Denial is a great place

I was in denial for a long time about T leaving. Until yesterday....and reality stinks!!!!! We said our final goodbyes yesterday. Poor CJ even though he doesn't really know what is going on - he was having such a rough day. Maybe feeling my sadness and stress over it. Like I said, we will (and already do) miss them so much! My heart is very sad:(

Saying Goodbye Is Never Easy

Part one of our goodbye to T, C and Baby J began yesterday. We meet them out for a late lunch and had to say goodbye to C, CS had to say goodbye to everyone as he has to work today. Part of me wanted to say goodbye yesterday and get it over with, but I wanted to see T and Baby J one more time. CJ and Baby J have no idea what is going on. I wish I was them. The weather today certainly fits my mood - it is very rainy, dark and dreary. We will miss our best friends terribly!!!

What a week

It was quite the week going back to school - ick! But, I changed my attitude. I decided to give optimism a try. And guess what it ended being an...okay week. Not great, but not horrible either. All of the bad things that happened I took them in stride. Although by Friday I did cry at a meeting...so I didn't hold it together as much as I thought I did. Friday was a crazy day beginning with me pulling one of my kids away from his mother sobbing - I felt so bad for him.
He just wanted to be with his mom. He ended up running away two other times that day. So, by the end of the day I was crying with him.

CJ had an on/off week. Some days were good, others were not. Some of the behavior OCD things are getting worse. Today, I developed a chart to see if that will help. Here's hoping!

More NYC fun

On the train - the highlight of the day for CJ!

The big boys had a long day too!

NYC fun

Having fun in the rainforest!

The Little Boys take Manhattan!!!

We are all having fun!

Playdate

Here CJ is with his good friend C. They hadn't seen each other in awhile. They had a great time playing outside!!

Spring Break

I am counting down the last few hours of my spring break:( I don't want it to end. We have had a terrific week - very busy and no the bathroom is STILL not done. I plan on getting in there tonight to begin the painting. But...we did have a fun time. Look for other blogs with pictures of what we did.

Monday - I finally got to take CJ to storytime at the library. I enjoyed watching him get into the songs! We - he - made a basket of flowers/umbrella with raindrops. Cute!

Tuesday - our popular day with two play dates - see previous Popular post.

Wednesday - NYC with our best friends who are abandoning us for Denver! We drove to a station closer to C and T and Baby J, then hopped on a train to the city. Honestly, this was CJ's favorite part. He LOVES trains! The train was so busy that there was no where for us to sit, but the little boys didn't mind - it was exciting just being on the train. Then we walked down Park Ave and crossed over to Central Park. It was a beautiful day and Central Park has never looked so good! We all decided on the Zoo - a great decision. We had a little lunch than were off to see the animals. CJ's favorite was the penguins. He is not much of an animal lover, so he did not like the petting zoo as much as Baby J did. We wrapped up our visit with a cool treat then walked down 5th back to Grand Central. This time we had seats! The big boys fell asleep while CJ watched out the window and got excited every time the buzzer to close the doors went off. Baby J had fun watching me blow bubbles with my gum. Tiredly, we all went to T and C's house for dinner and to hang out for awhile. This will be the last time in a long time that we will all be together like that. We enjoyed every minute of our day!

Thursday - I headed to my sister-in-law B's house to help out with Baby T. Baby T has gained a few pounds and is still as cute as ever! I had a nice day hanging out with them and giving help where I could.

Friday - In the morning we went to the Fire station with the Mom's group. CJ got to sit in a firetruck then we took of tour of the station. CJ left with a sticker and a fire hat. We also went to lunch with our new friends. We then played outside in this beautiful spring weather with the new sand/water table. It provided hours of fun. Later, Uncle P came to babysit so I could go for a mom's night out. A group of moms went out for Indian food - it was yummy!

Saturday - Again a great deal of today was spent outside as daddy cleaned the grill and CJ played with the sand/water table. I am trying to get laundry caught up, clean up some of the house and am getting ready to go paint. Tomorrow I will be very sad and will want the day to go on forever. Monday is gonna stink!!!

We are so Popular!

CJ and I had two playdates today!!! We feel so popular! This morning we had a playdate with one of CJ's best friends - K. We haven't seen her since we moved in October! We played outside on K's new swing set and played t-ball. CJ had so much fun. It made me realize how much we miss them. We vowed to have a standing playdate this summer. Playdate #2 was our standing Tuesday afternoon playdate with our new friends N and T. Again, we played outside. We played on their playset and in the sandbox. CJ excitedly told daddy about the parachute! We had such a great day with lots of fresh air. This is the kind of weather we like! Tomorrow we are off to the city!

Play Ball!

CS bought CJ his first baseball mitt on Saturday. It was a beautiful day, and we had a few minutes so we got the mitt out.

Fueling the Economy

Yesterday was shopping Saturday for us. What a way to kick off my break from work! We started at Toys R Us - they were having a Thomas day. The invitation made it look like it would be a lot of fun - luckily my friend J said they were going early just in case Thomas things became scarce. So we went early to shop for some outside fun. We ran into my friend J with her family - we have weekly playdates at J's house. CJ talks a lot about N and T, but typical kids at this age - none of the children cared that the others were there:) Running into them was the best part of the Thomas day for us. We were a little disappointed in the program. CJ was desperate to play with a set up train track - but it was a display in a box just for show not for play. He wouldn't give up though - he kept trying to get the display open - then sat right by it waiting for someone else to open it. Eventually, we distracted him with other toys - but after 10 minutes he wanted to go back. It turns out - CJ was waiting for Thomas!!! I think we gave him the wrong impression of what we were going to see today. He was bitterly disappointed to not see his favorite train engine. My heart broke to see him so disappointed! Now we definitely need to book early for the Thomas ride in Esssex this year! In the end, we bought a sand/water box for our backyard. I am sure he will have a great time with it.
After this, everyone was cranky and tired. We grabbed a light lunch then went window shopping for outdoor furniture. YIKES! So expensive! We have this beautiful big deck now, and we are in desperate need of a new table and chair set - but they cost as much as buying something new for inside! We will keep shopping around!
Shoes for CJ was really supposed to be the priority today - so off we went in search of a shoe store that sells shoes for him. Three stores later - we finally find them! And...they are exactly the ones he currently has - just a size bigger!
So all in all, CJ made out like a bandit today. Mama walked away with a Brita pitcher for my classroom - YIPPEEE!!! and Daddy walked away with shorts and a shirt. Not a bad way to help out the economy!

IPPT

We had CJ's IPPT today. This was the meeting where we met with the Early Learning Services of Stratford to go over what kind of testing they are going to do with him. They are going to do a lot of observing, and a cognitive test. This will happen in early May so hopefully by mid May we will know what services he will receive.

Grandma came and sat with CJ while CS and I went to the meeting. When we got home Grandma was very impressed with CJ's math skills. He has a puzzle with numbers 0-9 on it. He will pick up the 3 and the 2 and say he has the number 32, then reverse them and say 23. He did this up to 70 with her. Then later tonight, he finished to 100 with me.

Girl, Boy, Man, Lady, Baby

As I was putting CJ to bed the other night he said, "Mama are you a girl?" I said yes. Then I decided to ask him "What is Daddy?" his reply "Man", I had to continue. "What about aunt T" "Girl" "Grandpa" "He's a man" "Grandma?" "A lady" the list went on, "Uncle P?" "A man" See Uncle P someone in the family does think you're a man! Then it was on to our baby friends "What about Baby Jack?" "He's a baby!" So fun to play these kind of games with him!
CJ comes up with some great comments!

That Won't Work

CJ and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner on Saturday night. CJ had a great time playing with his Uncle P. CJ is big into cake - and when there is cake he thinks it's a party. I had made a cake for dessert, and as soon as his dinner was done (which was much sooner than everyone else) he wanted cake. I told him when the timer (you know my best friend) goes off then we can have cake. His reply, "No, I don't think that will work." He certainly does entertain!

NKOTB

I can't resist blogging about this. Those of you who know me won't be surprised....my new friends may want to reconsider being my friend:) Back in high school I was a HUGE fan of New Kids on the Block! I know, I know...but I can't help myself. Did you hear that they were reuniting???? Who's with me??? CS won't go with me, so I need a buddy. I shouldn't be left alone with them:) Anyone? Anyone??

Did I finish?

Ok, raise your hand if you think I finished the bathroom this weekend. Those of you who know me well are not raising your hand right now:) Upon close inspection of the wall I had many more repairs to make than I thought. So...I spent time "mudding" as my brother calls it...basically fixing the walls. Next weekend I'll be back to the project! Any helpers??? :)

Painting

Yes, I am at it again - painting. CJ and I tore the wallpaper off of the bathroom walls the other day. I couldn't take it anymore!!! Much to my surprise - the wallpaper came down pretty easy. I am determined to get as much work done in there this weekend as I can. I have a lot of holes to fill, and sanding to do. It's a pretty small space, so hopefully I can do it all this weekend. Wish me luck!

Out to dinner

We went out to dinner last night as a family. The first time since we have moved. We explored a Mexican restaurant in town. The highlight of the evening was the two roaming guitar players. CJ got a kick out of these guys. Then they came to our table and asked what his name was, they sang a song and put his name in it! There was a lot of clapping, and a big smile! What fun!

Timer

The kitchen timer is now my best friend! CJ responds very well to this creative invention. We set the timer for EVERYTHING - "when the timer goes of it's time to - clean up, take a bath, sit at the table, go to bed, leave the house, be excused from the dinner table, get out of time out" - the list goes on! In fact it is working so well, last night at dinner CJ said, "Mama I need to stay at the table until the timer goes off. Set the timer."

Tupperware Lady

I think I would like to change my profession and be a Tupperware Lady! My friend T sent me an article about a group of third graders who were plotting to hurt their teacher because she scolded one of them for standing on a chair. They had a bag filled with a broken steak knife (the article made sure to point out several times that the knife was broken - but IT'S STILL A KNIFE!), handcuffs, duct tape, and other things. What??? Third Grade?? They are 8 and 9 years old!!! Oh my! Maybe I'm not thinking of this job switching thing in the right way - maybe I need to switch professions. Just think - oh the Tupperware I could have! I could make my own schedule, I would get to go to ALOT of parties (at least that would be the goal)....right up my alley! So N, my Tupperware friend what do ya think???