I'm loving this mom thing!

Christmas was wonderful! We changed our approach this year and spent it at home. Just us. It was everything we had hoped for. Ryan was so excited about Christmas and was so happy to see that Santa remembered that he wanted more train tracks. Even though we stayed home, it took almost a week to recover from all the excitement. I'm sure a double ear infection didn't help much either.

I took some time off before the holidays and we spent it outside on his sled. Once he got the hang of it, he loved it. We need to take him to a big hill and let him fly!

He started back at school this week. It will be his first week at 5 days. Well, it's supposed to be but it looks like another kicker storm headed our way so possibly no school tomorrow. I hope it's not like the one in December where we were out of power for 59 hours. It may not sound like much, but no heat and more importantly, no water, 2 3 year olds and 6 adults all hovered in one room. Not fun! We survived but I'm sure we all lost a couple years off our lives.

We had a rough couple of weeks sleep wise. I'm sure all the holiday fun plus being sick didn't help, but I am so glad to be back to our crazy schedule. Hopefully it will help with the new little attitude that seems to have erupted.

Yellow Yellow Everywhere

Last night was Belt Ceremony at Karate. My amazing little man was awarded his Yellow belt. He puts his whole heart and soul into it everytime he goes. I am so very proud of him!

This was Jimmie's 1st belt ceremony as a student. He has been working so very hard to earn his orange belt. I'm thinking he worked a little too hard because for the 1st time since the school was open, they have a student who skipped a belt. Yep, Jimmie was awarded his Yellow belt also last night. He skipped right over his Orange belt. I'm not sure who was more shocked, Jimmie or Ryan. It's a nice, healthy little competition they have going on.

I am so very proud of my 2 men. I am so glad they have found something they both enjoy so much that they can do together.

Way to go guys!!!!!

Tis the season... decisions, decisions, decisions

We are 3 very busy people. I'm tired. Jimmie is tired. Ryan is tired. I think we all need a 3 day long nap. We went to our town's tree lighting ceremony last weekend and had a great time. We actually met up with a little girl he goes to preschool with and he wouldn't leave her side. It was so cute. They sang and danced together the whole time. We had a couple of nice sleigh rides and got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Who would've thought a kid would need more trains?!?! No interest to actually sit on his lap though. Oh well. We may try again this year or wait another year. He is a big scary man you know.

On Monday night, Ryan tested for his Yellow belt in Karate. There were a ton of people there and he had just woken up from a nap. He was a little freaked out but finally came around. He did very well. The belt ceremony is next week and he will be so excited. He has been working so hard. He gives 110% every time he is in class.

Last week we had parent teacher conferences at his school. They gave us a paper that says he is doing great. I asked if there was anything that we should be working on or any trouble he is giving them. He is a perfect little boy when he is there and they just love him. They said he is remarkable with his numbers. It just was so nice to hear all the good stuff. We did talk about switching him to 5 days instead of 3. They felt it would be a great idea. We just got the new tuition info for if we switched so now I just need to sell my soul to be able to afford it. First we need to decide if we really think it's a good idea to switch and then decide if we can stretch the rubber band called our finances. Right now, it's stretched a little too far.

Dentist anyone?

Yesterday was our first official trip to the Dentist. We went about 3 months ago just so he could sit in the chair and she could count his teeth. He really didn't want to let her anywhere near him so that's all we did.

I have been talking this up for about a week. I let him know exactly what was going to happen and how much fun it would be and how easy it was. He definitely does much better in new situations if he knows exactly what to expect. He did GREAT! He did everything asked of him. She polished his teeth and flossed them. His teeth are in great shape. He is doing a super job brushing and the spacing is perfect right now. Hopefully we can keep it up and avoid any issues for as long as we can.

Pre-school is going great. He loves it. He has made so many new friends. I need to hook up with a couple of moms to set up play dates. He keeps asking me about it. I'm not too sure about French though. I think he already knows more words than I can remember :).

We go to Locomotion every Saturday morning. What a difference the summer made. He is so much more independent now. He really enjoys working with Bill and playing in the wonderful obstacle courses he makes.

We went to our first Karate tournament on Saturday. We went just to support the kids from our school and to show Ryan what it is all about. He left there talking about how he wants to compete next time. We had a great time. All of the kids did great and thought it was awesome that Ryan was there cheering them on the whole time. He has kind of become like Norm from Cheers to everyone. He is always the first one everyone talks to and they all flock to him. It is really funny to watch. He is doing great and may even test for his next belt in December. I don't think he's ready to move up but the experience of testing will only help him later. Jimmie is testing for his next belt too so it's kind of a little competition at the house. Of course, Ryan is an orange belt right now while his dad is still a white. Sorry Jimmie :). Good luck to the both of you.

Liking the color Orange

Oh my... I need to do a lot of catching up :). Preschool seems to be going great. His teachers both say that he is doing wonderful and that he is a pleasure to have there. He on the other hand, doesn't seem to like to talk about it. He has made a lot of new friends and is always excited to go. Dropping off isn't quite as smooth, but after a little time, he willingly says goodbye. I hope that part gets easier soon. It breaks our hearts some mornings when he just wants you to stay. I am going to stick with the assumption that unless I'm told differently, things are going great.

Gymnastics started back up a couple of weeks again. We didn't know what to expect. Last year, one of us did it with him because they were so young. This year, he's on his own. Let me just say that we were all pleasantly surprised. He runs right in and does a great job. He is becoming so independent. It is a wonderful thing to see.

Karate... WOO HOO! My little man was promoted to ORANGE BELT last night. Last week he tested for his new rank and did perfect. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he is only 3. He didn't know he was getting it. We just told him there was a party at Karate. Someone must've slipped because all of a sudden he yells "I"m getting an Orange Belt, WOO HOO". He was one VERY excited little boy. Baby Doll has been bitten by the Karate bug now too and we think she will try it out this Saturday. I am having many, many mixed emotions about this. Time will tell.

Day 1.... A SUCCESS

Pepere and I went to pick him up yesterday. We weren't late, but the other parents were really early. Poor Ryan was standing there, just watching the door, in great anticipation. He saw me and lit up like a light bulb :). He was smiling away. It was a little crazy with everyone there so all's I got was that he did great and he was wonderful. We left and went out to lunch. I kept questioning him but he was too pre occupied playing to really give me the low down. He did say that he liked it and that he wanted to go back. He liked the cheese they had for snack time :). This morning, he ran into the playground and starting playing with all the other kids and forgot I was even there. Miss Arlene said he was wonderful yesterday and that he was a very happy child. It was nice to hear.

Preschool Dropoff

I am in tears. He's fine. We went to open house last week and have been prepping until we were blue in the face. Preschool is only for kids, we drop you off and then will pick you back up before lunch, you will have new friends, new toys, new books to read, great teachers... You get the point. I walked him inside to drop his stuff off and made a quick trip to the great little kids potty. Then we met his class outside on the playground. He found a corner with trucks in it and was in heaven. He looked up at me and said "Are you leaving now mommy?". That was when I knew he would be ok. Miss Pat took my hand and said it's ok, we'll see you at 11:30.