A Little Bit of Summer in Winter

We needed a bit of warming up this winter (though it really hasn't been too terrible), so we made plans to enjoy one of the indoor water parks up in the Dells this past weekend with family. We left Madison at 11am and met my folks and Cassie for lunch at Monk's downtown for lunch (mmm, fried dill pickles). From there, we went to Mt Olympus. We were lucky and could check into our room right away, so we did and got ready for the water park. We stayed there for only about 2 hours, but Felix enjoyed every second of it. He really liked the slides and bubblers in the kids' area and could have stayed there all day. We went for dinner at Moosejaw, and had to wait an hour for a table because everyone else had the exact same idea. Felix got so hungry he started to try to slice up his new stuffed bear. ;o) The next morning, we went out for breakfast, then back to the hotel to try out the indoor theme park. It wasn't quite what we expected (there were only 3 rides on which Felix could go), so we didn't stay long. And then, our vacation was done. Back home by 1pm on Sunday. Short and sweet. We'll have to do this again soon!

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Quiet

I just realized that it's been over a month since I last posted. I'd say life got in the way, but really, a combination of illness and not a lot going on are the culprits. I'm starting to recover from what felt like an interminable cold that started mid-January and really did a number on me. Thankfully with some rest and antibiotics, I'm finally on the mend.

As for the rest of the month, we finally got some snow and played. We watched the Badgers and Packers seasons end sadly. We celebrated Nick's birthday with a surprise visit from our friends Nate and Laura. We had visits from family.

Felix is the smartest little guy I know. (He launched into Take Me Out to the Ball Game yesterday, knowing all the words, when I haven't sung that song to him in over 4 months. Wow! Well, he did call it "fall game" :o) But with that cleverness comes challenges. He doesn't feel like he needs to listen to us, preferring to be independent in what he does. He also has impulse control problems that result in hitting/kicking when he gets upset. That's our main issue right now - how to get him to stop. Yesterday he hit/kicked two teachers right before I picked him up. He was sorry about it, but that meant no mints in the car on the way home and no treats after dinner. He did it again, so no stories before bed. He's been warned those will be the consequences if it happens again. I'm also going to start up the good day chart, where he'll get a small toy at the store on Friday if he is good every day that week. Hopefully something will sink in soon.

Felix: 2.5 yrs

Super Long Holiday Post!

We had a great Christmas, visiting a total of four houses in two days. Uff da! It was the first year we traveled for Christmas since I was pregnant with Felix. Felix couldn't stop talking about going to see his grandparents, and was very excited when we were actually there. The downside of of the travel was that he was completely thrown off his schedule and that's made for a cranky little man returning to "normal". Felix got a lot of lovely presents that he's been busy breaking in (thankfully, nothing has actually broken yet).

I keep meaning to blog about a few other topics, so here goes. Felix has been playing pretend a lot lately, and it's adorable. When he plays with his cars, the laminate is the street and the carpet is the grass. And you must be careful and stay out of the way! He received a little stuffed animal in the day care gift exchange, and that has become his baby, which he named Dancer. Dancer is burritoed up in a blanket, and Felix is a good Papa, making sure she's fed and sleeps. It's too cute! And yesterday, I caught him playing in the toy kitchen at day care. He popped some food for a friend in the microwave and made beeping sounds when he pretended to push the buttons. It's amazing how much these kids pick up on and how they think the world works.

I had a little epiphany last night. I've been getting frustrated that Felix says "I want..." instead of our preferred "May I please have..." or "I would like...". Then I realized how damn lucky we are to have a child that is so gifted verbally at this age, because very few of his classmates are as advanced as he is. We can talk, he can tell us his likes/dislikes, and spout all sorts of hilarity.

Speaking of, he has a few memorable idosyncrasies. When Nick's driving and I'm buckling Felix in the car, he gets very worried and tells Nick, "Don't leave without Mama!" Last week, he suddenly started saying "I don't know!" and "Okay, Mama! I do it!" (I really like that one). Shameless plug: I tweet all (well, most) of his adorable statements via @MyKidd0s.

Felix: 2 yrs

'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