milestone | The Angel Forever

Category Archives milestone

Lightning strike 3 and silly boys

Posted on July 22, 2008 10:44 pm by TheAngelForever

Before starting my main post, I would like to wish my little brother a very happy birthday. I hope you had a wonderful day . . . even if you worked all day. With any luck the day went by quickly.

This is Uncle I back in 1985 when he was about the same age as NHL. Hard to believe that now he is married and the father of my beautiful little niece S.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This afternoon we had yet another thunderstorm head through the area. At one point the lights flashed on and off and I quickly grabbed the boys. I turned off my computer, made sure we had a flashlight and sat with NHL and JSL on the couch to watch Blues Clues. All of the sudden there was a loud clap of thunder and a big crash outside. I honestly thought nothing of it.

Fast forward to when JL came home from work. He announced that the tree next door had huge chunks of it on the ground. I quickly grabbed my shoes and went outside to take a look. Sure enough the tree was struck by lightning. For those of you keeping track this would be the third lightning strike on our block (in a 5 house stretch no less) in just about 13 months. Strike 1 was back on June 27, 2007 and the second on July 10, 2007.

I e-mailed my neighbor assuming that she knew about the damage. I was wrong, it was the first she heard of it. Now we have to try to get the city to take down the tree because it is in really bad shape and not safe with all of the kids around.

Let me tell you I cringe now when I hear storms are coming in since our neighborhood seems to be a lightning magnet . . . . literally!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This morning before JL went to work both of the boys were entertaining Daddy with their antics. Perhaps they were extra silly thanks to being up at 4:00 this morning. Either way they had a blast making us laugh.

First up is NHL showing that he can make the letter "P" with his body. Of course I really think he was trying to get away with using potty talk and was just clever to come up with this cover.

Next up JSL firmly believes that he has a wonderful new hat. Please look closely and see what he is chanting "hat" to in the photo. If you look closely you can also see his new molar that FINALLY is out. Now two other molar points on the top at working their way through his poor gums.

Finally NHL wanted to put on two pairs of his glasses. He thought it was hilarious and called himself "Four Eyes" while asking for a photo.

These are the moments that remind me why I love being home with my boys. I try to remember these rather than the ones of them screaming and trying to avoid the new afternoon rest time.

Categories:
interesting jsl milestone nhl photos teething weather

Wordless Wednesday – Picking a winner

Posted on July 2, 2008 7:35 am by TheAngelForever

Listening to our question. . . "where's your nose?"

Categories:
brothers jsl milestone nhl weekend Wordless Wednesday yummy

Kindergarten and Mommy’s denial

Posted on June 30, 2008 12:03 am by TheAngelForever

Denial is a hard thing, especially as a parent. As much as we want our children to stay little and innocent, they inevitably grow up. No matter how many times I have asked both of my boys to slow down, they seem to be growing in leaps and bounds.

I admit it, I want my little boys to stay just the way they are. I love that NHL is exploring the world around him, anxious to learn to read and write, talking about video games with Daddy, and learning to love chapter books. What I am in denial about is that my baby, yes he technically will always be my baby, is hardly a little boy anymore. Before my eyes my little boy of four has morphed into an almost five year old boy who will be off to kindergarten this fall. I am in major denial that my little boy, my first born is old enough to be in "real" school.

The reality partially hit Thursday which was NHL’s last day of nursery school.

It came at me quickly and right between the eyes. This is the last summer before my little man goes to school and has homework, before our lives as a family will really change. I feel like I lost so much time with him when I went to work for three precious years of his life . . . time I will never get back. Thanks to this guilt I am going to try to make this a great summer for NHL. I want to make sure he has fun, gets to be a kid, and most importantly does not have time to worry about kindergarten. My poor little guy is a worrier and change of schools is upsetting to him.

Last Wednesday when we were driving home from school NHL and I had the following conversation:

NHL: "Mommy I want it to stay June."

Me: "Why NHL?"

NHL: "I don’t want to leave my school"

That tugged at my heart. I so wish I could have stopped time for my baby and let him stay in the place that helped to make him believe in school again after the horrid start in the fall.Unfortunately, I can not push the pause button and before I know it September will be here. I just pray that things go well. I really fear that another bad start could ruin NHL’s desire to learn and he has so much potential and is thirsty for knowledge.

What I am not going into now is a phone call from NHL’s kindergarten teacher for the fall. I cried on Friday after the conversation and was beyond upset. Heck, I have tears in my eyes now. I really hope that my first impression (over the phone) is wrong and we will not have any issues, but I guess I am quite pessimistic after the start at the other school in the district back in September. I truly hope I am making something out of nothing.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

More on the denial front is that my baby technically is not a baby anymore. JSL is a toddler now, although he will always be my baby like his big brother.

This week JSL has learned so much and had so many milestones. His first molar FINALLY popped up during a nap one afternoon. Now the poor little guy has three more of those and the four canine teeth to work on. Words keep flying from JSL’s mouth. If he wants something he now has words to use for many. A favorite is "Wah-wah" for water. Saturday night while out with family friends and my parents, JSL wanted my mother. He knew that we were all leaving and he said "Nana go bye-bye" while waving to her. Then as he saw her move away from her he started to cry and throw his body to her.

Temper tantrums are another big milestone. When he does not get something he wants JSL has learned to use his voice to show discontent. Not only does the little guy scream, but he will also stomp if standing and jump up and down. JSL will throw his body at the object he wants and hoot and holler hoping to get the item of desire. The other night while NHL and JL were playing Mario Kart on the Wii, JSL decided he wanted to play and/or get NHL’s new hair brush. Neither of these was an option and we had our first real temper tantrum. I sat there watching all of his antics. I was a bad mommy – I laughed so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. It was just too much seeing such a little person make such a fuss.

JSL is also very close to walking on his own. He lets go of items for long periods of time and is starting to walk holding onto the wall, letting go and thinking about taking more steps. We all are curious to see if those first solo steps may come at Uncle I and Aunt M’s house since that is where NHL finally walked on his own. Perhaps it will be a tradition – update to come soon.

I guess I need to get used to milestones coming and going with both of the boys. I can not imagine how much of a mess I will be in Setpember, no less on JSL’s last day of nursery school in four short years.

Will watching my boys grow and become more independent ever get easier?

BTW – Here is a photo of me the summer before I went to kindergarten.

Categories:
decisions jsl kid talk milestone nhl photos school teething vent

My little guppy

Posted on June 28, 2008 1:48 pm by TheAngelForever

One of the wonderful things that was available where NHL went to nursery school was swim lessons. I grew up taking lessons and feel the need to make sure both of our boys know how to swim. Thanks to too many things going on, I slacked at getting NHL started with this earlier. During the winter months I was silly and did not want to schlep the baby out in the cold for lessons. This spring I finally signed NHL up for six weeks of lessons.

We kept talking all about it and making it sound fun. NHL was excited that the little girl that will be going to the same elementary school this fall was in the same class with him. We watched the Little Bill episode on Noggin where he goes swimming too many times to count. Thanks to this NHL was officially my Guppy Guppy Guppy!

Although excited at first about swim lesson, he quickly decided that he wanted nothing to do with them. By the second week I had to go down by the pool and force him to get into the pool. I made it clear to his teachers after that that I was quite comfortable with him being pulled into the water. He had to get in and if some screams were the way, so be it. By the forth week progress was made. He enjoyed swimming with a noodle. During week five and six he actually left the side of a teacher and used the pool noddle to move around on his own.

After the sixth and final lesson the teacher approached me. She told me that although NHL had been there for all six lessons she was going to invite him to the make up lesson the next week. It was probably going to be outside in the kiddie pool and she thought it would be a gret experience for him. We gladly accepted.

Here are some photos of the outside lesson. JSL and I went to watch and tried to stay in the shade since it was so sunny and hot.

Getting comfortable in the water with his teacher.

Once he was in the water he loved it.

He finally realized that the ENTIRE pool was 3 feet deep and he could walk around without anyone.

Meanwhile the little guy and I were getting very warm waiting outside the pool in the heat.

Of course the 3 feet deep kiddie pool had some negative features. NHL thought it was more fun "walking" around the pool rather than putting his legs up and kicking.

Usually the class is only thirty minutes, this day they were outside close to an hour. All of the kids had such a great time – even NHL wanted to race around.

We are hoping to find another location for swim lesson for the fall. At this point we can not even think about membership where NHL was at school and they require that for future lessons. For now we just hope that this great introduction help to ease his fear of water and allow him to enjoy swimming fun this summer.

Categories:
fun milestone nhl photos

Last Days of Nursery School

Posted on June 13, 2008 11:35 am by TheAngelForever

This morning was rough. NHL was quite upset that today is the last day of nursery school for many of the kids. He has another two weeks left because his PT/OT services continue on during that time. Right before leaving the house he told me he did not want to go. Then he mentioned that he wants to go and visit the new kindergarten school and does not want to leave his current school. While it is wonderful to know how much he loves where he is right now, I cringe thinking about what may happen in the fall.

For now I am going to remember the amazing year we had once we switched to the location he is at now instead of worrying . . . too much at least. I will make sure that NHL remembers the amazing teachers, the fabulous Jewish holiday celebrations (nice bonus for us), the swim lessons, and all of the fun projects that he made.

These are some of the art work by the kids that were displayed on the walls recently: