cups to keep them hydrated. I'm also so glad I bought a canopy for my shadeless yard - it made being outside bearable in the heat.

I took some time to peruse Pinterest ahead of time to find some fun ideas for outdoor water play. I Anything that involved too much planning on my part was out because most of the time I had available to plan for this playdate involved cleaning (is it just me or does your house only get cleaned when people come over?).  I decided to freeze some bath toys in giant ice blocks and make some homemade popsicles. The kids enjoyed figuring out how to get the toys out of the ice.  I only wish I made the ice blocks last night, because 5 hours of freezing wasn't enough, and it was only a matter of minutes before the kids got the toys out.  As for the popsicles, I pretty much winged it.  I threw a handful each of frozen organic strawberries, peaches, and mangoes with about a cup of organic apple juice in the blender, poured the mixture in my $3 Ikea popsicle molds, and popped those babies in the freezer. After an hour or so playing in the sun the popsicles were a nice refreshing treat for all of us.

Overall, it was a nice little playdate.  I only wish I remembered to take some pictures.  Our water babies were so cute!

Weekend Getaway

My husband and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary this past weekend, so we decided to go away together for a few days...without our little guy.  It was the first time my husband and I had both been away from him for more than 24 hours.  To be honest, leaving him was a lot easier than I thought it would be!  Ethan was going to have a blast getting spoiled by his grandparents, and I was really looking forward to having a few days to relax without thinking about naps, snacks, diaper changes, etc. Although now that I think about it, I definitely thought about naps and snacks while we were gone - for ourselves!

We went to Lake George and had a nice time.  On the first day, we took a hike to see Shelving Rock Falls and Log Bay and capped our day off with some yummy margaritas. On the second day, after a delicious breakfast at Caffe Vero, we got a little adventurous and went white water rafting. There were both exciting moments (navigating the last stretch of class 3 rapids), and relaxing moments (floating down the Sacandaga River, basking in the sun), which made it a great experience for a first time rafter like myself, but Ben may have been bored because he's rafted the Gully(?), whatever that is. I still think we had a good time. We also found some time to read in Shepard's Park, go outlet shopping, and enjoy some pizza. Even though we had a great time to ourselves, we were eager to get back to our little man.

Abraham Lincoln Park

This morning, Ethan and I had a playdate with a friend and her daughter.  We went to a great little park in Penfield, Abraham Lincoln Park.  Ethan and his new friend played for almost two hours, climbing the playground, digging in the mulch, hiking the nature paths, and exploring all the cool log climby things.  Yes, that's a real term.  This is a section of the park where a lumberjack cut down a bunch of trees and arranged the logs for kids to climb all over them.  There's also a log staircase, playhouse, bench, and steps.  It was so much fun!

P.S.  Did you notice Ethan's new sandals and hat?  My Kid to Kid finds!

Consignment Shopping for the Kiddos

I mentioned in a previous post the I LOVE to visit consignment stores to find little treasures for my little guy.  This love of mine developed in the first few months of Ethan's life when I realized Ethan was majorly lacking in the clothes department due to a problem I was unaware of in my pre-baby life - the blowout.  Between blowouts, spit-ups, leaks, and drool, Ethan was wearing at least 2 - 3 outfits a day, and since I hate to do laundry ever more than once a week, I needed more clothes for him, cheap (remember, I'm not working at this point). So on a pretty regular basis, I began to visit some local consignment stores, and found some great deals on clothes for Ethan.

The consignment store I shop at most frequently for kid stuff is Once Upon a Child.  It's not the closest children's consignment store to my house, but it's the closest good one where I know I will find a lot of awesome deals on clothes and toys.  They have great sales, which seems almost too good to be true, especially when a onesie is regularly priced at $1.50 - $1.99.  I've been lucky enough to just randomly stop in on days where they had their 10 onesies for $10 sale, which was great, because pretty much the only thing Ethan wore for the first year were onesies.  I've gotten so many good deals on clothes here - Carters onesies with the tags still on them, Janie and Jack and the Children's Place button downs for $3, Gap cargo shorts for $4.  My best deal, however, was a brand new with tags, Osh Kosh hoodie (retail price - $35) for wait for it.....$6.50.  Best. Deal. Ever. Ethan LIVED in that hoodie last fall. I was just visiting OUAC's website and am super-excited to find out that a new location in Victor will be opening soon!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've consignment shopped for Ethan because I was fortunate enough to receive some hand-me-downs for him recently.  I've learned though, that to be a savvy shopper for children and get great deals, you have to think ahead and therefore, buy ahead.  I'm starting to think about fall clothes for Ethan, so now's the perfect time to start shopping. It was super hot this afternoon, one of those days where you just want to be in air conditioning, so I strapped Ethan into his carseat and we took a drive to Greece to visit Kid to Kid.  OMG.  To quote Rachel Zoe, "I died. I lit-rally, died." First of all, Kid to Kid is a great looking store.  I have found that consignment stores tend to get packed and cluttered with stuff to the point where I start to feel claustrophobic while shopping.  In Kid to Kid, there's plenty of space to move around and not feel like you're blocking another shopper.  Their selection is pretty huge, too, so the spaciousness is not due to lack of inventory. Everything is nicely labeled, and well organized. I especially liked the special rack dedicated to Bills and Sabres clothing. I was really pleased with what was available in Ethan's size.  I've found, typically, that for boys, the best selection of clothes are in sizes newborn - 12 months.  I think this is because people love to buy clothes for little babies, so there's more clothes for a mom to consign in these size ranges.  Since Ethan grew into 18 month sized clothes, it's been hit or miss for me to find what I need for him.  Not today, though. I walked away with 10 items and spent a total of $37.30.  Pretty good, huh?  I got him a pair of Old Navy Jeans, two pairs of athletic pants, cargo pants, a long sleeved t-shirt from the Children's Place, an Old Navy Fleece, a Carter's hoodie, a brand new pair of Circo sandals, and an orange Gap baseball cap that Ethan looks oh so cute in.  It was a great haul!

First Playgroup

Because Ethan has been in daycare for the last 10 months and is used to being around other kids, it's important to me that he continues being around other kids during the summer.  I don't want Ethan to miss out on playtime with other children just because he's home with me all day. Fortunately, I have a few friends with toddlers to set up playdates with. I also went outside my comfort zone and joined two different local playgroups. I don't know any of the other moms in the group, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway because it's a good way for me and Ethan to meet other moms and kids in our town. Ethan picked up a little bug so I didn't bring him to any playgroup functions last week, but now that he's feeling better (and isn't contagious) I took him to his first playgroup yesterday. It was fun for him - lots of kids to play with and a bunch of new toys. It was also pretty cool to step back and see how Ethan interacts with other children. After he warms to the situation, he's certainly not a shy kid. He was going right up to other kids and their moms, handing them toys, taking away toys, and just getting right into the middle of things. He also didn't mind helping himself to any snacks or sippy cups that happened to be laying around. Oh dear. One thing I noticed, and was sort of surprised by, was that kids his age seem not so much to play together but just play near each other.  Did you ever notice this, moms?

I'm glad Ethan had a chance to be around other kids, but this playdate threw our day completely off track. Naps were skipped and then taken late, there was some unexpected crankiness (from both Ethan and myself), and bedtime slipped into the 8 o'clock hour. Needless to say, by the end of the day, I was a little frazzled. Thankfully, my hubby didn't mind that I left the house for a few hours to have some time to myself for a little bit. It's amazing what a freshly groomed set of eyebrows and a little retail therapy can do for a girl's mood!

Summer on a Budget

One of the perks of being a teacher is having the summers off; it's a nice break, considering the increasingly demanding nature of the teaching profession.  However, one of the downsides of summer break is not having a paycheck for two months.  So, one of the challenges I face in the summer is to have fun with Ethan, keep my sanity, and not spend too much money.  I'm definitely a "throw money at the problem" kind of girl, so it requires some planning on my part to avoid breaking the bank.  

As I've discovered over the last week, there are plenty of free activities around town to do with kids, TONS, actually.  I found a website that has been extremely helpful.  It lists pretty much every free activity there is to do with kids in Rochester in one place so I don't have to spend time trolling various websites to figure out what to do. 

Where I get stuck is with finding things to do at home with Ethan.  Since he's still so little and has a short attention span, I need to have new and unique activities ready to keep him occupied, but I can't afford to go shopping every week for new or even used toys (I think I'll need to do a post soon on my love of baby/toddler consignment shopping!) Fortunately, Pinterest has helped immensely.  I get plenty of ideas for activities and toys from Pinterest, and most of the materials involved I already have in my house or just call for a quick trip to the Dollar Store.  We made a trip to the Dollar Store Monday, and so today, since it's rainy and Ethan is feeling a bit under the weather, I broke out the goodies - a package of pom-poms and a set of ice cube trays.  For a whopping 20 minutes, Ethan busied himself placing the pom-poms in the ice cube trays, dumping them out, and then starting over.  He even enjoyed just putting the pom-poms back into the zip-loc baggie.  What I like about this activity is that it can grow with him as he develops.  Right now, it's all about hand-eye coordination, but as he gets older and understands colors, categorizing, and counting, he'll be able to use these items in other ways.  All this for only $2, yes, that's right, only $2!!! (re-read this line in your best infomercial voice).  

Nap-time

Oh nap-time .....what a love-hate relationship I have with you.  I'm pretty sure I can say this with certainty. EVERY mother looks forward to nap-time.  Whether it's because of the 1-2 hours of uninterrupted time to shower, get dressed, and then do whatever chores need to be done, or whether it's because we just want to sit down and have some time to ourselves for the simple things - a cup of coffee, a few pages of our summer beach read (minus the beach) - nap-time is a beautiful time.  And, if you're lucky (and right now, I'm still one of the lucky ones) your child might take two naps a day, which means you get to have twice as much time to yourself.  Heaven.

So, if naptime is, "heaven," to quote myself, why the hate?  How can a person hate nap-time?  It's not nap-time I hate, so much as the feeling I get when nap-time is over, when I realize that for all of my grand ideas of what I could accomplish in this precious alone time, I actually accomplish little to nothing. Case in point, this morning, which inspired this blog post.  For whatever reason....ok, maybe I do know the reason....ONE margarita at a jewelry party last night along with the guilt of spending maybe more than I should have on Silpada jewelry...I woke up exhausted with Ethan at 7am.  After breakfast and some uninspired playtime with Ethan, he rubbed his eyes at 8:17am, which meant he went down for his nap by 8:18am.  So what did I do?  Did I clean my kitchen?  Did I fold and throw in some laundry?  Did I call the vet?  Did I shower and get dressed?  Did I throw dinner in the crock pot?  Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. I went back to bed.  And it was glorious.

But, now it's 10am and I feel like I've wasted my morning, Ethan will be up any minute, and I'm not even dressed.  It's going to be a looooong day.

Day 1

Today was the first official day of my 2nd summer with Ethan, and overall, it was a pretty good day.  The weather report said it was going to be super hot (fingers crossed 88 degree days are not the norm this summer!) so I decided we should get some outside play time in early before it gets too hot, so after breakfast I loaded Ethan into the stroller and we headed towards Perinton Park.  We strolled down the canal path where we saw some ducks splash land into the canal, pointed at trees, and practiced our ABCs.

We arrived at the park and made a beeline for the new toddler playground.  There was a staircase for him to climb, a slide, and a ramp, but there were also plenty of areas on the new playground where, with one wrong step, Ethan would be splat on the brand new mulch.  Ethan's 16 months now, and fearless, so he kept me busy chasing after him.

The rest of the day was a typical day in the life of a toddler - blocks, books, snacks, naps, errands with Mama, etc.  

There were a few hiccups to our day.  Hiccup #1 - Naps.  I think Ethan might be getting ready to drop down to one nap a day :( He spent a lot of time fussing in his crib before both of his naps, but yet, he still slept for 2 hours each time.  I better go see what the Sleep Lady has to say about this.  Hiccup #2 - We ran out of coffee.  Need I say more?

Getting Started

When my little guy was born 16 months ago, life as I knew it completely changed.  Blah blah blah...sleepless nights, puke, crying baby, whatever whatever...  Motherhood hasn't been easy, but I've been blessed with a happy baby and a supportive husband and family.  I was fortunate to be able to take 6 months off from work so I could be at home with my little guy.  I wouldn't trade that time for anything, but to be perfectly honest, once that first summer came around, I was going stir-crazy!!!  I loved spending time with Boo-bear (one of Ethan's many, many nicknames), but after countless hours of tummy time, singing made-up songs, baths, books, swaddling, shushing, swaying, etc... I was craving adult interaction.  Unfortunately, being a slightly nervous new mom trying to maintain a strict nap schedule with a 4 month-old in the middle of an oppressively hot, humid summer, I was not very eager to leave the house, which only made my feelings of isolation worse.

Fast forward one year.  In the last 12 months I survived my first summer home with my baby, put my kid in daycare, went back to work, and juggled (struggled?) balancing career and family responsibilities.  So, here we are, June 23rd, and Ethan and I are about to embark on our second summer.  Did I mention I'm a teacher?  From late June to late August I get to be a summer-only stay-at-home-mom and will be one for the foreseeable future, at least until he's 18.  Gulp.  Don't get me wrong...I love my kid, but it's going to take some planning to make sure we're making the most of our summer days together and that I don't lose my mind.  So, here's where this blog comes in.  This blog will be a record of our summer days, the good, bad, fun, silly, messy.... our adventures in the second of 19 summers.