Random Thoughts

I'm going to begin with a Daycare update. Things went much better last week with no biting incidents involving Nick. I am so happy about this and hope his good behavior continues. He did have a fall on Friday and got a nasty gash on the inside of his upper lip, but you can't even really see it and I think its healing fast. The teachers in Nick's class tell us that they think he is starting to understand how to play more gently with his friends. Apparently he is using his "gentle touches" most of the time.

Nick had his second hair cut last weekend. He was beyond looking a bit shaggy and past due. We took him to Sports Clips and first he watched Bill get his hair cut and then he sat on Bill's lap for his hair cut. He did really well, although you can't tell from the pictures! And, he looked really cute when all was said and done.

While we were out getting haircuts we made a quick stop at the mall to buy some new and bigger pajamas and pants. There was a great sale at The Childrens Place, and we really like the pj's there so we stocked up. Bill picked out the pajamas, which were the warm fleecy kind, and apparently they didn't have many left in Nick's size so we ended up with one set of PURPLE girlie pjs for him. The first morning when I went in to get Nick in the morning he was standing up, in his purple pj's with the biggest smile on his face, it was hilarious. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so we took a few this morning because he had them on again. I love a guy who can wear purple with confidence!

I was thrilled this week because Nick has finally started calling me Mommy. It doesn't happen often, but he will use Mommy to refer to me, which makes me so happy! The other day we were in the car and I said, "Hey Nick, who am I?" and he said "Mommy". I couldn't believe it. He has been calling Bill "Daddy" for a while now. He is also trying to say his own name, which he has some trouble with but its coming along. One of his favorite things to do recently is look at pictures and pick out Mommy, Daddy and Nick.

I've decided to start running again. I stopped last summer right before our second trip to Russia and haven't started back up again (isn't that terrible!). Anyway, I signed up to do a 10K at the end of March so I've got to get back out there to pound the pavement. I need some inspiration for sure! I want to get a jogging stroller and have my heart set on a BOB Revolution but they are pretty pricey and this isn't the best time to spend a bunch of money. If anyone out there is still reading this and has advice on a jogging stroller that you like, please let me know the model and brand!

That is it for now. I'll leave you with a picture of cutie pie from the past week!

Doctors, Post Placement, Daycare and a Sad Day

We have been really busy since the holidays, hence the lack of posts. Although I hadn't been exactly cranking them out before the holidays either.

Nick has been sick, on and off, since January 2nd. It started with Pink Eye and a really bad cold. Right now he's got an ear infection but he seems to be doing much better since he went back on antibiotics. Somehow, I have been spared of the sickness but Bill has been almost as sick as Nick.

Earlier this week Nick had his 21 month checkup. Apparently this isn't a normal check but our pediatrician wanted to see him, plus we need to finish up the immunizations. Anyway, Nick really has a thing against the stethoscope. The minute it comes out he starts screaming bloody murder. I don't know why this upsets him so much, but it does and it makes checkups really fun (NOT). Other than the freakout with the stethoscope he did pretty well. He is now up to 24.5 pounds and is a little over 34 inches tall. This means that in 5 months he has gained almost 3 pounds and grown 2 1/4 inches. We had been noticing recently that his pants and pjs were starting to get a little short so this weekend we'll be stocking up on some longer/larger clothing.

This past Thursday we had Nick's first post placement visit. I have to say, we have the best Social Worker, whom I would highly recommend to anyone in the area. She is so nice and Nick took an immediate liking to her. I was a bit worried about how things were going to go with him during the visit because it was late in the day and Nick had what was probably his worst day ever at day care that day (more on that later).

I thought the post placement visit went really well. Our Social Worker seemed very happy with Nick's adjustment to his surroundings and attachment to us. She had some good advice for us to help with addressing some of the regular toddler behaviors and also offered to help us find resources if we need them in the future.

Our agency has given us two different dates for having the report to them, one of the dates is today, as communicated to us through email on Thursday (yes 2 days before it is supposedly due). The other date they gave us in a friendly reminder call on Wednesday is January 31st. This is also the date they communicated to us in writing back in August when we returned from Russia. I really had hoped they would get their act together but through this recent interaction I see that they haven't. It's a shame. We are hoping to get the report to them by the end of next week, which will be a week ahead of the date they gave us in writing. I think thats pretty good!

Back to the bad day at daycare. Normally, I drop off in the morning and Bill picks up at night. But on this day Bill was home sick, so I did both. When I went to pick up I noticed a bunch of sheets behind Nick's daily report but didn't think anything of it and just grabbed his daily report, artwork, and coat, and went into the other room to get him. His daily report noted that he had an OK day (this translates to bad) and had to have several reminders to use his gentle touches with his friends. So, I go in the room to get him and the discussion goes like this:

Me: "Nick, it sounds like you had a rough day buddy."
Teacher: "Well, the first bite was because his friend took his book away."
Me (totally flustered and thankful no other parents are in the room): "The FIRST bite, how many biting incidents were there?"
Teacher gingerly: "Three."
Me horrified: "Three, where are the incident reports?"
Teacher: "On the clipboard, we turn them over so no other parents can see them. We'll need you to sign them before you leave today."
Me: "Of course, I didn't realize, I'm going to get them now."

Oh my god! Three biting incidents in one day! Two of them were not even provoked. Not that it would be any better if they were provoked, its just at least then it would be slightly more explainable. But apparently, during morning snack Nick just leaned over and bit his friends back. Who does that? I was beside myself and so upset. The teacher said they were all really surprised because the little one whom Nick decided to bite not once but twice, is his buddy! So glad that we had to rush home for our post placement visit. Needless to say, getting a report like this was very stressful and upsetting. Not to mention that if I were the parent of a child who had been bitten I would be really upset too. I asked about the kids who had been bitten and the teacher thought the bite marks were all mainly gone by the end of the day. I hope so.

On Friday, I was so worried that Nick would start up the biting frenzy again. When I dropped him off the teacher said that they would keep a close eye on him. And I guess they did because they told Bill that he had made some (not sure how many) attempts to bite again Friday but did not succeed because they got to him before he was able to bite. They do some sort of discipline for trying to bite, not sure what exactly, we'll have to find out. Anyway, I really hope he will stop this behavior now, because I don't want anyone else to get hurt.

Finally, something else happened yesterday that makes me very sad. I don't think I ever mentioned it, but prior to this November I worked for Circuit City at their corporate headquarters. I was planning on returning to work at CC after my adoption leave in mid-November but thankfully found a new job and gave my notice 3 days prior to a massive layoff of 800 people at the Corporate Headquarters, including the team I had managed. This was very upsetting, to have so many friends lose their jobs right before the holidays. But some friends remained employed there and hopefully they would be able to turn it around. Shortly thereafter the company declared bankruptcy and filed for Chapter 11. I had high hopes for the company to fight its way back. Circuit is an institution here in Richmond and I really wanted them to succeed, for the 34000 employees, their customers and the Richmond community.

Unfortunately, yesterday, after failing to attract a buyer able to get financing to buy the company, Circuit City announced that it will have to liquidate its inventory and close all stores.

Say what you will about Circuit City, everyone has a story. I know there were issues, colossal missteps, etc. But, I can honestly say that the people I worked with there were some of the smartest, hardworking, fun and amazing people I have ever had the pleasure to spend my days with. I developed some wonderful friendships that I'm sure will last a lifetime. Not all companies are like that, fostering real teamwork and comraderie amongst their workforce, while still getting the work done.

It is a sad, sad day for the Richmond community and for many communities across the nation that had stores where 34000 people in total were employed.

With that said, I'm going to say bye for now.

Have a great weekend all!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, we certainly did!

This was such a special holiday season for us. Everything seemed to go so quickly that I really had to make myself stop, slow down, and enjoy it in the moment. Nick didn't really understand what was going on with all the decorations, Christmas music, Santa Claus and presents. I think next year he will understand much more which will make it more fun for him. Its been a while since I've posted, but I'll try to give a rundown of the highlights of the past two weeks.

For us, I think the season really kicked in the weekend before Christmas. That Friday, I left work early to attend the Christmas Party at Nick's daycare. I'm glad I went as it was nice to see Nick interact with the other kids. I was hoping to meet some of the other parents but that didn't really happen, mainly because there weren't many parents there. The minute I got there Nick started showing off, for my benefit I think. It was slightly strange and I was glad to leave and go home to enjoy the last weekend before Christmas.

On Saturday morning Bill, Nick and I went out Christmas shopping. It was fun and festive and we were very efficient (we bought in every store we went it, Bills words BTW!). We were able to get most of the Christmas gifts for Bill's family and some for mine. Nick is good for shopping for about 2 hours, so I went back out Saturday afternoon alone. This time the shopping was frustrating and the traffic was crazy. I was completely unsuccessful which meant that I would be out shopping Christmas Eve. Oh well, whats a girl to do?

I spent most of Sunday finishing decorating the house and cleaning in preparation for lots of company. Bill spent the day making 2 lasagnes for a dinner party and cooking a special Georgian (Russian) dinner of Khatchapuri (a bread stuffed with salty cheese) and a Spicy Georgian Pork Stew. While in Moscow we really enjoyed the Georgian restaurants we visited and the dinner Bill made was fantastic. It brought back so many memories from our trip. Nick loved the Khatchapuri so that will definitely be on his rotation for meals. We are going to make the Georgian meal a pre-Christmas tradition!

On the Tuesday before Christmas we participated in a progressive dinner with our neighborhood friends and had about 20 people at our house for the dinner portion of the evening. It was fun to have everyone at the house and the dinner was a great success. In retrospect, hosting a large dinner party two days before Christmas, on a day that both Bill and I were working, on the night before another workday, probably wasn't the best call. Oh well, live and learn.

The net result of all the pre-Christmas activity was that I ended up having to leave work on Christmas Eve at 11am to do my Christmas shopping for Bill and Nick. I usually do my Christmas shopping late in the season, but I can't remember being so far behind, so late in the game. Somehow, it all came together and I wasn't even the last parent to pick up their child at daycare, thank goodness!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my sister's house with my nephews, dad and stepmom. It was a nice evening although by the time we got around to exchanging gifts, Nick was on his last leg. So we opened gifts in record time and made a quick getaway. I spent most of the rest of the night wrapping gifts and watching Christmas movies, which is a Christmas Eve tradition for me. It was fun and I was up late!

We had a low key Christmas morning with just the three of us at home celebrating. Bill's Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law came around lunch time. Nick took an extra-long nap and didn't wake up until 4pm. By that time, my dad and stepmom came and joined us for dinner and it was really great! Bill made garlic and herb rubbed filet mignon, roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary, sautee'd green beans and homemade parmesan and roasted red pepper bread. I think we were all exhausted by the end of the day.

I worked in the morning the day after Christmas, but was able to leave early and spend the afternoon with everyone at home. We had a nice afternoon opening gifts with Nick, eating and playing games. Nick received so many wonderful gifts. We had put musical gifts on his Christmas list, so there was no shortage of musical gifts. I think his favorite was the Little Tikes Guitar, it plays Message in the Bottle and Rockstar, too cute!

On Saturday Bill's family left and it was time to spend a little more time with my family. My brother -Pat, sister in law-Linda, and nephew-Jack, had flown in on Friday and were staying with my sister Jill. On Saturday afternoon I (it was during Nick's nap time, so I went alone without Bill and Nick) went to lunch at TJ's at The Jefferson Hotel with my family. The hotel looked spectacular and it was nice spending time with my family. Sunday afternoon, my brother's family came to our house to open more gifts, watch football, make cookies, play WII, and eat!

Nick handled all the company, attention and gifts really well. We definitely tried to space out the gifts in order to not overwhelm him. By the end of the weekend, we had gotten through most of the gifts from other people, but Nick hadn't opened one gift from Bill and I (long boring explanation that will go unexplained). We thought it was more important for him to open the gifts from our visitors. So now it is one week later and Nick has almost opened all of his gifts :-)

We had a great first Christmas together, the Christmas cards aren't yet mailed, but the Holiday letter is written, and hopefully I'll get everything in the mail on Monday! I truly hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and wish you all the very best in 2009!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Tis the Season!

I love the holidays but boy am I behind this year. I usually start my shopping late, but this year, who knows when I'll even start. Plus, I am a notoriously bad shopper. I don't really have the patience for it and unless I know exactly what I want, I have a really hard time. So, I have been putting off starting the Christmas shopping. Yes, its true, I haven't bought gift number one. I am not especially proud of this, but I am not completing freaking out...yet. My main worry at the moment is my little neice in Seattle. I need to put her gift in the mail, like tomorrow. Wish me luck and if anyone has any ideas for a 6 year old girl, let me know!

I finally finished decorating the house, mainly. There are still a few finishing touches needed, but the tree is up and decorated, the stairs are done (last year I spent hours decorating the stairs ;-) and the village is lit. I wasn't allowing myself to blog until everything (decoration-wise) was taken care of, although it didn't stop me from reading everyone elses blogs.

Nick seems to be enjoying the season, although I don't think he really understands what is going on. He had a fun time going to get the Christmas tree and he likes looking at the lights. I am trying to get him in the spirit by playing Christmas carols and singing every morning while we get ready for the day and also on the way to school. He likes them, but I think to him they are just another bunch of songs.

We have taken Nick to a couple of Christmas parties with us. We made what I think is a rookie parent mistake of taking him to a very large open house at a friends home. This is an annual party that we have been to for a few years, and is very family friendly so we thought, lets take him. Bad idea. We stayed at this party for about 45 minutes tops. It was pretty much standing room only, so we couldn't really put Nick down. All the kids were upstairs, but there weren't any quite as young as Nick. So, between us Bill and I held him the whole time except for about 5 minutes. We had squirming, flying sippy cups and mini-tantrums before we threw in the towel. Next year, baby sitter.

Happy Holidays!

Mainly Pictures

I am going to try to keep the words to a minimum on this post and concentrate mainly on some pictures from some of our recent events.

I'll start with some pictures from our Illinois trip.

Nick with Aunt Peg

Uncle Bruce got a workout once he started playing with Nick!

Nick loved playing with his cousin Ellie

...And cousin Jack, who even got a hug

He taught Granny Jane, Aunt Linda and Aunt Jill the sign for More

Nick got his first hair cut (since being with us) a few weeks ago. I wasn't there, unfortunately, because I had a shower to attend. So I missed the excitement. Bill was going to take him to one of the places with the airplanes that the kids sit in while they get cut, but the wait was too long so it was back to Great Clips. As you can see from the pictures, Nick was leery of the stylist and didn't like the experience one bit! He did look cute when all was said and done.

Here are a few shot of Nick with Aunt Mary and Uncle Dan at Wintergreen. Nick had a great time taking Mary from place to place in the house, and Uncle Dan kept getting hit in the head with the chair, which was really funny to a 19 month old!

Here we are on Thanksgiving Day. We were trying to get a good shot for a Christmas card, or just to have. Alas, we'll have to try again because this is the best of the bunch and Nick isn't really smiling. I suppose its good that we're all looking at the camera.

Thats it for now. I am already way behind on getting ready for Christmas. We got our tree yesterday and hopefully by mid-week it will be in the house and decorated!

Happy Holidays!

OK, where were we?

The last two weeks have pretty much been a blur. I expected this would happen once I returned to work. Its like starting back over with a new routine. And now, we've done it for enough days that Nick realizes it isn't just a temporary thing.

I think the last time I posted, I was kind of upset that Nick wasn't getting upset when I dropped him off in the morning. I know that sounds messed up, its just that he seemed to care less that I was leaving him for 8 hours. That all changed last Thursday morning when Nick was slightly clingy and didn't want me to leave. Friday he cried when I left, and this week on both Monday and Tuesday he became very upset as soon as I took his coat off. His teachers tell me that he calms down after about 5 minutes, but it still breaks my heart. Hopefully, he will quickly move past this stage and come to grips with the reality that I'm going to leave, he will have fun with his teachers and friends for several hours, and then I'll come back to get him and we'll go home and have fun.

That just tells you about drop offs in the morning, we have had equally trying times at pick up. The minute I walk in, Nick starts signing for a snack/drink (I can barely tell the difference between his signs). I asked the teachers about the afternoon snack and they say they get it around 4:30. Maybe he isn't eating it, or it isn't enough, I don't know. I do know that it seems that Nick is starving by the time I get there, usually between 5:30 and 5:45. It took me 3 days to figure out that I need to have a snack to give him in the car because if I don't he is going to fight getting into his carseat. It took me 15 minutes one day last week to get him into his car seat. He is really strong and was really fighting it.

Today, we had our first "sick" call. I got a call from Daycare telling me that Nick had thrown up while playing outside and we needed to pick him up within the hour. I was surprised because Nick had a great morning before Daycare, and didn't seem to be feeling bad at all. In addition, he had never full out thrown up since we've had him. He has spit up, but hasn't thrown up, at least not by my definition. Anyway, I called Bill because I had an afternoon of meetings and a project deadline. Luckily Bill was able to leave work for the afternoon and pick Nick up. Nick seems fine now, and we think something just didn't agree with him, or he may have overdone it on the snack. Hopefully he will be fine tomorrow and for the holiday weekend.

We are really looking forward to our first Thanksgiving with Nick. We have so much to be thankful for this year, and are excited to spend it with both our families. Thanksgiving day we'll go to my sister Jill's house with Carl and our nephews Josh and Sam, and my dad and stepmom, Oma Gretel. On Friday we'll head to Wintergreen where Bill's family and close friends are celebrating, maybe we'll have snow!

Happy Thanksgiving All!

New Routines and Strange Dreams

We are home from our trip and doing well. The trip was really fun, although quite tiring for all of us (Nick, myself and Jill--thanks Jill for all your help!). Now we're back to our day to day lives which changed drastically yesterday when Nick spent his first full day at daycare.

By all accounts, Nick did really well at daycare yesterday. He did not cry when I left him. I struggle with whether I should be concerned about this or not. Do I want him to cry, to demonstrate his attachment to me, or do I want him to wave bye and continue eating his snack? I don't know. I do know that I lost it while I was walking to my car, and called Bill sobbing that I had just dropped him off. It was really hard to leave him. I could see him on the playground and he just looked so little.

The teachers tell me that he was extremely well behaved, he didn't eat much at lunch or snack time, and during nap time he sat on his cot, chatted to himself and signed for More. I hope that soon he will start sleeping during nap time so that we can maybe avoid the meltdown that occurred once I picked him up.

When I picked Nick up he was happy to see me and came to me and gave me a hug. As I was getting his things together he started to get upset, he was signing that he wanted a drink. I told him we would get one at home. He whimpered most of the short drive home and once in the door I immediately gave him apple juice-water. He took a few gulps and chucked the sippy cup. I apparently didn't get it right. So then I thought maybe he had been asking for cheerios (drink and cheerios sign are very similar). He tossed the cheerios and continued to sign urgently. I finally realized that he might want Milk. That seemed to settle him down somewhat, but he still managed to fuss and cry for the next 30 minutes. I guess he was saving up all his unhappiness for home.

We decided that with the lack of a nap, we should put him down for bed earlier than normal. He was fussy and difficult through dinner, which is not normal. He did pretty well during bathtime and went to sleep with no issues. I hope today will go better.

I think I am definitely experiencing some anxiety about all the changes that are in process (daycare, new job). Its not surprising but the way it is manifesting itself is slightly odd. I have been waking up for the past few nights in a row, and even a few times before the trip, looking for Nick in our bed. Two nights ago I woke up and was patting the bed sheets around me, trying to move the dog (yes, all 70 pounds of Abby sleeps with us!), looking for Nick. Bill woke up and asked me what I was doing and I told him that I'm looking for the baby. Bill calmly explains to me that Nick is in his room sleeping in his crib. I say ok and go back to sleep. Then I wake up a second time about 3 hours later and do the same thing. Bill tells me Nick is in his bed and I say he's supposed to be in bed with us. I go back to sleep once I'm sure Nick isn't in bed. Then last night I wake up again expecting Nick to be in bed with us. I can't find him, and I know that I haven't brought him to bed with us, but that doesn't stop me from getting up to check on him. Very strange!

Hopefully later this weekend I'll be able to post some pictures from the trip and also update on how the second day of daycare went.

Have a great Friday everyone!