Thursday, August 27, 2009

First Week, Almost Done

It's been a busy week. Tiring, but busy. I never realized how much Riley actually played with Jeremy until she was gone for the entire day. All that boy wants to do is play. On Monday we spent the day going on three walks, heading to the park, playing bat and ball, shooting baskets, kicking around the soccer ball and playing Frisbee. I think I was more tired than Riley was when she came home!

As for school, Riley is doing great. She loves every minute of it. She gets excited for the bus, and bounds off when she gets home. She's always brimming with news about how school went, and unfortunately some of that excitement wears off by the time Dad gets home.

She did tell me the other day that she needs another blanket for rest time. I asked her why and she said it's hard for her to scrunch up her feet and cover her legs with the blanket. I told her she didn't need another blanket. To which she replied:

"For real, Mom. I'm serious."

Geez. Let the teenage-speak begin.

And Jeremy, let's just say he's all boy. All the time. On Monday, while outside, he stopped playing and started laughing. I asked him what was so funny. He said:

"Me. I had gas and gas is funny."

All I can say is good luck to his preschool teachers!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Parents to a Kindergartner

Riley's first day went better than could be expected. Our little girl woke up at 6 with a tummy ache, which I'm attributing to first-day-of-school jitters. She had a difficult time falling back asleep, so I took the opportunity to spend some cuddle time with her. We both fell back asleep and slept until Phil woke us up to make breakfast. He took the day off so he could see his little girl off for her first official day of school.

We let Riley choose the breakfast of choice, and since Phil was home, he's the master of delicious breakfasts. Me, I'm not so into the homemade breakfasts for some reason. Oh but I will eat them! Anyway, Riley chose chocolate chip pancakes, which were wonderful. She got dressed in her outfit she chose the day before, and I pulled out her lunch that we had both made the night before.

And to continue a tradition that my parents began, I took these pictures of Riley:

Riley, ready to head off to kindergarten.

I still can't believe she's old enough for this.

To compare, this was me oh so many years ago!

Me, ready for kindergarten, standing in front of my parents' house in 1981.

She walked down to the bus with her neighbor friend Lorelei and her family. Lorelei is a first grader this year, so she informed Riley about what she should expect on the bus. Additionally, all the other grades except for kindergarten started school the day before, so Lorelei let Riley know that they have a new bus driver this year.

Standing at the bus stop with the other grade schoolers.

Lorelei's brother, Hayden, and Jeremy point out the bus.

Riley and Lorelei pose for the camera while Jeremy gawks at the bus.

Once the bus arrived, Riley was beyond excited. She couldn't wait. There are about 5-7 kids at our bus stop, and the bus driver took her time to talk to the kids and get everyone situated. We're the first stop on the route, and the kindergartners sit up front, followed by the first graders and second graders in the back. She boarded the bus, gave us a wave, and before I knew it she was off.

Riley boards the bus, ready for kindergarten.

And that's when I started to cry. My little girl. Gone for the entire day. Lorelei's mom saw me crying, and she started to cry a little bit. I gathered myself together, went home, and enjoyed the time with my boys. We ran errands together, to which Phil commented that this was probably the first time it had just been the three of us in the car.

After lunch, the boys played some golf, and then J and I took a little bit of a nap. We had to wake Jeremy up to get Riley from the bus, so I'm going to have to adjust his napping time in the future.

The boys golfing. Jeremy waits for Phil to tee off, so they can do it together.

Phil admires his shot while Jeremy sees
if his golf ball went further.


We met Riley at the bus stop, and she greeted us by showing off a cheesy grin from the window. She bounded off the bus and went right for Dad's umbrella, since the weather wasn't cooperating. She told us all about her day, beginning with the "I'm SO hungry!" comment. The problem I have is that she doesn't have lunch until 12:45 with a snack at 3:15, which is an hour before she arrives home. Why the school couldn't have snack in the morning is beyond me.

Anyway, Riley talked about her gym teacher ("Mom, his name is Mr. Handsome!" Which it's not--it's Mr. Hanson!), about how she almost ate all her lunch (she only had half a piece of apple remaining), and how she had quiet time. I thought for sure she'd clam up and not want to tell us about her day, but I'm glad she did. She was actually a little sad she had to wait two days to go back. And honestly, who decides to have kids start school on a Friday?! Just tack an additional day to the end of the year if you need the extra day.

We capped off the day with a get-together with the neighbors and their kids at our house. The parents enjoyed some refreshments and the kids wore themselves out. Our kids actually stayed up until 11:15, which, I think is the latest they've ever stayed up! Now to get them back on schedule for the first full week of school!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Amblyopia

When I took Riley in for her mandatory eye exam (she needed to have one before she could start school), the eye doctor decided to take a look at Jeremy's eyes. I take the kids to my childhood eye doctor, and he's taken a look at Riley's eyes for the last two years for no charge. It wasn't a thorough exam, but enough for him to have a gauge on her vision. Last year Jeremy went up in the chair for a bit, and the eye doctor did express some concern and told us to keep an eye on him.

I had actually forgotten about the doctor's concern, and after Riley's exam and then mine (both of us are doing well--Riley's vision is still 20/20 and my contacts are super clean now!), the doctor asked Jeremy if he could jump in the chair. And then we got the news:

Jeremy has amblyopia.

It's not the end of the world, but it's something to be concerned with. Basically he has one lazy eye, and the vision in that eye is horrific. His bad eye is six lens powers different than the other; his vision is 20/375. Poor guy. His brain doesn't recognize the vision out of his bad eye because it's so poor. He is really only seeing out one eye. It's a hereditary condition, and my eye doctor knew it wasn't from my side, since he checks my entire family's eyesight, and Phil has the same condition. In order to help Jeremy, we got the little guy fitted for glasses, and here is the guy now:

Jeremy showing off his glasses with Riley.

The good news is that this was caught early. So he only needs to wear the glasses along with an eye patch over his "good" eye while he watches TV. It's to train his bad eye to focus better and to actually work. It's funny, though, because for the first week, we thought J had to wear the glasses at all times, hence a bunch of photos with him and his new glasses.

He does great, wearing them, though. And Riley ensures that he's not "cheating" by peeking or moving the patch from his good eye. We're hoping that since we caught it early his vision will improve. We know that both kids will need glasses at some point due to the horrid vision his parents have, but the longer we can prolong it, the better.
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Me with the little Harry Potter.

Visit with Grandma

Grandma Jill came out to see Riley play T-ball. Although, I think Riley was more excited about going shopping with just grandma. You see, Riley is grandma's only granddaughter, so the shopping goes hand in hand. And before grandma could even put her bags down, Riley was rearing to go!

Riley enjoyed having grandma come watch her play. And both kids loved having grandma read them a bedtime story. Thanks for coming out, grandma!

The kids listen in to the bedtime story.

We love you, grandma!


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Mother's Musings

It seems so long ago that this was our little girl.

And now look at her. Our soon-to-be kindergartner.

Our little girl starts kindergarten in just a few days, and I'm having a difficult time dealing with it. I long joked that I would have a harder time letting go of Jeremy, seeing him off to preschool in just a few weeks. I always thought that having Riley head off to school wouldn't bother me nearly as much because she had a 2.5-year stint at daycare and then two years of preschool. She's always been the more independent child; the child I could entrust to entertain herself when I needed her to.

As the days of summer wane, I find myself wistful. I don't worry a bit as to how well she will do in school. I have no doubt that she needs to go to school for the stimulation, to be challenged. But at home, she is my companion throughout the day. I may go the entire day until Phil comes home without speaking to another person except for the kids. Don't get me wrong: I will still have Jeremy. And everyone knows how tightly I hold him to me!

Riley is my shopping buddy, helping me find the good deals. She's the one who helps Jeremy get his sandals on. She's the one who sits and colors with him at the table (despite the times I hear her telling him to stop coloring on her paper). She's the one who sits with him at lunch, giggling away. At this moment in time, they are best friends, entertaining each other and spending a majority of the day playing. Jeremy has already told me how much he's going to miss her when she's at school. Me, too, buddy.

There's something about watching your children grow up and thinking about sending your first born head off to school for the first time. To have her away from me for the entire day. To watch her board the bus and return several hours later. This is a big step; one that I didn't think would affect me the way it is. And this is just the beginning of a multitude of changes. I certainly don't want my kids to stay little forever. Just until I'm ready to let go.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Brookfield Zoo!

For Jeremy's second birthday, we were blessed to receive a two-year membership to the Brookfield Zoo. We love it there, as there's always plenty for the kids to do and see. I asked Phil to take a look at his schedule to see when he could take a day off so we could go. He found a day in July, and we withheld the information from the kids until the morning of, as we knew we'd never hear the end of the "how many more days" question.

We got on the road, and the kids were SO excited. We had a wonderful time, seeing all the animals and enjoying the beautiful day. The featured new exhibit was about dinosaurs, and surprisingly both kids were giddy to see them. After forking out extra money, we walked through the exhibit, and Riley was able to use the controls and operate a few of the faux animals.

One of the many dinosaurs.

The gigantic T-Rex.

A stegosaurus.

After stopping for lunch, the kids ran around on the playground to try to get rid of some energy. Again, we picked a beautiful day, full of sunshine and not too many people. I think the key is to go during the middle of the week.
Riley scoping out the slide.

Jeremy enjoying himself.

After lunch, we walked around for a bit and actually ran into one of my girlfriends who I went to high school with. She had her three kids with her, and it was so funny and random to see her with her family! Once we said our good-byes, we made our way over to the Children's Zoo. This is perhaps the biggest hit for the kids. Every time we go, they run straight for the goat area to brush the animals. I let Phil take the kids over there, and he got plenty of pictures.

The kids fighting over the brush.
lRiley brushing the goat.

Same goat, different angle.

We decided to hit the road shortly thereafter as all parties were getting tired. The kids fell asleep in the car (as always), and it was another wonderful zoo outing.

Outside the monkey house with the two river otters.

Mom and the kids. Notice the huge dinosaur in the back.
It actually shot water out to guests below.

Family Reunion

Every year we try to do a family reunion at my grandpa's. We schedule this event around my relatives coming in from Edmonton, so they can visit with as many of us as they can. This time we headed down to central Illinois on July 4. Unfortunately my cousin and her boys from Wisconsin came down with colds, so they didn't make the trek. Riley and Jeremy were throughly disappointed, since her kids are their "cousins" they play with every time we get together.

The kids and great-grandpa.

They love their great-grandpa.

Regardless, they had a great time, especially since Papa and Nana were there.

We got a chance to visit with everyone and get a customary family picture, which will adorn the family calendar for next year.

Great-grandpa is my mom's dad. He looks pretty good for 92!
All the cousins (minus 2) and the 2 spouses.

All the family members who were able to attend.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Jeremy, Meet Jeremy

Last week a hockey player who is pretty popular in our household officially retired from the sport. The following day there was a picture in the newspaper of Jeremy Roenick with the announcement.

For those who know us well (or even know a little about us), we are HUGE hockey fans. I think it began with me at birth, since my parents named me after a hockey player. Although growing up I hated the fact that I was named after a boy. I mean, what person doesn't hate their name at some point?! (For what it's worth, if I was born a boy, my name still would've been Darcy.) Phil enjoyed watching hockey once he got to college, especially attending college hockey games. We joke that we might have been at the same games since our colleges played each other and were only about 30 miles apart.

Anyway, I had always wanted to continue the tradition of naming my son (if I was lucky enough to have one) after a hockey player. And I have ALWAYS had a crush on Jeremy Roenick, with his broken nose and all.

On our first date, I mentioned to Phil that I wanted to name my child after a hockey player. And that didn't scare him off.

We didn't find out the gender of either child, so Jeremy was always on the table for our son. And when our Jeremy was born, he was blessed with the name.

My point to this story, is that I showed our Jeremy a picture of Jeremy Roenick and told him that's who he was named after.

He took one look at the picture and said, "That's me?! I'm a hockey player?!"

Too cute. And who knows what the future holds.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Big News!

Riley can officially read.

It's a proud day in the C household, especially since this Mom works in the editing/writing industry. I've always tried to show Riley (and Jeremy) how important reading is. Case in point, we were at the two libraries in our area three times this week. (And it had nothing to do with the fact that summer is winding down and we're running out of things to do...)

She sees me reading the newspaper in the morning. She sees me check out books from the library, and she's always asking me if I have a book on hold. We read each child a bedtime story, and I've been trying to get the kids to sit still to have a little reading session in the afternoon. Sometimes it's a losing battle, but it's nice to know the kids realize how important books and reading are.

Yesterday Riley picked up an easy reader book that we had checked out from the library. She was surprised that she knew almost every word in the book. So she read it for Phil when he came home. She wanted to read that same Mickey Mouse book today, and, I kid you not, Jeremy picked up the book after she did and read the entire thing. Granted his "reading" was more memorizing than anything, but it was still cute.

Today she picked a different, more difficult book. She had never read this book before, and I'd say she knew about 75% of the words. We made phone calls to both sets of grandparents in the evening, and then I wrote on the calendar: Riley can read. And wouldn't you know, she read that, too.

Life will never be the same. But then again, we've been waiting for this for awhile. Mark my words: Jeremy will be reading before he's 5. That's my guess. And now it's in writing.

Hanging out at the Pool

Every year we try to head over to Phil's childhood pool. He still has a friend who works there, so we can all get in for free. Due to the sad weather we've been having this year, we didn't make it over there until the July 4th weekend (egads, has it been THAT long since I've done a proper update!?), but it worked out well that way. Phil planned to spend the evening with his friends watching the fireworks, while I went to pick my cousin up from the train so she could spend a few days with us.

The kids, as always, had a fun time at the pool, hanging out with Dad's friends. Riley is quite the fish, always wanting to show off. This pool doesn't have a diving board, so she couldn't show off those skills. And Jeremy loved swimming around, as long as someone was holding on to him.

The pool was scarcely populated, so after Jeremy (and I) had enough of the pool, they set up a volleyball net and played, while Riley was perched in Phil's arms. It made it difficult to spike, that's for sure!

Jeremy letting me know he's done with the pool.

Riley in Dad's arms--don't let his pasty skin blind you. :)

After our appendages were pruned from the water, we headed over to the Johnson's for a BBQ. The kids had fun--after they warmed up to the dogs--playing with their pseudo aunts. We had a delicious meal, and then headed off to the train to pick up Janis, who flew in with her family from Edmonton.

Playing with the Johnson girls.

Both kids were beyond excited to see Janis, who, poor girl was a tad jetlagged. But we spent the next two days showing her that kids are difficult and demanding. Jeremy slept horribly and Riley threw a full-fledged tantrum because Janis drew a chalk flower better than her. Good times indeed. At least Janis is family!

Janis being a good sport and reading some Arthur.

We returned Janis to her parents on the actual 4th of July, when we attended our annual family reunion. That post is coming.



Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Summertime

For those who know me, summer is my favorite time of year. I love being outside. I love open windows. I love running around without shoes on (although it does cause some dirty feet in the process). And I love having a garden, where we harvest food daily--sometimes the food doesn't even make it into the house as the kids eat the raspberries straight from the vine.

I have not, however, enjoyed the unseasonably cold temperatures. Phil has, though. As has our electric bill.

The average high in July was 69 degrees. Really?!

So it was a pleasant surprise that Mother Nature decided to allow the heat to return. The heat is on. It's on the street.

I've been taking the kids outside daily to bask in the warm weather. And it saddens me to know that school starts in just a few weeks. Yes, it does make me sad. Because it means that summer is waning. Case in point: at Walgreens yesterday, we saw a display for autumn items.

I know I'm behind in posting as to what we've been up to. With my brother and sister-in-law in town, Riley finishing up T-ball, taking trips to the zoo and just enjoying the unencumbered time before school starts, blogging has kinda taken a backseat. But I promise to keep you updates as to what we've been up to. Until then, just know that we're having a fantastic summer, despite the less-than-stellar weather.