Emotional

That could sum up my month. And I am NOT an overly emotional person. People give me a hard time for that all of the time; i didn't even cry when Eli was born. Just not who I usually am. However, it's been a struggle of a month for us surrounding various things with our little guy, none of which I'm ready to get into publicly yet. The only reason I bring that up is to point to the fact that I have shed many tears and been that girl that 'cries at the drop of a hat'.

Today I got emotional for an entirely different reason. And a very very good one. I hesitate to share it because it is so great to me that I fear it may come across as boastful. But it is also so amazing to me that I can't not share it because I know how much hope it gives me to read about such conversations other parents have with their kids, so share I will.

We've had a rough month, and last week we had a rough week, so today I planned as much fun, quality time with both kids as we could all handle. After playing this morning, bowling, and lunch at our favorite spot, we drove home from downtown. Rewind to thirty minutes prior to our drive, we were seated next to the sidewalk at the restaurant. Eli immediately saw a homeless man ten feet from him and noted that he was getting a drink from the trash. i tried to discourage further conversation about it at the moment because I didn't know how to properly discuss while this man was standing right there. Once we were in the car I brought it up again though.

I knew Eli was a little confused by someone drinking something he'd found in the trash. "Disgusting" is the word he used to describe the bottle of water. And why wouldn't he.....if (when) Maddux picks up a random bottle or spoon or anything off of the ground, or near the trash, that's what we tell her it is, and Eli hears all of that. I asked Eli to tell me what he saw, and he sorta nervously giggled as he told me he saw a guy pulling water out of the trash to drink. I told Eli that it was something very serious that he saw. We both know that is 'disgusting', but that man has fallen on some hard times and doesn't have enough money to buy water for himself from Costco, but he's thirsty. Thirstier than Eli has ever been during baseball practice. Eli had a serious look on his face by this point; he was totally listening.

I then went on to tell him that we are VERY lucky that Daddy has a job and that we have a house to live in, a car to drive, and food and water to eat and drink. I did my best to explain that some people get sick or hurt and can't afford to pay for a car anymore, which means they usually can't have a job anymore. And without a job, they don't have money for a house or food and water. I tried to use the example of our wreck this summer; I told Eli that if Daddy didn't have a job, we would not have been able to get a replacement car at that point. So on and so on....trying to explain that some of the people they see that don't have food or water or clean clothes have fallen on bad luck.

So THEN we move to what we can do for them. I reminded Eli that he can always pray for them...that is one of the best things he can do. But then I reminded him that it's not fair that we have money and those people don't; we are no different or better than them. Eli responded with, "Well I have a LOT of money." Pause. (I was starting to get nervous here...) "So I could give monies to ALL of the people in Atlanta that don't have enough money." Tears started to well. They almost spilled over because my little man went on to tell me that he wanted to bring bottled water to those people too, because we have some at home. Then he said, "I could give them some newspapers so they could find some coupons."

I'm not sure if there has been a time when I've felt more 'called upon'. Here we are talking about all of the things we should do, and why can't we do them now??! Given Maddux's state, we did need to go home to give her some down time. However, we have no plans for the morning, so I told Eli right then and there that if he wanted, we could get water and go down to Piedmont Park tomorrow to hand out water. He and Maddux were extremely excited to help out. I am proud of my amazing kids. And now I'm totally emotionally exhausted from such an amazing conversation.

Perfect Day

Today was the first day of fall break. Just me and the kids and no plans. I decided to have a 'date day' with them which included bowling, lunch, and anywhere else the day took us. Eli and Maddux were SO excited. Especially Eli. I think he's missing the day-to-day fun we had all summer.

We arrived at the bowling ally to find it next to empty. The kids had a blast playing a full game....they both did really well (even though the bumpers helped). Maddux didn't bowl in any lanes other than ours, and Eli only stepped over the foul line six times. They were both a little sad when we left, but I let them split my last frame and that seemed to make things all better. Maddux was acting a little sleepy, but nothing major. Eli suggested the Biscuit for lunch, and even though it is all of the way downtown, I totally obliged. It is date day, after all.

We were seated next to the huge open windows right away. The kids happily colored while I ordered. In the meantime Lehr texted us and walked over from his office. Maddux put her head on the table as soon as the food arrived. She felt fine (temp-wise), but was complaining about being sleepy. She never ate a thing, though Eli cleared his plate and cut his chicken sausage very well by himself. Lehr showed up just as we payed the check. He sat and hung with the kids for a minute before Maddux laid her head back down on my lap. We started to leave and then Maddux started to cry. She grabbed her stomach and wailed in pain. I suspected what was to come next so I tried to lift her onto the street quickly. I only half made it before she threw up. Several times. Luckily most of it went outside of the restaurant, but still not something you want to have happen. We cleaned her up as best we could (the wait staff was so nice), but she had to be stripped down to her shorts. By this time she was fine, and even giggling when I was wiping her down, due to ticklish spots. A bigger tip later, we walked back to the car. We quickly dropped Lehr off to work and headed home to bathe Maddie and put her down for a nap.

Eli was being so cooperative and obedient that I didn't even suggest some room time during naps today. He is right now sitting next to me working on a picture he started drawing at the restaurant. Every few minutes we'll engage in conversation and then we'll each go back to our respective work. My heart is overflowing today.

Perfect

Maddie's Posse

As the second child, and the second child to a brother who already had a big group of friends born around the same time as he was, most days find Mad Dog in social circles she's part of by happenstance. Today was all about her. The room mom for Maddux's preschool class invited everyone to meet at the park on a day we didn't have school, so we made a date out of it. Come to find out, this mom's daughter is one that Maddux seems to have really connected with. The girls recognized each other from across the parking lot...the fun began right away.

A few other kids showed up, including one little girl who was wearing the exact same outfit as Maddux. (Gotta love Target!) Two boys showed up; I'm pretty sure there are only two boys in the whole class.... After playing on the swings and apparatus for an hour, most of us walked down to the bridge so the kids could throw leaves and sticks off of the side and watch them float down the creek. It's amazing how long that entertained them all! When it came time to leave, much hugging and high-fiving took place. Everyone knows Maddux and she is quite comfortable around her 'peeps'. It makes me sad that this was probably the first time I've done a play date just for that little girl, but I'm so glad to know it has not affected her social skills in the slightest.

Almost a Year.....

Dancin' Queen - NEW video

Mad Dog is definitely that. She LOVES to cut a rug. The opening bars of most any song barely start before she's shaking her hips or raising her shoulders up and down. Here is a quick video I shot last week when the kids and I were playing around in our one-room entertainment center.

202010 09 Maddux Dance from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.

Boosterthon Video

Here is a quick video from Eli's fun run. The kids are running fast...keep your eye out for Eli...white shirt just like all of the other kids. You can't miss him.

2010 09 Boosterthon from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.

Ity Bity Ditch The City

What a blast! This morning we all trekked over to Conyers for the Ity Bity Ditch The City Race (and the non-kid version as well). I found this trail race "with a twist" a few months back and discovered they had a kids' leg to it as well. Done and done! You had to be at least 5 years old to participate, which luckily Eli was as of about 10 days before the race. I think this is the 4th race Eli has done, but the first 'adventure' one.

We got the kids up early and drove an hour away for the 830AM start time. Three other families joined us for the kids' race, which meant Eli had some friends to run with. Parents were allowed to run with the kids, but not participate in their obstacles. I got to run with Eli and Lehr snapped as many pictures as he could. The race consisted of a mile of grass running, hay barrel jumping, trail running (the real deal!), slip-n-sliding, wall climbing (with help), potato sacking, tube crawling, and tire running. So so so much fun. Eli did great, only stopping to walk once or twice. He did great on all of the obstacles (except the potato sacking..he wasn't into that today). My favorite part was at the finish line. As the kids crossed, a volunteer handed them a medal and congratulated them. Eli held his hand out for the medal, but never stopped running. A real pro....

The adult race started once the kids were done, so I joined my friends at the start line. Our race ended with the same obstacles the kids' race had, but we had a 3 1/2 mile trail run before that point. This meant all of the kids (at least ours) got to do the obstacles for 20 min or so while they waited for us. Lehr said they had a blast. Then, once our race was done, we all headed back to the slip-n-slide and seriously spent over an hour there, sliding down the big black tarp. Eli ended up in a pair of shorts and no shirt and Maddux got down to underwear and a shirt. (Not really her fault. She just hit a growth spurt in height which has thinned her out a bit. Shorts and pants that fit her fine a month ago now fall off of her hips.) For something we signed up for without much insight, we had a really fun, fun family day. Click here for the full set of pictures Lehr took.

Good Days

So we've already had a few calls home, a few notes, and many discussions about Eli's school behavior. He's a great kid, the teacher agrees, but he is so so enthusiastic that his excitement often disrupts the class. And at times Eli seems to have fallen into the class clown role. Add to that the fact that Eli found a buddy in class that is very similar in the 'silly' department....enter the phone calls from the teacher.

We are very aware that Eli is a boy and in Kindergarten AND on the very young side of things, but certain lines of respect for authority and for his peers needed to be reiterated. We have been working with his teacher on how to handle his impulsive talking and 'opposite obedience'; at the end of the day it's the same song and dance most parents go through, but it is a necessary one.

So last Friday, after a call and two notes already in that week, I got Eli off of the bus and asked him how his day went. (We've really stressed being honest about this, even if the day wasn't good.) Eli told me that the morning was not good, but the afternoon was. I was so excited, because I sensed it was the truth. We talked briefly about what made the morning 'bad' and how we could have changed it, and then what made the afternoon good. Once we got home I opened his folder and there was a note from his teacher saying EXACTLY what he'd told me. She wrote that he'd started off a little rough in the morning, but turned it around BIG TIME in the afternoon, for which she praised him.

Now we're halfway through the week and we haven't had any calls or notes. And each day Eli has told us how good his day went. Yesterday he told me, "Ms. Griffin didn't even have to tell me ANYthing." Absolute music to my ears. I hated thinking about all of the fun stuff and cool learning Eli was missing out on by being in time out or at his desk due to misbehavior. I hope he's getting enough of a taste of the 'good life' to deter him from going back the other way!

My Brainy Builder

So today was Eli's third installment of Brainy Builders. He enjoys it while he's there, but he resists me a little each Wednesday morning when I remind him that he won't be riding the bus home. I think that has more to do with the extended day than the actual activities. He and his fellow Brainy Buddies are learning to make all kinds of cool structures: rockets, birds, "wheeled vehicles for space flight".

Today was especially hard for me. I missed my little man SO much, especially in the last hour while he was at Brainy Builders. When Maddie and I picked him up, he held my hand as we walked back to the car. The kid was exhausted. He smiled sweetly at me and told me he missed me too. When he got into his seat I went around to his side and gave him a big hug and told him how much I'd missed him (again). He said, "Well Mom, then just un-register me and I don't have to go anymore." Smart kid.

You Will Be Missed...

Too many good ones to post here....I had the pleasure of shooting a family that has become very dear to our family over the last year. Lehr and I, and both of the kids, already miss this family as they make their move to the next chapter in their story. We wish them all the best, but we will miss them oh-so much. Click on any picture to see the full shoot.

The Last Days of Summer

Since school started a few weeks ago, we haven't been to the pool much, haven't been playing baseball as much, and haven't had time to do many 'fun' outdoor things as a family. Tonight we made the time to head downtown for one of our favorite summertime activities: Centennial Park and the 'high water'. Eli and Maddux love the two playgrounds at the opposite end of the park from the 'high water', so we started there. The kids climbed up the rock structure, rolled down the conveyor belt slide, and spun around on the self-propelled spinning-chairs for about thirty minutes before we walked to the water. Both kids loved running through the awesome grass, but Eli was definitely a little slower this evening. His poor calves are SO sore from his fun run yesterday!

Once we got to the water, the water 'show' started. Every few hours on the weekends they play music and the water shoots out in a cool matching choreography. During that time, Maddux put on Eli's cool new sweat bands and danced up a storm. She is totally unable to hear music and not move a body part or two, so a big, clear space was more than she could resist. As soon as that finished, both kids jumped on the fountains and got soaked. Eli had a blast running through every fountain while Maddux hung back and tried to get splashed by each one from a few feet away. Maddie also pulled out her airplane arms and coasted around the park for a bit, pretending to fly. Good stuff. I think we lasted until about 8PM before it turned a little chilly and both kids asked for towels. So much fun; such a great family night!

Schoolwork

If I had a working scanner, I'd bombard you all with Eli's school work because every day he comes home with a cool picture or other work of art. Eli draws pictures of basketball courts and rockets and all sorts of creative things that he didn't draw all summer long. And Eli's writing is improving daily; his spelling is catching me off-guard too. He's probably right in-line with other Kindergartners, but it's just shocking to me to have him spell things on his own.

Today he drew a Family Tree. It is a small tree with all of our names (not just Mommy and Daddy) written underneath. So cool And how bad is it that his handwriting is already better than mine?!?!

Boosterthon

Yesterday morning, Eli participated in his first solo running event. Many public schools in the area participate in Boosterthon to raise funds for the school. Eli raised just under $10/lap completed, and yesterday was the running of laps. The Boosterthon team set up small 'tracks' for each grade to run, outfitted the kids with cool white t-shirts so teachers could give them hash marks as they completed each lap, and lined them up to enter the course area by class. Music pounded, hands were clapping, and each class ran in, led by one or two kids with signs. Guess who got to hold a sign for his class!!

Ten minutes passed before they started the run; one lap of walking kicked it off, just to get the kids the hang of things. It's a good thing they did that too because once it started, it resembled a Nascar event. The kids were SO fast and none of them had breaks or a sense of how to cut corners and not run into each other. Eli started off so strong, sprinting the first few laps. He stopped for water around lap 10, but that's the only time I saw him do that. Even then, he grabbed some water and barely sipped it before he joined the runners again. And he didn't stick with friends and goof off; he seriously RAN the whole time. Never slowing down (even when we called his name), never complaining (even when I ran along side of him), never stopping. He got in 35 laps just before they blew the whistle, which is great since that was the max amount of laps the kids could get credit for.

Although he didn't nap after school, he told us that he was 'really really tired' when he got back to his classroom yesterday. He snored all night long, and when he woke up this morning, the pain set in. The poor kid limped all the way downstairs and then up the driveway when we walked to the bus. By the time he got to the top of the driveway, he had stopped limping, but even getting off of the bus today, he's still walking 'funny'.

Hiking Buddies

Maddux and I have spent a lot of one-on-one time in the last month. Once Eli started school, it was just the two of us, every day for three weeks until she started school. And even though she's started, it's only a few days a week, and only a few hours each time. So the girls are getting to spend time doing fun stuff. One of the main things we do together is hike. We do Kennesaw, Sope Creek, Roswell Mill....pretty much anywhere. Last week we did Roswell Mill and I brought my old camera. Of course Maddux provided much to shoot. She does really well, even when she chooses to hike in her patent leather (but rubber soled) pink shoes. Mad Dog keeps up with me pretty well....even with all of the extra dancing, rock-picking, pocket-filling she does along the way.

Soccer Season

More internal debate and struggle. This parenting stuff isn't for the weak! Lehr and I offered Eli the option of soccer or baseball this season. We can't afford to fit both into our schedule; one is enough of a stretch at this point. We knew we'd have to ask him a few times because it may be a hard choice for him. However, he chose soccer each of the three times we asked him leading up to the sign-up dates. As much as we hated for him to interrupt the momentum he's built with baseball, our calendars breathed a huge sigh of relief: soccer has one practice a week and one game a week (each on their own day which never changes).

But then came another one of those fun parenting decisions: play Eli up or down. His birthday falls right at the cutoff point. On one hand he hasn't played soccer on a team since he was three. On the other, he's been in a somewhat serious baseball league for two seasons straight, so the dynamics of team sports wouldn't be new to him. Back and forth..... As we've done many times in the past, we played him up. Luckily it turned out to be the right decision this time!

Tonight was the first practice. Lehr is the assistant coach so he and Eli headed to the field right after dinner. Given the day we had, Maddux and I remained at home to maintain our usual bedtime routine (practice cuts into 'lights out' at our house). Lehr said Eli did really well on the field, listening to the other coach and showing some initiative with the ball. It seems there is only one bigger, 'good' player on the team, and several of the other kids are playing a sport for the first time. Eli appears to fall towards the more experienced end of the team, which is great. (That poor kid will always struggle with being the smallest on the team, so any advantage will do at this point.) He had a great time; two weeks until the first game.

First Day of School for Mad Dog

Maddux started her first day of pre-school at St. Catherine's this morning. After much debate, I moved her to a different school this year...long story short is I think it will be a better fit for her. Her previous school was awesome; Eli was there for three years and Maddux, one. However I know that Maddux has a different presence in the classroom, so to hopefully maximize her learning potential, she's at this school now. (Wow....that was a weird sentence to write! Honestly, NO hard feelings at the other school - I really just think this one will be a better fit for her personality!)

Mad Dog was so excited. Ever since Eli started school a few weeks back she has been basically begging me to go to school. In fact, all summer long she's been talking about "Saint Cafrooms" (as she calls it). Her day finally arrived and she woke up with a smile. (Not that she ever doesn't!) We packed her lunch the night before, because her class eats right before the parents arrive. In the morning we picked out a first-day outfit, and then she was off. Even though we did not have to leave for another thirty minutes, she insisted we drive to school as soon as she finished her cereal. (I barely managed to get a few first day pictures!) That meant that we waited in the parking lot for about twenty minutes before I could walk her to her class. She didn't mind that as much as waiting at home; at least in the parking lot she could see the school and playground.

When I walked her to her class she barely squeezed me back when I hugged her because she was in such a rush to get to the toys and kids. And when I picked her up, she did not want to leave because she was far too busy drawing on the Magna-Doodle! I guess that's a sign she likes it.....

Big Old Birthday Bash

This summer has obviously been a challenging one for us, especially when it came time for celebrations that usually require a house, or at least a kitchen with an oven. But I have to say that the kids' birthday parties were at least as good as they usually are, and totally low-key, which is all we know how to do!

Eli's party threatened to be a scratch due to the weather, but thankfully the sun came out around lunchtime and kept all of the rain clouds away. We gathered around the pool at 4PM and the kids swam their hearts out. When they weren't showing off their best moves on the diving board, that is. We still haven't done the formal-invite, kids-choice-of-guests thing for the birthdays yet, but our group of friends contains several kids, so it works out just fine. All in all, there were five other kids (making seven total), and more adults than that. Pizza arrived just as the lifeguard blew the whistle for adult swim and the kids swarmed. Of course they only finished about 1/2 a piece and three grapes each before the whistle blew again and they were back in. It was almost as though Eli forgot about the 'main event'.

Thirty minutes later I pulled the specialty made, variety selection of cupcakes out and once again kids were everywhere. I think we had seven choices: s'mores, peanut butter cup, mint chocolate, chocolate chip cookie, key lime, red velvet, Guiness, cookies n cream, blueberry and strawberry. Eli chose S'mores almost immediately, as I assumed he would. Maddux followed suit and they both scarfed them down in record time. Of course Maddux ended up wearing most of hers. Another thirty minutes or so of swimming later and the thunder started, so we made our way home to show the house progress to a few friends. It started to pour down while we were in the house, so I guess it's good that we left the pool when we did.

Again, I have felt a bit bad for how low-key the parties were this year, but the kids have had a blast, and looking back through the pictures makes me realize that Eli didn't miss out on anything; he was just happy to spend the day with some really great friends.

#5 Turns The Big Oh-Five

Five years. Amazing. I have no clue how we got here already, but before my eyes you have raced through your days as an infant, a crawler, a toddler, and now you are a full-fledged 'kid' in Kindergarten. Wow.

There are so many changes that have taken place with you in the last year, Eli. The main one for me is your conversability. (Is that a word?) You carry on these cool conversations now, with thought, depth, and banter. You didn't do that last year this time. It was fun to talk to you, and you added to the conversation, but you have taken it to a whole new level now. It is amazing to your dad and I to be talking during couch time for twenty minutes only to have you ask us a question about the first thing we said once we finish. Crazy.

Another one is your hair. We shaved you down to a mohawk when you were just barely two years old. Since then, we've grown your hair out with only minimal trims here and there, which gave you the infamous 'drummer hair' that everyone knew you by. Then summer hit and you begged us to shave your head like Daddy's. We tried to persuade you, tried to convince you that Daddy wasn't that cool, but you pleaded, so the night before we moved out of the house for the summer, we shaved it all off. Now I can't imagine you any other way. Your buzzed hair makes you look so grown up, so like Daddy....and I love it.

And all of the new 'big kid' things that come with being a rising Kindergartner... It's been a busy summer! You got to attend a week-long sports camp, which you LOVED. Then you were able to participate in our church's VBX camp...and not in the PreK program like you did last year with an abbreviated (while still really cool) program, but the REAL program with all other elementary kids. WOW! You fit right in, and of course you loved the worship part the best. I was so proud at how you stood up, did all of the hand motions, and sung (even though it was quietly) every song even though most of the other kindergartners in your group sat down and covered their ears.

Baseball: where do I begin? Just after your fourth birthday you started playing on a real team. With real baseballs and real bats. And real pitching. I knew you'd love it, but I had no idea you'd do as well as you did. You may not have been the fastest on the team, or the best catcher or hitter, but you were the most enthusiastic. And you tried so hard and stayed so focused. Your dad and I were so proud of you for playing with kids two years older than you and not even flinching. You amaze us!

I love love love how you try to wake me up: the same way I wake you. On the weekends when you often find your way to my side of the bed after you get up and use the bathroom, even though you wake me up with your steps down the hall, I usually keep my eyes shut as you enter the room. I can almost always feel you standing next to me, looking to see if I'm awake. And then, just as gently as I try to rouse you, you rub my arm, my back, my face, trying to get me to wake up and play with you. Or when we crash on the couch after reading bedtime books and I close my eyes for a few moments out of exhaustion, you reach your little fingernails under my shirt and try to lightly scratch my back, because that is what you ask me to do for you when you're sleepy.

And you are becoming so fun to have along for simple errands. Whenever your dad or I need to run to Home Depot, or to the grocery store, your presence is no longer a responsibility, but more a companionship. You have had so much fun in the last year, accompanying your dad to several band rehearsals, pick-ups and performances. All without another chaperon; you handle yourself very well when put in the position to sit, observe, and obey.

Now you are having some 'over socialization' issues at school this week. Your teacher had to call me yesterday morning regarding your 'silly' behavior in class. I know that this is your personality, but I also know that you can channel that energy and focus on the lesson. I'm confident this is your way of testing the waters in your new environment and it will pass. You usually respond to a united front presented by all parties involved, so that's what we're doing. And as much as I dreaded that call, I will admit that I'm overjoyed by the 'problems' we have with you at school. 99% of the time they trace back to your over-eagerness and happy disposition.

So today, Eli, enjoy every second of your celebration. I hope you love the cool, not-so-cheap cupcakes I had to buy because I don't have an oven to make you a cake. I hope you love the few gifts your dad and I (and Mad Dog) chose for you. And I hope you are happy that you are celebrating your special day with us, because we are over-the-moon to be celebrating you.

Full Friday

We started off this crazy day by taking a trip to Maddux's new school. She will start going a few days a week beginning on Monday morning. She was very excited to go see her new classroom and meet her new teacher. When we walked in we realized that her room is the furthest from the entrance, which makes things a little difficult for me because I have to drop her off at her classroom door each morning (instead of the carpool line). I can imagine that hallway will be very congested for a few weeks!

Maddux's teacher's name is Ms. Christy, and she has about 11 kids in her class. The large majority is girls. I'll be curious to see how that plays out for Mad Dog; she could adopt a less 'loud' personality now, or a more drama-filled one, depending on the disposition of the other girls. We'll see. One thing I did notice about all of them: bows, bows and more bows!

Once we finished there, we raced over to Eli's school to meet Lehr. Since it is the day before Eli's birthday, we brought a special treat to his class during lunch time. We got there in enough time to see his class walking down the hallway to the lunchroom; he was so surprised to see us! He entered and went right to his table, as he knew to do. Of course his new little buddy went and sat right next to him, so we got to meet the infamous Drew. Eli gabbed and gabbed to Daddy, who sat next to him, while he shared some of his lunch with Maddux. Then came time for us to pass out the ice cream cups. Eli helped Lehr pass them out to everyone in his class, giving them a choice between chocolate and strawberry. Eli loved having us at school and we will definitely pop in for another surprise visit at lunch soon.