New Year's Eves

When we had our roomie reunion on New Year's Eve in Madison, we decided to recreate a picture we took when we were all undergrads, back in 2001. So much has changed in 13 years!

Roomies, 12/31/2001
(minus Anne, taking the picture)

Roomies, 12/31/2014
(standing in the wrong order - oops!)

Plus most of the changes in our lives. :o)
(Plus two spouses, two friends, four of five kids and one dog)

Welcome 2015

2014 was one roller-coaster of a year for us. The short, sorry version: Nick lost his job, found a better one, we moved to Rapids from Madison, and Felix started Kindergarten.

And now picking up from the last post, Christmas this year was a very nice time. We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We did our family Christmas the following morning, before Nick’s parents joined us for the afternoon.

Between Christmas and New Year’s, I was finally able to take some time off during Christmas with both kids home. New Year’s was a time of catching up with friends for us all. We got together with one of Felix’s former daycare friends and his family on NYE in Madison. The kids had several hours to play – I hope we’re able to continue doing that so they stay close! That afternoon, it was a roomie reunion! The last time all of us former roommates got together was at our wedding! That was 6.5 years ago. And now, we are mostly far-flung (from Madison to Singapore, Milwaukee to Minnesota), so it was fantastic to get everyone together. The only person missing of the friends and additions was one couple’s daughter. It was a lovely time for which even the kids were fairly well-behaved. Alas, we had to leave early, because we were spending the night in Platteville. But getting there, we got to catch up with Nick’s best bud and we got to meet their new baby as well! The following day, the four big kids played together a lot. We watched the first half of the Badgers’ bowl game, then headed back on the road to go home. Lots of silent cheering in the car, and not so silent celebrating when the Badgers won!

Hmm. Missing some roomies...

And so we begin 2015. I hope the upward trend continues for us, and that you have a fantastic year as well!

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 2 yrs

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here

Now with that earworm planted firmly in your head...

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas... back in early November. After the mid-December, super-foggy warming, there's not a lot of snow left on the ground anymore. That's okay. The milder temps have allowed us to get outside more with the kids, instead of having them cooped up inside.

This year we started early on Christmas (buying our new space-saving tree back in early November), but it's taken a while to get into the Christmas spirit. I speak for myself, because Felix has been gung-ho about Christmas ever since the air turned colder. He's been busy making notes and drawings for Santa. We've also been debating if the mall Santas are the real deal, helpers or elves. Felix insists they're elves... who look like Santa.

We've gotten some improvement out of the kids lately. The fuzzy jar has inspired better behavior and habits out of both. The problem is remember to give them the fuzzies right away for their good deeds. They've been earning small suckers with each full jar. And when they've been having a rough day, that's what a Tom & Jerry is for, right?

Speaking of seasonal alcoholic beverages, we just got to try our latest batch of homebrew (an attempt to replicate Magic Hat #9) last weekend. Mmmm. And we started a raspberry red ale. Double mmm (I hope). We got our beer kit last Christmas and have been able to make 8 batches. The red ale is #9.

One quick public service announcement - please turn on your headlights when the visibility is low (dusk, dawn, foggy, rainy, snowy, etc.). Heck, turn them on always! I don't know if there's something in the water up here, but the number of people that neglect to do that is astonishing. You in the gray car on a super foggy day - I appreciate your faith in my eyesight. So yeah. Lights on and buckle up!

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 2 yrs

T-Time

When things go certain ways, it's important to remember all the things for which you're thankful. And it hasn't been an easy few weeks for us. Some backstory...

As you may recall, Felix's transition to Kindergarten hasn't been the smoothest. He's gotten better about some of his physicality issues with other kids. But he's got room for improvement in other social areas. We had his first parent-teacher conference in the middle of November. His teacher suggested we all meet together with his guidance counselor (so we can be consistent with him throughout the day), and that we take him to the doctor to see if there is a physical reason for his recent spate of potty accidents. During the latter, Felix got a belly X-ray and it was determined that he was full of sh!t. Literally. Some medicine has been helpful in that area, and the meeting we had gave us some direction and gave us some hope that aren't completely out of whack parenting. We're trying the marble jar approach (or in our house, a fuzzy ball jar) to encourage better behavior from both kids.

How do you deal with a 2-year-old who doesn't want to be someone's friend? In Iris's class, there's a cute little girl who is very polite, says good morning, and wants to be Iris's friend. The teachers tell me they've been best friends and play together during the day. In the past few weeks, Iris has said, "I don't want to be M's friend anymore." She has no response when I ask why. On 12/3, M was being dropped off at the same time. Iris point-blank told her "don't say [talk] to me." Cue a talk about how we are friends and nice with everyone. I don't want her picking and choosing at 2, especially when the only thing that might be upsetting Iris is that this girl is potty training quicker than her (well, M is two months older, after all). Ugh. I expected some drama having a girl, but at 2?? Her teacher tells me it's a control thing and that they play together well during the day. Time will tell...

So, we were very thankful to have time with family over Thanksgiving. We had kid-crazy meals with each set of grandparents. And thankful that the crazy early-winter weather we've had this year didn't hinder our travel plans. And for "cheap" gas - $2.79!

This year, I'm especially thankful for family, friends old and new, the opportunities that have come with relocation, and the knowledge that this is just a phase that will end eventually. Right...?

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 2 yrs

Spooky Good Times

Things have been all over the place with the kids this past month.

Iris has started potty training without us, much to our surprise. Her daycare teachers have made a habit of making the kids sit on the potty at each diaper changing. We've stated doing the same at home with some success. She's not ready to give up her diapers for "pull-ups" (as she calls undies) yet, but at least we're on our way. :o) On the flip side, in the past few weeks, she had developed a fear of shadows and the dark in her room. She doesn't like how the shadows look when her lamp is on, so I'm trying to soothe her fears and show her they can be fun. She did just get a big girl mattress (twin-sized), so maybe the change has something to do with it. She was in a tumbling class at the YMCA this fall and LOVED it. I have to drag her out each week and endure the nearly-daily tantrums that ensue when she realized it's not tumbling day. The older girls in team gymnastics do their warm-ups as Iris's class is finishing. Until she got disruptive, Iris would participate in their warm-ups and ignore he own class. She wants to grow up too fast! 

Felix, oh Felix. He's been our challenge as of late. He's been overly aggressive with "friends", which prompted a talk with his principal and an exchange of emails with his teacher. Things have calmed down a bit, but it's not easy for him or us. He did get invited to his first sleep-over. I'll let you know how that goes. He brings home the standard Kindergarten schoolwork: lots of traced letters and colored shapes. And drawings full of imagination. I love that he's inherited some artistic creativity.

Halloween was very cool - literally. It was below 40 degrees all day. The kids got dressed up and we took them to 7 of the neighborhood houses. Had it been warmer, we might have gone to more, but Iris was whimpering by then. They were happy with their hot bath afterward.

Nick and I have started curling! It's been so much fun the two weeks we've gone with friends. The first week on the ice, I was a very graceless gazelle. I was much better this week. We're going to be competing in the rookie league this fall. It's nice to be able to leave the kids with a sitter and have some fun.

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 2 yrs

"Singing"

The post title refers to Iris's new-found ability to "sing". Her favorite song at the moment is Baa Baa Black Sheep, as you can watch below. In fact, as I was typing up this blog, we were both singing along with the video. You can only imagine how that sounded. :D



Iris has become a little monster at times. It's like she woke up on her 2nd birthday and decided that since she was now 2, she had to act like it. Lots of tantrums, lots of "no!", lots of fun, as you can imagine. Most of the time she's good, but there are many new challenges. She is asserting her independence which can be interesting and frustrating at times. She and Felix have also very much gotten into Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Oh, the earworms.

She wore my tank top as a dress
for her birthday party. 

Felix is now a Kindergartner! He's having fun in his class (except for the second day of school, when he was stung on the cheek by a bee - poor kid!), eats the school lunch, has made friends, and brings home lots of work indicating that he was certainly ready for Kindergarten. Color only the circles? Check! Write his name? Check! I hope that it starts challenging him a bit soon (though it is only Kindergarten).






We recently got back from a (mostly) lovely trip to Minneapolis, where we got to visit friends, the Lego store, and watch another one of Nick's cousins get married. It was the longest drive the kids had ever taken. They handled it well, and I thought I was pretty well-prepared with my bag of goodies to keep them occupied. Iris almost let her tantrums get the better of us, but we prevailed. Though a 45 minute tantrum because she didn't want to get dressed is a bit excessive in any case. :P I was happy that this time, I did NOT forget anything!

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 2 yrs

August Adventures

August 13th was a big day for the kids. We got a chrysalis from the community picnic the week before, and we let the butterfly go. Iris's birthday present came early - a convertible balance bike! I had tried to get her psyched up about it prior to its arrival. When it game, we got it out and ready for her... and she spent about five minutes attempting to use it in tricycle mode before abandoning it for other wheeled enjoyment. 

Because we knew Iris's present would be coveted by Felix and to get him better about riding a bike, Geepa helped me take the training wheels and pedals off Felix's little bike. He was about to outgrow it anyway, so why not? He's a little nervous on it and hasn't gotten the concept of pushing off to glide and balance yet. I had him riding down the tiny little slope between our house and the neighbors so he could practice without falling on pavement or gravel. This bike also contributed to Iris's abandonment of her new bike. She wants to be big like Felix, so she would rather have gotten rides on the big bike (pushed by Grandma or me). They'll get more used to them, especially if we let them play with the bikes in our unfinished basement over the winter. 

*** Warning - here be a potty story. ***

Iris wants to be like Felix in more ways than one. She, 17 days shy of her 2nd birthday, told us she wanted to poop in the potty. She was a little late on that, but she did sit down on it and peed! Huge cheers by all! I don't know if she'll keep it up, but it's great that she at least has some interest. We're not going to push her; as we learned from Felix, a kid won't do it until they're ready. But hey! Great early start! She did it again two days later, but has since had zero interest in it. Oh well.

*** Okay, potty-adverse folk, it's safe to come back now. ***

We had our first family wedding in a while. Oh, what an adventure... Nick was laid out with tummy problems Saturday morning, so I packed and wrangled the kids by myself. We all left after lunch to drive down to Germantown. Uneventful trip. However... when we arrived at the hotel, I realized I forgot my dress at home, and the clothes I brought weren't nice enough to wear to a wedding. Then we got into the hotel and found they had no record of our reservation. Cue expletives. Thank goodness for family weddings and gracious and generous family members! A little bit of room rearranging later, and we had a place to sleep. And after a quick shopping trip and grabbing a dress off the clearance rack later, we were finally ready to go. Note to self for the future - confirm all hotel reservations before leaving home! It was nice to see people at the reception, although it was a bit difficult keeping Iris away from the in-ground pool. Poor girl wanted to go in the water so badly! Alas, I had to take them home early and (thankfully?) avoided the progressive drunkenness of those remaining. Nick was in such a state the next morning that we scrapped our plans to stick around and just headed straight home. Definitely a memorable wedding for us, Trisha and DJ! ;o) All the best to you!

Felix: 5 yrs & Iris: 23 mos