'Tis the Season!

I look out of my office window and see... dark sky through a smattering of rain. Not exactly what you'd picture this time of year. But remembering last year's 10"+ snowfall we had by now, I'm not complaining. I don't much care for driving in the snow. The Christmas lights I put around the windows are hopefully brightening the day of the drivers who can see them. It sure looks dreary out.

We're in Christmas mode at home. We've had our house decorated since before Thanksgiving. This year, our tree has two pickles and a new find-the-_____ ornament: a pineapple in honor of our favorite show, Psych. :o) It took Nick a while to find it after I brought it home.

Felix is VERY excited about our plans to visit grandparents this year (instead of having family Christmases at our house), a fact he mentions several times a day. The upside is I'm teaching him about days and calendars.

I took Felix to visit Santa (Felix kept correcting me that it was, in fact, "Santa Claus") last weekend. He was very nervous to see a large man dressed in red, but as the picture proves, I managed to get a smile out of him. It is kind of funny that the whole picture-with-Santa thing is primarily for the parents benefit, not the kids. The younger ones I saw were too afraid of Santa to get a good picture, either crying or running away. The older ones seemed a little creeped out, too. I don't know if we'll be getting another picture with Santa in the future.

In case I don't get another post in before Christmas, Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Felix: 2 yrs

So Thankful!

I'm glad to say that I think about how thankful I am more than once a year. But in the spirit of the recent holiday, I'm thankful for:

• Nick - his love, support, hard work to build his businesses, smile and hugs
• Felix - his smile, infectious laugh, mischievous spirit, curiosity, cleverness and cuddles
• My family - their support and love (and occasional meals)
• My friends - our shared interests, and potential for new adventures!
• My health and the health of those listed above - so far, so good!
• My new job - giving me the flexibility I've long craved
• My house and everything within functioning properly
• My challenges - because they're making me a better, stronger person
• My teachers - I'd know next to nothing without you!
• Felix's day care - for their excellent care and teaching
• My city - Madison, you're not perfect, but you're perfect for me!
• Things that make me laugh - Felix, Psych, MST3K, the internets, etc.
• My teams - It's great to be a fan in Wisconsin!
• The opportunities I've had to travel and experience different countries
• Living in a country where people can speak their minds, worship what/how they want, and women can do anything.

Felix: 2 yrs

Fall Fun!

Felix LOVED Halloween. I got to go trick-or-treating with his day care class, and that was a lot of fun. Felix caught on pretty quick that they were getting candy at each stop, and really wanted to eat it right away, but somehow got him to wait. He's still got a little stash that we're working away on.

On the 31st, he and I went around the neighborhood together. He was a moose this time, in his little brown outfit and moose hat. He kept wanting to go to "one more house", but by the end, I was carrying him and couldn't do any more. But he still went to about 10 houses.

We've also done some fun family stuff recently. We went to the zoo with my parents two weekends ago, and that was a lot of fun. This time, we went on the carousel and the train (I think he liked those a lot), and played a lot in the playground. Last Sunday, we went to the Madison Children's Museum for the first time. That place is going to provide us with a lot of enjoyment in the years to come! I think Felix was a touch overwhelmed by everything going on, but I still think he liked it.













On the down side, we've learned that colds make Felix have some rough, aggressive days. Can somebody please get on curing the common cold and soon? It's going to be a long winter if every month and every cold we have troubles. We tried taking away his toys (limited success), and now we've gone to positive reinforcement (sticker chart and rewards). Hope that helps!

And lastly, as part of Felix's bedtime routine, I read him a book called Boy of Mine. Well, I start the sentences and he ends them. In the middle of the book, we sing Twinkle Twinkle together. I love it!

Felix: 2 yrs

Halloweenie

We've started doing a little prepping for Halloween around the house. Felix was very excited about carving the pumpkins we got from Appleberry Farm last week. We asked what kinds of faces he wanted on the pumpkins. Sad, scared, and happy, he replied. Done!

Felix's class is going trick-or-treating around the nearby businesses tomorrow. Since I'm now working only three blocks away and they actually encourage stuff like this, I'm going to join them for a bit! Hopefully I'll get a few cute pictures to share soon.

Felix: 2 yrs

Watch your mouth!

I'm finding kids have a way of calling you out on your bad habits. Take this little anecdote.

Nick and I took Felix to a nearby park one Friday afternoon recently. This particular park has a large wooden race car, complete with steering wheel. Felix pretended to drive for a while, then yelled "Damn it!" a few times. Uh-oh. He has apparently picked up on some of our bad driving habits, including swearing. It's both comforting and eye-opening that he's paying attention to everything we're doing, even when we think he's not. Yeah, and there were a few other parents nearby at the playground. Bet we looked real competent to them. :p

And just because he's so gosh darn cute, another Felix picture!

Felix: 2 yrs

My Life Rocks!

Sometimes I get down and discouraged. This is not one of those times. In fact, my life rocks right now.

I can't wait to get home to see my husband who's working his behind off to get his businesses self-sustaining, and who's handsome as all get out. I can't wait to pick up my son from day care and learn about what he did today, and watch him play and process all the new information he's learning every day. I found a toy car for him to play with, and he's been so absorbed in little pretend games, pointing out where each of us "live" in the car (including grandparents) and where we are going (usually to the grocery store for food, or to the Terrace (for beers and ice cream, presumably)). Round and round the coffee table he goes. :o) We just found out he cut two of his 2-year molars with hardly any fuss. And we had fun playing in the neighborhood leaf pile last night.

I finally made a change for the better with my work life. I enjoy going in to work again. It helps that I have an office (woo!), and am being challenged mentally as I prepare for a professional registration exam that I'm planning to take in April. I also very much enjoy the flexibility this company offers. I go in at 7, study for a half hour, and work more hours at the beginning of the week so I can leave when Felix wakes from his nap on Friday (usually around 2:30). This has allowed us to spend more quality time together, and have more adventures. Like going to the zoo or taking him to an awesome local park.

My Badgers, Packers and Brewers are doing amazingly well and as long as I keep wearing my lucky shirts, they should all keep on winning. Hooray!

This Indian Summer has been amazing. I wish I could have bottled up these past week to bust out during bitter cold, will-this-winter-never-end?! times in February and March.

Happiness!

Felix: 2 yrs

Welcome, Fall!

The leaves are turning, the sky is clear blue, and it's the perfect temperature outside. These are the days I like best, especially if there's a football game on. :o)

We've had a lovely start to fall. We took Felix to the Badger - South Dakota State game. We lasted the first half (someone cannot sit still yet), but had a good time while we were there.

Felix is also getting into the spirit of the season, making lots of lovely fall art projects at day care, including the caramel apple he's shown holding below. It was delicious!

Felix is such a funny man. Very mercurial at times (dissolving into wails if we take off his socks for him), but a wonderful boy overall. Just last weekend, he started using the article "a" in sentences. Two weeks before that, we had our first "the". Now it's just complete (often out of left-field) sentences. I wish he understood the question "why?", but I know that one will come back to haunt me, so I won't wish too hard.

I've become a hugging mama at day care. Usually when I come to pick him up, I'm suddenly swarmed by toddlers wanting hugs (which is awesome). Felix doesn't think too much of this, often pushing the kids aside with a "No! My mama!" But I sneak little hugs to Felix's friends anyway. They're all so adorable at this age.

I'm settling into my new job pretty well, and I'm feeling that if I study for the next six months, I should be able to pass the professional licensing exam that they want me to at work. Good things are happening for Nick, too. Good things all around.

Felix: 2 yrs

Felix's caramel apple. Yum!

Felix with a mustache!