Transitions

.....not very easy when I've been home for 3 years. For him or for me.


Sigh.

Shadows and Monsters

Poor scared Thomas. Again, 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning - running through the house to us crying and whimpering. The shadows, the shadows, the shadows.

At 4:00 (keep in mind this is AM!), I thought, okay, light makes shadows, we put the nightlight back in because he was afraid of the dark. Now, he's afraid of the shadows instead. Nightlight unplugged, problem solved.

And it worked. And we all went back to sleep.

This morning we asked if the shadows were gone. "Yes, Thank you Mommy."

It's a good day to be brilliant.

Deep Breath

The nanny started today. I go back to work on Friday.

Deep breaths.

It will all be fine.

Thomas stayed in bed at bedtime last night. But then had nightmares about lions eating his hand and shadows trying to get him so he was up and down a few times from 4-5.

That oughta help my concentration. LOL!

Deep breaths.

It will all be fine.

A Nanny

Her name is Christina. She just finished a job nannying 3 year old twins, so we think she is a good match. Her last employer really liked her and gave her a glowing recommendation. She starts Monday and will be with me part time for the first part of the week. Then.....I'm back to work on Friday.

In other news, the little one will not stay in his bed still. Today we took away his trains and train tracks after a disastrous nap and let him know when he could stay in bed he could have them back. We also made him stay in his room and not have any toys for a long time. For the first 15 minutes or so he screamed (and yes, he screamed), "Those trains are MINE. They are MINE."

Hmmmm......could this be about control?

He has no idea who he is dealing with.

:)

Jack in the Box

If I could swaddle that boy and put him in a crib I would! He's decided that staying in bed is overrated. Up and down, up and down, up and down. We have been pretty strict about how we handle it to make sure he's not getting any attention - doesn't really matter to him.

Today at nap I put him down at 1:30 as normal. After up and down and up and down and temper tantrums and more temper tantrums he finally went to sleep at 2:45. Really? 2:45? That's ridiculous. I was grading papers during all of this mayhem- there's no telling what my students' feedback actually says - hahahahaha

Well, he's persistent- an admirable trait I'm sure. When he's running for office, or explaining his ruling on the Supreme Court. Because no matter what, he's still a genius.

In other news - we've interviewed more nanny candidates and have two we really like. We hopefully will know something mid week.

Big Changes

Thomas is fast approaching 3 years old. It's hard to believe! He's so grown up in so many ways...and such a little one in so many others.

We made a hard decision. I am returning to work full time outside of the home. It's been wonderful being at home with him these last few years, but contract work from home just isn't cutting it - financially or emotionally. So, it's back to work I go.

I will be joining a college prep independent school here in town. I will be a Middle School Counselor and Upper School Academic Coach. It's a very similar job to what I did before with a very different population of children. It's a new job for them - and so an exciting opportunity for me to help create this role. At the same time, I admit that I re-enter the "outside the house" workforce with some anxiety about leaving my little one. I think he will transition to it more easily than me!

For this school year we will leave Thomas in his current preschool. My new job has agreed to a flexible schedule for me so I can take him to school Tues, Wed and Thurs. We are interviewing nannies right now to be with Thomas the rest of the time.

Wish us luck!

First Week at School

...and he's thrilled to be back!

On the first day his teacher said, "He's so personable and he's so happy here."

What a difference from this time last year where I had to peel the crying child off my leg. This time there were no tears and much happiness. Just this week, he has made applesauce, baked bread, painted with watercolors and he ate a whole bowl of brown rice (yes, his school considers brown rice a snack).

A happy time indeed.

The Cat in The Hat!

PBS has a new show called "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That". The premier was today, at the Zoo, with a chance to meet The Cat himself!! We weren't able to hang out and talk as much as we would've liked, but we did all enjoy meeting him. Thomas was absolutely adorable about the whole thing!

Evidence of feeling better

Kept food down past 24 hours ... ate a good breakfast, the weather is better than it has been for a while, so we went to the park! The poor boy was practically begging to get out and play!

My favorite part is that he runs all the way up then stops to get the footwork right.

In this one he actually makes the run worth it ...

Much Better

Doing much better....slept through the night.....energy and appetite better than last couple of days....

whew.

Barf Day 2

Convinced we were out of the woods, ready to hit the road.

Nope. Breakfast all over his pajamas. He also told us "I don't feel very good." When asked what hurts he said, "All my parts."

Poor thing.

Of course right now he is totally fine throwing balls and running his mouth - a typical Saturday :)

NNNNOOOOOOOO

5:00 AM he's coughing. Turns out we can hear it so well because he's asleep on our floor.

We all wake up and he gags.

We all run to the bathroom and he vomits.

We all go back to our own beds and we silly parents hope it was a fluke.

He's great waking up and eats toast.

We get dressed to go to meet and greet at his school.

We go to the bathroom before we leave.

He vomits.

Sigh.......guess it wasn't a fluke.

Here's hoping lunch stays down.