day trips, moving on up

This week has been a Mommy and Addy week, with the delightful exception of Wednesday when Robert stayed home with us. We've kept busy doing errands, cleaning house, watching movies, and running around the city having fun. On Wednesday with Daddy Bear, we joined Grandma Betty at Wakulla Springs for Addison's first-ever "jungle cruise". Intially she had some degree of reluctance: the heat, the crowd of people, the WAITING IN LINE. Ugh. A princess should never be expected to endure such things! Once the ride began, Addison perked up and scanned the riverside for animals. Her favorite creature was either the alligators or the manatee...she can't decide on one. We also splashed in the water to cool off. While splashing, we found Addy's friend from school and they played together for quite some time. To end our trip we ate dinner at the Lodge. The food was tasty, but the service was quite slow.

Today Addison and I raced around town all day. We spent time at the park this morning, then dashed across town to eat lunch with Papa and Nonnie and spend some quality time with Nonnie's dog, Poppy. We spent a short amount of time at home before leaving again to welcome my dad, Addison's Doodah, back from the BSA National Jamboree. She was ecstatic to see her Doodah again, but the scent of delicious Cake Shop cupcakes lured her attention eventually. We used the rest of the afternoon to build tents out of bedsheets, watched a little bit of TV and nursed my growing migraine. Addison as usual was outstanding in her compassion and understanding when my migraine hit. She softly rubbed my head and kissed my cheek while I attempted to sleep. She's not great at leaving me to rest, but waking to he smiling face, even when enduring a migraine, never upsets me. Robert arrived home and escorted Addison out for a walk to the park which allowed me to heal my pain in peace. We dined on a late dinner of pork chops, green beans and mashed potatoes and celebrated with a variety of cupcakes thanks to my mom and The Cake Shop. As has been the norm this week, Addison ended her day with a partial viewing of "Mary Poppins", read three books with her Daddy Bear and went promptly to sleep. I love days when she doesn't nap...bedtime without arguments!

Currently contemplating what fun Addison and I can have tomorrow!

BTW, when Addison returns to school next week, she will move up to Ms. Donna's 3-4 year old class! VERY exciting move!!

stuff about stuff

Summer has arrived. I now have two weeks away from students, but still very much present at school. It's good to have planning time....doing grades, getting ready for summer school, cleaning, organizing. All those things that I can't do on a regualr basis because I don't have planning time each day (that's a big con for working at Pace). I get 1 one hour planning period each week, on Friday. Needless to say, I'll keep myself busy at work for the next two days.

Addison is killing me lately with funny things. Last week she said to Robert that her "booty is making bubbles in the bath water." And she continues to have phone conversations with Princess Aurora and Ariel, but doesn't ever use her phones, just her hand! She is - knock on wood - totally potty trained for day time. She had one accident today in front of everyone - gross - and cleared the room really quickly.

Looking forward to our trip out West in July! Two weeks of driving with a 2 1/2 year old is going to be AWESOME!

robert rocks

Tonight I was shopping online for a new entry table. I found one I really liked, so I decided to go ahead and order it. I got all the way to the final review of the order stage before I thought about if the table would even fit in our entry way. Robert went to measure and found that the table would stick waaaaaaaay out into the hallway. Points for Robert. Reason #362 that he rocks: saving us from wasting money on furniture that's too big for our house.

Yeah for Andrew & Evelyn - they have a contract on a house! Very exciting!

Addison is the sweetest little child ever. She always responds to questions with polite answers. If you call her name, you'll hear, "Yes, Mom?" or "Yes, Dad?". When she asks us questions, she always begins by saying, "My mommy, can I __________?". She melts me. I dread this time of day when she goes to bed. (Which, by the way, when we told her it was bedtime tonight, she got a pacifier, grabbed her two kitties, said "night night guys" and went straight to her bed, on her own! She doesn't need us anymore!) I wish I could spend all my time with her. She's growing up far too fast for my liking.

Currently debating the "need" for a 1/2 birthday party this year. She certainly knows what birthdays are, but I'm afraid she would think that she's turning 3. Decisions, decisions.

8 days of school left. I cannot wait! Though, I realized today that out of 10 days "off" between end of regular school year and extended school year (read: summer school), I really only have 5 days off. June 1 & 2 are mandatory teacher planning days; June 3, 4 & 8 I have a training so I can supervise interns; June 11 is another mandatory planning day for extended school year. So that leaves me with free time on June 5, 9, 10 & 12. I am really looking forward to those days off. I'm going to plan some fun stuff for me & Addy to do!

Happy Birthday to my baby bro, Hoyt! He turns 17 tomorrow!

this week

So, Addison's been doing great with using the potty. She has done AWESOME at school and pretty good at home. I think at home she's tired at the end of the day and just forgets...we'll just keep trying. We're almost there!

Robert leaves on Thursday for Vegas. I think he's excited, but anxious about leaving us behind. He's never been away from Addison for four days, so I'm sure that's going to be hard on him. And her. That's what I'm most nervous about - her asking for Daddy and not being able to fulfill that need. I also don't sleep well when Robert's gone...I seem to notice every single little sound when I'm alone at night. It's always at 2 or 3 AM, too. Then I can't go back to sleep. Wish me luck...

22 days left of school. It's getting tougher. The kids are anxious about summer break, so they tend to act out more. I'm trying to adjust the assignments to things that are a little more predictable (they thrive on sameness)...but it doesn't seem to be helping so far. I have one other project to try next week. It's called Rock & Rap Middle School. Seems like it will be fun, but I'm worried it may be too abstract and different for my babies. We'll see how it goes. I may just do this project with one class.

Addison just turned 28 months old. She's become very rational and easy to reason with. She frequently responds with, "Oh, OK." or "Oh, wow!" when you answer her questions. You can tell she's really processing and understanding what you say. It's amazing to watch. She has also learned to match tones pretty well with music. She's hardly on pitch, but she knows that songs have melodies that go up & down, and she emulates that when she sings songs. I've been impressed so far. Also, I will play a chord on the piano and ask her if it's a happy (Major) or sad (minor) chord and she typically guesses correctly. That girl has an ear...I'm proud. :-)

Love to you all!