Zack Goes to School

My baby is old enough for preschool! I really can't believe how fast this seems to have happened. He really has grown so fast. Well, he has been very excited about going to school ever since his cousin Abby started going last year. So, we found a preschool right down the street that we really liked, and enrolled him for this year. He gets to go two days a week, which seemed like a good start to us. We showed him where his school was when we enrolled him, and he spent the next few months begging us to go. He had a hard time waiting for it, maybe we should have waited to tell him.

Last Tuesday was his day to meet the teacher, and then he started class on Wednesday. So, for Family Home Evening we decided to go and let him pick out his backpack. He had been waiting for this day for months! I wasn't sure how long it would take him to pick something. They had all kinds of characters to pick from, and most of them he really liked, but he knew which one he wanted the minute he saw it. He picked Cars (bet you thought I was going to say Thomas!). Aaron tried to show him all the other options, but they were a no-go. He had found his backpack, and no one was going to change his mind. When did he get so opinionated?!So, on Wednesday I took the morning off of work to take him to his first day of school. They wanted the parents there for the first half hour, and I decided to be the one to pick him up from his first day too. The first day went perfectly smooth! We went in and he got to introduce himself to the other 7 kidlets and show them his favorite toy, this time he really did pick Thomas. I thought it was interesting to watch how all the kids had such a different personality when they got to stand up and talk about their toy. Most of the kids were fairly quiet and reserved, unsure of how to handle this new situation. Zack loved the spotlight! He had a difficult time letting other kids have their turn, and when it got to his he was far from quiet and reserved. He proudly showed off his favorite toy and told everyone about it.
I think one of his favorite things I got to see was the way the class goes from room to room. Each room is a different station with a different theme, like phonics etc. Well, when it was time for the kids to move to the next room and leave their moms, they all lined up at the door, put their hands on the kid's shoulders in front of them. The teacher blew her train whistle and the kids were the train! Zack was so excited to be a train! This is something he does everyday in his head, so it was fun to see him get to act it out with others.

When I came back to pick him up he was very happy. I could tell that he had a good time. As we were climbing into the car he asked me, "Mom, can I go to school again tomorrow?" It was hard for me to tell him that he had to wait a whole week, but he was ok with it. What a big boy!

Would you like some cheese with that whine?

Ok, I know I don't have it that bad. My life is perdy darn good. But I need to whine to all four of you for a minute.

We have had a rough week. First we got sunburned pretty nicely. Ok, the kidlets are good. We remembered them, thank goodness. But I really should know better! I've always been the lobster queen in the summer. But for some reason I totally skipped the sunscreen on myself. I was only out in the sun for an hour! Ouchies!

Then this last Monday I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a herd of elephants. I had the body aches from hades, a fever of 101 and a pretty nasty sore throat. I used up all my sick and vacation time for my maternity leave so I had to get up and go to work. I loaded up on the Tylenol and Aleve and just decided to tough it out as long as I could. I got to work and called the doctor's office to schedule an appointment. Turned out to be strep throat. Not fun! I decided to get the penicillin shot instead of the antibiotics, less money this way. Those are painful! As I was sitting on my sore bum all day I was thinking that there was no way I expected it to be that bad! Ouchies, again!

Tuesday night, as I was finally over my fevers and aches, I noticed little Lexi had a bit of a goopy eye. I decided to keep a close watch over it. The next morning it was about the same and instructed my sister Ranna, who was kind enough to take the kids for the day, to keep a close watch on it, and to call me if there was any significant change. Sure enough, I got a call at about 2:30 letting me know that it had moved to the other eye, and it was worse. Plus, she hadn't slept all day. So, I called the docs office and took her in. Yup! Eye infection! And a cold, the poor tired girl. Despite the swollen, sore eyes, runny nose and no sleep she was a pretty happy girl that night though. She played on the floor with whatever crossed her path, giggling with delight every now and then. What a little doll! But looking at her face, your heart just breaks for her!

It's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. I think we'll move to Australia.

Flashback Friday - Grandpa Pace

Ok, so I've been meaning to steal the Flashback Friday idea from my sisters for some time now, and I finally thought of one I really want to post. This is inspired by Britta's post last week about our Grandma Pace. Reading her post got me thinking of all the wonderful memories of our grandparents. It was kind of funny because I had a pretty memorable experience brought to mind the day before I read Britta's post.
I was out to dinner with some of the gals in the ward, a fun little girls night out. On the drive home we started talking about voicemails. (Can you believe there are people out there who still don't have it? Neither could we!) This made me think back to being a wee child (ok a teenager, honestly) and when my parents got their first phone with an answering machine. We got a new cordless phone for Christmas, and it was sooo spiffy because it came with an answering machine in the base. The whole family was pretty darn excited about this technological marvel! That was the gift that we told EVERYONE about. As we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Pace we of course told them of the newfangled contraption that my dad had set up before we left. Grandpa decided he needed to test it out, of course. So, he called. With all of us sitting there. "Hello, George! This is Al. When you get home, give me a ring. Unless it's late, then tell him to wait." We loved this message. We kept it on the voicemail for a while, just for the fun of it. My brother Joel even had a variation of it for a while as his voicemail (he still might...I haven't left him a message in a while). His jokes have been the fondest memories that we share. The slightest mention of this message will get a recitation from everyone around, in unison. George also used to be his go-to name whenever he needed something generic. There was another phone incident which is quite memorable. We were having an open house for my brother Dirk, either mission homecoming or farewell...I forget which one. The phone rang and Grandpa was the closest one to the phone, so he picked it up. "Hello, George! This is Al." Seeing a pattern? Needless to say, Dirk's friend was quite confuzzled.
I am so glad that I have these fond memories of my grandparents. It makes not being able to see them anymore, in this life, easier to handle. I am also greatful that I have my wonderful family to share them with. Most of the time when we laugh about our inside jokes like this our spouses will share a look, that I'm pretty sure interprets as something like, "What did we get ourselves into?!"

Nap Time

Zack has unfortunately been starting to outgrow his naps. He still needs one the majority of the time, but he is more prone to fight the naps now that he's gone without them a few times. Last weekend we put him down for a nap. He was exhausted! But for whatever his own reasons were, he decided to play instead. Aaron and I tried multiple times to convince/threaten him to go to sleep. It wasn't working. After 2 hours we decided to let him come downstairs. He told us he couldn't take a nap because he wasn't tired. We were watching a movie, so he cuddled up next to Aaron on the couch. Not even 5 minutes later we found him like this.

Not tired? Riiiighhht!

Forts

One of the best childhood memories is making pillow and blanket forts. I remember making some that took up the whole family room! Ranna, Christina and I were experts. Unfortunately the bigger they were, the less time they lasted. It was always a bummer to tear them down and put all the blankets away. And all the fat encyclopedias we used as anchors.
Well, Zack has joined in on this honored tradition. We have a lot of pillows that came with our couches. Since these are sitting couches, not decorative couches, we rarely use them on the couches. For now they sit in the corner and are pulled out as we need/want them. These pillows have been great fun for Zack. He likes to make "Zacky Sandwiches" with them. His latest use for them is his "castle". It's a simple pillow fort made in the corner of the two couches with a blanket for the door. He insists on the blanket because he wants it "darker and darker". With the convenient location and small size, we've been able to keep it up for quite a while for him.

Peek-a-Boo

Lexi has caught on to peek-a-boo. It's her new favorite game. When she doesn't have a blanket, she'll just use her dress and pull it up over her head. Shortly after we shot this video, I had her on my lap. She looked over at me, gave me the cutest "look at me" smile, and started it all over again! I love new tricks!

Special Agent Zacky

There is a new show on Playhouse Disney called Special Agent Oso. Zack has taken a real liking to it. It's a fun little James Bond-type show. Oso is a special agent who helps kids complete tasks like wrapping presents and making party hats. It's a cute way to show kids that they are capable of doing many things on their own. Each "special assignment" has a name that kinda resembles Bond movies, like Birthdays are Forever. Fun little add-ons for the parents. Oso is given 3 special steps to help him accomplish his tasks. Each assignment then helps Oso complete a training exercise that he was working on prior to receiving the assignment.
Anyhoo! Zack has fallen in love with this show. It's his new favorite. The other morning, while Lexi was napping, I decided to bite the bullet and try and weed our front flower bed. Zack came out with me to play outside and help me dig. He dug for quite a while, then started running back and forth down the sidewalk. After a little while of doing this I heard him talking to himself when he was on the other end of the sidewalk. Then he would come running up to me. "Mom, say Special Agent Oso, what are you doing here?" He would then tell me he was here to help me dig:

"Step One: Find a shovel."
"Step Two: Start digging."
"Step Thee: Dig the hole!"

I'm excited to see him applying his new found skills to his play time! This will come in handy when I need to teach him new activities. What a cute little smarty pants!