Pajama Time!

Connor loves pajamas.

His pajama days are like a preschooler version of casual Fridays.

When he was in daycare, there were pajama Fridays, when all the kids and teachers would wear pajamas all day long. That may be where his love for pajamas started.

His first favorite outfit was his footie jammies with frogs on them. Lex is wearing it now, and Connor remembers when it was his.

Yesterday, while I was doing laundry, Lex walked over to a basket of clean clothes, dug out the froggy jammies and carried them off, hugging them as if they were a stuffed teddy bear. I think they must be his favorite, too.

Today, when we woke up, I asked Connor to take off his jammies and go into his room and pick out new clothes for the day. He dutifully took off his monkey jammies (he did the buttons all by himself!) and ran naked around the loft for a few minutes (because little boys like to do that) and then went into his room and emerged with a new set of jammies (soccer themed) for his clothes for the day.

I almost asked him to go pick out something else, but then I decided that if he wanted to wear jammies today, that was fine with me!

Connor's First Soccer Team

There are 10 children on Connor's team. I love their names:

Andrew
Caden
Christopher
Connor
Gavin
Isaac
Kadyn
Morgan
Rylee
Tyler

When Connor was in daycare, there was always a Caden or Kadyn or Caiden or Aiden or Ayden in his class. That name seems to have been very popular at the time he was born.

I'm glad that there isn't another Connor on his team.

My Perfect Little Angel

Look at that face! Isn't he just darling?

My little boy has always been timid and gentle. And, for the past two weeks or so, he has been getting his butt kicked at daycare!

On Friday, he came home with a scratch on his face that extended from his forehead to his chin. Parts of it were very deep. It looked like someone had long nails...

Today, he was bitten by another child on the arm. I asked Connor's teacher, and he apparently is not the one instigating these incidents. I'm glad that he isn't being a bully, especially since he is the second oldest in the room, and the biggest. But, I wish that he would assert himself and maybe defend himself a little bit.

Kevin thinks its time to teach him self defense. In fact, he said that we should tell Connor that the next time someone bites him, he should punch the other kid. I think that's a little extreme for a two year old.

He is due to move up a classroom any time now. Right now he is in the 18-24 month old room. I suppose before the end of the month, they will move him to the 2-2 1/2 year old room. Hopefully those kids won't be so rough.

Daycare...

Connor got hurt this morning at daycare. It's nothing serious...and I know that these things happen. He was pushing around a large truck and he bumped heads with another little one who was pushing around another truck.

Here's what bothers me. Because of the large bump on his head, his teacher filled out a nice form describing the incident. On one part of the form, she has to indicate how many teachers and how many children were in the room. There was one teacher watching 11 children.

The law in the State of Ohio, for Connor's age group, is that 1 teacher may watch 7 kids, with a maximum of 2 teachers watching 14 children. At the time of the accident, this room was clearly out of ratio.

I know that this isn't the teacher's fault. This is a management issue. And, Connor may still have gotten hurt if there had been a second teacher watching, or fewer kids.

But I trust that they will follow the state mandated ratios, and it bothers me that they aren't. Would you call and talk to the daycare office about this?

Valentine's Day for 18-24 month old set

Connor's daycare class is having a Valentine's party on Friday.

We have signed up to bring cheese, and I've already dropped off 9 string cheese packages for them to keep in the fridge, in case I forget later. Other goodies on the sign up sheet are things like bananas and muffins (which are good). The one that concerns me is "Candy a Two Year Old Can Eat." No one has signed up for that one - yet.

Next, they have informed us that they will be making mailboxes for the party. As a child, I remember doing this same thing. Then each kid would bring in those tiny little paper valentines to distribute to each mailbox. So, last night I went shopping to buy a set of Valentines for Connor to pass out. I was hoping to find something cute, like Scooby Doo, and was definitely going to avoid Sponge Bob. That was the plan. But, I went to TWO different department stores (Target and Wal*Mart) and found NONE. The only thing they were selling at these stores were candy and adult greeting cards for Valentine's Day. What happened to the little box sets? Do they still make them?

And, can I send Connor to school that morning with a "Hello My Name Is" tag that says "Don't Feed Me Candy" ? It's not that I don't want him to ever eat candy, its just that he is still only 19 months old, and I'm not sure that their idea of "just a little bit" would be the same as mine.

Snowed In! (And drugged up!)

Connor and I are at home. Kevin braved it to go to work. Connor's daycare actually closed today. I don't remember that ever happening before. They always stay open, even when the local schools are closed. I think it may have been because of the Level 2 Snow Emergency.

I'm glad that I went to the doctor yesterday. I had a huge pain in my neck (literally) that I woke up with on Monday morning, and which spread to my lower back, shoulder, jaws, etc. She gave me some good drugs, and since I didn't have to drive to work, I was able to take more this morning!

Yeay!

New Class at Daycare

After the holidays, when Connor returned to his daycare, he graduated to the next class. He turned 18 months right after Christmas.

The transition to this class went super smoothly. He really had outgrown the last class before he turned 18 months, and we had been putting him in the older class first thing in the morning for a week or two before Christmas already. Now he is in there for the entire morning, and he loves it. He has a best friend named Micah, who had switched to the new room about a month before Connor did, and he is glad to be reunited. Micah is also a little red haired boy. They love to play with each other.

The strangest thing about this class, though, is that out of the 13 little guys in that room, they are all little GUYS. There are no girls in that class at all right now. At the end of February, one of the little girls in Connor's old class will be old enough to join the boys. Until then, they don't have to share their toys with any little cuties with cooties.

Black Hole at the Daycare

No matter whether I carefully label all the things that we send to Daycare with Connor or not, things end up missing. Socks, pacifiers (back in the day), bottles, sippy cups, lids, bowls, etc. I send them in, and they don't come home. Nothing is too expensive to replace, but it is kind of annoying. I mean, I label them. They should just get used and put back into his bag. But somehow, they end up getting sucked into some sort of black hole that exists there.

What is on your refrigerator?

This was sent home with Connor from his daycare center today.


My little cousin Ariel left this for me on my refrigerator the last time that she came to visit.


This is art that was left on my refrigerator by my cousin Hannah.


This is some junk mail that Kevin thought was funny.


This is a birthday card that I thought was funny.

Daycare Bumps and Bruises

When I picked Connor up from Daycare today, he was sleeping in his crib. Everything was fine until I got him out into the sunlight and was buckling him into his carseat. That's when I noticed he a bump over his eye that was purple. I didn't see it in the dark room (they always turn the lights down for naptime, which has made for a few inconveniences when picking him up).

So, back into the Daycare we went, to ask Nancy what had happened. She is one of the best people there, and she seems to be genuinely concerned for Connor's well being. I have always liked her.

She said that it must have happened after she put Connor in his crib, because the bump and bruise weren't there before then. This, I can believe. Maybe he bumped his head on the crib rail. He was smooshed right up to one side when I got there.

But then she said, "I wouldn't lie to you." Which makes me think that she is lying, even if she isn't. It is a known fact that people only say things like "I wouldn't lie to you," "I wouldn't screw you," or "I wouldn't cheat on you" when they are lying to you, screwing you or cheating.

Day 2 in the Big Kids' Room

Connor had a better day today. Whew. What a relief.

In this room, all the babies go down for a nap at 12:00. I usually arrive to pick Connor up at 12:30, so yesterday there was some question as to whether or not I wanted him to fall asleep with everyone else. I told them that I didn't mind if he did fall asleep before I arrived, and today he was sleeping in his crib when I showed up. I moved him from his crib to his carseat to his crib at home, all without waking him up again. I can't believe how easy that has gotten for me.

So, since my little guy is still sleeping, this is a picture of him from yesterday afternoon.

Connor's Bad Day

I feel like a bad mom today. Connor was running a low fever last night, and he doesn't seem sick otherwise, but he does seem to be teething (lots and lots of drool). Since the last time this happened the doctor just told us that it was nothing to worry about, I decided not to worry. I gave him some Infants' Motrin and set about having a normal day.

For a brief little bit this morning, though, I considered taking the day off and staying home with him, just so he would be more comfortable. But, I reasoned that staying home was a silly idea, as he should be just as comfortable at daycare, where he can play with his friends (which he loves).

What I didn't realize, though, was that today was going to be the first day he moved to the next room in his daycare center, being the room for 12 to 18 month olds. I had been informed that he would slowly transition over the next two weeks, along with Mya and Gavin, and then all three of them would go over there full time after that. Well, it turns out that the other parents gave the green light for a full time switch without a transition, so Kevin did too. I didn't find out until I went to pick him up this afternoon.

He was so sad and miserable and his fever was back again. And I feel bad because he should have been able to have a more normal day when he was not feeling well. And I feel bad because I wanted this transition to go more smoothly.

Valentine's Day

I am super excited for Valentine's Day this year. I'm only working a half day, and then we are going to the doctor's for the ultrasound! I can't wait to see the baby, and I hope we will be able to tell if it is a boy or a girl. After that, Kevin and I are going to go and tour the day care center by our house that I am leaning towards picking. I talked to the owner on the phone yesterday, and I really like him so far. The center is brand new, and it looks really nice from the outside, and it's in a easy location to get to on the way to and from work.

Plus, I told Kevin that I what I really wanted was a new pair of slippers, and I'm really excited about getting a nice, new fuzzy pair.

List of things to do in February

1. Finish filling out tax forms now that we have "final" numbers (refund, please?).

2. Go to two free workshops for expecting parents at Babies "R" Us and get all the free goodies.

3. Tour a few day care centers, so I can get on the list "just in case" that's what I decide to do.

4. Try to decide what I want to do about maternity leave and working after that (I'm so lucky that my boss is being so flexible and I have the option to decide this myself).

5. Finish wedding scrapbook.

6. Clean out closet in nursery so we can put the new stuff in there.

7. Register for baby gifts and start looking for furniture for nursery (crib & changing table/dresser).

8. Start planning Sara's bridal shower and help plan my baby shower.

9. Keep working on baby blanket and quilt.

10. Start looking around for bedding for twin bed and curtains for nursery and maybe make them myself.

To get in the "getting things done" spirit, I'm going to call some daycare centers and make appointments right now.