Tuesday, May 31, 2011

To Grandmother's House We Go....

This last weekend, we went to our cottage for Memorial Day! The weather wasn't the best, but it was really great to have a few days just to relax :)

Buddy got to spend some time with his Great-Grandparents, which was adorable:
Here he is reading Great-Grandma Betty a book,  doing character voices!

Buddy went skinny-dipping! The water was only 60 degrees, but he was gung-ho.

"Buddy, cover up your privates. Mama wants to put these pictures online!"

"Mama, I win! I was the first one to swim in the lake this  year! I kicked everyone's butts!" (Not that anyone else was competing to be the first one in the freezing water...)

Playing the various lawn games. We don't buy our sets, Great-Grandpa Ray builds them himself!


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Kids Gone Wild!

On Wednesday, Buddy's preschool class took a field trip to Jim Peck's Wildwood Wildlife Park, in Minocqua. It was quite the eventful day! To begin with, we tried to cram 82 people onto a yellow school bus. School bus capacity is 83, and I think that's assuming it's all children. Trying to fit 2 kids and a parent chaperone into a seat was NOT a comfortable ride. Then on our way there, one of the 3 year olds from our group (there were 3 child care centers on the bus) threw up all over. Poor guy, but also EWWWWW.

Once we got there and split up, we realized that the chaperoning ratio was WAY off. the 3 year old class had 5 kids and 4 chaperones, whereas our class had 14 kids and 3 chaperones. Chaos ensued, until I organized it so each parent had a group of kids to watch over. We ended up just splitting up into our groups, and then we had a blast!

Buddy and his friends surrounding a black pig.

Buddy's favorite girl from his preschool class, and a bunny.
The animal whisperer. Seriously, this kid was amazing.

A baby deer!

Buddy and friend anxiously waiting for a peacock to leave since "peacocks are mean".
Buddy climbing through a tunnel in the prairie-dog exhibit

My group of kids.

Buddy and friend making "llama faces". I don't get it either, don't worry!

The baby deer hiding under an exhibit.

I'm really irritated with these pictures, since I had a smudge on my lense the whole time and didn't realize until I got home. But at least it's some sort of record of us going!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Next Pele

Buddy is playing soccer this spring/summer, and it is a blast! He is learning a ton, having fun, and moving his body. Mama is learning some hard lessons too, such as:

1) If Buddy is running just for fun, and not paying attention to the game, it's OK.
2) Snack after the game is the best part of the game.
3) Stopping on the field to talk to a friend from the other team is perfectly acceptable.

Seriously, I have a really hard time letting go of control and I'm always catching myself yelling directions to him on the field, not just letting him enjoy himself. So this is a learning experience for both of us, and I'm trying not to ruin it for him. I think he's having fun though!

Proud of his uniform

Getting tips on playing goalie from Grandpa.

Waiting for action!
Concentrating hard!

It rained after the game :)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Growth Spurt

I don't know if I've blogged about it here, but Buddy has a bit of a 'picky eating' complex. I went through this whole thing where I tried to make "fun food" to get him to eat and try new things, but my creativity sort of fizzled out.
Anyway, I don't know what's been going on, but all of a sudden Buddy is interested in food and cooking! None of this food is that exciting, but just the fact that I got Buddy to cook and then eat some stuff that isn't in his normal food list is pretty amazing.
This is just tuna noodle salad, but I let him pick out those noodles that are colored with veggie dyes. Plus, check out the adorable container I put the carrots in! Coolest purchase I've made in the last few months :)


See, he's eating it! Hooray!


Buddy decorating English Muffin Pizzas, he loved spreading the sauce and sprinkling the toppings.

The pizzas before cooking.

And after! Buddy ate 2 of these, which was also amazing.

Anyway, it must be a growth spurt. Buddy never eats this much, especially when the different ingredients aren't separated! (He's a little OCD.)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

New Hurrrrrrr.

Since it's been a crappy couple of weeks, and everything I worked so hard for all fell apart and I was just feeling really bad about myself, I decided to treat myself to a haircut! I think it's adorable.
unfortunately, this is the only picture I could get and you can't really see it at all... Buddy didn't take a nap (again) and he's being a whiny gross kid this afternoon. Look at his face. Does that look happy to you? Anyway, I have a cute inverted bob, I think I look nice, that's all :)

EDIT: just realized that this photo is proof that I stole a tee shirt from my brother this morning while I was at his house. It totally looks better on me though!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

It's Summer!

I'm finished with finals, I'm almost done training at work, and now I get to just sit back and enjoy the fruits of all my hard work!

Oh wait. I didn't get in to UWSP. Well, I'm sure something will work out for me. Possibly begging and pleading with the admissions director? Otherwise, I'm thinking I'll go to the Tech next fall and finish up some Early Childhood classes, so that while I'm in school (hopefully, Stevens Point has to let me in eventually) I will be able to work a daycare job again and I won't feel like I'm slowly committing suicide at my place of employment.

Anyway, all bitching aside I'm really looking forward to this summer. My work schedule is amazing so I won't have to put Buddy into daycare at all, and I have a lot of fun ideas for what we're going to do this summer. (SPOILER: next week, it involves the zoo!) So even though today is rainy, my last final didn't go very well, and I have no idea what I'm doing next year, I'm pretty satisfied.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

BUSY.

Just wanted to let everyone know, I'm taking a little hiatus from writing.

Finals week happens to coincide with the first week of real work at Eastbay (I'm still training right now) and I'll be putting in 30 hours of work plus trying to study for 3 finals and take care of a kid. Basically, I'm not going to have time to breathe, much less write cute things about my kid!

He HAS been awfully cute recently though. We went to the park on Mother's Day and ended up staying for 2 1/2 hours because we were having so much fun :) 

Once summer starts and things slow down a little, I'll be back posting regularly again. Stay tuned!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day, and I know I should write about my own mother. But, she is in Texas currently and I'm ridiculously jealous and it's not like she's going to get on the internet in the next few days anyway, so I only feel mildly guilty writing about myself, as usual.

My mothering journey has been long and painful, and it took me a long time to accept my new role and  to not feel the stares as I walked around with my child. But, I just have to say, look!

He changed my life. I know children are supposed to celebrate their mothers on mother's day, but before I get the handprint art and everything else I just want to say... mother's day for me this year is also me celebrating my becoming an adult, and the gift of Buddy.

(Halloween this year)

(the "traveling heart" from his preschool, he begged me to take pictures once he fell asleep with it.)

My kid is pretty amazing. Happy Mother's Day to all of us, and we should remember today that IT'S WORTH IT!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Just Like Dad

I sometimes forget how much boys want to be just like their fathers. Since lots of the time it's just Buddy and me, I try to make sure we do "guy stuff" like playing sports, trucks, playing pretend games like "pirates" and "knights"... but there are some things I just can't do. And Buddy reminded me of that this week!

I just got my tax refund back, so I told Buddy I would treat him to a toy from Shopko. We went to the toy aisle, and I assumed we were going to pick up a new superhero, since that's what Buddy has been into recently. Instead:
He got a toy razor set. Complete with kid friendly shaving cream, a plastic razor, comb, mirror, and one of those cool brushes to put shaving cream on with.

He played in the bath with that stuff forEVER, and wanted to take another bath the next morning to play with it again! The whole time, he was telling me how Daddy did it, and trying to be exactly the same.

I can't help feeling a little inadequate. I doubt copying me shaving my legs would be quite so fun. I just have to remember that boys and their dad's have a special bond, and although our relationship is different, we do great things together too.


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Eastbay

One of the things that really stinks about being a nontraditional parent is that money is always an issue. Generally the college years are poor years for everyone, but for a parent trying to support a child the expenses are more than twice as large. You need to get a bigger apartment, in a nicer neighborhood. You need to pay for a good daycare. You need to make sure your child has opportunities to do things they are interested in.

Anyway, as someone with no college degree (yet) who has to work around a complicated schedule, you can obviously see that it's tough to find a decent job. Especially in this job market. It used to be that I could usually find work at daycares, they were always looking for part-time people to fill in for awkward hours. But since I was part-time, I never worried about getting a lot of training and now it turns out that after working in child care for 3 years I'm actually not qualified for anything.

Last semester when I didn't go to school, I took a call center job. I called people who were in danger of foreclosure on their mortgages. It was hell. I was so relieved when I found a way to get back to school and could leave that job. I assumed I could find a part-time job that would help me out, and with financial aid and an amazing college fund (thanks parents!!) I would be able to make it, even though things would be tight.

Umm, except I couldn't find a part-time job. I looked. I applied for 2 or 3 jobs per week, and I wasn't picky. I'm really lucky, because my dad is an amazing guy. When I fell short, I knew I could call my father. He wants the best for Buddy too, so he helps us out when we need it. Still, I feel incredibly guilty every time I need to make that phone call.

So finally, I found a job. It's another call center job. I'm working at Eastbay, which is a sporting goods company. (It's a branch of Footlocker.) I get a job that's a little bit above entry level, which means that instead of taking orders for shoes I will be calling customers who are being accused of fraud. Awesome. Another miserable job where I call people who will yell at me for 8 hours a day.

This one pays almost a dollar less per hour than the last one. But I need the job. I just have to keep persevering until I finish college and can take care of my child without hating what I have to do for the money.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Theatre

Yesterday, Mama went on a 'field trip' with the drama club from college.
We saw 2 amazing shows at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and it was so much fun! Sometimes I need a little reminder that there are still things that fill me with joy, and although I have been neglecting it withing the last few years theatre will always be one of those things.

First, we saw Death of A Salesman, then Bomb-itty of Errors.


It was an interesting combination of shows, Death of a Salesman being a famous serious play while Bomb-itty is a hip-hop spoof of Shakespeare. And I really didn't expect to like the spoof at all. But it was hilarious!

Death of a Salesman will always hold a special place in my heart, since it was the first straight play I ever did. It was the first time that I recognized how powerful drama can be, and I will always love it. It is a story about a salesman who has fought for the American dream his whole life, but never achieved it. He is slowly falling apart, and so is the life he worked so hard to build for his family. For those of you who have never seen it, if you get the opportunity you should GO!

Bomb-itty was much more clever than I expected. It was a spoof of Shakespeare's 'A Comedy of Errors' which is about 2 sets of twins who were separated at birth. When their paths cross as adults, I'm sure you can imagine that hilarity ensues. It's a case of mistaken identity, plus Shakespeare, plus rap, plus cross-dressing (there were 4 male actors who played every part in the show, including hookers and pink gorillas). It was not a show I anticipated enjoying, since I don't usually enjoy hip-hop and I feel like spoofs on Shakespeare have been done to death. But this was done well, and it was good to lighten up after a show that ends (predictably) in the death of the main character.

Anyway, I had a blast, I love theatre, that's all!