Talking Christmas? Already???

I know it's two months away. But I'm already getting requests and inquiries.

"What are you doing for Ada's birthday?" (December 19th)
"Do you have a Christmas list for her yet?" (Christmas isn't until December 25th mind you)

Woah, Nellie.

Talk about getting a head start on the holidays.

To humor all of the generous people who enjoy spoiling my child, here is what I've come up with as a suggested list of interests and possible gift ideas:

*Rick and I have a parental preference for things that:

1. don't contain lead (crazy I know)
2. don't have small parts she can choke on
3. are wooden or from Oompa Toys
4. don't say "some assembly required" (come on, I have to put that out there)
5. won't cost us a monthly/annual upkeep fee
6. don't have annoying buttons that she can hit over and over and over to drive me insane(Like the pink pony that says --"I'm a magical unicorn, rainbow colors and glowing horn. We'll have so much fun today, when you come with me and play." --she really likes it but it sure does test my sanity some days!)
7. won't cause massive bodily harm to our feet when we step on them while barefoot
8. are safe to be chewed on (everything goes into her mouth at some point)
9. encourage her to use the potty (will the diaper stage ever end?)
10. fit in her room (preferably in a nice, neat little space like her storage bins, dresser, or closet)
11. won't leave permanent marks on my floors, walls or the front of my dishwasher
12. are educational
13. increase the value of her college fund
14. are durable enough to be passed on
15. are good for the environment
16. can fit in our car so we can get them home
17. will entertain her for more than just the day she opens them
18. aren't all pink

• are musical - Most parents would be against toys that make a lot of noise. Ada has such a strong interest in music that I can't deprive her of that joy and therefore I kindly request that any musical instruments are accompanied by earplugs for Rick and I. And don't anyone go crazy and think I mean a full size drum set or piano. It won't fit in her room. She's not going to be backup drummer for any rock band that I know of anytime soon. Give it a couple of years. Drum, Flute, Maracas, Piano, Tambourine, Xylophone, etc.
• encourage her to dance. - Music with a beat (along the lines of, but not suggesting, Beyonce/Britney/Miley Cyrus.) Classes at Old Town School of Music. Gymnastics falls under this interest too maybe?
• can be pulled or pushed - a doll stroller, a train on a string (she has a shopping cart--and loves it. In fact, she got it from DD already as a Christmas gift, albeit a little early)
• transport stuff. - Trucks, Cars, Trains, Planes, Buses
• get us out of the house. - Tickets to museums, play places.
• encourage play - Wooden Kitchen set, puppets, building blocks for her architect of a dad, bath toys (she only has a rubber duck right now),
• encourage sport and exercise. - balls, basket ball and hoop, bowling set,
• teach her how to swim. - Swim lessons, water wings, etc.
• involve fruit. She eats a banana a day so I wouldn't be opposed to a fruit-of-the-month-club for her. It really would be the gift that keeps on giving.
• go to charity.

Like I said, these are suggestions, ideas, areas of interest to be used as inspiration.

Moral of the story: All she needs is love, food, shelter and clean diapers --which she has plenty of. There are so many people, places and things out there in need. Please be generous in their direction this holiday season.

To Preschool, or not to Preschool?

Will this topic ever end? There is a small part of me that envies stay-at-home moms right now since they don't have to deal with hiring nannies, finding family members to cover for the nannies when they are sick or otherwise occupied, dropping their kids off at daycare every morning, getting them ready and out the door to go somewhere to be watched for the day....etc...etc... (The majority of me is thankful to have a part-time job that helps me maintain my own identity and balance in life.)

This issue got stirred up the other day when my neighborhood mom friend Sara came over with her son Aaron for a mini half-hour playdate. She's on sabbatical from work for 6 weeks and needs to figure out what to do with Aaron now that her husband switched jobs and doesn't work from home anymore. This translates into them needing coverage for 45 hours instead of 25 or 30 since he could be more flexible, which kind of prices them out of the market for a nanny. She started researching Preschools to see what options she has.

Aaron, like Ada, is almost 2 now which seems to complicate things a bit more. I never really gave thought to the issue of the cost of child care for an infant versus a toddler. Sara enlightened me that it is WAY cheaper to have child care for a toddler since they are easier to take care of and a facility can handle more toddlers per adult. For an infant, it's expensive and a nanny can be a comparable option. Having family down the street or friends that are willing to volunteer their time is another awesome option. Who knew that taking care of a child can strangle a family's finances?

Whenever I bring up how much I've paid nannies in the past or for Ada's stint in daycare, my friend in Iowa, who runs a home daycare, is so shocked that she offers to drive three hours to my house everyday to take care of Ada. Turns out that I've paid three or four times what she charges in her small town. That's the cost of living adjustment when you are in the city I guess. Maybe it's just our part of town and the daycares know they can get the wealthy folks to pony up the big bucks. I don't consider myself "wealthy folk" and am therefore, constantly re-evaluating our options.

Since Sara stopped by and started this conversation, I got all jittery again because, as always happens, my friend who is watching Ada for us now, is pregnant and due early March. She already has a 2-year-old little boy and we have to discuss options going forward now that she'll have an infant on her hands too. If she is willing to keep watching Ada, that's great... but is that the best thing for Ada and for our family budget? And what happens when we have another child? Then what the heck do we do? I don't want to pay for a nanny and a preschool as that would really break the momma's piggy bank. Oh the stress involved is just so overwhelming sometimes. I can't emphasize enough how thankful I am to a friend that told me from the beginning, "Just try to worry about childcare six months at a time. Beyond that, you have no control and need to keep your options open." It's some of the best, and most honest, advice I've received.

Then there is the whole issue of preschool. As far as I can tell, there are preschools that are also daycares and the words are interchangeable. And the Chicago Public School system has preschools available to four-year-olds, and three-year-olds get put on an waiting list to be admitted if they have room. Those are only while the school year is in session I think. And they are still a paid program, but maybe at a reduced level? Clearly I have a ton of research to do on all of this stuff.

To complicated things even further, Ada is a December birthday which means she misses the CPS cutoff enrollment date of September 1st, which will, when she finally starts school, mean that she will be one of the oldest kids in her class. I hear that's a benefit for her if she goes on to play sports since she'll be one of the more developed kids than her younger counterparts and can go on to greatness -- which is assumed already since it's really likely she'll be 6 feet tall and her aunt Heather played volleyball for Cornell. (Can you say "scholarship"?) Not that I'm going to be all pushy sports mom, but I surely won't discourage any glimmer of interest in sports from my child. And don't act all shocked when you see basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer balls on her Christmas list either.

Moral of the story: Having kids means having a lot of homework and hours of research. Don't think that just because you have a degree in this, that or something else that you automatically qualify to be a good parent. It's a full-time gig and you really can't skip classes.

Don't miss...

I posted out of order... The Dentist aka The Longest Day Ever was Oct 5 so don't miss it...

:)
ay

A COLD Day in Lake Geneva - Day 4

After sleeping in and having breakfast, we cleaned up the condo, kissed DD goodbye, showered and watched the final hours of Cable TV at our disposal before packing up and heading for home. Ada played with Anna's birthday princess set and then we left to drive home to see Daddy and the newly painted house. This is Ada helping Daddy before we left on Friday...

This is a sample of the newly yellow painted walls. The guys did a fabulous job. It looks great. I'm adjusting to the color and after a week, I think I really do like it. And here is the flower that Ada got from the local florist--she gave it to Ada when we walked by on Thursday night. So sweet of her. Oh, and it's in the awesome vase that Cadence got for us. It has neat little poke-er things that hold the flower up.

Moral of the story: Action packed adventures are often the best kind. Enjoy the ride.

A COLD Day in Lake Geneva - Day 3

Sunday Sunday Sunday

We were slow to get started this morning. We had breakfast. Rob and Michelle left and took Anna back to her mom. DD and Ada and I were finishing getting ready when my friends Anne and Rosalyn arrived for a day of fun, shopping and a visit to the apple orchard. Bobpa arrived shortly after they did so I could take his headshot for a Rotary thing. Anne, Rosalyn and I took a tour of the Oktoberfest downtown. Meanwhile, my dad went to go buy a dress shirt that actually fit him since he grabbed one from his closet that wouldn't button at the neck. Minor problem when you need to wear a tie and look professional. I left the ladies to shop while I ran back to take headshots. Ada squeezed in a little nap. Here's a result of the headshots... I might just be killed for posting this but... we'll, it's worth it. At least I'll dye happy and everyone will know what a real goofball my dad is... Here's the proof.

My poor mom! She's been married to him for a long time...

Then we all went to lunch. We tried one place but that wait was too long. We went to another and it was edible but not fabulous. On the way, Ada got the pompom Bobpa brought back from the Iowa vs. Michigan game for her and got it stuck in the wheel of her stroller. That was fun to cut out and fix later that night. What a mess. After lunch, Bobpa left us ladies to our fun. We decided we'd venture up to Elkhorn for an apple orchard experience and a pumpkin hunt. The apples were awesome. The apple cider was yummy. The apple cider donuts were scrumptious. Then we went to the pumpkin patch. It was well picked over since we were there just before closing on the Sunday after a weekend long festival. I expected Ada to be excited to run in this field and pick out a pumpkin. She was more perplexed... and a bit crabby...

Rosalyn cheered her up with this silly thing.

DD picked a pumpkin that wasn't rotting, all green, or too big for us to carry back to the car.Rosalyn let Ada drag her back to the car. Notice the apple in Ada's had that she took from the ground in the orchard and at in the car on the way home. It's her first stolen good. Anne and I just supervise and ate and drank (even though we learned that we don't like apple wine or blueberry wine or blackberry wine or any of the grape-excluding wines) and we were definitely merry.

Then it was back to the condo to bid adieu to our friends, eat leftovers with DD, and cuddle to stay warm. More knitting -- I made a scarf for Ada and gloves for my friend Cadence-- and more Cable TV, this time it was A Cinderella Story and Another Cinderella Story. Sinfully awful and entertaining and mindless at the same time.

I finally crawled into bed and cuddled with Ada until a whopping 9 am Monday morning! Yeah! Sleeping in is awesome!

A COLD Day in Lake Geneva - Day 2

It's Saturday. So much for sleeping in. It's 6:30. Early to rise since I've got an almost-2-year-old in my bed. We go to pick up her cousin at 9:30 and have breakfast with Granny, Grandma Ba, and aunt Terri scheduled at 10. And a surprise(for cousin Anna) visit from my brother, and his girlfriend Michelle.


DD goes to get Anna from her mom's house while Ada and I get a phone charger from the Radio Shack downtown and fill up the CRV with gas. Then we follow DD to breakfast at Millie's because neither of us wants to move our car seat to the other car so we just drive separately. DD's GPS doesn't take the address to Millie's very well. I think we're off the map or something. We got delayed but eventually asked some neighbors out for a walk and arrived safely.


After a yummy breakfast and good family conversation, we did a little shopping and had our own little photo shoot. Anna's in the black coat. Ada's in the hoodie. I didn't exactly check the weather and had no idea it was going to be 20 degrees and frosty. Whoops. My brother brought up a winter coat from DDs house so she was warm the rest of the weekend at least.


After brunch, we went through the shops at Millie's. While walking along the path between shops I, of course, ran into my parent's former neighbor Pat and her sister. Pat is easily in my list of top 20 favorite people in the world. She's awesome and I've really missed her since she moved from Sycamore to split her time between Florida and Wisconsin. Total coincidence that she was there, and unfortunate that my mom had to go back to the condo to wait for the heat repair man and missed her. Mom gets to see her more often than I do and I gave her a dozen hugs so surely one of those can be counted as from my mom.


After shopping, Ada slept on the 15 minute ride home, insuring that yet another "real" nap would be skipped today. We headed back to the condo to check on mom. Heaters dead. We'll have to cuddle until they can fix it next week. Yikes. It's cold out. At least we're still at 63 or 64 inside. We can deal with that.


Off to Oktoberfest downtown Lake Geneva. More shopping, a late "lunch" which was really more of a snack and then it was time to let the girls ride the ponies and walk in the "doll and animal parade" with Uncle Rob's help.



Then it was time for Granny, Terri and Grandma Ba to trek back to Sycamore and for us to head home for playtime and dinner. Rob cooked homemade spaghetti after what seemed like an eternity at the grocery store. That's how time works when I'm hungry. Finally time for bed and an Anna/Ada sleepover, more knitting, and more Cable TV. Bliss.


At 10 I finally crawled into the king size bed with Ada. Around 4 am I got an addition to my bed in the form of Anna and at about 6:30 or 7, Ada woke us both up by dancing in the bed and talking like a Chatty Cathy. Welcome to Sunday.

A COLD Day in Lake Geneva - Day 1

Daddy and Mommy made a deal. Daddy paints the house with his Dad and Brother, Mommy takes Ada to Lake Geneva for a four day weekend with Grandma DD. Mommy gets the house painted and a sort of Momcation, Daddy gets "man time", the house painted and a mini sort of working Dadcation.

What started off as a nice, quiet weekend, turned into a fun-filled, yet cold, adventure.

Ada and I helped Rick prep the house on Friday morning, then drove up to Lake Geneva. DD took us shopping at Target on the premise that it had a grocery store, which it didn't, and we, of course, bought a bunch of stuff anyway. That's what you do in Target right? It's okay because Ada came out with a new pink shopping cart full of groceries (supposedly for her birthday –in December) -- they are fake but that still counts as grocery shopping right? And we finally had a chance to get Anna her birthday present - Little People Princess Wedding. Oh, and cute Halloween socks for Anna, Woodstock socks with pink stripes for Ada.

Then we went to Wal-mart for groceries. I made the mistake of letting Ada hold the strawberry container, which she got her finger stuck in, forcing me to open it and give her a strawberry. Before I could get the leaves and stem off of it, she had eaten the whole thing. And another. Finally, I wised up by the third strawberry and bit off the stem and toss it out before giving them to her. No. I did not rinse them before giving them to her.

Nearing the end of our Wal-mart experience, we sampled some really good apple pie and some honeycrisp apples. Yum. Ada helped DD and I clear the sample woman’s table so she could pack up and go home. We know the true meaning of sacrifice.

Back to the condo to unload and then off to dinner. Ada pushed her stroller all the way to the restaurant about six blocks away. It was pretty amazing. I pushed her for the last half block since she was just done. Having missed a “real” nap and only taken a partial one in the car for half an hour, she was less than chipper at dinner. We got fish fry – it’s Wisconsin on a Friday night. That’s just what you do. Ada was fussy but things were okay…until DD got a bone. DD does not do bones. So much for dinner. I ate quickly since Ada was ready to go and DD was clearly done. DD walked with Ada for a few minutes while I finished up. Then Ada and I played outside while DD waited for the bill. We weren’t all that impressed and I doubt we’ll be going back to that restaurant anytime soon.

Then we strolled back to the condo. I pushed Ada this time and she wasn’t very happy about it. Once inside, she got ready for bed and cuddled with DD. Life was good. But the heat didn’t seem to be working and we were still at 64 degrees when it was set at 70. Hmmm… might have to have that checked in the morning. Nighty night. I curled up with my knitting and cable TV, the ultimate indulgence (a complete brain rot.) DD put Ada to bed in Bobpa’s king size bed and I joined her later. You’d think there would be enough room for us but Ada sleeps right in the middle which is less than optimal for me. At least she’s warm and cuddly. Maybe I’ll get more room tomorrow night.