Thursday, August 28, 2014

The End of Summer

We had Nico's birthday party this weekend!  We invited a bunch of his little friends from school and had an olympic field day event at the park.  I broke out the poles for jump the creek.  Nico was in "rare" form.  He apparently misunderstood what it meant to be having a birthday party.  He must have somehow thought it was okay to be a maniac because he was OUT OF CONTROL.  Seriously, we haven't spanked him, but he came pretty close...

Unfortunately, Dave had a coaching thing in the morning, so we were dragging on getting things set up, and consequently, we ended up not getting very many pictures of the day.  I will say that a highlight included Nico taking a big bite out of the #5 candle that we had for him to blow out candles.  I was busy distributing cake, and didn't notice, until he had had a go with it.



In other news, we are on the countdown for the last days of summer.  Nico's school closed on Monday, and so we're trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer and get ready for school next week.  On Tuesday, I stayed home from work and we cleaned his room.  We got his closet set up and most of his clothes clean.  I even bought an iron last week and pressed some of his nicer long sleeve button ups.  We have most of his school stuff ready to go.

I wish I could figure out what it is about kids feeling the need to be a pack rat.  Seriously, he wants to hang onto every single little crappy birthday party toy, happy meal toy.  Ugh.  I guess I need to start a box to transition toys out of the house.  Although, his memory is so good, I'd be nervous that I transition some of his toys (like the bigger trucks and such) and then, one day, he asks, "Mom, have you seen that bulldozer I haven't played with in 6 months?"  No good can come from this...

Nico is still having fits.  It was something that I had hoped that he would grow out of by now: but alas, he hasn't.  I am hoping that this is merely a temporary thing... that there will be kids in kindergarten who are WAY too cool for that.  It could also be due to the fact that he isn't really napping anymore; but hasn't fully aged into the age of reason.  Obviously, we need to handle night time a little better- getting him in bed earlier.  Apparently at his age, he needs to be getting 10-11 hours of sleep at night.  Which means, that if we are waking him up at 615-630 to go to school, he needs to be asleep at 830.  It could get very ugly in here.



Thursday, August 21, 2014

I am a mess.

You probably would never have guessed it, but I love back to school time- mostly because of the school supplies.  The smell of paste and paper and fresh crayons.  You can probably guess how weird the emotions are with Nico going to Kindergarten.  I am excited for him, because I think he is really going to like school.  He is really excited about bowling in the gym and blowing stuff up in science lab.  And I am excited for getting all the school supplies. And some new clothes.   

But, then he's going to be in kindergarten.  Kindergarten.  After this, we'll start counting time by the passing school year... and the next thing you know, he'll be going to high school.  And graduating high school.  I remember being a kid and talking myself out of the alacrity that comes with big events by saying to myself, "Stop thinking about it.  As soon as you stop thinking about it, it will be here and gone."  I feel like that now; like I am going to close my eyes and open them to find that I am sitting in the car as Dave drives us to Nico's high school graduation.  

I know it's weird, right?  Because it's not like he is not in school... because he is.  He's been in three really great schools.  He's made good friends and learned alot.  It just feels like everything just got real.  And it's weird because I am so nervous for him- because he's not going to know anyone at this new school.  And some kids are just shitty, horrible monsters.  God, I remember the feeling of sheer terror on the first day of school, hoping, praying that there was nothing that anyone could use to make fun of me.  I could handle the loneliness of not having friends in my classes, as long as I did not have to deal with some Daughtry's Creek brat declaring my shoes were ugly or my lunchbox was stupid.  

Here is the thing: Nico believes what his peers tell him.  I don't know how it came up, but he told me that he had had a conversation with one of his friends about who were the smartest kids in the class.  So, I asked if he was the smartest, and he said no, but that he was near the top of his class.  I asked if he knew who was the smartest and he said, "Jake".  I asked how he knew that.  It was because Jake had declared himself to be the smartest.  And Nico believed him.  What I am worried about is that some kid will see Nico's new light up shoes (from Grandma and Grandpa) and say that they are for babies and that Nico is going to believe him.  

The thing is, Nico is pretty introverted.  Still, at the age of 5, he won't talk to people he doesn't know very well.  Case in point: the last time I took Nico to the gym a bunch of my gym friends (who are also facebook friends) asked Nico about his burpees (because I posted a video of him doing them).  Has nothing to say- won't even look at them.  Compare that to some of the kids in his class now, who don't even know me from Santa, have no problem walking up to me and telling me what's up.  So I am nervous that some little douchebag is going to declare Nico to be a cry baby or that his clothes are babyish (or something) and that Nico is going to have a hard time making friends.  And he's going to be lonely.      

I know, intellectually, that this needs to happen.  He will only get good at making friends by being in this place.  He may hate going to school.  He's so young compared to so may of his peers.  He may not have the patience yet to do the stuff the other kids are doing.  He might get really frustrated.  Add that to not wanting to go, and its possible that that first week of school is going to be a shit show.  

But it seems like everytime I log into Facebook there is something from HuffPost or some parent friend about the "the last time" and how you don't know it's the last time until it's over (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devon-corneal/parenting-lasts_b_1874086.html).  Like the last time Nico asks me to hold him before he goes to sleep.  Or the last time he wakes up in the middle of the night and slips into bed with Dave and me.  I know, intellectually, that those lasts are replaced by other firsts, but that doesn't make me any less of a mess.    

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

My First CrossFit Competition

I participated in my first CrossFit competition this weekend.  It was weird/cool/fun/weird.  It was a really good competition- because a bunch of my friends and my main coach were there.  Nico and Dave showed up for two events- including the one where I set a new personal record.  On Saturday, during the competition, we had 5 minutes to find a max clean for both me and my partner.  


I had already hit 125, and got to the bar with 130lbs on it and 15 seconds left on the clock.  I must have had some adrenaline going because when I cleaned it, it felt likes it weighed 10 lbs.  So that was cool.  The above photo isn't the best, but you can see the weight and the time left on the clock.

Overall, it was a pretty fun experience.  

 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Nico Turns 5


It's so weird that Nico is 5. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: it's disorienting, because it's hard to remember a time before him. But it's weird, because it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.

We had a pretty fun weekend. Dave's parents came up- so you know Nico was happy.   Nico requested that "do something special" for his birthday morning. I had big ideas about making a net of balloons and streamers in his doorway so that when he opened his door, all the balloons would fall in. But he still comes in our room sometimes, so I opted out of that. Ultimately, I hid his presents in the house, so he had to start the day off by finding them. This was a pretty big hit. 

I accidentally went a little overboard in the present department. Yikes! Even crazier, Nico requested a pineapple upside down cake for his birthday. When he and Dave went to Louisville a couple of months ago, he had about 3/4 of one and declared it to be really good. So I obliged (it was his birthday after all). It turned out really good and well, it's long gone. 

Overall it was a very fun weekend.  Nico's birthday dinner was at Laschatt (our favorite German food restaurant)!! We hit the park several times and Grandma took Nico shoe shopping. Only a few weeks till he's off to Kindergarten. I can't believe it. 

Friday, August 8, 2014

In the Feels!!

Nico's elementary school sent an email today with a school supplies list.  I'm not going to lie, I am kind of tearing up at the idea of him starting kindergarten in a month.  Seriously, where did the last five years go?  Truly?

The good news is that 30 years later, and school supply lists aren't much different.  With the exception of these:
Isn't that cool?  A place to practice writing AND draw pictures?  SPOT ON!! I am pretty excited about those.

I am probably way more excited about this than Nico will be.  I don't know if you knew this or not, but school supplies are pretty much my favorite.  And you know Nico isn't gonna get any of that RoseArt nonsense.  All crayola, baby.  So excited!!

In any case, I leave you with a video of Nico's latest goalkeeper training.


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Allez

We are having a blast this summer.

Nico being home from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been fantastic.  I have been able to take a vacation day here and there in order to hang out with him.  Yesterday we managed to just hang out at the house.  I went to the gym in the morning while Dave and Nico headed to the Y.  When we got back to the house, I ran out to drop my computer off to the computer guy (DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED.  Note to self, if you ever hear me talking about buy a new HP, that is your clue to stage an intervention.  Worst debacle ever).  I swung by to get some icecream and headed to the park with Nico.  While we ate our ice cream, we watched some older kids to a soccer practice.  Which was cool.  But then we got on with our main reason for being at the park: gk training.  It's a bummer that little guys' soccer doesn't have gks.  He's looking forward to playing actual gk for a team in a game.



Even better, is that we have started having a go at each other in the form of one on ones.  Only Nico doesn't call them that.  He calls them "tustles".  Which is hilarious, since I use the word "tustle" like this: "Nico Royse, if you pop me in the face with that sword you're swinging, we're gonna tustle, so I'd stop if I were you."

We are going to try to sneak up to Michigan tomorrow to see Uncle Scott.  I wanted to get up there earlier, but just couldn't make it happen.  Other than that, not much else is happening.

I have a CrossFit competition next weekend (on the 17th).  I haven't done a competition before.  The previous competitions my gym has held, I've been like, "Oh, Damn.  I'd like to.  But who is going to take pictures?"  Or my personal favorite, "Oh, I meant to sign up for that one in Arlington Heights, but registration is closed.  Bummer."  In all honesty, I am kind of nervous about it.  It's a team competition, so it shouldn't be too much of a grind.  As far as our team goes, there is another girl who definitely has a motor, but isn't probably as strong as I am.  The two guys each have their own strengths... I just don't want to be in a place where the team is counting on me to full snatch 95 lbs.  Because that is just not going to happen... unless the competition calls for me to fail horribly.  Because I am all over that :)

In any case, I asked Nico if he was going to cheer for me.  He said yes, and I asked if he had any cheers for me.  His answer: "Allez la putain!" Which is not nice.  Not nice at all.  To be fair, I taught him this accidentally in the car... you know how it is.  It's french for "Go Whore!"  But he also knows Allez is GO.  So, I can understand the confusion.  I hope he doesn't really cheer like that.  That would be terrible.