Winter is Coming

Nico got his first report card of the year last week.  Overall, pretty good.  He needs to work on producing neater work and listening a little better, but I could have told you that.  His reading is really starting to take off.  His reading at the beginning of the year was where they want it by the middle of the year.  

What is funny (at least to me), is that whenever we work on practicing spelling words, I *jokingly* tell him I am getting real tired of him getting them all right all the time.  So I went with that routine when I talked to him about his report card.  For a second, he was a little scared, since I was being so serious.  It was always funny when my mom did that with us kids...she'd "get after" us for bringing home all As... telling us that we better shape up and start bringing home Bs and Cs. 

It was hilarious when I started driving the struggle bus at Ft. Myers in the IB program and I had to redo Trigonmetry.  Joke's on everyone else, since I haven't had to use a Trig a day in my life.  Boom.  

*drops mic*

We had our first winter storm this weekend.  We had maybe an inch of snow on Friday night and woke up Saturday thinking, is that all?  Then proceeded to get another 3 inches on Saturday.  We made a game day call for Dave to try to make it to Louisville for a birthday party of one of his best good friends from high school.  It took him 2.5 hours to get out of Chicago, and the roads were just a hot mess south.  So he turned around and came home. 

The good news is that we are headed down there for Christmas, so he might get a chance to see his friends afterall.  Sunday we took one of Nico's friends for sledding at the sledding hill.  I even got in on some of that action.  Let me tell you, even as an adult, sledding is really fun.  

Talking Trash

One of my favorite things that Nico has been doing lately is talking trash.  It's mostly when we are getting ready to sword fight.  And he will start.  Something like this: "I'm in charge of the winning list, and you're not on it!"  or "I'm driving the winning bus tonight, and we are not stopping at your stop!"  Seriously, where does he get this stuff?

)

The main difference in our sword fighting between now and back at Christmas, is that its increasingly violent.  He is really figuring out how to swing that sword.  Every now and then he will catch me pretty good in the leg or on the hand and I begin thinking he's going to be too big for this soon.

Other than that, not much new is going on.  We are waiting with baited breath for spring.
Which is convenient, since we're likely to get another 6+ inches of snow tonight.

We're experimenting with no naps on the weekends.  Could you tell?  

I Love you to the Moon (and Right on Back), I Love you to the Moon (and Right on Back), I Love you to the Moon (and Right on Back)....

The days are getting longer.  Not much longer.  Just a scotch.  But I will take it.  Obviously, this event is heralding spring coming, so we went ice-skating this weekend.  Apparently, outdoor iceskating only happens through February.  So we went.  

Nico was a champ.  An absolute- bonafide champ.  It took us probably 20 minutes to go around the rink once (just like the only other time I've been ice skating, once was enough for me).  He fell a lot.  But he didn't cry and didn't fuss.  He was so grown.  I love it.  

I'm coming up on just a shitty part of the year with my work+teaching.  We're at the midterm- so there are a lot more assignments to grade.  Plus, faculty are starting to think about the research projects they will work on over the summer.  So, I've been working a lot more.  Dave got Nico out of the house on Sunday and went to Kohl's Children's museum in Glenview. 

While there, Nico played at working in a sandwich shop and being a cashier, which is pretty funny.  

Tuesday I went in a bit later than normally, so I got to be at the house when Nico woke up.  He was very snuggly and it ended up being the best part of my day.  He's starting to get into singing and songs.  Which is kind of new.  It used to be I would sing to him and deliberately mess up the words or change the words and he would get annoyed.  But now, he thinks its hilarious.  The latest song?

"I love you to the moon and right on back.  I love you to the moon and right on back.  I love you to the moon and right on back.  Yes, yes I do." (obviously, then I love him to the Lake and right on back.  Then I love him to the train and right on back, etc.  To the tune of "Wheels on the Bus".)  Even better, when I went to sing it the other day, I "couldn't quite remember" the order of the words.  But he did and taught me.  Seriously, that kid has a great ear, just like his Dad 

Winter Fun

Sorry I haven't been really good about posting.  It will be a while before it gets better... with all the work, and the teaching, the CrossFitting, the parenting, etc.  Its times like these that make me really sad I am a muggle.  If I could do magic, or even if I had access to a time turner, things would be so much easier.  

Dave's cousin Will and his wife and daughter (Tracey and Darby) stayed the night with us last Friday night.  They were in town for a conference and checked out of the hotel and stayed with us Friday night... we had Lou Malnati's on Friday night and went sledding on Saturday.  So much fun!!

Seriously, isn't he adorable?

They call me cranky pants cuz my pants are full of cranky...

WOW.  Who am I?  My mom?  With the posting once a week?  Damn, next thing you know, I wont have posted since April. 

It's been pretty crazy.  We are in the full swing of the season... the holiday season and the soccer season, plus finishing up my last duties for TA-ing.  Soccer has been great.  We've been on a tear: we're 10-2-1, right now.  We have three more games before Christmas break, two against cupcake teams... one against a team that whom we owe a beating (Taylor). When/if we win tonight, it will have been exactly one month since we last lost.  That is an eternity in the high school soccer season.  Even crazier, if we beat Godby tonight, West Gasden tuesday and Taylor on Thursday, we'll have a thirteen game unbeaten streak.  That's definitely some type of record for WHS... :)

I gave them yesterday off, so they could start preparing for finals next week.  Which meant that I could do some crafts at home with Nico last night.  This is where I will admit my latest obsession.  Martha Stewart glitter.  ZOMG!  I die!  This ain't your granny's glitter!  That is all I am saying!! I recently got a subscription to MADE magazine, which is actually about DIY, crafts, etc. and not about the acceptance of lower level mob guys into mid-level leadership... in case you were confused. 

See them for yourself HERE. 

In any case, when I saw this in the magazine, I became convinced that this holiday season would not be perfect until I had a bunch of these that I could call my own.  Of course, this is completely ridiculous, because we have opted out of putting ornaments on the tree this year (since I am not sure Nico's obsession with it won't result in a repat of the Christmas 1986 (when Nicole and I caught beat downs from Dad after JJ pulled the tree over because he tried to climb it).  Thus far, I have caught Nico trying to take a garland of the tree and I have also caught him hitting the tree.  Yes, I just said hitting the tree.  Part of this wonderful phase he is in.  Oh yes...

Hitting and biting.  I dont think he is doing it to be mean- I think he is doing it to see what I will do.  Because as soon as I tell him no, he becomes obsessed with doing it.  So I have tried the really serious Dad face... he used to lower his chin and cock his eyebrows real stern like and lower his voice and you knew he meant business.  Nico hasn't quite gotten it yet...

He is definitely a talky mctalk lately.  He tries to repeat a lot of the words we say... and he knows a lot of words, like for body parts (head, hair, mouth, belly, hands, feet).  Sometimes he gets ears, eyes and nose right... most of the time he gets those wrong.  He knows tissue, toothpaste, toothbrush, dog, Dada, Mama (sometimes), bathroom, laundry room, bath. I didn't realize that he was learning body parts until just before Thanksgiving... and I was a little mystified.  Who was teaching him that?  How did he know what tissues were?  Well, school.  They actually teach things at his school.  Can you believe that?  I am stunned. 

So going along with this interest in talking is his increasing frustration with not being able to communicate.  So we've had a LOT of meltdowns lately.  Sometimes the afternoon is just one big meltdown.  One of my favorite things that he does is when you take something he wants (like the broom) he stomps and spins himself around in a circle.  He is so mad... but it is so funny.  And, he doesn't want to do anything you want him to do.  So like yesterday, I was starting my long awaited MS glitter christmas ornament project.  Now, mind you, I wanted to do about a dozen of these damn things to take to Nico's school this week.  And guess who wasn't pulling his weight?  Yeah, Nico.  For real.  Wouldn't use the paint brush to paint glue onto ornament.... but wouldnt let me have it.  I handed him an ornament at one point because he was being kind of gentle... which he responded by throwing it on the floor like a ball (to be fair, he probably thought it was a ball). But definitely a crank. 

We're also in the process of changing up the sleeping situation in the house.  While we do love this new house (A LOT) it is definitely a 60 year old house.  SOOOOOO POORLY INSULATED.  Seriously, I can feel cold air blowing into Nico's room.  Drafty much?  Since we have a fireplace, Dave and I are trying to take a different approach to energy management in our house this winter... simply because as blase as I am about spending thirty dollars on martha stewart glitter, I still have a coniption whenever Dave is like, "Yeah, the power bill was $400.00." WHA-WHAT? 

So we set up the Pack and Play in our room, with the idea that we would kind of close off Nico's room while it was cold... mostly because I felt like it was too cold to leave him in there at night without the space heater on... but Dave has this fear of setting the house on fire.  So by having all three of us in the same room, we can have the space heater on (and know relatively quickly if it catches fire).  Plus it will lower our energy bills, I think... we get the fireplace going in the evenings and when we head to bed we are really only heating two rooms.  But this has meant that Nico's sleep has been all jacked up, but it was before- this started back just before Thanksgiving.  So he hasn't been sleeping through the night... which I get.  But in the last week or so, he's been waking up and STAYING up.  Which I am definitely not a fan of.  At all- cause now I am just cranky and tired :(