Realistic Lesson Plans

I know that yesterday I shared a bit of Evans' school curriculum with y'all. I have to say that every week I look forward to reading about all the lessons that my son is learning at school. It sure makes it easier to part with the tuition money. While Evans' teachers are putting an emphasis on the advancement of his vocabulary and cognitive skills I figured that I might set some more realistic goals that we can work on at home. Let's save the hard stuff for the qualified professionals, right? It's hard being mostly perfect but after really digging I have found a few flaws that Evans could stand to polish. I also managed to find pictures to demonstrate several of his bad habits. First off, I would appreciate it if E would stop scratching his nose. In this picture you can see a cut on the right side of his nose. This has since healed but now he has one on the other side. I am not really digging the ruffian look as I don't feel it photographs well. Since I'm not exactly sure how he does it, I am at a loss as to how to stop it. Next up is something that I could probably stand to help him with.It might just be me but I feel like this outfit might look a little bit better if it included pants. I REALLY like that he has on shoes and socks without pants. I'm just not sure it is his best look and in the future I might have to be more strict about it. The next issue could actually be a bit of a hazard.We are going to have to work on sitting down in the bathtub. I should have made a bigger deal out of it when he first started standing up but since he was trying to kiss me, what could I possibly do? Now he wants to stand to open and close the glass doors, stick his finger up the faucet to turn the shower on my head, knock the $5 bottles of baby wash into the tub while they are open and therefore ruined and to get the squeegee off the ledge so he can lick it. This sort of needs to be dealt with soon. Maybe tomorrow. Lately Evans has been wanting to do everything that the twins do. The problem? The twins are 6 months old and Evans will be 18 months at the end of the month.Which brings us to age appropriate toys. Not really a lot to say here except that my MOM indulged this and put him in the jumper. I'm not sure what the weight limit is but my guess is that it isn't not for 24 pound giants who SHOULD be walking. A good rule of thumb would be that if the child's knees drag on the ground, he is probably too big for the toy. Now every time Jack or Molly wants to play in the bouncer, Evans wants to physically remove them for his turn. While I'm busy not letting Evans play with baby toys we should probably go ahead and work on this.We are getting MUCH better at walking these days, sometimes even choosing to do it on our own accord. Something about being nekkid and being in the hallway leads Evans to transport himself from one place to the next like this. Cracks me up, yes, but normal? I'm not sure about that. Last, but certainly not least on our lesson plan list has something to do with this.We have somehow forgotten (because I know that at some point he did know) that it is not appropriate to crawl on the kitchen table. Even if we are on vacation at the lake house. No matter how much joy it is bringing you.

I think we will start all these lessons tomorrow since the little mister is still running a fever. I hate that he feels bad but I do not mind all the lap sitting/cuddle time I have gotten today. I do mind the 3am wake up. Time to start feeling better! Happy Wednesday!

I Should Have Listened

On Tuesdays and Fridays I have to set my alarm clock for 15 minutes earlier than usual. Typically having to wake up earlier would really annoy me but since these days of the week are school days for Evans, I don't mind. Instead of lounging around and eating breakfast and getting dressed at our leisure, we have to get ourselves out the door to be on time. Evans has been going through a really bad sleeping stage and has wanted to be up at the crack of dawn (I consider this a real problem) so he was awake in plenty of time this morning for all of our pre-school activities. I didn't realize anything was amiss with him besides clearly not wanting to have his picture taken with me. He had his normal crying spell when we got to school but I left and knew he would be fine. Until I got a call from school to come pick him up because he had a 101.5 degree fever. Seriously? Can we catch anymore illnesses in one month? First the stomach bug, than the cough from hell (which might as well have been the stomach bug) and now a fever. When I got to school to pick him up 15 minutes later, he was asleep on his teachers shoulder waiting for me in the director's office. Pitiful. I could tell he didn't feel good and was like a rag doll when I picked him up. Fast forward 1 hour, a dose of tylenol and a 30 minute nap. Temperature at 97.8, chowing down on everything in sight and playing happily. Huh. I really don't get it but as long as he feels better, I'm happy. Something tells me that I probably haven't dealt with the end of this but at least he was responsive to the tylenol. Could he be psyching me out? I forgot to mention he ate two sausages, an entire hash brown patty and a banana for breakfast. I'm a little suspicious.A wasted outfit for sure! I've been pretty lazy lately about school postings. E has been having a great time and his teacher's love him. I think it was the Tiffany necklaces personally. I had to laugh several weeks ago when I got an email from our class mom regarding the end of the year teacher's presents. Is it really necessary to plan for something taking place at the end of May, in the second week of January? I'm just saying. I can't let it pass without saying either that the gifts are completely over the top again. I can't stress enough how happy we are with school and how much we are enjoying E's teachers so I'm happy to do it.........but I've done the math. With everyone participating in the donation, we are spending $450 on an "Our Favorite Things" basket. The teachers have filled out a questionnaire of all their favorite things and apparently, we are buying every single item on the lists (well, not really but almost). I'm just wondering who is going to be in charge of the hand stitched table linens that have been requested. All kidding aside, I feel happy when I drop Evans off to school there twice a week and know that he is going to have a great time. THAT makes it worth it. The four hour break is just the icing on the cake! I do think I'll pass on being a room mom anytime soon. :)This week in school, according to the curriculum sent out by our room mom, Evans will be working on new vocabulary, his math skills, experiencing "Dada art" (??), and his development of language and cognitive skills. Tomorrow I'll be back with a list of more appropriate personal goals for the week that we have set on our own. Happy Tuesday.

2011 Book List

I always love reading everyone else's "what I am reading now" lists and yet I have never done one myself. I love to read and I'm always on the lookout for a good recommendation. I got a Kindle last February so that makes it fairly easy to keep up with what I have read and I have kept a list the past few years on my computer as well. There is no way that I can give a summary of everything I have read in 2011 but I thought I would share my list starting with the most recent and maybe point out the books I really hated or really loved. I can tell y'all ahead of the list that it practically took me ALL of April to read Fall of the Giants by Ken Follet and I really hated it. So, without further ado, my 2011 book list:

The Submission by Amy Waldman
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Room by Emma Donnahoe
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Gatehouse by Nelson DeMille
The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille
The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
The Summer Garden by Paullina Simon
Tatiana and Alexander by Paullina Simon
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simon
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Troller
A Visit From The Good Squad by Jennifer Egan (hated)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Fall of the Giants by Ken Follett (hated and should have quit)
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

By far, my favorite book of the year was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I would love to hear if anyone else has any must reads for me to add to my 2012 book list.

Weekend + Failure

Can I just tell y'all about our weekend? It was definitely not how I was expecting to spend my two relaxing days. We clearly have not kicked this bug completely or we keep swapping germs with the twins and continue to get sick. While Evans has been okay this week he is still having issues coughing and barfing at night. I've changed more crib sheets and washed the bumper on the crib more than I ever care to do for the rest of my life. By Friday I wasn't feeling good either. But just wait until you hear about our Saturday. It can most effectively be broken down into five main parts.

1. 6:00am -- Evans begins to wail. Noooooooooo, are you kidding me? What happened to the kid that sleeps until 8:45 on the weekends? Well, that would be a little unrealistic to expect considering the second I opened his bedroom door I was overpowered by the smell of vomit. I really don't need to elaborate on this except to say that this sucks. If you are a parent, you probably understand. If I could make one request (besides to actually STOP barfing in the crib) it would be to at least try and contain the barf to one portion of the crib. Preferably not on the bumper too. Enough said.

2. 12:15pm -- Mom and I decided that we HAD to get out of the house. It was pouring rain, Evans was whining and we were climbing the walls. We headed out with E to Five Guys for lunch. Evans was thrilled to be going out and I suspect that he was actually quite hungry as well. We ordered burgers, collected drinks/ketchup/napkins and got all set up. Burgers came and we all dug in. About 2.5 minutes into eating and approximately 3 bites into my cheeseburger, Evans shoved a french fry straight down his throat and started coughing. I knew we were screwed. Projectile vomit. All over every square inch of me, him, the floor, the high chair, the table etc. For a second my mom and I just started at each other before she managed to say "Well, that was great". Commence operation clean up and sneak out. Thankfully we were sitting in a corner and no one else saw it happen. I would have felt very bad about ruining someone elses lunch.

3. 3:30pm -- Climbing walls again. Evans, who is absolutely fine besides being whiny, is clearly ready for another adventure because he decides to run away from home. Umm-hmmm, you read that right. Evans is allowed anywhere on the first floor of this house. I don't follow him around everywhere because there isn't a ton that he can get into. I was quietly reading on the couch and he was playing around me in his pajamas (he had to put on something after the Five Guys incident). A couple minutes later I realized that it had gotten really quiet in the house. This is not abnormal but all the same I called out for him. Nothing. A little louder this time. Nothing. I got up from the couch and asked my dad if he had seen Evans. No. I run to the back of the house calling for him and it is clear that he is not back there. At this point I'm starting to feel a little panicky. My dad is also calling for him in the front of the house. Dad asks me, "have you looked outside"? Uhhh, noooo, why would I look outside? How would he get out there? My dad ran out the back door and low and behold there was Evans sitting in the rain on the wet ground behind my car. This means that he crawled out the back door (and closed it behind himself), through the garage and past my car before realizing that he doesn't actually like having on wet clothes and that he was in over his head. My parents live up a huge hill on a cul-de-sac so I don't think he could have made it far but it freaked me out. I'm thinking of getting an invisible fence? I'm currently taking suggestions (besides actually making sure the door is closed all the way). I was too freaked out to take any pictures.

4. My mom informed me upon her return from the laundry room that I had created a "problem by the washing machine". After further investigation I found that I had left the new 3987 pound tub of Oxyclean on top of the washer while doing a load of laundry. Not a great idea as it was all over the floor. It's amazing how much powder 3978 pounds equals. Thank goodness for the new Dyson slim.

5. After my oxyclean incident I came back upstairs and listened for Evans. Unfortunately all I heard was splashing and I subsequently found him playing in the toilet. Soaking wet. Outfit #4.

That about sums it all up. I didn't feel great on Sunday and did my best just to keep up with Evans. I am proud to report that the crib was vom-free this morning and I think we have made it over the hump. Please god let tomorrow morning be the same, only this time, I'd rather it not be at 5:30am. Evans' behavior this past week has been atrocious and I am really praying that it is because he hasn't felt great. If this is a "phase", I'm not sure I can handle it. Happy Monday!

Not At Our Best

Evans has had a rough week. Just in case you can't tell by the withering looks he has been giving me all week long. After he managed to shake the stomach bug he had on Sunday, he was fine on Monday and went to school on Tuesday. Wednesday was a disaster. Evans cried all morning until I was convinced that something was wrong with him. He didn't want to leave my lap or stop wailing in my ear so I panicked and took him to the pediatrician. He had hardly eaten since the stomach bug but I was mainly concerned that something was wrong that I couldn't see. After hauling him to the doctor's office and discovering that he was FINE, I started to get concerned that it was just an attitude adjustment that we needed. His doctor told me that he was just feeling puny from having a virus, he didn't have to eat if he didn't want to, could have tylenol/motrin every four hours AND could go to school because he wasn't contagious. Thankfully we didn't have school on Wednesday or Thursday because there is no telling how Evans would have acted during this funk. I couldn't even capture all the ugly faces I have received the past few days but they make me chuckle and I like the one above best. He looks so annoyed with me.

Today has been as bad behavior wise as yesterday. Evans is still not wanting to eat much and since the doctor said that it was fine, I haven't minded letting him subsist on goldfish. However, when I came into the kitchen this afternoon and found this....I have to admit I was a little concerned. In case you can't tell, this is a giant plastic tub of DOG FOOD. The top screws on. It takes about 4 complete twists to take it off yet Evans didn't appear to have any problem opening it. It must have been the delicious aroma wafting through the airtight container. I can't comment about whether or not I think he ate any of it. He was not pleased when I informed him that he could not have anymore.

As I was feeding Molly this afternoon Evans decided that his favorite toy on earth was a red plastic wiffle ball. He could not part with his wiffle ball and when it rolled just out of his reach behind the sofa, you might have thought it was the end of the world. I told him I would get it for him as soon as I was done feeding Molly but apparently that was not fast enough for him.I watched as he managed to move this entire end table by himself and attempt to wedge himself between the couch and the wall. When none of this worked I had to listen to sobbing until I could retrieve the wiffle ball. Sigh.

There were three highlights to the day. The first was that tomorrow is Friday and therefore a school day. It might be an early release day but hopefully playing at school will snap Evans out of his mood (and I still have a story about school). Second, I got to see my cousin Thomas's "really long train" this morning before he went off to school.I think that Jennifer might have had some trouble finding her footwear for work but the flats add the "really long" aspect to the train. I also love how it is been led by a tractor driven by a farmer. Lastly, I got to capture this awesome video of Evans walking to me.
I've tried to lay off on my strict walking practice since he hasn't felt good. That is probably the only reason why he feels the need to use his tongue as balance. We are getting there! Thank god tomorrow is Friday and here's to hoping for a happier weekend!

Truly Committed

Remember back in October when I purchased my first pair of Reva flats and was pretty sure that my toes were going to require amputation in order to wear them? At the time, I thought that I was the only one that felt like I would rather saw off my feet at the ankle than wear these shoes. I was appalled that the salesman in the store at Phipps admitted so freely that these were the most uncomfortable shoes on earth and that I had to really commit myself to them if I wanted to be able to wear them. Thankfully, I was able to power through the throbbing pain and break in my cute gold flats but let's be honest, I'm not sure how much more I could have endured. Now, instead of wanting to saw off my feet off when I wear them, I think I could settle for having my big toe removed. It is a vast improvement. In fact, considering how awful they were to begin with, I'd almost say that they are comfortable now. I've been living with this snugness at being one of those committed Tory lovers.......Until I saw Pam. It was then and there that I realized I could never be as committed as she was. Pam is my Uncle Jack's wife and when I saw her over Christmas at a family get together it didn't take long for me to take note of her cute TB flats. Upon closer inspection I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.The conversation that followed went something like this....

Me: "PAM! Are you okay? Did you hurt your ankle"?
Pam: "Ummm, no"
Me: "Well than why do you have an ace bandage on your foot? And, is it covered in.....TAPE"?
Pam: "Oh that? Remember how you said your Tory Burch flats hurt your week? Mine hurt my feet too".
Me: "WHAT"?
Pam: "Yeah, your Uncle Jack has to wrap my feet/ankles every time I want to wear these shoes".

Hmmmm. Need I say anymore? My commitment has really been put to shame in light of realizing that someone else must tape their feet before sliding into their oh so trendy flats. This also requires wearing something that doesn't make the doctoring so obvious. While I like my flats and considered myself pretty into them, I'm just not sure I would have been able to go to this length. How far would y'all go in order to wear your favorite pair of shoes? Jammed up toes are one thing in my book but shoe induced bleeding is entirely another. Let me know how those work out for you, Pam!

First Hair Cut & First Stomach Bug

I finally let everyone elses opinion on Evans' hair get to me and we took a visit to Pigtails and Crewcuts on Saturday morning. I didn't see a problem with the fact that when wet, parts of Evans' hair reached his chin, but apparently other people did. I have to say that once confronted with the idea of Evans getting a haircut I was fine with it and pretty excited to take him. Evans had a birthday party on Saturday morning so we stopped by the children's haircut place on the way to the party. What a freaking zoo that place is! I've never seen so many kids, so many brightly colored walls, and so many toys. Pretty much your worse nightmare if you are hungover (which I was not) or in a rush (which I was) but they moved super fast and before we knew it Evans was in the shiny fire engine donning a cape.Evans was a little concerned about the little boy next to him that was screaming bloody murder his entire haircut but he managed to keep his composure. Considering he had about 8 hairs to trim up, it didn't take very long. And in case you feel like I shouldn't have succumbed to the pressure, I did take this picture of him in the bathtub last week. It sort of proved to me he was ready.The rest of Saturday was a fun day and tomorrow I will post pictures from the birthday party we went to afterwards. The picture at the top is post-haircut and looking cute.

Unfortunately, sometime during the night on Saturday night/Sunday morning our fun times ran out. When I went to get Evans on Sunday morning when I heard him talking he was covered in vomit. Niiiiiice. Clean up round one. The chance of a stomach bug never even crossed my mind. Had breakfast. Threw up in the highchair. Clean up round two. Ten minutes later, threw up all over me while I was holding my shirt out to catch barf. Clean up round three. And acceptance that Evans had a stomach bug. As you can see, he was pretty much pathetic and pitiful all day long.However he really didn't mind being able to sit with Susie and watch the Kardashians. I told him that if he chose to watch it with her I was going to have to make fun of him. He really didn't seem to mind.After two more clean ups late last night, we made it through the night without incident and seem to be much much better today. We are almost to 24 hours of not throwing up and besides being tired, I think he has felt a lot better today. If we have a good night sleep and appear to be okay in the morning I'm going to let him go to school and chalk it up to a 24 hour bug. God, please let it be over! I always brag about not getting stomach bugs but I'll wait a couple more days to brag this time. So that was our long weekend. Eventful, just not always in a good way! I'm going to pray for a less eventful week. Happy holiday Monday everyone!