Keegan has been going through a lot of "Big Boy" things lately.
He was moved up to preschool a couple weeks ago. Usually they don't move them up until 3 years old, but they moved him up early because his speech is so advanced and he is friends with the older kids that they were moving up. You would think he would be happy to move up. He was not.
They ended up transitioning him over to the new classroom over a week. Keegan was just very sad to leave two of his teachers. I agreed with him, I really liked his Twaddler teachers and am sad that we don't get to chat with them everyday. I also think, though, that his new teachers are also very nice. They have such a great group of teachers at his daycare.
This week is the first week that he actually enjoyed going to his new classroom. In the morning he is in with the "Big Kids" (the kids that go to school from daycare). A couple of the "big kids" have been very sweet to Keegan and let him join in on their games. It is funny to see him interacting with kids that are 4 or 5 years older than him. It was very intimidating to him...and I can see why. He would walk in and all these kids that are a couple feet taller than him would just stare at him. It got better though.
He is only in that room for the first hour and then they switch to the preschool room. He does love his preschool room. There are so many cool toys. They are learning things like how to tell time, read graphs (yeah I thought it was a bit early for that), do puzzles, and play games. He is loving it. His favorite thing is that they go to the big play Village room that the daycare has set up.
Keegan, like the lovable guy he is, has already won the hearts of his new teachers. Yesterday afternoon one of his teachers told me "Keegan never has a bad day and is so much fun." This morning a different teacher stopped me to tell me that "Keegan is doing great in his new classroom and is so funny." So I can breathe a sigh of relief that I am not leaving him in a room where he is miserable...I knew he would come around in time! Okay, enough about how proud I am of Keegan :-)
Then there are other big boy things. The potty training has regressed since Kee switched rooms. He tells us he doesn't like using the potty in front of his new teachers. Again, I totally understand. We laid off use the potty pressure for a couple weeks while he adjusted. Now we are back on him to start using it again. In his old room he rarely ever wet his diaper...so I know he can do it. Keegan is realizing that it's time to move on. He actually wants to wear his big boy pants now and the other night he asked me "Mommy if I keep peeing in my diaper, is Santa going to bring me baby toys for Christmas?" I told him that Santa might do that and he should start using the potty.
Right after that episode he went into this bed and handed me his nook and said "Mommy, big boys don't need nooks." I asked him if he would like to trade his nooks in for a toy and then gave him the night to think it over. In the morning he had collected all his nooks and told me he would like to trade them in for a toy. So that's what we did. He got this awesome little tractor and a small Duplos set for his nooks. He's been really good about that. Every once in a while he sighs and says "No more nooks for me..." kind of depressed...but he seems okay with it.
Then I let him buy Lightening McQueen toothpaste at Super Target, not realizing that it was real "contains fluoride" toothpaste and not training toothpaste. No worries, Keegan adjusted right away to rinsing his mouth and spitting out the toothpaste. In fact, I think he likes it a bit too much. Spitting out that water and toothpaste is quite a bit of fun for him.
So lots of new big boy things that Keegan is doing. He is getting so old! I can't believe he is almost 3! His reasoning skills continue to impress me and Lyle; sometimes we have to step back and remember he isn't even three yet. He's been a joy to have around.
We have gotten a lot of outside time the last few days. We have a snow tunnel that we made and we've been sliding in the backyard, we slide around on the ice on the lake, and have started building a snow fort. Too bad we will have to take a break because today it is just too cold to be out! Lyle and I are both looking forward to taking him sliding down some "real" sliding hills and to getting some ice skating in. I love that I have a reason to spend all this time playing in the snow. I always felt a bit stupid when I was in my 20's out in the yard by myself building a snowman all by myself :-)
Hope everyone is having a great holiday season. We are looking forward to my mom's birthday on Thursday and to my sister's arrival from London. Then Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Crazy Thanksgiving Weekend
So like normal for us Thanksgiving weekend was crazy. It would have been nicer if I hadn't been sick the whole time, but who can plan a sickness?? I ended up staying home from work on Tues. and Wed. with a fever, all over body aches, and chills. It was a wonderful progression from there to a sinus cold complete with horrible headaches, to loosing my voice on Friday - Saturday, and finally settled into a wonderful case of chest congestion with a racking cough. All I can say is at least the illness is progressing through a wide variety of stages :-)
Enough about being sick. Thanksgiving itself was actually a bit milder than usual this year.We only had one set of grandparents to visit, since Lyle's parents are in Australia on vacation right now. So we messed around the house in the morning. Not much to do outside of home on Thanksgiving Day. We made cookies, watched "Franklin and the Green Knight", slew dragons, did puzzles, played Hungry Hippos, and many other things...all before lunch. Then we had a light snack and Keegan (and I) took naps. Then it was over to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.
My mom did a great job making dinner, my dad fried the turkey in his fryer outside. It was super yummy. We all enjoyed it a lot. Although I don't think I ever expressed much enjoyment because I felt pretty crappy. Then we went bowling; something that is becoming a family tradition for us. Had a pretty good time doing that and then back to my parents' house for pumpkin pie. By then I was absolutely wiped out and it was time for Keegan to go to bed, so we went home.
Friday was another crazy day. Keegan woke up really early. So we made some muffins and then went to Super Target...because we could I guess. It opened at 5:30am so it was novel to be there by 7am or so. We bought a lot of junk we didn't need and some we did. Then met up with my parents again around 8:30am to go downtown to the Macy's Christmas Display. I had read it was going to be something with Mary Poppins but it ended up being the same thing as last year. Which was okay because Keegan didn't know any better. Below are some pictures of the display, a picture of me and Keegan (I look a bit, well, out of it) and Lyle and Keegan.
Then we went and got pictures taken with Santa Claus. Keegan was super about Santa, although he got a little shy. You should know he did manage to blurt out that he really wanted a "lawnmower" and a "Ride-on excavator". He has been talking about those two things forever. So Santa is well aware of his needs :-) Below are some pics of him and the big guy in the red suit.
Then we went out to the Crystal Court and hung out a bit. Keegan finished his huge green frosted cookie and we watched some guy doing work on the ceiling of the glass tower. Then Keegan drove his King car that grandma got him around the fountain for a while. Then is was time for phase 2 of the day...which involved eating.
We went to PF Chang's in Maple Grove. This has also become a tradition because it is on the way up to Albertville Mall. We ate...it was good. We left. Well not before mom and I hit Francesca's Boutique and scored some lovely necklaces. Suddenly with the prospect of shopping ahead of me, I started to feel less sickly and crappy..it could have been all the napping in the car too.
Then we drove to Albertville, phase 3. There is now a Charlotte Russes Outlet store there. I almost died of excitement. I scored a cute dress, some awesome cable knit leggings, and a flouncy little skirt. My next big score was at the Gap Outlet store. Me and the Gap Outlet always get along very well...too well. I ended up with a great pair of grey skinny jeans, some lovely straight legged trouser jeans, a pull over sweater, a ruffly sweater, and a plaid ruffle dress shirt. Yeah, I spent a lot. But I had so much fun. I keep telling myself I don't need more clothes...but it is kind of a hobby for me. I wish I could rent cloths sometimes...
Then we went to Axel's Bonfire for dinner. They now have a Gluten Free menu, so yeah for my mom! It was yummy. Then back to their house for more pumpkin pie. Kee went off to bed and we played Five Crowns with my parents.
Then Saturday was putting up the tree day! We did that in the morning and ran some errands. Then nap time. Then we met my parents at the Mall of America. For two reasons. One so I could use my $15 gift certificate to Express (I know like I need more cloths); two so we could use up the ride pass we bought last week. Keegan got to do a few more rides in the park and was very happy. Then dinner at Chevy's. Back home, Keegan to bed, and Lyle and I played "Borderlands" on the PS3. I *finally* got a gun that lights people on fire...it is awesome! Of course Lyle is in sniper heaven the whole time. Then to bed.
Sunday was the least eventful. We ran lots of errands. Went to Whole Foods, went to Best Buy, went to Super Target...mostly finishing up the last of our Christmas shopping. Then Keegan napped and Lyle and I wrapped presents. I also had a lot of blogging on my book blog to catch up on. Then Keegan woke up. We played for a bit. Lyle was a dragon and Keegan and I fought him *again*. Keegan's rocker was a boat and it crashed like 5 times. Soon it was time for dinner. We went to IHOP because I really wanted their gingerbread pancakes and I am sick so what I want matters. After that off to Pet Smart to get kitty litter, drove around some and looked at Christmas lights; there are a ton of lights in our neighborhood. Keegan went to bed, I worked on the 2010 family calendar, Lyle left for hockey, I finished the calendar, I read "Kin" a graphic novel by Holly Black, and then sat down to summarize the weekend for all you folks.
On a side note, I am thinking of participating in some reading challenges for 2010. We will see, I think I will keep it to 3 or 4 reading challenges since I am new to them. So keep an eye on my book blog and they will show up there.
Enough about being sick. Thanksgiving itself was actually a bit milder than usual this year.We only had one set of grandparents to visit, since Lyle's parents are in Australia on vacation right now. So we messed around the house in the morning. Not much to do outside of home on Thanksgiving Day. We made cookies, watched "Franklin and the Green Knight", slew dragons, did puzzles, played Hungry Hippos, and many other things...all before lunch. Then we had a light snack and Keegan (and I) took naps. Then it was over to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.
My mom did a great job making dinner, my dad fried the turkey in his fryer outside. It was super yummy. We all enjoyed it a lot. Although I don't think I ever expressed much enjoyment because I felt pretty crappy. Then we went bowling; something that is becoming a family tradition for us. Had a pretty good time doing that and then back to my parents' house for pumpkin pie. By then I was absolutely wiped out and it was time for Keegan to go to bed, so we went home.
Friday was another crazy day. Keegan woke up really early. So we made some muffins and then went to Super Target...because we could I guess. It opened at 5:30am so it was novel to be there by 7am or so. We bought a lot of junk we didn't need and some we did. Then met up with my parents again around 8:30am to go downtown to the Macy's Christmas Display. I had read it was going to be something with Mary Poppins but it ended up being the same thing as last year. Which was okay because Keegan didn't know any better. Below are some pictures of the display, a picture of me and Keegan (I look a bit, well, out of it) and Lyle and Keegan.
Then we went and got pictures taken with Santa Claus. Keegan was super about Santa, although he got a little shy. You should know he did manage to blurt out that he really wanted a "lawnmower" and a "Ride-on excavator". He has been talking about those two things forever. So Santa is well aware of his needs :-) Below are some pics of him and the big guy in the red suit.
Then we went out to the Crystal Court and hung out a bit. Keegan finished his huge green frosted cookie and we watched some guy doing work on the ceiling of the glass tower. Then Keegan drove his King car that grandma got him around the fountain for a while. Then is was time for phase 2 of the day...which involved eating.
We went to PF Chang's in Maple Grove. This has also become a tradition because it is on the way up to Albertville Mall. We ate...it was good. We left. Well not before mom and I hit Francesca's Boutique and scored some lovely necklaces. Suddenly with the prospect of shopping ahead of me, I started to feel less sickly and crappy..it could have been all the napping in the car too.
Then we drove to Albertville, phase 3. There is now a Charlotte Russes Outlet store there. I almost died of excitement. I scored a cute dress, some awesome cable knit leggings, and a flouncy little skirt. My next big score was at the Gap Outlet store. Me and the Gap Outlet always get along very well...too well. I ended up with a great pair of grey skinny jeans, some lovely straight legged trouser jeans, a pull over sweater, a ruffly sweater, and a plaid ruffle dress shirt. Yeah, I spent a lot. But I had so much fun. I keep telling myself I don't need more clothes...but it is kind of a hobby for me. I wish I could rent cloths sometimes...
Then we went to Axel's Bonfire for dinner. They now have a Gluten Free menu, so yeah for my mom! It was yummy. Then back to their house for more pumpkin pie. Kee went off to bed and we played Five Crowns with my parents.
Then Saturday was putting up the tree day! We did that in the morning and ran some errands. Then nap time. Then we met my parents at the Mall of America. For two reasons. One so I could use my $15 gift certificate to Express (I know like I need more cloths); two so we could use up the ride pass we bought last week. Keegan got to do a few more rides in the park and was very happy. Then dinner at Chevy's. Back home, Keegan to bed, and Lyle and I played "Borderlands" on the PS3. I *finally* got a gun that lights people on fire...it is awesome! Of course Lyle is in sniper heaven the whole time. Then to bed.
Sunday was the least eventful. We ran lots of errands. Went to Whole Foods, went to Best Buy, went to Super Target...mostly finishing up the last of our Christmas shopping. Then Keegan napped and Lyle and I wrapped presents. I also had a lot of blogging on my book blog to catch up on. Then Keegan woke up. We played for a bit. Lyle was a dragon and Keegan and I fought him *again*. Keegan's rocker was a boat and it crashed like 5 times. Soon it was time for dinner. We went to IHOP because I really wanted their gingerbread pancakes and I am sick so what I want matters. After that off to Pet Smart to get kitty litter, drove around some and looked at Christmas lights; there are a ton of lights in our neighborhood. Keegan went to bed, I worked on the 2010 family calendar, Lyle left for hockey, I finished the calendar, I read "Kin" a graphic novel by Holly Black, and then sat down to summarize the weekend for all you folks.
On a side note, I am thinking of participating in some reading challenges for 2010. We will see, I think I will keep it to 3 or 4 reading challenges since I am new to them. So keep an eye on my book blog and they will show up there.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family! Just writing to let you know we are very thankful to have you all in our lives.
We will be doing the normal, kind of, today. Lyle's parents are in Australia on vacation right now so we will only be hitting my parents for Thanksgiving this year. Then on to some Thanksgiving Day bowling :-)
Tomorrow we will do the usual and run down to Macy's to see the Christmas display, go eat at PF Chang's and hit Albertville (after it's been decimated by the midnight crowd).
The Saturday is putting up the tree and fun stuff like that :-)
Hope that you all have an excellent Thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend!
We will be doing the normal, kind of, today. Lyle's parents are in Australia on vacation right now so we will only be hitting my parents for Thanksgiving this year. Then on to some Thanksgiving Day bowling :-)
Tomorrow we will do the usual and run down to Macy's to see the Christmas display, go eat at PF Chang's and hit Albertville (after it's been decimated by the midnight crowd).
The Saturday is putting up the tree and fun stuff like that :-)
Hope that you all have an excellent Thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
On the road
Okay so I am out in good ole' Medford, OR again on a trip for work. We are coating at the pilot plant for the new product I am working on. Not a bad trip; only 2 days at the plant. Unfortunately it takes almost a whole day of travel to get out here. I started driving to the airport at 9am our time and got to the hotel at 6:00pm there time.
Now, I find myself in a rather strange situation. I have nothing to do. I have my computer, everything in Medford closes around 6pm on a Sunday, and I read two books on the plane on the way over here...so for once I am a bit burnt out on the reading thing.
So, then why not update our blog that has been sorely neglected this last year.
My trip out was good. Travel went well, no delays. I got a nice car, I got decent seats on the plane..I didn't have to sit next to anyone who stank, oozed outside of their seat, or babbled the whole way...no screaming children or kids kicking my seat. So I really can't complain.
I don't know how many of you have been to small airports before. Medford has two terminals for prop planes. You get in and there is one baggage claim, five feet from that is the car rental. Not too tough to get around; not all that interesting either. But, I can get off my plane and be to the hotel in 15 minutes...so it beats the Minneapolis airport from that aspect.
Tomorrow will be the true test as I am the only engineer sent out for this run; at least we are only scheduled for 10-12 hour days...so no 16 hour days I am hoping.
Anyway, back to family. Keegan got his stitches out and did wonderful. A little over a week later and he has a small read line with a little slight scabbing on one side. I can't believe how fast that kid heals.
We did family pictures on Sunday and they turned out really well. We told Keegan he was getting his picture taken like a Rock Star. He was a bit shy at first, then he started really hamming it up for the photographer. She got a real kick out of him :-)
The Daddy, daddy, daddy thing has switched track. This week it was mommy, mommy, mommy. Suddenly I wondered why I was worried about Keegan preferring daddy. I also wondered why I didn't appreciate the stage more while it lasted, because now I am on mommy, mommy, mommy duty way more ;-) Seriously though it makes me feel good he wants me again. Of course, he made this switch just in time for me to go out of town.
I hope he doesn't get too upset, we explained it to him and he seemed cool with it. I promised to bring him a toy; which I went to Toys R Us and acquired when I got here.
What else...I, at least, am preparing for Xmas shopping. This takes a lot of mental preparedness to spend all that money and figure out who is getting what. I took Keegan to the toy store on Friday and have since concluded that he really wants everything for Christmas.
Christmas with an almost three year old is much cooler than Christmas with a almost 2 year old. The toys are awesome! I want to get him all of them so that I can play too. The next big age jump is 5-6 years...then we can start in on those cool Lego sets and the K'nex!
Keegan continues to make us laugh and come up with funny things. He is such a goofball. When I tell him that he says "No mommy, you're a goofball." and I say "No you're a goofball." We argue back and forth until Lyle says "You are BOTH goofballs!"
Anyway, I am sure they will do fine without me. But I will be happy to go back home. The silence is novel, but the novelty wears off quickly. I hoping to hit the Medford Macy's and use my $10 gift card while I am here. Other than that I am hoping things go decently. Maybe for once progress at the plant will go faster than molasses and we will get done early...okay I hear people laughing from here...it won't happen but you never know.
Now, I find myself in a rather strange situation. I have nothing to do. I have my computer, everything in Medford closes around 6pm on a Sunday, and I read two books on the plane on the way over here...so for once I am a bit burnt out on the reading thing.
So, then why not update our blog that has been sorely neglected this last year.
My trip out was good. Travel went well, no delays. I got a nice car, I got decent seats on the plane..I didn't have to sit next to anyone who stank, oozed outside of their seat, or babbled the whole way...no screaming children or kids kicking my seat. So I really can't complain.
I don't know how many of you have been to small airports before. Medford has two terminals for prop planes. You get in and there is one baggage claim, five feet from that is the car rental. Not too tough to get around; not all that interesting either. But, I can get off my plane and be to the hotel in 15 minutes...so it beats the Minneapolis airport from that aspect.
Tomorrow will be the true test as I am the only engineer sent out for this run; at least we are only scheduled for 10-12 hour days...so no 16 hour days I am hoping.
Anyway, back to family. Keegan got his stitches out and did wonderful. A little over a week later and he has a small read line with a little slight scabbing on one side. I can't believe how fast that kid heals.
We did family pictures on Sunday and they turned out really well. We told Keegan he was getting his picture taken like a Rock Star. He was a bit shy at first, then he started really hamming it up for the photographer. She got a real kick out of him :-)
The Daddy, daddy, daddy thing has switched track. This week it was mommy, mommy, mommy. Suddenly I wondered why I was worried about Keegan preferring daddy. I also wondered why I didn't appreciate the stage more while it lasted, because now I am on mommy, mommy, mommy duty way more ;-) Seriously though it makes me feel good he wants me again. Of course, he made this switch just in time for me to go out of town.
I hope he doesn't get too upset, we explained it to him and he seemed cool with it. I promised to bring him a toy; which I went to Toys R Us and acquired when I got here.
What else...I, at least, am preparing for Xmas shopping. This takes a lot of mental preparedness to spend all that money and figure out who is getting what. I took Keegan to the toy store on Friday and have since concluded that he really wants everything for Christmas.
Christmas with an almost three year old is much cooler than Christmas with a almost 2 year old. The toys are awesome! I want to get him all of them so that I can play too. The next big age jump is 5-6 years...then we can start in on those cool Lego sets and the K'nex!
Keegan continues to make us laugh and come up with funny things. He is such a goofball. When I tell him that he says "No mommy, you're a goofball." and I say "No you're a goofball." We argue back and forth until Lyle says "You are BOTH goofballs!"
Anyway, I am sure they will do fine without me. But I will be happy to go back home. The silence is novel, but the novelty wears off quickly. I hoping to hit the Medford Macy's and use my $10 gift card while I am here. Other than that I am hoping things go decently. Maybe for once progress at the plant will go faster than molasses and we will get done early...okay I hear people laughing from here...it won't happen but you never know.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Keegan's first ER visit
So we have had quite the week here. On Friday the drier broke down so we ended up shopping for a new drier. On the way to play Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday the tire went flat on our car. I am thinking that that's enough for this week; should be smooth sailing from here on out.
Then I get the dreaded call...from daycare. "Hi, Keegan had an accident and you need to take him to the ER." Ends up Keegan was running and smacked his little head on the corner of a table and ripped a dime size hole into his forehead. They were having a lot of trouble stopping the bleeding.
So into frantic mode at work. I work 40 minutes away from daycare so I call my mom who lives 5 minutes away. She takes off to pick Keegan up, I leave work and start on the way to the ER to meet them there. I call Lyle too; he decides to meet us there. I call my boss and let him know I am going to be in the ER and won't be back until tomorrow.
Lyle and I get there and my mom pulls in right after. Keegan has band-aids over his forehead and doesn't look too bad; he's a bit pale and he looks a bit upset. We rush into the ER sign him in and wait. 20 minutes later we get to go into registration. The band-aids have pretty much done all they can so we are blotting blood off as is drips out from under the band-aids. They finally call us back into the room.
20 minutes more pass as we watch PBS on the TV there. I am thrilled there is a TV; I can't imagine what we would have done otherwise. Keegan is chilling on grandma's lap; he is so happy to sit with grandma. Then the doctor appears and they take off the band-aids. My first chance to see the wound. It is a dime-sized hole; you can see his forehead bone underneath. I start to get faint and have to sit down. I am not sure why, this stuff doesn't normally bother me. I mean I worked at the vet's for 3 years and saw many things worse than this. But it is Keegan, so I guess that's the difference. Dr. applies a numbing gel to the cut. Keegan is supposed to lie down with pressure on the wound for 20 minutes while the gel takes effect.
I am happy there is a TV. Keegan lies on Lyle on the bed while Lyle put pressure on the wound. Time passes. The Dino Train show ends and Sesame Street starts. More time passes. 40 minutes to be exact. The nurse brings in the suture cart and asks Keegan what kind of Popsicle he would like. That gets his attention. Gma and I exclaim over all the really cool things in Sesame Street. Finally the doctor comes back.
He wants to know if he should put Keegan in a restraining papoose. I tell him no, let's give it a shot without. So they clean up the wound, leave Keegan laying on Lyle, and Gma takes one hand and I take the other.
They put a blankie over Kee's face with a hole in it that exposes the wound. The doctor starts to stitch. Keegan is amazing. We tell him to hold still and it will go fast. Unfortunately the doctor has to do two stiches in the sub-layer of the skin next to the bone and five stitches in the top layer of the skin. Keegan is awesome, there are one and half stitches left when he starts to cry and scream. Around the third stitch I start to sweat, get dizzy, and I go sit down.
Since they don't need the nurse for Keegan he is watching me, he says, "I think mommy needs to take some deep breathes." I think oh yeah that would help. Gma is stuck holding Keegan's hand by herself while I speak encouragement from the chair.
As the doctor finishes up Keegan's greatest concern is his promised Popsicle. He wants cherry. He gets cherry and a ton of praise about what a brave amazing kid he is to take all that stitching so well!
While we wait for release papers Keegan wanders out of the room to talk to the policeman and nurse standing out there. In his normal manner he starts chatting them up. He tells them that he ran too fast and got a hole in his head. It's okay though because the doctor fixed it all up. He got a Popsicle and he really liked it. Oh and he doesn't really want to do that again. He has them in stitches (good pun huh) by the time he leaves.
I couldn't believe how good he was and how quickly he was making people laugh again. I also couldn't believe how close I came to passing out, I mean really, I guess it is different when it is your kid.
Then we go to Target to get him a cookie with frosting and sprinkles and a toy; his reward for being wonderful. We also drop some Make-a-Wish donations off at daycare and let him go show off his stitches. It was nice to drop by because his teacher felt really horrible and he scared a lot of people there. So, he was in telling them about the doctor sewing the hole in his head shut and about his Popsicle. He was hamming it up; he also told them he really doesn't think he wants to get stitches again. That doctor kept poking me in the head over and over, he says.
So we leave. I find out while I am there that daycare will cover any of the cost of the incident that our health care doesn't cover; how cool is that?! They apologized so much, and I am like you know this could have happened anywhere. Really I am amazed we haven't been in the ER yet with all this kid's antics.
Then home for a nap. We spend some time looking at Keegan's stitches with him in the mirror. Explaining what they do and how they are like the stitches that hold his shirt together. We talk about when he goes in Monday to have the stitches removed it won't hurt and he shouldn't be scared. He is cool about it all. Miraculously the wound is completely scabbed shut shortly after we get home. I am amazed at the healing rate of kids.
After all the excitement we realize that there is an interesting irony to this all happening. We have family pictures this Sunday. Oh well, I guess these will be unique pictures. We are hoping he doesn't bruise too much.
The whole affair made me very thankful to our modern health care system, and our local ER who thinks to provide Popsicles to injured kiddies. It also made me very very thankful to my mother. Who helped us get Keegan to the ER half an hour earlier than we would have otherwise; I am also glad that she at least isn't a fainter so Keegan had her to hold his hand the whole way through! Thank you mom :-) Below is a very blurry picture of Kee's stitches...
Then I get the dreaded call...from daycare. "Hi, Keegan had an accident and you need to take him to the ER." Ends up Keegan was running and smacked his little head on the corner of a table and ripped a dime size hole into his forehead. They were having a lot of trouble stopping the bleeding.
So into frantic mode at work. I work 40 minutes away from daycare so I call my mom who lives 5 minutes away. She takes off to pick Keegan up, I leave work and start on the way to the ER to meet them there. I call Lyle too; he decides to meet us there. I call my boss and let him know I am going to be in the ER and won't be back until tomorrow.
Lyle and I get there and my mom pulls in right after. Keegan has band-aids over his forehead and doesn't look too bad; he's a bit pale and he looks a bit upset. We rush into the ER sign him in and wait. 20 minutes later we get to go into registration. The band-aids have pretty much done all they can so we are blotting blood off as is drips out from under the band-aids. They finally call us back into the room.
20 minutes more pass as we watch PBS on the TV there. I am thrilled there is a TV; I can't imagine what we would have done otherwise. Keegan is chilling on grandma's lap; he is so happy to sit with grandma. Then the doctor appears and they take off the band-aids. My first chance to see the wound. It is a dime-sized hole; you can see his forehead bone underneath. I start to get faint and have to sit down. I am not sure why, this stuff doesn't normally bother me. I mean I worked at the vet's for 3 years and saw many things worse than this. But it is Keegan, so I guess that's the difference. Dr. applies a numbing gel to the cut. Keegan is supposed to lie down with pressure on the wound for 20 minutes while the gel takes effect.
I am happy there is a TV. Keegan lies on Lyle on the bed while Lyle put pressure on the wound. Time passes. The Dino Train show ends and Sesame Street starts. More time passes. 40 minutes to be exact. The nurse brings in the suture cart and asks Keegan what kind of Popsicle he would like. That gets his attention. Gma and I exclaim over all the really cool things in Sesame Street. Finally the doctor comes back.
He wants to know if he should put Keegan in a restraining papoose. I tell him no, let's give it a shot without. So they clean up the wound, leave Keegan laying on Lyle, and Gma takes one hand and I take the other.
They put a blankie over Kee's face with a hole in it that exposes the wound. The doctor starts to stitch. Keegan is amazing. We tell him to hold still and it will go fast. Unfortunately the doctor has to do two stiches in the sub-layer of the skin next to the bone and five stitches in the top layer of the skin. Keegan is awesome, there are one and half stitches left when he starts to cry and scream. Around the third stitch I start to sweat, get dizzy, and I go sit down.
Since they don't need the nurse for Keegan he is watching me, he says, "I think mommy needs to take some deep breathes." I think oh yeah that would help. Gma is stuck holding Keegan's hand by herself while I speak encouragement from the chair.
As the doctor finishes up Keegan's greatest concern is his promised Popsicle. He wants cherry. He gets cherry and a ton of praise about what a brave amazing kid he is to take all that stitching so well!
While we wait for release papers Keegan wanders out of the room to talk to the policeman and nurse standing out there. In his normal manner he starts chatting them up. He tells them that he ran too fast and got a hole in his head. It's okay though because the doctor fixed it all up. He got a Popsicle and he really liked it. Oh and he doesn't really want to do that again. He has them in stitches (good pun huh) by the time he leaves.
I couldn't believe how good he was and how quickly he was making people laugh again. I also couldn't believe how close I came to passing out, I mean really, I guess it is different when it is your kid.
Then we go to Target to get him a cookie with frosting and sprinkles and a toy; his reward for being wonderful. We also drop some Make-a-Wish donations off at daycare and let him go show off his stitches. It was nice to drop by because his teacher felt really horrible and he scared a lot of people there. So, he was in telling them about the doctor sewing the hole in his head shut and about his Popsicle. He was hamming it up; he also told them he really doesn't think he wants to get stitches again. That doctor kept poking me in the head over and over, he says.
So we leave. I find out while I am there that daycare will cover any of the cost of the incident that our health care doesn't cover; how cool is that?! They apologized so much, and I am like you know this could have happened anywhere. Really I am amazed we haven't been in the ER yet with all this kid's antics.
Then home for a nap. We spend some time looking at Keegan's stitches with him in the mirror. Explaining what they do and how they are like the stitches that hold his shirt together. We talk about when he goes in Monday to have the stitches removed it won't hurt and he shouldn't be scared. He is cool about it all. Miraculously the wound is completely scabbed shut shortly after we get home. I am amazed at the healing rate of kids.
After all the excitement we realize that there is an interesting irony to this all happening. We have family pictures this Sunday. Oh well, I guess these will be unique pictures. We are hoping he doesn't bruise too much.
The whole affair made me very thankful to our modern health care system, and our local ER who thinks to provide Popsicles to injured kiddies. It also made me very very thankful to my mother. Who helped us get Keegan to the ER half an hour earlier than we would have otherwise; I am also glad that she at least isn't a fainter so Keegan had her to hold his hand the whole way through! Thank you mom :-) Below is a very blurry picture of Kee's stitches...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
So, we are fairly used to Keegan switching allegiances. One week he wants mommy to do everything, the next week it is daddy. I am also used to the Friday night "I want daddy phase". Keegan and I stay home all day together on Friday and then he is really excited to see daddy when daddy comes home. That is totally understandable.
What I wasn't prepared for was a month long boycott on mommy. When me and Keegan are together by ourselves (like Fridays) we have a lot of fun. We do lots of neat stuff. But when Lyle is there it is a different story.
When Lyle is home (like every night after work) I am banned from Keegan's presence. He is only two and a half you say...ah well he exercises what power he has. All night long I am subjected to "Mommy go away", "I need daddy to do it", "Mommy you can't come down here, I want only daddy", "Mommy doesn't get a hug", "Mommy can't read me books". And the all time heart-breaker "Mommy I don't love you."
I know the boy is only two. When he hurts himself the first place he comes is mommy. When he is sick he comes to mommy. Last weekend we were playing board games and he didn't feel well. So he came over to sit on my lap; of course he had to ruin it by telling me (As he snuggled in my lap) "Mommy, I would rather sit with daddy." I offered to move him over to Lyle's lap, but he wanted to stay on my lap...he just wanted me to know that he usually likes daddy better. Are you confused? Me too...
Okay, so he is only two. Keegan is a pretty smart cookie, so every once in a while I forget he is only two. Who knows what is going on in the two year old head. The boy goes from loving the color purple to hating it in 5 seconds. Unfortunately that doesn't mean him "not loving mommy" doesn't have an effect.
I try to look at the bright side of things. I have more time to get things around the house done if we split up and daddy does the Keegan things. I have more time to myself, it is kind of nice. On the other hand though, well, it kind of hurts my feelings and makes me feel sad. Silly, I know, but I feel upset that he doesn't want to spend time with me. I mean in another month, he will probably be all about mommy. But, a little voice in my head whispers, "What if he never likes mommy again? What if this is just a prelude to his teenage years? What if I am doing something to inadvertently make him hate me?" Do I know this is silly, you bet! Does it still make me sad...yep.
So when in doubt I turn to the source that always at least provides interesting reading. I go to Google and type in "My toddler only wants.." guess what Google fills in for me.."My toddler only wants DADDY"
Apparently I am not alone in the world. Most of the issues are around stay at home moms and the kids loving daddy more when he gets home from work. I get that, kids don't get to see dad as much so they want more daddy time. That is sooo not our issue. Then the other issue was with working mothers. In these cases mom and dad spend equal time with the kid, but the kid prefers daddy. This is harder on working moms because we already feel like we only get a few hours a day with our kiddies and to loose that time is devastating.
Is there a theory for the second issue? Of course there is, this is the internet you know! Apparently a lot of working moms multi-task (okay all moms do that, I am not trying to be biased here) but I know personally I am trying to do wash, pay the bills, get dinner ready (sometimes Lyle does this), read the mail, and do a million other things while I play with Keegan in the 2 hours that he is with us when we are home. Could I do this after he goes to sleep? Yes, and I do some stuff. But to spend every hour of my free time doing this leads to madness...I just can't do it and stay sane.
Apparently kids (especially boys) can feel nervous when mom is multi-tasking and whipping around too much. So, they stick with the parent that will sit with them and not do anything else. Lyle does a ton around the house. But he is not a multi-tasker. I have often asked him why he can't pay bills and play with Keegan at the same time :-) I guess maybe his way is better than mine in this.
Unfortunately a constant state of movement is integral to who I am. I always have to do four things at once at work and I did that in school and I continue to be that way. How else would I do all that I fit in to one day?
So then comes the question what should we do? Realistically, nothing. This is a phase and Keegan will get over it. We have already seen him picking mommy and daddy for certain things. He loves to play hockey and rough house with daddy. If he wants to read a book or color, he usually comes to mommy. I am fine with this, it makes sense. Mommy and daddy have different things they like to do.
So when Keegan wants mommy to go away, should I? My initial reaction was No! I can't let this little 2 year dictate what I do. Well, that doesn't change what he wants. After a couple weeks of forcing my company on him. Lyle and I discussed it. We decided that (as long as Lyle isn't feeling overwhelmed by Keegan's neediness) when Keegan say "mommy leave" I will leave.
Last night Keegan wanted me gone in the worst way; he wanted to read books "only with daddy". So I gave him a hug and a kiss and left. Afterwards he kept asking Lyle where mommy had gone, Lyle is like "Well you wanted mommy gone so she left." Keegan went to bed. 15 minutes later I hear crying over the monitor "I need a kiss from mommy! She didn't really leave did she?" So I went down and we talked about how he makes me feel sad when he tells me to leave and how would he feel if I told him to leave. He said it would make him feel sad. We hugged, kissed and I thought good, issue solved.
Then the same thing happened tonight. He wanted me gone, I left. But this time he never wanted me to come back down :-( Ah well, issue not solved. I guess we will just have to wait this one out.
I leave to go out to the plant for a few days early November, I am kind of looking forward to it. Maybe Keegan will miss me and be happy to see me when I get back. Hah, how sad is that? I try to remember he is two...this isn't a popularity contest. I am surprised though at how sad it makes me, even though it doesn't make a lick of sense. Ah, the joys of being a parent. I can't imagine how I will feel when he is in his teens and hates his parents ;-)
What I wasn't prepared for was a month long boycott on mommy. When me and Keegan are together by ourselves (like Fridays) we have a lot of fun. We do lots of neat stuff. But when Lyle is there it is a different story.
When Lyle is home (like every night after work) I am banned from Keegan's presence. He is only two and a half you say...ah well he exercises what power he has. All night long I am subjected to "Mommy go away", "I need daddy to do it", "Mommy you can't come down here, I want only daddy", "Mommy doesn't get a hug", "Mommy can't read me books". And the all time heart-breaker "Mommy I don't love you."
I know the boy is only two. When he hurts himself the first place he comes is mommy. When he is sick he comes to mommy. Last weekend we were playing board games and he didn't feel well. So he came over to sit on my lap; of course he had to ruin it by telling me (As he snuggled in my lap) "Mommy, I would rather sit with daddy." I offered to move him over to Lyle's lap, but he wanted to stay on my lap...he just wanted me to know that he usually likes daddy better. Are you confused? Me too...
Okay, so he is only two. Keegan is a pretty smart cookie, so every once in a while I forget he is only two. Who knows what is going on in the two year old head. The boy goes from loving the color purple to hating it in 5 seconds. Unfortunately that doesn't mean him "not loving mommy" doesn't have an effect.
I try to look at the bright side of things. I have more time to get things around the house done if we split up and daddy does the Keegan things. I have more time to myself, it is kind of nice. On the other hand though, well, it kind of hurts my feelings and makes me feel sad. Silly, I know, but I feel upset that he doesn't want to spend time with me. I mean in another month, he will probably be all about mommy. But, a little voice in my head whispers, "What if he never likes mommy again? What if this is just a prelude to his teenage years? What if I am doing something to inadvertently make him hate me?" Do I know this is silly, you bet! Does it still make me sad...yep.
So when in doubt I turn to the source that always at least provides interesting reading. I go to Google and type in "My toddler only wants.." guess what Google fills in for me.."My toddler only wants DADDY"
Apparently I am not alone in the world. Most of the issues are around stay at home moms and the kids loving daddy more when he gets home from work. I get that, kids don't get to see dad as much so they want more daddy time. That is sooo not our issue. Then the other issue was with working mothers. In these cases mom and dad spend equal time with the kid, but the kid prefers daddy. This is harder on working moms because we already feel like we only get a few hours a day with our kiddies and to loose that time is devastating.
Is there a theory for the second issue? Of course there is, this is the internet you know! Apparently a lot of working moms multi-task (okay all moms do that, I am not trying to be biased here) but I know personally I am trying to do wash, pay the bills, get dinner ready (sometimes Lyle does this), read the mail, and do a million other things while I play with Keegan in the 2 hours that he is with us when we are home. Could I do this after he goes to sleep? Yes, and I do some stuff. But to spend every hour of my free time doing this leads to madness...I just can't do it and stay sane.
Apparently kids (especially boys) can feel nervous when mom is multi-tasking and whipping around too much. So, they stick with the parent that will sit with them and not do anything else. Lyle does a ton around the house. But he is not a multi-tasker. I have often asked him why he can't pay bills and play with Keegan at the same time :-) I guess maybe his way is better than mine in this.
Unfortunately a constant state of movement is integral to who I am. I always have to do four things at once at work and I did that in school and I continue to be that way. How else would I do all that I fit in to one day?
So then comes the question what should we do? Realistically, nothing. This is a phase and Keegan will get over it. We have already seen him picking mommy and daddy for certain things. He loves to play hockey and rough house with daddy. If he wants to read a book or color, he usually comes to mommy. I am fine with this, it makes sense. Mommy and daddy have different things they like to do.
So when Keegan wants mommy to go away, should I? My initial reaction was No! I can't let this little 2 year dictate what I do. Well, that doesn't change what he wants. After a couple weeks of forcing my company on him. Lyle and I discussed it. We decided that (as long as Lyle isn't feeling overwhelmed by Keegan's neediness) when Keegan say "mommy leave" I will leave.
Last night Keegan wanted me gone in the worst way; he wanted to read books "only with daddy". So I gave him a hug and a kiss and left. Afterwards he kept asking Lyle where mommy had gone, Lyle is like "Well you wanted mommy gone so she left." Keegan went to bed. 15 minutes later I hear crying over the monitor "I need a kiss from mommy! She didn't really leave did she?" So I went down and we talked about how he makes me feel sad when he tells me to leave and how would he feel if I told him to leave. He said it would make him feel sad. We hugged, kissed and I thought good, issue solved.
Then the same thing happened tonight. He wanted me gone, I left. But this time he never wanted me to come back down :-( Ah well, issue not solved. I guess we will just have to wait this one out.
I leave to go out to the plant for a few days early November, I am kind of looking forward to it. Maybe Keegan will miss me and be happy to see me when I get back. Hah, how sad is that? I try to remember he is two...this isn't a popularity contest. I am surprised though at how sad it makes me, even though it doesn't make a lick of sense. Ah, the joys of being a parent. I can't imagine how I will feel when he is in his teens and hates his parents ;-)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Yet more toddlerisms
Having a toddler is great fun! Keegan with his broad vocabulary comes up with lots of interesting sayings and doings. So here is a brief recap of some of them.
The other night we were drinking apple cider from the orchard with dinner. Keegan asked, "Can I have some more apple spiders, please?"
On Friday I was doing laundry and Keegan laid on the floor and started screaming "Help me mommy, help me!" I ran out and was like, what's wrong. Keegan said, "I am a fishy and I got stuck in the mud." So I un-stuck him from the mud, but then he said I was stuck. We unstuck ourselves from the mud (Living room floor) for quite a while.
Then there is the big bad wolf. I was informed one night last week that I was a "big bad mommy wolf", Keegan was "a little piggy", and daddy was a "daddy piggy". I ran around chasing the piggies and growling on them. Then the "little piggy" lead the "Daddy piggy" to the couch. Of course the big bad wolf followed them, the piggies jumped on the couch. Keegan informed me that the couch was a brick house and that I would never be able to huff and puff and blow it down. We did this running and hiding act for an hour or so.
Then last Friday I was getting sick of hockey. Keegan and I had played hockey forever. I tried to get him to draw some on his Magnadoodle, he got it out and then told me the Magnadoodle was an ice rink and the magnets were a Zamboni. I was like "seriously Keegan, does everything have to be about hockey?" So he stopped playing with that and stared at me. Then he got up, got the blanket off the couch, got a flashlight and handed them to me. He then drug over his tub of duplos. I was like "okaayyy." He looked at me like I was stupid, turned on the flashlight, put the blanket over our heads, and opened the duplos. Then said "Mommy wants different, let's build towers in the dark." Okay, that was totally different. I have never before in my life built duplo towers under a blanket in the middle of the day by flashlight...
Then there was the lengthy conversation we had with the cart boy outside of Menards. I have recounted it below.
Keegan to cartboy: It's raining
Cartboy: It sure is buddy.
Keegan: It will snow soon.
Karissa: Only when it gets colder
Cartboy: Do you like snow?
Keegan: Yes, I like Halloween and Christmas too
Cartboy: You aren't shy are you?
Keegan: (Speechless)
Karissa: No he's not shy. You have a good day.
Cartboy: You too.
(We start to walk away, Keegan stops.)
Keegan: You know guy, I like candy too.
Cartboy: Oh, well Halloween and Christmas have candy.
Keegan: Yep, and I really like candy canes.
Cartboy: Me too.
Keegan: Yep, they're good.
Karissa: Okay, well you have a nice day.
Cartboy: Yep
This whole conversation took place standing in the rain, in the middle of the sidewalk. No, Keegan is not shy. Yes, he loves it when people talk back to him. Yes, I get stuck in strange conversation with strange people all the time now. It is okay, it is actually fun. No one thinks Keegan is strange he is just too darn cute :-)
The last odd thing I will talk about it Bunny. Bunny is one of Keegan's favorite stuffed animals. Bunny is a Plaja Pet, one of the stuffed animals where the tail and head come off and can be interchanged with other Plaja pets. Imagine Keegan's teachers' surprise when Bunny's head fell off during naptime. Keegan also brought Bunny grocery shopping. It was hilarious. Keegan had to explain to Bunny where everything was. He showed Bunny where the eggs were. Then told me we had to go by the pizza. I was like "we don't need pizza". Keegan was like, "Yes, but bunny needs to know where it is." So around Super Target we went, leaving numerous people laughing behind us, as Keegan explained the location of all food items to Bunny in meticulous detail. To add to the hilarity, occasionally Bunny's head would fall off...startling some poor person. To get the full affect Bunny has on people I have attached a picture below. Bunny looks like he is on crack full time, so when his head falls off it is very, very strange.
That's it for now. I am sure I have forgotten a million other funny stories. But there's a sampling for you.
The other night we were drinking apple cider from the orchard with dinner. Keegan asked, "Can I have some more apple spiders, please?"
On Friday I was doing laundry and Keegan laid on the floor and started screaming "Help me mommy, help me!" I ran out and was like, what's wrong. Keegan said, "I am a fishy and I got stuck in the mud." So I un-stuck him from the mud, but then he said I was stuck. We unstuck ourselves from the mud (Living room floor) for quite a while.
Then there is the big bad wolf. I was informed one night last week that I was a "big bad mommy wolf", Keegan was "a little piggy", and daddy was a "daddy piggy". I ran around chasing the piggies and growling on them. Then the "little piggy" lead the "Daddy piggy" to the couch. Of course the big bad wolf followed them, the piggies jumped on the couch. Keegan informed me that the couch was a brick house and that I would never be able to huff and puff and blow it down. We did this running and hiding act for an hour or so.
Then last Friday I was getting sick of hockey. Keegan and I had played hockey forever. I tried to get him to draw some on his Magnadoodle, he got it out and then told me the Magnadoodle was an ice rink and the magnets were a Zamboni. I was like "seriously Keegan, does everything have to be about hockey?" So he stopped playing with that and stared at me. Then he got up, got the blanket off the couch, got a flashlight and handed them to me. He then drug over his tub of duplos. I was like "okaayyy." He looked at me like I was stupid, turned on the flashlight, put the blanket over our heads, and opened the duplos. Then said "Mommy wants different, let's build towers in the dark." Okay, that was totally different. I have never before in my life built duplo towers under a blanket in the middle of the day by flashlight...
Then there was the lengthy conversation we had with the cart boy outside of Menards. I have recounted it below.
Keegan to cartboy: It's raining
Cartboy: It sure is buddy.
Keegan: It will snow soon.
Karissa: Only when it gets colder
Cartboy: Do you like snow?
Keegan: Yes, I like Halloween and Christmas too
Cartboy: You aren't shy are you?
Keegan: (Speechless)
Karissa: No he's not shy. You have a good day.
Cartboy: You too.
(We start to walk away, Keegan stops.)
Keegan: You know guy, I like candy too.
Cartboy: Oh, well Halloween and Christmas have candy.
Keegan: Yep, and I really like candy canes.
Cartboy: Me too.
Keegan: Yep, they're good.
Karissa: Okay, well you have a nice day.
Cartboy: Yep
This whole conversation took place standing in the rain, in the middle of the sidewalk. No, Keegan is not shy. Yes, he loves it when people talk back to him. Yes, I get stuck in strange conversation with strange people all the time now. It is okay, it is actually fun. No one thinks Keegan is strange he is just too darn cute :-)
The last odd thing I will talk about it Bunny. Bunny is one of Keegan's favorite stuffed animals. Bunny is a Plaja Pet, one of the stuffed animals where the tail and head come off and can be interchanged with other Plaja pets. Imagine Keegan's teachers' surprise when Bunny's head fell off during naptime. Keegan also brought Bunny grocery shopping. It was hilarious. Keegan had to explain to Bunny where everything was. He showed Bunny where the eggs were. Then told me we had to go by the pizza. I was like "we don't need pizza". Keegan was like, "Yes, but bunny needs to know where it is." So around Super Target we went, leaving numerous people laughing behind us, as Keegan explained the location of all food items to Bunny in meticulous detail. To add to the hilarity, occasionally Bunny's head would fall off...startling some poor person. To get the full affect Bunny has on people I have attached a picture below. Bunny looks like he is on crack full time, so when his head falls off it is very, very strange.
That's it for now. I am sure I have forgotten a million other funny stories. But there's a sampling for you.
Snow in October....early October
On Saturday day morning I woke up to snow. Then I laid back down for a moment to brace myself and then sat back up and peered out of the window in disbelief. I know they had predicted snow, but predicting and having are two different things. I suddenly felt like I should be Christmas shopping, even though we just got all of our Halloween decorations up Sunday afternoon.
Keegan of course was thrilled and greeted me with the questions "Is it Christmas now? Is Santa bringing presents?" Of course after breakfast we had to go out and play in the snow right away! Luckily the new boots I had ordered for Keegan came Friday afternoon (Yay, for Amazon Prime 2 day shipping). Unfortunately his new coat is still on the way. Lucky for us, his coat and snow pants from last year just barely fit him.
First thing to do was make a snow angle. Which was a bit confusing to Keegan at first but he got the hang of it pretty quickly with some guidance from daddy.
Then we went back to the backyard. The sight was a bit disturbing. There was snow all over the wildflowers by the lake, I took some pictures below. Oh and, of course, the boat and dock are still in the lake. We usually don't take the boat out until November, but well...we were caught a bit by surprise.
Wait let's back up for a second. Did I mention that last week I was washing shorts in the laundry? Two weeks ago we had some days in the mid-80's. Okay so now we need full mittens, boots, hats, etc. Wow...it was like weather whiplash. A bit of an extreme change, even for MN.
Well after our snow fun it was time to do something new and exciting (besides make snow angles the second week of October). Our library has a cool program called Museum Adventure Pass, I don't know if all counties have something like this but our library does.
There is a large display with a ton of museums in the Twin Cities area; each museum has a description and pocket below it with laminated tags in it. To use this service you take a laminated tag out of a pocket on the display and bring it up to the counter to "check out". The tag gets you two free passes to the museum in question. The passes are good for a week. What a cool way to check out some of the stranger MN museums? Or you can also get passes for the Walker, the Zoo, the Science Museum, etc. and many other more popular museums.
So there were two museums in the display that we hadn't been too. The first was the Firefighters Hall and Museum in Minneapolis. The second was The Works (Hands On) Museum. We opted to go to the Firefighters Museum. So after our snow fun, we headed out to the Firefighters Museum...which will be called the FFM from now on :-)
Little did we know it was "get in free day" (the only free day of the year) and they were doing lots of fun activities. They also had lots of volunteers on site to explain everything to us. It ended up being a lot more fun than we thought it would be. See pictures below.
There was one Firetruck you could climb into and operate the lights and horns. Keegan and I did this one and got a kick out of it.
Here's a view of the museum from up on the back of the fire truck.
Here is Lyle operating a water hose gun thing. It was pretty cool, you could move it up and down and rotate it and everything.
The next three pictures are of modules that they had set up for kids. On these mini-firetruck modules the kids could climb in and operate the firetruck (horns and all). They had a video screen set up so that it looked like the kids were actually backing up, driving down the street, and putting out fires! They also had cloths for kids to try on, a huge train table, model firetrucks, and lots of neat pictures of past fires. We weren't expecting much, but it was way more fun than we thought it was going to be! I recommend it, especially if you have a toddler that loves firetrucks :-)
So it was fun. On Sunday we went to the MN Zoo. Guess what the snow was gone, but at temps in the low 30's there definitely wasn't a crowd to fight. The neat thing was that the chilly temperatures made all the animals really active. So we got to see lots of activity while we were there.
Then we get to Monday. Would you believe I wake up and we are under a Winter Storm Advisory? So more snow. I had to take some visitors out to dinner tonight for work, so Lyle and Keegan were left to fend for themselves. When I pulled in the driveway a big beautiful snowman greeted me :-) Keegan was very proud of what he and daddy had done. Oh, I should mention that this morning Keegan was literally bouncing with joy at the sight of more snow. Again the question was, "Mommy, now is Santa coming?" I reminded him that we have Halloween to celebrate still, and really that is a holiday that we don't want to miss out on!
Keegan of course was thrilled and greeted me with the questions "Is it Christmas now? Is Santa bringing presents?" Of course after breakfast we had to go out and play in the snow right away! Luckily the new boots I had ordered for Keegan came Friday afternoon (Yay, for Amazon Prime 2 day shipping). Unfortunately his new coat is still on the way. Lucky for us, his coat and snow pants from last year just barely fit him.
First thing to do was make a snow angle. Which was a bit confusing to Keegan at first but he got the hang of it pretty quickly with some guidance from daddy.
Then we went back to the backyard. The sight was a bit disturbing. There was snow all over the wildflowers by the lake, I took some pictures below. Oh and, of course, the boat and dock are still in the lake. We usually don't take the boat out until November, but well...we were caught a bit by surprise.
Wait let's back up for a second. Did I mention that last week I was washing shorts in the laundry? Two weeks ago we had some days in the mid-80's. Okay so now we need full mittens, boots, hats, etc. Wow...it was like weather whiplash. A bit of an extreme change, even for MN.
Well after our snow fun it was time to do something new and exciting (besides make snow angles the second week of October). Our library has a cool program called Museum Adventure Pass, I don't know if all counties have something like this but our library does.
There is a large display with a ton of museums in the Twin Cities area; each museum has a description and pocket below it with laminated tags in it. To use this service you take a laminated tag out of a pocket on the display and bring it up to the counter to "check out". The tag gets you two free passes to the museum in question. The passes are good for a week. What a cool way to check out some of the stranger MN museums? Or you can also get passes for the Walker, the Zoo, the Science Museum, etc. and many other more popular museums.
So there were two museums in the display that we hadn't been too. The first was the Firefighters Hall and Museum in Minneapolis. The second was The Works (Hands On) Museum. We opted to go to the Firefighters Museum. So after our snow fun, we headed out to the Firefighters Museum...which will be called the FFM from now on :-)
Little did we know it was "get in free day" (the only free day of the year) and they were doing lots of fun activities. They also had lots of volunteers on site to explain everything to us. It ended up being a lot more fun than we thought it would be. See pictures below.
There was one Firetruck you could climb into and operate the lights and horns. Keegan and I did this one and got a kick out of it.
Here's a view of the museum from up on the back of the fire truck.
Here is Lyle operating a water hose gun thing. It was pretty cool, you could move it up and down and rotate it and everything.
The next three pictures are of modules that they had set up for kids. On these mini-firetruck modules the kids could climb in and operate the firetruck (horns and all). They had a video screen set up so that it looked like the kids were actually backing up, driving down the street, and putting out fires! They also had cloths for kids to try on, a huge train table, model firetrucks, and lots of neat pictures of past fires. We weren't expecting much, but it was way more fun than we thought it was going to be! I recommend it, especially if you have a toddler that loves firetrucks :-)
So it was fun. On Sunday we went to the MN Zoo. Guess what the snow was gone, but at temps in the low 30's there definitely wasn't a crowd to fight. The neat thing was that the chilly temperatures made all the animals really active. So we got to see lots of activity while we were there.
Then we get to Monday. Would you believe I wake up and we are under a Winter Storm Advisory? So more snow. I had to take some visitors out to dinner tonight for work, so Lyle and Keegan were left to fend for themselves. When I pulled in the driveway a big beautiful snowman greeted me :-) Keegan was very proud of what he and daddy had done. Oh, I should mention that this morning Keegan was literally bouncing with joy at the sight of more snow. Again the question was, "Mommy, now is Santa coming?" I reminded him that we have Halloween to celebrate still, and really that is a holiday that we don't want to miss out on!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Toddler Troubles
So Keegan is two and a half. He is a very smart, out-going, and funny little guy but like any toddler he has been having a few problems.
The first we have been struggling with the last couple weeks is he likes to take off his jammies and diaper and pee in his bed. He doesn't want to pee in his diaper and he doesn't want to get out of bed to use the potty (I am with him on that, especially in the middle of the night) so he pees in his bed.
So, of course I am concerned. Thank goodness for the internet. Apparently tons of toddlers do this. That didn't make it a whole lot better when, last Thursday night, Keegan pooped in his bed (minus diaper) and smeared it all over himself and his bedding. I guess it could be worse, one of my friends at work said her niece actually smeared the whole room (toys, dresser, etc.) with poop. But, still we were kind of irate about it. Keegan got in trouble and had to give up a toy (you must understand this was the third night in a row we had dealt with the peeing in bed thing and he had been forewarned). Keegan couldn't believe we actually made him put his toy in the trash.
After that he tells me every night he won't pee in his bed. So that is good. We have also got a full plastic enclosure for his mattress (he was pulling off the waterproof mattress pad) and he wears a onesie under his jammies to make it harder for him to get his cloths/diaper off. So, far so good. Keegan even thinks the onesie is cool; he calls it his special super hero bodysuit. Just like Spiderman. So, check, peeing in bed problem temporarily nabbed in the butt.
Now there is problem two. Which we are trying not to make a big deal about. About a month ago Keegan started stuttering. It gets really bad when he is tired or excited. For example, this weekend he hardly stuttered at all. Then when we went to pick him up from daycare today he was tired and excited to see us. He was trying to tell us something to Look at something and for the life of him couldn't get past that L; it took him four stuttering attempts to get through it.
So a couple weeks ago I looked up some info on stuttering. Apparently it usually starts between the ages of 2 to 5. It affects a large percentage of toddler/preschoolers and about 90% of those kids outgrow it within a year. Kids don't start stuttering until they are talking really well; then the stuttering usually starts as they try to talk to fast.
As a parent the best things to do are to let them get out what they are trying to say no matter how long it takes, repeat what they said back to them when they are done, and don't make fun of them or interrupt them. If the stuttering continues for more than 6 months or is really upsetting the kid they should get some speech therapy.
So in general I am not too concerned. The only thing that is concerning me is that Keegan is starting to get frustrated and angry when he starts stuttering. This has just started over the last week or so We talked to his teachers and they are all great and have been really encouraging him.
Then today he started doing something even odder. When he starts stuttering he stops talking and covers his hand with his mouth. Then he slowly says the beginning of the word without stuttering and is able to quickly complete the rest of the word. It is actually kind of cool. Then he has a big smile on his face, and we tell him "Wow, you really said that well!"
I was curious as to where he learned this odd behavior. I mean really it is pretty smart. It makes him stop, calm down, and then he feels how his lips are moving as he slowly says the word without stuttering. He did this numerous times tonight and each time it stopped his stuttering and allowed him to speak slowly and clearly. I finally asked him where he learned how to do that. He told me that his teacher at daycare taught him. Well, I have to say it is not something that I would have thought of and thank goodness for the great teachers at our daycare. It is awesome that they are spending some extra time to help him get through this.
On top of that I am happy to see that tonight Keegan seemed calmer and is starting to deal with this stuttering thing without getting upset. He really is a smart kid and if we can get him to slow down and be calm; then I think he will nip this stuttering thing before it gets too bad. And, well, if he doesn't then we will deal with that when the time comes.
The first we have been struggling with the last couple weeks is he likes to take off his jammies and diaper and pee in his bed. He doesn't want to pee in his diaper and he doesn't want to get out of bed to use the potty (I am with him on that, especially in the middle of the night) so he pees in his bed.
So, of course I am concerned. Thank goodness for the internet. Apparently tons of toddlers do this. That didn't make it a whole lot better when, last Thursday night, Keegan pooped in his bed (minus diaper) and smeared it all over himself and his bedding. I guess it could be worse, one of my friends at work said her niece actually smeared the whole room (toys, dresser, etc.) with poop. But, still we were kind of irate about it. Keegan got in trouble and had to give up a toy (you must understand this was the third night in a row we had dealt with the peeing in bed thing and he had been forewarned). Keegan couldn't believe we actually made him put his toy in the trash.
After that he tells me every night he won't pee in his bed. So that is good. We have also got a full plastic enclosure for his mattress (he was pulling off the waterproof mattress pad) and he wears a onesie under his jammies to make it harder for him to get his cloths/diaper off. So, far so good. Keegan even thinks the onesie is cool; he calls it his special super hero bodysuit. Just like Spiderman. So, check, peeing in bed problem temporarily nabbed in the butt.
Now there is problem two. Which we are trying not to make a big deal about. About a month ago Keegan started stuttering. It gets really bad when he is tired or excited. For example, this weekend he hardly stuttered at all. Then when we went to pick him up from daycare today he was tired and excited to see us. He was trying to tell us something to Look at something and for the life of him couldn't get past that L; it took him four stuttering attempts to get through it.
So a couple weeks ago I looked up some info on stuttering. Apparently it usually starts between the ages of 2 to 5. It affects a large percentage of toddler/preschoolers and about 90% of those kids outgrow it within a year. Kids don't start stuttering until they are talking really well; then the stuttering usually starts as they try to talk to fast.
As a parent the best things to do are to let them get out what they are trying to say no matter how long it takes, repeat what they said back to them when they are done, and don't make fun of them or interrupt them. If the stuttering continues for more than 6 months or is really upsetting the kid they should get some speech therapy.
So in general I am not too concerned. The only thing that is concerning me is that Keegan is starting to get frustrated and angry when he starts stuttering. This has just started over the last week or so We talked to his teachers and they are all great and have been really encouraging him.
Then today he started doing something even odder. When he starts stuttering he stops talking and covers his hand with his mouth. Then he slowly says the beginning of the word without stuttering and is able to quickly complete the rest of the word. It is actually kind of cool. Then he has a big smile on his face, and we tell him "Wow, you really said that well!"
I was curious as to where he learned this odd behavior. I mean really it is pretty smart. It makes him stop, calm down, and then he feels how his lips are moving as he slowly says the word without stuttering. He did this numerous times tonight and each time it stopped his stuttering and allowed him to speak slowly and clearly. I finally asked him where he learned how to do that. He told me that his teacher at daycare taught him. Well, I have to say it is not something that I would have thought of and thank goodness for the great teachers at our daycare. It is awesome that they are spending some extra time to help him get through this.
On top of that I am happy to see that tonight Keegan seemed calmer and is starting to deal with this stuttering thing without getting upset. He really is a smart kid and if we can get him to slow down and be calm; then I think he will nip this stuttering thing before it gets too bad. And, well, if he doesn't then we will deal with that when the time comes.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
MN State Fair Fun :-)
The first thing we did when we got to the State Fair was to get breakfast. Lyle and I shared a funnel cake while Keegan discovered his new favorite food. You guessed it...cotton candy. Can a boy live off of cotton candy? Well Keegan would like to give it a shot if he can.
Then we went and saw lots and lots of animals. We didn't get many pictures of that. But after that we road the carousel and that was super fun.
Then there were the tractors. Keegan's goal right from the beginning was to see a ton of tractors. So we started with white ones and worked our way to the John Deeres...we even got to try sitting in an excavator and a bulldozer! Keegan's favorites!
We even saw some really old tractors.
After that it was time to visit the Kidway and give Keegan his first experience on some awesome rides. I had to go with him on three out of the four rides, but they were actually kind of fun. The first ride we rode were some race cars. Believe it or not we got put in a Kodak Race car; I was like geez give me a break.
Then after that Keegan rode his first ever ride all by himself. It was another car ride; but this one had really annoying loud horns...which of course Keegan loved.
Then Keegan and I went on the airplane ride. That was another fun one. Although the airplanes weren't made for anyone over 5 feet to actual squeeze in there.
Last ride was the pirate ship. Lyle and I tried to talk him out of this one; we thought it looked like a bit much. But Keegan persisted. So, in we went. Below you can see the progression of facial expressions. They start out unsure, go to concerned, and then end up at fullout upset. He decided afterwards that he didn't like pirate ships so much.
So there you go. It was a nice brisk sunny August morning at the MN state fairs. I am hoping next year we can skip the tractors and spend a bit more time looking at the horsies and the pet building. But Keegan thought we covered all of the perfect things!
Then we went and saw lots and lots of animals. We didn't get many pictures of that. But after that we road the carousel and that was super fun.
Then there were the tractors. Keegan's goal right from the beginning was to see a ton of tractors. So we started with white ones and worked our way to the John Deeres...we even got to try sitting in an excavator and a bulldozer! Keegan's favorites!
We even saw some really old tractors.
After that it was time to visit the Kidway and give Keegan his first experience on some awesome rides. I had to go with him on three out of the four rides, but they were actually kind of fun. The first ride we rode were some race cars. Believe it or not we got put in a Kodak Race car; I was like geez give me a break.
Then after that Keegan rode his first ever ride all by himself. It was another car ride; but this one had really annoying loud horns...which of course Keegan loved.
Then Keegan and I went on the airplane ride. That was another fun one. Although the airplanes weren't made for anyone over 5 feet to actual squeeze in there.
Last ride was the pirate ship. Lyle and I tried to talk him out of this one; we thought it looked like a bit much. But Keegan persisted. So, in we went. Below you can see the progression of facial expressions. They start out unsure, go to concerned, and then end up at fullout upset. He decided afterwards that he didn't like pirate ships so much.
So there you go. It was a nice brisk sunny August morning at the MN state fairs. I am hoping next year we can skip the tractors and spend a bit more time looking at the horsies and the pet building. But Keegan thought we covered all of the perfect things!
Ren Fest!
A few weeks ago we also went to the Ren Fest. It was a pretty fun time. It got a bit hotter than we thought it was going to get. We also ended up waiting outside the gates for a bit because they opened late.
Here we are waiting at the gates!
Keegan's grandma bought him a Geode aka Dragon's Egg to crack open. He got to help the nice guy work the lever that cracked the egg. Below are pictures of him assisting. In the last picture you can kind of see his geode.
One of the other highlights was the food. We all really enjoy the beef sticks.
The other high point for Keegan was the acquisition of a wooden sword. He loved brandishing his sword (we are not sure where he learned that from).
Keegan even got into a sword fight...that rogue! Don't worry though he made it through unscathed. His enemy, well Keegan left him groaning in the dirt :-)
After that we had to rest up on some hammocks.
Then there was time for a little dancing to a fiddle player. Overall a good time. Although, I occasionally question the wisdom of buying Keegan a sword :-)
Here we are waiting at the gates!
Keegan's grandma bought him a Geode aka Dragon's Egg to crack open. He got to help the nice guy work the lever that cracked the egg. Below are pictures of him assisting. In the last picture you can kind of see his geode.
One of the other highlights was the food. We all really enjoy the beef sticks.
The other high point for Keegan was the acquisition of a wooden sword. He loved brandishing his sword (we are not sure where he learned that from).
Keegan even got into a sword fight...that rogue! Don't worry though he made it through unscathed. His enemy, well Keegan left him groaning in the dirt :-)
After that we had to rest up on some hammocks.
Then there was time for a little dancing to a fiddle player. Overall a good time. Although, I occasionally question the wisdom of buying Keegan a sword :-)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Fun at the Children's Museum
A couple weekends ago we went to the Children's Museum. For those who haven't been there it is a lot of fun; especially for children :-)
The special exhibit this time was Clifford: the big red dog! Keegan has the most fun feeding bones up the conveyor belt into Clifford's bowl. Then Keegan fell into the bowl (see below).
After that it was time to have a puppet show.
Then up to learn about how gears work.
Then Keegan and I built a bridge together. Keegan had a lot of fun walking on it :-)
After that we played in the sand in the art exhibit on the roof. Also a lot of fun!
We helped build a giant lego tower too.
Oh and then we had to stick our heads in a turtle. Well, I skipped that part, but Lyle didn't.
So there was a ton to do and we had a really good time. Keegan and I even crawled in the ant tunnels, where I quickly learned that the tunnels are made for kids not adults. I didn't quite get stuck by I sure had a heck of time getting out of there! So if you have kids and want to have fun, the MN Children's Museum is huge and lots of fun...especially on a super hot day!
The special exhibit this time was Clifford: the big red dog! Keegan has the most fun feeding bones up the conveyor belt into Clifford's bowl. Then Keegan fell into the bowl (see below).
After that it was time to have a puppet show.
Then up to learn about how gears work.
Then Keegan and I built a bridge together. Keegan had a lot of fun walking on it :-)
After that we played in the sand in the art exhibit on the roof. Also a lot of fun!
We helped build a giant lego tower too.
Oh and then we had to stick our heads in a turtle. Well, I skipped that part, but Lyle didn't.
So there was a ton to do and we had a really good time. Keegan and I even crawled in the ant tunnels, where I quickly learned that the tunnels are made for kids not adults. I didn't quite get stuck by I sure had a heck of time getting out of there! So if you have kids and want to have fun, the MN Children's Museum is huge and lots of fun...especially on a super hot day!
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