Has it really been nearly 6 weeks since
I last posted on here? Six weeks? And I'm the one around here who
is supposed to be doing updates for a toddler. Six weeks in toddler
time is like 3 years in regular person time. Let's get back with the
program.
Tyler has been in the toddler classroom
for a few weeks now, and is starting to adjust. He had a nice
transition, where he spent the last few days in his baby classroom
hanging out more and more in the toddler room. He still gets a bit
fussy when we leave, but there is a security camera that cycles
through the rooms on the way out of the day care place, and on the
days when it is pointing at his room, we see that by the time we've
reached the lobby, the fussing is pretty much over. He is a big fan
of the slide they have in the classroom, and really likes all of his
older friends who walk around and do big kid things like singing
songs and having circle time and reading stories and doing dances
together and stuff. You know, like grown-ups do. The day care has
also almost finished up the renovation. I'm most excited to see the
new kitchen and new activity room. I'm told it may have computers
for technology education. I approve.
Also, we went on vacation. Abandoning
all the rest of the siblings who congregated up in Juneau (though we
did miss them) we decided to head over to the much warmer (and
closer) state of Florida to see the other half of our family. Some
of us aren't so lucky to get both halves in the same zip code pretty
much ever. It did expose something I didn't know about vacationing
with a kid. Most vacations you have a little bit of relax time and a
little bit of activity time. It takes work to get over to Europe or
to plan hotel visits across a continent, but you do the work and you
get a nice memory out of it. But it's also important to have some
relaxing time, or you'll just feel more and more stressed out the
more you try to do. When you have a kid, though, there's no real
relaxing time, and any activity has the focus taken away from the
cool event you're trying to do, and put on trying to keep your kid
from, let's be honest, killing themselves. We hit the beach in
Florida, and I'm glad I went, but you have no idea how excited Tyler
was to get himself killed all the way to death in the ocean. When we
left Tyler behind with the extended family for a few minutes, we got
to enjoy ourselves in the waves, and for those few minutes it felt
like a real vacation. But as soon as we got him back up, we're
trying to keep him from eating watermelon that has fallen in sand.
We were lucky enough to have some grown-up time when we left Tyler
with grandma and went out *dancing*, and again when we drove down to
do some snorkeling in the Florida keys. We'll put up some pictures
eventually, but we have to finish off the underwater camera we
bought. Anyway, it was a nice glimpse into the difference between
traveling with kids and without them. They are quite different
animals.
I changed jobs. I'm still at the same
company, but I'm in a different group. The reasons are varied and
probably best not discussed here, lest they sound too much like
wining...or lest people I work with read this (and why wouldn't they?
I good writing!) But I'm really liking my new group. I've been
instantly plunged into exciting and important work, and people
appreciate what I do. Plus, I get to travel in a few weeks, which is
nice because hey, travel! But a bummer that I'll miss Tyler for the
week. Yay for video conferencing.
Can I update Tyler's dictionary?
Ah-Oooh has become uh-oh, though he
still doesn't know when he's supposed to use it.
We got a 'Wa-Wa' out of him this
weekend and are trying to associate it with water.
Cats are now 'Dee-Dee', though he
hasn't learned to differentiate between the one that always runs away
and the one that gets patiently manhandled until the cat gets treats.
Bah is sometimes 'bath', now.
And Tee means 'teeth', specifically
brushing them, often as a precursor to bedtime.
Those are the highlights. I'll try not
to take so long before coming back with more stories, but I do keep
myself pretty busy these days.
-N
