My baby is now 2 years old. What the hell happened? . Super proud of both my endeavors, Kaili and the cake.
She got so much loot I had to hide some of it.
All our close friends and family came out to celebrate the birthday girl. Never a dull moment!
I can’t believe the little embryo that we viewed under the microscope 2 years and 10 months ago turned into this amazing creature.
Happy Birthday my sweet child!
The last I left off on the preschool hunt for Kaili was that I found a place I really liked but I hadn’t ruled out my old school. Well I got an offer I couldn’t refuse… I am going to go back to teaching for a little bit. A teacher friend of mine wants some time off so I have decided to take her class part time. Kaili will be joining the 2 year old class while I teach the older kids, right next door…sigh. I am excited, anxious and will admit a tad nervous, for all of us involved.
I am happy to be getting back in the classroom, ready to get out out of the house and talk to anyone other than Kaili, her conversations skills just aren’t cutting it for me. She really needs this, socially, emotionally and cognitively, so I know it will be great for her. Her speech teacher is also recommending one-on-one speech therapy throughout the summer. Being alone with me is making it too easy for her not to use the language that I know she has. Now she will be forced to communicate.
I am nervous, nervous about having her see me throughout the day but not be able to be with me. It’s me and her 98% of the time, all day everyday. This is sure to be hard on both of us. I am also really anxious about nap time. She is still in her crib and showing no signs of trying to crawl out so I am in no hurry to transition her to a toddler bed. At school she will be napping on a cot, god help those teachers. She doesn’t and hasn’t slept anywhere but her crib or her pack n play. I planned it like that and my strict routine has made for easy breezy naps and bed times. Here is where the hard part will come in and I have laid awake thinking about this.
I have watched other mothers go through this for years so it isn’t new stuff to me. But other peoples children don’t pull at your heartstrings, so in a way, it is all new to me. I’ve got a month to sort myself out before we jump in with both feet.
I have been on the search for a good Preschool with a toddler/2 year old program for Kaili to join next Fall. You’re probably thinking “but you worked at a preschool for years” Am I right?” So why would I need to look around? Well, as much as I loved the school I taught at…..there were things I didn’t love. One was the director, but she is no longer there, so that doesn’t count, does it? Second is that the classrooms don’t have bathrooms in them. That was a huge adjustment for me when I started working there, not having a bathroom in the classroom,crazy! Third , the learning part of the A.M. curriculum is a little shorter than other programs due to an early lunch and once a week chapel visits.
Shane was all “why does she need to go to a preschool? You are a teacher, you can teach her at home.” Nope. People, you can’t homeschool preschool. You can’t homeschool socialization.
With that said I had a few preschools in mind that I knew I wanted to check out and a couple that have been recently recommended. I loved all of them! Well almost all of them. The first one I went to was great, so great I wondered how I didn’t know about this place when I first moved down here and was looking for a new teaching position. I left that school thinking it was going to be hard to beat, I mean the place seemed great.
The next day I had a morning appointment with another school, they had already sent me a packet in the mail with the do’s and don’ts, wont’s and wants of the school, one of the requirements is that every child enrolled HAS to be potty trained by September. Now, this isn’t a huge issue because I hope to have my daughter potty trained by then HOWEVER, If I don’t…….then what? Well, I wasn’t promised my registration fee back in full so I am not sure that is the best route to take. I really liked the director of the school and ended up talking to her for awhile, the school was nice and it seemed like a great place to enroll your child and a great place to teach. I gave away some amazing teaching ideas { if i do say so myself } I will somehow take full credit for them.
I headed on down to the next preschool, and this one was recommended by a friend who has her daughter in the 2 year old class, she loves it. As I was parking in the lot I realized how really awesome the view was.
This school has a bay view, palm trees, ocean, SeaWorld. I have envied the teachers, students and anyone who attended this place because of the view for years. So when I parked, I stopped to take a picture so I could share the view with you.
When I walked in I wasn’t greeted by anyone. …..crickets. Also there wasn’t a security gate or door, the place was wide open. So I found my own way to the messy office and was looked at strangely by a disheveled lady who was clearly annoyed I was there. When I told her who I was she seemed confused. I asked her if she could give me a tuition sheet and a quick tour of the classrooms. She reluctantly said yes and took me around but it “had to be quick” because it was a “very busy day”, I was clearly an inconvenience. She showed me classroom to classroom and it was..ugh, it was bad! When we poked into the 2 year old classroom the teacher had kids crawling on her, a couple boys were on the floor crying and the room smelled. In another room we walked into, a little girl threw a plastic ball at us and the lady { I assume she was either the director or assistant director, she never did introduce herself} shot the kid a death look. The teacher never did say anything to the little girl for throwing a ball at visitors, too busy I guess.
Back in the office she took my name and gave me the tuition pamphlet and as I was leaving I actually said “sorry for bothering you” then I looked down at their pamphlet and I realized THIS WAS NOT THE RIGHT FUCKING PRESCHOOL! THANK GOD!
So it turns out I just wanted that school with the view to be the awesome school my friend was talking about but it wasn’t. The school she was really recommending was as great as could be. They do have a wait list so we will have to see if we can get her in.
I haven’t given up on my old school, this is still an option. I am planning on taking Kaili in to play while I talk to the director, you never know.
Easter eggs, Easter baskets, Easter bunny, Easter food, and Easter sunshine.
We had the fam bam over yesterday for the holiday. We watched Kaili eat junk, hunt for eggs, and eat more junk. We ate pretty well ourselves, I tried out a new salad and made Pioneer Woman’s prime rib which is amazing.
I am bad about taking videos of Kaili. I am sure I will regret not having certain things recorded in the coming years. I am trying to make up for it apparently with these two show stoppers. {<—that is sarcasm in case you couldn’t sense it}
Kaili took a two hour nap today. Thursday are SO much better than Tuesdays. Last Tuesday was the second in a row where she was a royal pain. Cranky and defiant. My friends, I fear we are entering the terrible two’s.
She is also entering a stage where she afraid of noises and is super jumpy. I know it’s an age appropriate fear but it’s kind of a pain in the ass. She has gotten over her fear of being sucked down the drain in the bathtub and exchanged it for running to me in fear every time a motorcycle or an airplane goes by. People, we live near an airport.
The latest issue of Parenting had some great parenting advice and I thought I would share a few of them with you, because I like you.
~”The surest way to make life difficult for your children is to make it too easy for them. Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child. -Betsy Brown Braun
~”When your kids are older, they will not remember that you went out once in a while-but you will.” Elisa D.
~”When you’re really angry, pretend someone is watching and judging you. It will force you to stay ultra-calm.” Allison McDonald
~”When it comes to raising children, your grandparents philosophical advice will be spot-on. Their medical advice will be terrible.”
Kaili is starting to make animal sounds, this means we are moving in the right direction. Her speech teacher advised us to take another 6 week class instead of one on one therapy since Kaili’s language is progressing.
My birthday month has started out pretty nicely. I got caught up on some much needed gossip with some great ladies, had lunch with my bestie, ate cupcakes, read cookbooks, finally saw Argo and predicted the Oscar wins with ease 😉
K turns 21 months old today, do you know what that means? I don’t either but I thought I would ask. Last night I gave some milk to the cat and told Kaili to just watch and not to touch. A few seconds later I hear a clink and I ask her if she spilled the milk. Her little feet pitter pattered to me, I asked again. “Kaili did you spill the milk?” She nods her head and says “yes” and then runs back to the cat. So innocent and so darn cute.
She loves berries, raisins, beans, macaroni and cheese, masala veggie patties and ketchup she will eat that stuff with her fingers if she has to. She still isn’t a huge eater so I’ve started giving her smoothies to get more nutrition into her.
Lately she enjoys watching Franklin more than Barney and has just recently found it amusing to take all her clothes and diaper off. Not so funny when I find her naked in her crib with pee everywhere, just pee luckily. I read a little on what to do about this and found a couple good ideas. One is to put a onesie on under her clothes and the other is to duct tape her diaper on. I will start with the onesie first.
We have introduced the potty but she isn’t ready yet, despite the nakedness.
She is in a speech class now and it’s once a week at Rady’s Childrens Hospital. The teacher is speech pathologist and at the end of the class {6 weeks} we will be told what our next step will be. It’s an hour long deal, the kiddos start at circle time, sing songs and read stories and then they play at the table with a manipulative toy or a creative activity. After clean up, they all sit at the table for snack time, it’s cute to watch. Throughout the class language is prominent, we ask the children a lot of questions and repeat certain words over and over along with using sign language.
Kaili has quickly picked up some words in sign language which has been a big help. I should have taught her a long time ago, oh well watcha gonna do? Since Kaili is getting the signing so well, her teacher told me we should start working on signing two words together i.e.. “more water?” Or “help please!” I guess this means I should start learning it myself.
I spent my Tuesday making an alphabet board for K. I saw these self adhesive poster letters at Target and thought hmm, these might work nicely. Lies, they don’t stick so I had to glue them on. When I was all done I went to read the alphabet to Kaili, ABCDE….f*ck, I forgot the f*ck*ng F! And yes, I had already glued them onto the poster board. So I threw a mini temper tantrum and opened some wine. I started over the next morning, remembering the F this time.
Then I went ahead and made flash cards to go with them.
And maybe if I get the urge, I will print out pictures to put on the back. We shall see.
Kaili has become a bit demanding lately. She insisted on coloring for the majority of the day, but if I stopped moving the crayon for one second she reprimanded me. Clothes were optional, hers not mine.
The Art of Thyming 