Ryan

I often wonder what the daycare teachers really think of us parents with all of the oddball things that our children say.  Last week, I got a little peak...


It seems that Ryan told his teacher that I put him in time out in the basement with the dog... his time out spot is in front of the basement door and he takes his stuffed dog.  Goodness!!  We don't even have a dog!  He makes me sound like a monster.


Then he told her that I had to get a new car because my old car was too slow and I wanted a sunroof. I'll admit I wanted the sunroof, but I am not a speed demon... most of the time.


And, this one is the best... he told his teacher that I poop in the pool!!  Aaaaahhhh!!  This must stem from my insistence that he poop on the potty, my reassurance that everyone poops including me and my rule that you cannot go in the pool unless you poop on the potty.  But really?  THAT is what he comes up with?


I wonder what other mixed up, somewhat related to the truth nuggets my 3 year old is sharing.  I hope that the fact that she shared with me indicates she does not believe him.  


I have noted these things for future reference and will be sure to remind Ryan of them at a key point in the future.  

Summer

I am my own worst enemy.  Tonight was the member appreciation night at the zoo and do you think I could stay home?  No!  Why?  I have no idea... we're members... we can go whenever we want, so why was it necessary to go out on a "school night"?  I don't know, but it was so we did.  And, we weren't alone.  We met up with another family which made it extra special.

I haven't figured out this new blogger so these pictures are in no particular order.  The first two are from the end of the night.  What better way to end than on the carousel?

With faces covered with the remnants of snow cones.

The boys were brave tonight and touched all sorts of interesting creatures.  

Who knows what this was all about... he's a weirdo, had a friend to impress and the sea lion show was getting a late start.

Too sweet.

It was a bunch of fun.  Tomorrow is going to hurt.

Proud

I've have been volunteering at the Ride for Roswell with my co-workers for a few years starting prior to my diagnosis.  The Ride draws 10,000 people for various length bike rides to raise money for cancer research.  It truly hits home now.

The 2012 ride was yesterday and much to my surprise, Tyler joined me.  Earlier in the week I had mentioned that I was going and he asked to come.  I told him he could if he really wanted to, but I tried to talk him outof it.  We had to be there at 5:00am which meant getting up really early and we would be there for at least a few hours.  I had visions of a tired and bored boy that I'd have to entertain while trying to do my job.  He made me promise to wake him up in the morning when he went to bed Friday night.

Saturday morning I snuck into his room at 4:00am, kissed him on the forehead and whispered "if you are going to come, now is the time."  Up he popped.  Darn.  I stuffed my pockets with things to entertain him including his ipod and off we went.

Upon arrival, I had Tyler start with what I thought was the easiest job... stuffing goody bags for the riders. 

By 5:15am he was back by my side and said the job was too hard.  I was concerned.

My job was registering riders.  As the riders started to come in, Tyler found a way to help.  First, he became a runner bringing envelopes to have the minimum donation checked while those of us at the table explained the pieces of the rider packet.  He also sealed envelopes that had extra donations and dropped them in the bin.  Then he was asked to collect and remove stickers from the bins as we started to consolidate.  He found his purpose and insisted on wearing the green volunteer t-shirt.  He earned it.

Tyler was fantastic.  He was moving, smiling, chatting everyone up and in control the whole time.  After a few hours he came running up to me to ask if he could come next year.  I told him I thought everyone would be disappointed if he didn't.

At 10:30am I told Ty it was time to go.  He was disappointed and told me there was still more to do.  What a kid!  I convinced him that he had earned his volunteer lunch to get him out of the building.  He was asleep as soon as we hit the road.

Last year, Dan joined me at the ride and he asked if it was difficult for me to be there.  Treatment was still fresh at the time and my hair had just started to grow.  Surprisingly, the ride last year wasn't hard.

This year it was which caught me off guard.  I think the reason I had such a hard time is that I stayed in registration longer.  Last year it was really cold which kept a lot of riders away so I left registration early to help out on the route.  The last rides to start are the 8 and 3 mile routes.  Guess who does those routes?  The kids.  They came with decorated shirts.  They came with stickers on their helmets.  They came with their piggy banks!  The told us they were there because their mom died last year... or grandma... or an uncle.  It was heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time.  And, then to look out and see my own boy marching around so confident and wanting to help.  It was an emotional day.

Tyler and I know where we'll be next year at 5:00am on a Saturday at the end of June.

Fish

On April 9th we had an above ground pool put in.  Installation was a bit of a nightmare as they left us with a pile of dirt taller than me.  Ugh!  But, the pool is functional now and we've been in it regularly since May 18th.  I think we picked the right year to get a pool.

My rule is that I don't get in unless the air temperature is at least 80.  I like the water temperature to be 80 as well, but at long as it is at least 76 I can handle it. 

I chaperoned a field trip today for Tyler's class at the Museum of Play.  Because of that we got home about an hour and a half early.  My car said it was 69 degrees when we pulled in the driveway... and the boys were begging to get in the pool.  So...

I couldn't believe it... they got right in and loved it!  The water temp was still 80 degrees from our warm weather on Monday.  I still think they're nuts.  

 Especially Tyler.  I can't get him out of the pool!

Check this out.

He loves the goggles grandma... big hit!

It is going to be a great summer!!