week 2 of preschool and day one of tumbling-busy busy

Devin loves preschool. He is itching to get out of the car when we pull up into the drop off line. His teacher brought him out today and said he had a great day and that he is a pleasure to have in class. She also told me he is a comedian and told her a knock knock joke today. Devin, " knock knock on the door" Miss April, "who's there?" Devin, "It's Devin, you silly gooser!" Haha, I was just laughing so hard when she told me this. We do not really tell jokes at home yet so I was cracking up that he got that from somewhere else. She said she and the other teacher were dying.  He got circle crackers today with orange juice as a snack. It is so funny to hear how he describes stuff. Not crackers or Ritz, but circle crackers and I think he was bummed that he got orange juice again.

After I dropped Devin off, Riley and I went and grabbed a cup of coffee and sat outside for 30 min or so until her tumbling class started. She 'talked' to a few other patrons sitting outside in the shade and of course showed everyone her belly button. It really is a button because she has a protruding out-ie. Her tumbling class was sponsored at the community center out in Henderson near Devin's school. The center is fantastic with all sorts of classrooms designated for different classes. They had a cooking classroom with stoves (reminds me of that Friends episode when Monica goes with Joey and they make chocolate chip cookies), a spin classroom, pilates/yoga, pool, arts and crafts and a whole other wing I did not go down. They also have a three story rock wall in the center that I so want to conquer one day.  The class was run similar to that of a Gymboree or My Gym Class. It started with circle time of songs and dancing and a skill. Now we are talking 18 mo to 24 mo old kids. Last thing they want to do is sit in a circle for 5-10 min when there is all sorts of gym equipment to play on. Riley LOVED the high bar (she hung for a long time) and the wedges. She likes doing somersaults and backwards rolls. Being only 17 mo she is a little young for a lot of the stations. She had no interest to walk on the beam or try a hand stand or cartwheel. I guess that will come with time.

After the class we had 45 min to kill before I had to grab Devin from school. Right around the corner from the community center is a park with a shaded playground so we went there. Today's high is only 96 or so and at 10 am it was cool enough to play at a park. We will get the 100's back tomorrow (gag!) There was one other mom at this park and her daughter was trying to play mom to Ri so we started to chat. Low and behold she is from NJ and her 4 year old daughter goes to Challenger on MWF! Small world.  Her husband is from Southampton, she is from the Freehold area and her sister lives in Medford. We of course had the talk about if we found decent pizza/bagels/hoagies out here. Its hysterical that Las Vegas is SO small of a place. We exchanged numbers and she still has her 609 number as well. Oh they are Giants fans too!

First day of preschool.....success or failure?

OK. So I get out of the shower and was dressed by 7:30. We need to leave our house by 8 am to get there in time and Devin does not usually wake up until 8:30 so I know I need to wake him to leave. Thankfully the trash truck came early and he woke up naturally by hearing me open the garage door to take the trash out at 7:45.  He got dressed and I started to take some pictures of him outside all set and ready to go.

I had to wake Riley up this morning. Odd that she slept in past 7, but I will take it!  Off we went and I tried to talk up how much fun he was going to have and all the new friends he was going to meet. He sure seemed excited and was refusing to eat anything. We got to the drop off line at 8:25 so we had to wait about 10 cars deep  until 8:30 when they started unpacking kids. Now I mentioned this before....I do not park and take him to his classroom. I have to pull up, then a teacher opens his door and unbuckles him and walks him to his classroom. I have to admit, I really wished I could have given him a hug when he left. He did look back twice, but was anxious to get inside. This makes the line move quickly and I am sure it is better for the kids not to have sappy moms hanging around blubbering about their kid going to school.

Did I cry? Well, not really. I got choked up when I pulled away. I called Frank to let him know that Devin was in the building and immediately started to tear when I was telling him about it. By the end of our conversation I was over it and Riley and I went home and had breakfast and played for a few hours until I had to go and get Devin.

Left the house at 11:10 and arrived at 11:33. I wanted to be in the front of the line for pick up. The pick up window was 11:30-11:45, so when I pulled up and saw the gates closed at 11:33 I was a bit confused. I parked and figured that they were just running behind on the first day. Riley was asleep in the backseat so I did not mind if I had to wait a little while. A parent walking past my car motioned for me to open the window. I did and they asked if I was picking up. I said yes and he said we missed the window. Apparently it was 11:15-11:30, but the director had misinformed one of the three orientation groups with times. So I woke up Riley, and walked in the office with a few other parents. The secretary apologized for the mix up and I signed Devin out. Yes, first day of school and my kid is waiting for me in the office. Haha. At least I wasn't the only one who made their kid wait there.

He loved it. Told me they sang Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes, played outside, went over the alphabet, colored, went over Show and Tell and lots of other things he said. They had a snack of rectangle shaped crackers and orange juice.  He told me that there were so many kids in his classroom and that he met a bunch of nice kids. He also said there were a few baby kids who cried and cried but were not hurt. He said he wants to go tomorrow, so I consider that a great success.

Riley starts tumbling next week. The company who we are going through is called Gym Cats and due to her  age she will be considered a Tumbling Mini Kitty. So cute. A friend of mine is enrolling her daughter too who is just a week older than Riley so it should be a trip to see these two learning how to do somersaults. More pics to come with that for sure!

Preschool starts tomorrow!

Orientation went well last week. Devin seemed very interested in meeting new friends and was not at all shy with the new kids he met. That does not suprise me, but you always wonder what it will be like when I leave him there. Our preschool is connected to an elementary school. Drop off is not walking them down the hall and saying good bye. I have to pull up in a line and leave him that way. I am not sure how he or I will do with a good bye like that. I guess we will see tomorrow morning at 8:30. I will be staying on that side of town for the morning just in case. In case of what? I have no clue....but for the first day, I want to be over there.

His teachers seem very nice and they think Devin is adorable which for some reason makes me feel slightly better. His class is full with 22 kids and he has two teachers (no aids.) The MWF classes in the am are full too and the afternoon sessions are less full. I am guessing that is because of naps? Ha, that is not an issue here since he gave them up at 2.5. Boo to that.

Kelly came out for a surprise visit over the weekend. Devin and Riley both really enjoyed playing with Aunt Kelly. We playing the backyard and Devin and Kelly took turns spraying each other with the hose. It is kinda funny b.c the hose is never cold here so it is not that bad being sprayed with it. We went to our local pool and it was freezing so we only lasted there about 45 min yesterday. At least she got to see the kids playing in the pool for a little while. Devin woke up this morning after she left and told me all about going to visit her in NJ and see her dogs next month.

They are getting so big so fast!

I have been going to the gym since November, but really consistently since April. My gym has an excellent day care facility. I was super worried about skeevy dirty toys and snot nosed kids running around when I first decided to send my two. They told me that they shut down the climbing thing and wash it twice a day. (once mid day and once at night) I was skeptical about this until I saw it in person just before lunch when I was picking up the kids. Great to know they actually do it...and best yet, they turn kids away at the door if the appear to be sick! Gotta love that. A-hole mothers who bring their kids to a facility sick like that should be shot. Not really, but come on lady-your kid has dried snot on their face and a glob in their nose. Gag!

Riley goes into a separate area than Devin. She goes into a play area designated for 12 months to 2 years and Devin is in the huge area with 2 yrs plus. Riley has cried every single time I drop her off for 8 months. That is a few times a week for 4 weeks a month for 8 months. Does it bother me? No, I turn around and walk out and continue on my work out regime. They call you if your kid is crying for more than 5-10 minutes and will not calm down. I can watch the daycare from tvs all around the gym and on all cardio machines through the tv mounted on it. Rarely do I check more than once if at all. Bad mom? Maybe, but I know she is just fine and a little crying will not kill her. She then cries when she sees me when I come to sign her out.

Ok, so that was the first 8 months-which brings us to this past month. Riley has not cried once. Not when I drop her off, not when I pick her up. What is up with that? Why now? She actually puts her arms out to the teenager when I drop her off. Devin loves it there. They have a bounce house, HUGE, I mean HUGE climber tube thing, tvs with video games, a dvd playing, two of those dance pad things, tables and chairs for crafts and random toddler kitchens and such. A kids dream if you ask me. I have no excuse why not to work out. Well only one is if one of the kids is sick, but besides that-I am good to go now that they both like/love it.

Devin is a week and a half away from starting preschool. I am sad and excited at the same time. I cannot believe that he is old enough to go to preschool. He is so excited and keeps asking me questions about what kind of new friends he will meet, and what his teacher is like. We go to the school for orientation and teacher meet and greet on Friday the 20th. He gets to see his classroom and put his name on this cubby hole. Dev will be going Tuesdays/Thursdays in the morning for three hours. During that time, one day I will drive home and the other day Riley and I will stay on that side of town until it is pick up time. Riley will be starting tumbling at a gym called GymCats. It is sponsored by the local community center and is really reasonable for 6 weeks ($38) for 45 min a day. We will also hit up the gym over there and then pick up Devin and come home for lunch. I am a planner as you see and I love having a game plan. Type A all the way! I am excited that Riley and I will get to do something alone. We think it is important that she have special time like Devin did before Riley was born.

We were going to put Devin in tee ball this fall, but we decided to wait until spring sign ups. He would love to play now, but most of the friends who we would signup with are not ready yet so we will wait until he can sign up with his buddies.  So we have that much longer to work on hitting and catching. He does really well off a tee and has for quite sometime now. For a few months now we have been working on hitting from a real pitch. He can hold his own with this. He loves to run the bases we have in the backyard. I have no idea how to teach him rules or how to field a ball. I guess that will come with a bunch of kids on a field so he can understand there are different places to be. Once it cools down it will be more fun to play out back without all the water toys everywhere.

Great morning for a hike at Red Rock Canyon

Last night it rained and we had some awesome lightning. I even got a video of some of it while coming home from babysitting for a friend. I miss good summer storms since moving out to the desert. Anyway, when I opened the door to let the dogs out this morning I was greeted with cool crisp 74* air. Now you may think that that is not cool and crisp....Las Vegas' average low at this time of year is between 87-90*. That is NJ's average high for the day when that is all it 'cools' down at night here. So when it was a cool 74*, I decided that today was a perfect day to take the kids for a hike. Frank was out golfing so it was just the kids and I. What a beautiful morning down at Red Rock Canyon.

Red Rock Canyon is about 10 minutes away from my house and about 5 more minutes into the canyon is where we parked and started out into the open grounds. I wear Riley in a backpack frame carrier and Devin walks. We do not go too fast since we go at his pace, but it is still a small workout none the less. It was warm out by the time we got there at 8:30, but breezy and partly cloudy.

Poking a stick in a tarantula hole

We saw about a dozen lizards and a few GIGANTIC beetles. Not sure what type they were, but the body part was about 2-3 inches long. Gross if you ask me. Devin loved to poke them with a stick. I took Riley out of the carrier on the way back to the car and let her explore a lil so I could take pictures of the two of them. Only one bummer about our outing was we lost Riley's white hat (second lost one this summer.) Other than that, it was a great hike and we met some friendly people and pooches along the way.

The 10 day forecast shows nothing but triple digits again with lows in the 90s but today we will take in the high of only 98*. Sounds ridiculous....but really it is a great break from the 100's. It was a great reminder of what is coming in another 6 weeks.

Walking back from the mountain. See Devin coming up the path....?

one of those weeks and it is only Tuesday

There are days that I feel overwhelmed...not because our house is chaotic or because I have a million mindless things that need to get taken care of in a days time. As you all know, Devin is allergic to eggs and dairy. He is getting better with the dairy allergy but the egg allergy is still awful. We went to dinner with another couple Saturday night as a last minute idea. (We decided to go at 4:45 with me still having to shower and then drive across town to the restaurant)

Being an authentic Italian restaurant we ordered the kids pasta with pomadoro sauce. I never though twice about it. He eats pasta all the time at home....yeah except the restaurant makes their pasta fresh with (gasp) eggs! Ok so now it was not immediate that he started his vomiting....but as soon as we ventured on the way home across town he started and it was all over him, his car seat and Riley's new dolly he was holding for her.  I have gotten pretty good at taking the car seat apart from having to wash it a million times so that was easy, but it was all over him. Down his shirt, on his shirt, shorts, new braided belt, socks. Eww, gag I can still picture it. He had to get in the shower and rinse off. We are not sure why he has this allergy. I exclusively breast fed him until he was able to drink milk, neither Frank nor I have food allergies and I waited until the correct age to introduce them.

So anyway-He was whiny Sunday and kept saying his belly did not feel well and I contributed that to his allergic reaction the night prior. Monday comes around and he comes to our room first thing in the morning to tell us he threw up in his bed. So I have to strip the bed down and wash it all in three loads because there was vomit everywhere. Devin is whining, won't eat and just wants to lay and watch tv. We are not a big television house so I am leery...but say ok just so he will stay still. Riley was a peach and just went with the flow while he took trips to the kitchen trash can. Yes, Devin is trained to walk to the kitchen trash or a toilet depending where he is in the house. He is a puker. Which is a whole other story.

So today Devin does want to eat but will not eat when I put food in front of him. He woke up at 8:45 this am and asked for a drink and then asked to go back to bed and not come downstairs. He ended up coming out of his room about 10:40 this morning. He is asleep on the couch as we speak next to me. He does not have a fever, is having regular bowel movements and is in an ok mood today. I just do not get it. I would think that if he had a bug he would have diarrhea or a fever?

Riley is getting to the age that she wants to do everything herself. She will not let me help her, but gets frustrated when she cannot do it herself. I love watching her try and figure out what she is attempting to do. Trail and error is so cool in kids. Devin is very into helping her and she will allow his helping hand, just not mine.

Our house is pretty clean, the dishes are done for the most part and our couches got professionally cleaned today. Things should be pretty relaxed, but for some reason I am just exhausted and want to fast forward until tomorrow. Hopefully by then Dev will be back to his normal self and we can leave the house. Until then, I should start my casserole and pour a glass of wine.