I posted- I swear

So, I was publicly shamed.  Shame to my house!  Shame to my family!! Nicole called me out for not blogging recently.  Since it has been increasingly difficult for me to sit down and actually blog at my computer, I thought I would do more of it from my phone.  So I redownloaded the app.  I wrote some posts- posted them.  And walked away.  That is how busy I have been- I haven't even been able to read my own blog.  Yes, I do that.  And my own facebook.  And my own instagram.  And my own twitter.  I know.  I know.  But I am just so damn clever sometimes, I can't help it.

Regardless, Nicole called me out on facebook and told me to post- which I started to do tonight.  Then I saw what I did- so look at that- over a month with no posts and now three posts in one day.  In one day!!

Nico is hilarious lately.  He says some pretty funny things.  And he is starting understand the fine line between funny-cheeky sass and disrespectful back talk.  Which is awesome.  A favorite of late: "It's getting really boring listening to your annoying face."

The recently completed the standardized testing at his school.  He was ranked highest in his class- and in the 98th percentile- for math and reading.  It wasn't really surprising, since we see how easy the homework is for him.  But it was cool nonetheless.

But in case you were thinking that Nico was getting too smart and sophisticated.  Keep in mind that this week I cut the sleeves off of a camo t-shirt for Nico.  Like his mom- Nico is a touch fussy about his clothes going to school.  He obsesses (a tiny bit) when he gets toothpaste or a spot on his tshirt.  Wednesday we discovered paint on the sleeve of his camo tshirt and he was starting to get worked up about it.  So when I walked him into class, I borrowed a teacher's scissors and cut the sleeves off.  My son wore a sleeveless camo tshirt.  To school.  In Chicago.  :)

Redneck

Spring/Summer is here. After playing soccer at school yesterday Nico was hot so he took his shirt off. This might be the most redneck thing I've seen him do in a while. 

Marco scores a run!

One of the really funny things that Nico has started doing is "playing" "sports" in the house.  If we're being honest, he comes by this genetically, as Dave did this and drove his mom crazy.  Nico has taken to doing this game while Dave is watching sports.  Lately, its been baseball and hockey.  He'll basically bounce a ball away from himself and run to catch up with it- usually ending with a catch and a slide into something.  It's pretty funny- but the best part is that he has started narrating.  Now until this weekend, it was something like "Number 88 Patrick Kane slides into the goal and scores a run for the New York Fire."  This is hilarious because the Fire (a soccer team) play out of Chicago, and you score runs in baseball, not hockey, which is the sport that 88 Patrick Kane plays.  In Chicago.

This weekend, Nico started narrating himself doing these things, but calling himself Marco.  I have no idea why Marco.  

Friday night, Davn and I went to see Captain Phillips (the new Tom Hanks movie).  We stopped into a Moerer pub on the way home for some late dinner, which was okay.  Saturday morning, Nico had swimming lessons.  His teacher made a special point of telling me that he is ready to move up to the next class... but unfortunately,  his little buddy probably isn't.

Here is a video of Nico jumping in:


After swimming lessons, we headed over to Target, which included a spin through the toy section for items that Nico wants to add to his Christmas  list (we were mostly killing time, allowing Dad to get a workout in before we headed home).  Nico and I have done these little excursions maybe 4 times and his meltdowns after are getting progressively less and less shitty.  I know the natural question to ask is, why do it at all?  But I want him to start understanding the role of patience and waiting for things.  We've also instituted a chore chart and allowance, but it's one of those things that require time and patience and sometimes the parental units just don't have it in them. 

After we took a nap on Saturday, I ran a couple of errands, that included a stop to check out a consignment shop somewhat nearby.  It's one of the great things about living in a sizeable city... This wasn't even the closest one to us.  It was about 2 miles away- which in Tallahassee would seem much further away.  Anyhoo... Nico is growing like a weed.  He's slimmed out a bit, so while the 3T britches still fit him in the waist, they are way too short.  Plus, we dont really have the right kinds of clothing for layering.  This consignment shop is pretty amazing.  Super cheap clothes.  I found a 3T Gap kids sweater for $3 and 4 pair of pants for $2 each and 4 waffle knit shirts for Nico for $2 each. I also got a couple of sweaters for me and a couple of scarves too (including a cashmere one for $5).  The cool thing is that if I had wanted to wait until Columbus Day,  could have gotten everything for half price.  But I wasnt trying to deal with that madness.  After I ran to Joanns and got some stuff to organize the house.  With colder weather coming up, I suspect we are going to want to stay closer to home in the next couple of months, so we will have more time to organize and such.  

Sunday, I had brunch with Julia and Jake out in Oak Park.  They were flying out of OHare and I wanted to find a place that was relatively easy to get from to OHare.  After, I made a run to Fresh Farms super market.  This place is in Niles- we pass it going to and from the YMCA.  Dave has been in a few times and exclaimed about their seafood counter and beer selection.  So I thought I would give it a go.  

The place is pretty much heaven.  There is a huge produce section.  You know the place is has a huge produce selection when I dont know a quarter of the items that are there.  And.  The best part?  Russian candy section!!

  For serious!!

Gobble

I know it's impossible, for our weekends to get any funner... but hold on party people.  Uncle JJ and Uncle Scott are coming to town this weekend.  I know, seriously,, right?   I was able to get Cubs tickets on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago.  I got 4 tickets, thinking that if neither made it, we'd only have to eat the cost of one ticket.  It means that Nico won't go to the game and we'll just pick him up from school after.  Does that make me a bad mom? 

The good news is that he really, really, really likes his new school.  When school started, he lost his best friend, a little girl named Addison because she went up to the kindergarten- so he only sees her in the afternoon. I am sure that they were probably pretty annoying... their thing was that they would call each other animal names... like Alligator Chicken.  Or Chicken Dinosaur. His new little friend is a girl named Zoey, who he really likes.  In fact, last week he said that he loves her.  Which is absolutely darling.  They have a funny game they play called "Gaga".  Which is basically just them dancing with their hands up and shifting their weight back and forth on one foot to the other.  It's pretty hilarious.  

Le Nico was invited to a birthday party this weekend, so I hope Uncle Scott and Uncle JJ are okay with that.  It's at a water park, I guess.  So, that will be fun.  Dave is looking forward to being around adults.  Turns out when you work from home, it can be a bit lonely.  Apparently, the dogs aren't much company.  

Nico and Dave went to the YMCA after school, so it was late when we started dinner.  Dave told Nico to finish up his blueberries to which Nico replied that "he would gobble them".  This apparently means to stuff blueberries into one's mouth.     Which is weird, because I dont use the word gobble.  What is even stranger is that he seemed to have the idea that gobbling also meant holding one's hands up to one's face while stuffing blueberries into one's mouth.  It's pretty funny.  

Still a bit undecided about what we are going to do about school next year.  I spoke to one of the faculty members at DePaul who has a daughter who is three.  She sort of gave me the run down on schools.  I had been thinking about the possibility that if we got him tested for selective enrollment schools, that if he managed to make the cut that he might end up in a school trying to do work that is beyond him because he willl be so young.  This faculty member said I ought not to worry about that and that the real reason to get him into a selective enrollment school is beause those schools tend to be much better... with parents who are much more involved.  She also gave me the breakdown on some of the better, more diverse schools.  I haven't had the chance to talk with Dave about what our priorities should be... whether we'd rather have a selective enrollment school or a diverse school.  While they might not be mutually exclusive, I'd rather not have to choose.  There is still plenty of time to worry about this, I guess.  

Invalid

Here is a picture of Nico in a bowler hat.  Your argument is invalid.

Mr. Clown Face

Really... so glad its the weekend.  My energy has been seeping all week.  I started off all like, "Imma punch this week in the face!!" on Monday.  Now I'm sorta like, "Sleep... I just need some sleep...."

Nico and I came home last night and did a craft that we stole from pinterest.  We put cheerios on pipecleaners for the birds and the squirrels.

We also made an Easter package for Uncle JJ.  While I was busy assembling it, Nico was drawing a picture.  I have often wondered how in the hell some kids get covered in paint or marker.  My thought has always been, "Seriously, do you just give your kid paint and leave the room?  What did you expect was going to happen?"  I was sitting right next to Nico when he discovered some round ink pads.  Mr. Clown face here thinks that he is pretty adorable.

He is doing this other thing that is really funny too.

Nico: I wanna show you something.  its going to be really funny (pushes stuff on the table out of the way).
Me:  I don't know if I am going to like it.
Nico: Its really funny (stands in chair).
Me: I don't think its a good idea.
Nico (getting on the table): Nico is getting on the table again! (laughing).

Its really hilarious.  I laughed the first time he did, which pretty much ensures that he does it every night.

The Actor's Studio

So this weekend was pretty fun.  We had a good time!  Dave was starting to get sick on Friday night, early Saturday, so we got out of the house so he could sleep in.  On Saturday, I took Nico up to Thomasville to watch some of our high school girls play soccer (they are playing for TUFC now).  Among them was our soon to be baller goalkeeper.  She did pretty well, made some big saves.  Until about 5 minutes left, when she gave up two.  But the other team (a Georgia team) was impressed and invited her to play State Cup with them.  So that is pretty cool.

Saturday afternoon, I ran some errands while Nico and Dave hung out.  Before dinner, Nico and I worked on an art project/experiment.  You see, I dont have a window in my office and I got the idea from someone I work with to get a big painting of the sky or the grass or something.  What I want is this:

But since not even I can justify 300+ dollars for a painting.... I may have to DIY this.  I think I could live with this:

In any case, I dont want to buy a 40 or 50 dollar canvas and not have it work out for me, so I bought some of the materials and did a little experiment with Nico.  Here we are putting the modeling paste onto a small canvas.  We are using actual modeling paste and some cheaper "texture paste" from Martha Stewart.  Nico was a big help!

Saturday night, Dave and I watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  I had recently read the book.  It was good.  Gruesome... but good.

Sunday morning, Dave and Nico let me sleep in (which was nice).  Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party (our little friend Zoe turned 1!!).  We had a good time at their place, playing ball and snacking.  Sunday night, Dave and I played soccer.  After his bath, Nico called me into our room to show me this:


Hilarious!!

1990

Nico is starting to pretend.  Yesterday I noticed it when we went to Earth Fare, which is a hippie grocery.  We had a coupon for 50% of fillet mignon (there is a reason its so expensive.  I was able to cut the left overs today with a plastic knife.  so good).  Plus, Nico likes going there because they have little kid sized grocery carts.  In any case, I am always a little nervous because I am afraid he is going to run the cart into someone or worse, clip in the back of my achilles.  That would be the worst.

In any case, we're walking around the store and when we stop, I get what we need, hand it to Nico and he puts it in the cart.  Then I say, "Okay let's go to_______", to which he says, "No!  I gotta get some more stuff!"  And then he picks out a spot on the floor, runs over to it, "picks something up" and runs back to the cart to "put it in" (pretending).  It was really funny.  I guess its better than the other thing he did, which is to put random items in my cart (including a 6 dollar wedge of Davinci Gouda... on the upside, he does have good taste (even if he didnt like the cheese himself, it ended up being pretty good), on the downside, he apparently has expensive taste).

In any case, now that the time has changed, we are having more fun at home.  We water the garden nearly every day.  Nico likes to work the hose and "brace his legs like a fireman".  We had a bit of a dustup yesterday because someone (Dave) put socks AND sandals on Nico.  And by dustup, I mostly just made fun of him.  Behold!

Heh!  All for now!!

I'm gettin ya!

One of Nico's funny things that he is doing lately is saying, "I'm gettin ya!"  Where in he throws himself on the unsuspecting mom, laying across her face.  But then he starts thrashing about, wherein I usually get a forearm to the face, an elbow to the neck and a knee to the stomach.  I don't know where he got this, but its really funny.

He is also insisting on using his play keys to open the car door.  Which is pretty cute.  

He is also doing this other really funny thing when he gets mad or is about to cry... he is really starting to work the lower lip... big time.  I am hoping to catch it on camera.  I saw it on Sunday when I was explaining to him that Jessica the babysitter was coming to hang out with Nico when Dave and I went to play soccer.  You'd think it was the saddest thing ever.  

THAT email

Not much new to report around here.  We had a pretty fun weekend.  Nico and I are starting a weekly tradition of driving out to the west side of Tallahassee for sonic slushes and diggers.  Someone is doing a bunch of work on Tennessee, so we get to see some diggers.  Its pretty fun.  Here is Nico on Friday:


Isnt that funny? 

Nico went swimming with Dave on Saturday when I went to campus to write (boooo!!).  Then on Sunday we went over to Margot and Mike's house to see Zoe Claire and have dinner.  It was pretty fun. 

************Disclaimer: below this line is discussion about President Obama, who I voted for in 2008 and an email that I got from his campaign.  You've been warned.*********************************** 

So... in unrelated news.  I supported President Obama when he was a candidate- I think I signed up for his mailing list and liked him on facebook.  I dont think I gave him any money- but none the less I am on his mailing list- much to my family's chagrin.  You know what that sound was?  The sound of my family supporting Romney, Huntsman, T-Pawl, Bachman and Santorum.  But this isn't a story about how much of a blacksheep I am.  This is a story about how I got an email from the President last week. 

Yeah.  Scanning the email I picked up words like, "president", "invite", "dinner." 

You know that half a second after you've opened up a spam email saying that a long lost relative in Nigeria left you 19 million dollars and all the sender needs is your bank account?  You know, that moment before you realize that you didnt actually win 19 million dollars, when you have this flash of all the stuff you're going to buy?  The houses, the cars.  The savings accounts for your kid so they never have to work a day in their life?  All the trips you're going to take (finally!!  an expedition to Antartica on a cruise ship!!)  And you already start drafting your letter of resignation, which always goes something like this: "I'm out, bitches!"

And then that little let down when you realize that you didnt actually win 19 million dollars.  It was like that.  My initial thought was, "Of course the President wants to have dinner with me.  I have a lot of great ideas.  In fact, I have an idea to fix the housing crisis, the economy and the homeless problem in one fell swoop.  He probably wants to have dinner with me because I have a PhD.  That's what's up" By the way, whenever lucky things happen to me, I ALWAYS chalk it up to me having a PhD.  Got assigned a new assignment at work: its probably because I have a PhD.  Got a good groupon for cupcakes?  Prolly cause I have a PhD.  Got a 9 out of 10 on my CPR test?  Prolly cause I have a PhD!!

So, after the initial disappointment in realizing that I was special, just like millions of other supporters, I put the email out of my mind, thinking that I would donate later, maybe when I got paid.  Then today I got an email again from the campaign.  Which was good because I needed the reminder.  But it was bad because this one wanted to let me know that Joe Biden invited himself to the dinner.  Which is fine, I guess... except that he is a little bit of a clown.  I mean, I cant think of the last vice president who dropped the F-Bomb on TV.  None the less, I took the email as what it was meant to be, which was a reminder to donate.  So I did. 

But now, I have a tricky problem... the campaign probably thinks that the only reason why I donated was because I found out Biden was going to be there.  So now, if I win, I can pretty much be sure of sitting next to Biden and talking about trains all during dinner (instead of architecting the plan to fix America).  And if I dont win, now I am getting a bunch of emails from Joe Biden now.  Biden!!

Of course, I have a blog post with the words "president", "obama", "biden", "crisis", "economy" and "bomb" in it.  I think I just hit the trifecta: FBI, CIA and Homeland Security- checkin out mai blogz!

Dancing machine!

This weekend is going to be AMAZING!!

Today when I scoop Nico up, we are going to be headed to Target and Publix to get some things.  We need to pick up some stuff for the brunch this weekend and a birthday gift for Ezekial (one of the little boys in his class).  Then we are going to go home and dye some Easter eggs!!  Whoot!!

Then Saturday, there is Nenefest (the annual neighborhood party at the park).  After that we're going to the birthday party.  Then home to clean the house and make some noms for the brunch on Sunday!!

Then, on Sunday, we gotta do the Easter Egg hunt!!  And we're having some of Dave's work friends over for brunch and hopefully hitting the egg hunt at Optimist park!!  Basically, this weekend is going to be CRAZY fun!!

In other news, we were listening to Bruce Springsteen on the way back from practice last night, when I noticed Nico "dancing".


I think that at Nico's school, they listen to music and play musical sticks, which is why I think he is doing that thing with his fingers. In any case, HILARIOUS!!!

Have a great weekend!

Judo Boy

Introducing the first member of the US Olypic Judo team in 2032, Nico Royse!!  Doesn't the name "Nico Royse" sound like something that would fit on a Wheaties box very nicely?  He is planning to be the first gold medalist in the sport for the Americans. 



Inappropriately pinning athletic dreams on your toddler?  Im doin' it!!

Funny!

We need to move to a city with buses, trains and metros, STAT. 

At practice last night, Nico was hanging out with the little brother of one of the players (Aliya).  The boy is maybe 5 or so, so he was hanging out in his Dad's Truck (which, is according to Jaden, a "diesel".)  Its a big truck- definitely a lot more space than the Kia.  So Nico was content to hang out in the truck... in fact he was annoyed that I put him in the Kia to go home.  Am I really going to have a boy who only wants to drive trucks, go mud boggin, hunt gators and go fishin'?  We live in the city, it seems poser-ish to be into hunting, fishing, mud-bogging and trucks, don't you think?

Not much going on around here.  I have my final presentation tonight- just in the nick of time, because the class is starting to get on my nerves. 

Nico continues to surprise me every day.  I kinda thought that he didnt like apples, since EVERY time I have offered them to him, he wants nothing to do with them.  Until last night coming home from practice I am eating an apple and he starts fussing in the back seat.  I ask him what's going on and he says, "Apple".  The little booger wanted part of my apple! So I bit him off a piece and he chewed it all nonchalant like... like he'd been waiting for a piece forever...

Its amazing how well he is talking.  The other day, Dave went to give Nico a bath while I jumped in the shower.  They were in the office and I in the bathroom when I heard Nico say, plain as day, "Where is Mama?"  It was awesome!

Dave and I have created a monster.  Monday Dave came home kind of early, so he made it there in time for dinner- which kind of jacks our schedule up a little.  Nico didn't want to sit in his high chair so I tried letting him sit on my lap... which didnt work.  So he got down and did his own thing at dinner.  Which included going to get his scooter.  And he ate dinner on his scooter.  He would ride around the kitchen and Dave would "call" him up to the "drive through" (me) by insisting that there would be an extra charge for not eating the sandwich.  Nico thought it was HILARIOUS.

Suddenly, I am asleep!

So Nico is doing the most DARLING thing lately.  Dave actually got it on video yesterday.  Hoping he will get it uploaded to youtube, because you HAVE TO SEE IT. 

Back story:  when I was in college, I was a different person.  I was really accomodating and basically just wanted to be liked.  Our first road trip with the guys (back in the days before Lee U was good, the women's program was sort of an afterthought.  It was like, "The Mens team is traveling to Memphis to play Union.  Why dont we bring the women's team too?") was a long one- I think it was either 4 hours to Nashville or 7 to Memphis, whatev.  One of the guys on the team had really bad leg cramps from being cooped up for so long and was complaining because the cramps were in his hamstrings. 

I offered to massage them out if he would lay on his stomach on the floor of the bus.  He did and I did.  He probably thought I was weird because who offers that?  Plus the hamstring starts to venture into the a$$ area- so that was probably weird.  Of course he had this crazy girlfriend from highschool- so it definitely was NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL.  Plus, he was the guy who insisted on doing f-ed up things with his hair.  In the time that we were at Lee, I saw him shaved bald, with a fro, in corn rows, and for an unfortunate period our junior year with a Julias Ceasar look- which, lets be real, is never good on anyone, including Julias Ceasar.  But I digress. 

Because I am also strong, I got a little bit of a reputation for being able to help with muscle spasms and muscle cramps and the like (this differs in stark contrast to the "happy ending" masseusses... which are basically hookers.  Yeah, I wasnt one of those.)  Once when we are at the National Tournament, one of my teammates had a kinda sore back and asked me to massage it out for a bit.  I was sitting on the bed and suddenly just fell over and said, "Suddenly, I am asleep." 

She basically peed her pants laughing at that.  And I have done it a lot since then.  Whenever someone asks me to do something I don't want to do, that is my response.  Dave asks if I can help him with the dishes?  Suddenly I am asleep.  But its not complete unless you fall over onto a bed or a couch. 

Nico has started doing this.  The other day, Dave was trying to get Nico dressed for school.  He said, "Nico, let's put your shirt on."  And Nico would lay himself down in the crib, as if he were asleep.  HILARIOUS!!  Really hoping I can get the video up here. 

I cant imagine that he got that from me.  Maybe this is just his way of protesting going to school?  Either way, its funneh!!

Gimme some cake!!

Not much going on here.

Nico has a new trick, which is pretty funny. Whenever you get a tasty snack or treat, he helps himself to it. It happened over the weekend when I went to Publix with him... I had him in the seat part of the cart and he was happy as a clam. I got one of those individually wrapped Oatmeal Creme Pies (because I make bad choices if I get the whole box). I realized that I wanted to go back to the yogurt section and get some "Yo Baby Yogurt." I turn around and next thing you know he has figured out how to open the package of the Little Debbie Cake. Milka-what? In my family, that is a good way to get your butt kicked!!

So last night, Dave goes by New Leaf and brings me home a piece of their Crack Cake- I mean their cookies and cream cake.  I set it on the table next to Nico and he starts trying to help himself to it.  Just like JJ would say, "You give this kid an inch, and he starts thinking he is a ruler."

Out of control!!

All jacked up on mountain dew...

A new video:



Back story: my moms favorite movie kids are the little boys from Talladega Nights. When Nico is a little older, I'm going to teach him (along with his cousin Maddox) the lines. Until then, this will have to do.

Have a great weekend!