Ten on Tuesday

1.  One last Olympics bit of fun LEGO block style? I confess,the other day Lady M and I were building various sporting event themed LEGO block creations too...not quite to this extreme, clearly.

2.  Generally, M is the one of my children who is fine with new circumstances and jumps right in with new people  and places.  B is typically a bit more hesitant at adapting to new situations (this is probably an understatement).  Last week, I took them to the two hour Kid's Day Out at the gym where M takes gymnastics lessons. I was a bit worried about if B would have fun, but we forged ahead.  When I came back, it turns out they'd flipped personalities.  M was sad, unhappy, and lonely.  B had an awesome time and wanted to do it again as soon as possible. Weird to have switch personalities, but probably good timing as B is about to have a lot of newness courtesy of kindergarten.

3.  We took a day trip to Tulsa to visit the Wainrights on Thursday.  It was awesome.  It was totally one of those things I've always wanted to do as a part-time/WAHM mom. You know, seizing this flexibility and using it to spend time with people we love. We did nothing fancy, we just played, did crafts, had tasty lunch, and watched our kids have fun.  When evening came I packed up my crew and headed back home.  The kids watched movies in the car both ways or slept (E).  I got to listen to "my" music as they had headphones on and we all had a grand time.  They also made personalized bracelets and glitter jars with the ever crafty Chrissie!

This new geometry exhibit was our favorite place this trip. 

4.  Yesterday, I decided we needed a trip to the Science Museum again before school started.  We packed a big picnic lunch, went to the gym, and then straight to the Museum.  This was my first time braving a big destination like this with all three kids and just me.  In good news, I only lost M once and, as Brent pointed out, I did find her again.  She is in constant motion which makes zone defense tricky  She does get worn out on these outings though which helps with naptime later on.  In fairness, it wasn't that much harder than with just two as E was strapped to my chest the whole time, but did need to be fed, changed, etc... and requires LOTS of stuff.  The whole thing really made me appreciate how lucky I am to have all these tools and gadgets at my disposal.  I want to write more about this later, but for now, here is my trusty helper (aka B.O.B. stroller) during our visit :)

Tip: have an exit strategy and plan for contingencies!

   

5. Last night, to add to this week's excitement, Brent pulled B's 4th tooth.  It is one of the top middle ones.  Now he has one more loose tooth, two that are basically completely missing and two that are in various degrees of coming in.  His smile looks a bit like a jack-o-lantern.  It isn't my favorite, but this too shall pass.  UPDATED:  OK, it passed very quickly, as he lost his second front tooth this evening and is now fairly toothless. I actually like this grin more than with the one front tooth.  He is living it up and the tooth fair is very busy.

Source: herewecollide.com via abbeyviolet on Pinterest

6.  I admit that given B's history of difficulty transitioning to new situations I am ore than a bit nervous about the transition to Kindergarten.  I saw this image on Pinterest and am trying to use it as a reminder that worrying now as ever won't help and to just trust that he will be OK.  Today was his "information day" and I'll write all about that in its own post shortly.

7.  M would like you to know that in addition to her Dancing Shoes, she also got new back to school shoes that are very very sparkly.  Here she is loving them mid-jump.  She is not quite so excited about going back to school.  She told me today that she doesn't like her friends and only likes her mommy, but I suspect she will be OK when it actually starts again.  Meanwhile, we're making sure she gets some time with mommy too.  We will have about three days of B in school before she starts so there will be some extra time for her there too.

8.  Convocation and the first days of school have passed for Brent already.  He is full of funny stories about new juniors, changes, and his "huge" vertebrate zoology class--- that has 24 students, which is likely the same number as B's kindergarten class... all about perspective, right?

9. E @ Week 9 - Not much has changed from his big post on Sunday.  The nights have been fairly consistent at twice a night, but it takes me way too many tries to get him back in his bed asleep.  I was nearly in tears over this last night as surely this basic thing is something I should be able to do.  Eventually I was able too, but still craziness.  Otherwise, he has gamely gone along on all of these adventures and is an easy to get along with little guy.  Possibly my favorite time of the day is the evenings when Brent leans him back on his legs and they spend some time pretty much trying to make each other smile.  It is adorable.

10.  That leaves me, right?  I'm mostly trying to make sure everything is prepped for school and starting to search for a babysitter for Lil' E for October.  Finding babysitters makes me sad, but is necessary so we'll forge ahead.  I've been watching Season two of Downton Abbey with Brent again now that the Olympics are over (Thanks to the Wainrights for sharing it with us!)  I'm also busily sneaking naps wherever I can to try and keep up lest I get tired and cranky.  So far, so good as E and I tend to get at least a short little nap together in the afternoons this week.

I have a lot to remember about information day today so look for another post later this evening