Balancing Act

Life just a little more busy.  Today was my first day back to work and Nash' first day at daycare.  Are you dying to know how it went?  Overall, I think it went really, really, well.  Bret is in charge of the drop off in the a.m., so I can keep some earlier hours.  I'm only working half days this week so I hurried to pick Nash up at noon.  The report at 10:15 a.m. from his teacher was that he was doing well.  Cried for a while when Bret left but then soon got distracted.  Work flew by for me and soon it was time to pick him up!  I was anticipating a reaction from Nash when he first saw me, a cry, maybe a running hug into my arms?  Nope.  Instead he simply pointed and me and went back to eating his sloppy joe.  I witnessed him busing his dish (OMG, where did that come from???).  Everyday they give us a little report card, letting us know how his day went, how well he ate, how he interacted with others.  Today's report said, he ate breakfast and snack well, and that Chase (his little buddy) offered him a few cars and Nash shook his head no, a few minutes later Chase showed him a truck and Nash took it.  Nash also pointed to a friend who was sad.  He also tried to comfort that child by patting her.  OMG, how cute is that?  I'll be curious to see how nap time goes from him when he starts his full time days next week.  Hopefully his stuffed pug and special blanket will provide enough comfort to catch some Z's during the day.  I think it's absolutely amazing that you can get ten to twelve 2/3 year old children to nap at the same time and in the same room!

So this mama is breathing a little easier tonight.  It felt good to be back to work, too.

These were our announcements!  The site we used to design them like
them so much they asked me if they could have permission to
feature them and asked me to write a little story talking about bringing Nash home.
It got me $25 in free $ towards my next purchase.
I guess that means I'll be sending out holiday cards this year. 

Here, hold this please!!!!

Enough with the signs mama!

Me trying to get him to hold his first report card from daycare.
"Nash, if you hold this you can have a sucker."

He won.

   

Father's Day 2012- A lot like Appa

We spent Bret's first father's day at the lake.  We typically don't do gifts for these hallmark holidays (don't get me wrong, I love all of them), but I did end up getting Bret a new framed picture of Nash for his office. Bret and Nash are very similar.  I thought I'd dedicate this post to the Top 10 ways Nash is just like his Appa.

1.  Their favorite word is "no".  Nash seems to say this every time you ask him a question.  Same with Bret, (i.e. Honey, can I go shopping?  How about a vacation soon?  Can we get a new fridge?)
2. They both love the outdoors.  Morning, noon, and night. Sun, rain or wind.  They prefer the outdoors to in.
3. They love to figure out how things work and try to fix them. Nash with his toy cars, Bret with his never working snow-blower.
4. They love to do yard work.
5. Both like to sleep on the floor.  Lately, Nash has been getting out of his bed and wanting to sleep on his floor.  When Nash is upset in the middle of the night, Bret will join him on the floor.
6. They love to wrestle.  THANK GOODNESS Nash took my place in this department.  I hate to rough house and Bret couldn't be happier that our little guy likes to tumble around in place of his wimpy mama.
7. Both are very determined.  Bret has an amazing work ethic and never stops trying.  I can say the same for Nash.  He is always looking to climb a higher slide or try anything he sees older kids doing.
8. Social butterflies!  My two guys love to be around people, to them life is one big party.
9. Both hate the share- although I think Nash is making better progress in this department!!!
10. They both think the world of each other.  Nothing makes either one more happy than being able to spend time together.

Bret is on vacation this week so Nash and I got the chance to soak up a lot of Appa time.

All A-Board the SS Bubbles

Appa- "Please sit down Nash"

Campfire Treats!

Enjoying his first s'more of the season

"Come on Appa, share!!!"

This marshmellow will suffice, thanks!

WW: Swim Class No. 2

A Little Push...

Over the past month I've pushed or tested Nash's interests in some new activities.  I've learned oodles about Nash by exposing him to these two new activities.  By "oodles" I mean, I learned your kid is obviously not going to love everything.  The first activity I enrolled him in was an abra-kadootle art class through our community education.  I enrolled him in this class shortly after we came home, nothing to loose right?  I was thinking he might be the next Picasso!  The class proved to not be the best fit, and when I say "not the best fit", I mean the last time we had to abruptly leave and tell the teacher we might not be back.  Nash did not enjoy having to sit still, listen to story time, or wear his art smock.  After the first class (which was pretty much disastrous), I decided that we should give it another go.  The next class was the one we had to leave abruptly.  At the time I was so embarrassed.  I thought to myself, how could Nash not think this was fun?  All the other kids seemed to enjoy it.  I quickly realized on the way home that it was my fault.  I put Nash in a situation in which I knew he was not happy, didn't have fun and thus set him up for failure.   I'm trying not to beat myself up over it.  I made the decision to not push the situation, and think it was the right one for Nash.  Maybe one day, when he likes to sit still, he might enjoy a class such as this.


The second activity I enrolled Nash in was swim lessons.  This past Tuesday we had our first mommy and me class.  I'm going to get on my soap box here but Nash learning to swim and feeling comfortable in the water is a must.  During our lesson, Nash got water poured over his head, zoomed quickly with his head underwater and floated on his back (while being held by me of course).  At the end of class, my pictures from Wednesday said it all.  He cried and fussed for about half the class, the other half he seemed to enjoy.  His teacher encouraged us to "push" our kids to their limits, knowing that it makes a difference.  I think Nash was pushed during this first session.  It was hard to keep pushing him through it, when I know it was uncomfortable and he rather be sitting on the sideline having a snack.  Will we persevere and continue?  Yep.  Will Nash want to quit again?  Yep.  But Nash is now a Larson, and the Larson's are tough and don't quit (well....accept in art class, hehe).  


This is just one of 1,454,0393,302 things you learn along the way.  I will continue to get Nash involved in a variety of activities.  Part of the fun is not really knowing which ones he is "naturally" drawn too.  Until then, I'm sure we will have repeats of our situation with the art class, as well as the successes too!

For posterity sake, I had him hold up my his first and last art project (for now).

If you can't tell, it's a giraffe.  Cute huh?
Yes, Butch is cute, too.

Ta-Dah! Might be worth millions some day...I'm just sayn'

WW: Swim Class Before and After

Cabin Cruzing

This is my favorite time of the year.  Cabin time!  Three years ago my parents bought a cabin, both to celebrate their retirement as well as bribe their kids to visit often.  It certainly has worked.  Over the past summers, we've spend a lot of time up north and we were crazy excited to have Nash finally be able to join in the fun.  Nash loves the outdoors. He begs to be outside morning, noon and night, so he was delighted that we never told him he had to go inside while we were there.  The weather was beautiful and Nash had a blast (despite not capturing one smile for the camera).  We spent our time, bonding with cousin Nolan, riding on the pontoon, going for very slow rides on the four wheeler, and getting quality time with grandma and grandpa.  We were unsure of how much time he has been exposed to water, but in typical Nash fashion, he showed no fear and got right in.  He can teach auntie Erinn a thing or two about not being afraid of the little fishy's.  For us, it's super important that Nash learn how to swim and feel confident in the water.  We start swim lessons next week and I'm hoping they go better than our recent art classes (for another post!)

Feels so good!

I wish Auntie Erinn would come in the water.

"What's That?"

Two peas in a pod

Add caption

First Boat ride!!
 I think he was still upset about having to wear the life jacket.

Grandpa and Noly

Grandma and Auntie Erinn

Pretend driving!
Yep, still wearing a fedora

Love

 

23 Months- yet another reason to celebrate

Today Nash is 23 months!  I won't necessarily blog or focus on every single time he turns another month older,  but this just reminds me that he is only 1 month away from being TWO YEARS OF AGE!?  What?  When did that happen.  I guess most of it happened while he was living with his loving foster family.  I've been stressing about what and how to celebrate this huge milestone.  I think we've settled on something low key at home.  Hopefully Nash does not realize that he is kinda getting the shaft because this mama is too disorganized to put together something better.  But to celebrate the big 2-3, we made a sign!  A super fancy, spent like 2 minutes on it, sign.  I love when I see pictures of kids holding up signs saying stuff.  The best one yet is of Nash's cousin Noly holding up a sign that says "Welcome Home Nash".  If my sister every would remember to send me the photo I will post it.  Just to warn you, future blog posts might involve Nash holding a lot of signs (see Pinterest for ideas).

Mr. Sleepy-Just-Woke-Up-From a Nap-Head

I don't drug him, promise.

Mama, you said this sign was cool.  Um, not really.

Another Self Portrait!  Sick of these yet?  I bet your getting sick of my fedoras.
Side Note- I live in fedoras in the summer.  I hope they never go out of style.
Kinda like jean jackets.  Oh man, I hope those are still in style.
I always can tell if JCrew still shows them, they must be still in, right?

Freezing Time

I wish I could freeze time.  Freeze the moments when I'm home with Nash, watching him grow by the minute, comfort and hug him when he's down, laugh at all the silly things he does,  kiss his skinned knees, and give him all the love he could ever need.  Now that it is June, my last month of leave, I'm starting to obsess think about his pending transition to daycare.  Do I really only have 4 weeks left?  I've counted and recounted my calendar, hoping that I accidentally miscalculated the days remaining.  Let's rewind and revisit a post I had about 3 or so weeks into my leave.  I think I was talking about how much I missed work, friends, having freedom.  I still miss those things but not nearly as much as the first weeks home and would love to just make time standstill during this last month.  Tomorrow, we are going to visit Nash's daycare for the first time.  We will continue to do this over the next month.  The transition for Nash is not going to be easy, nor for Bret and I.  We worry that he will feel abandoned.  He has trouble enough when Bret leaves for the day.  You rarely want to put life in fast-forward mode.  I'm sure during this transition period I'll try to keep the big picture in mind.  Will Nash eventually adjust?  I think so.  I'm just dreading to have to put him through another huge adjustment in his life.  If Nash could talk I'm sure he would ask why Henry from across the street couldn't just take care of him.  I'll try to make it through the first visit without crying (famous last words).  I'm feeling just so emotional lately and I know this big change has been weighing heavily on my heart.  The good news?  My fab employer is letting me work a 32 hr. work week!  I feel blessed that I'll have that one extra day with him each week.

Here are some photos from our professional session we had a few weeks ago.  Nash surely surprised our photographer when she called me to say he was so busy that she would like to re-shoot to get some better shots!  I think they turned out pretty cute nonetheless.