We Have Worn Out the Toddler

Since last Sunday we have been traveling. New York to Charleston to Hilton Head and now Savannah.

I love to travel and we are having a wonderful time but traveling with a toddler makes us feel like a roaming gypsy family.

Charleston was great for Ale. It was the novelty of being away from home and seeing new sights. Hilton Head was fantastic. We had the beach and the pool. This was endless fun. Ale had his pail and shovel beside him at all times.

Now we are in Savannah. We arrived at 11am and we were told that the hotel room won’t be ready until 4pm. We had to change Ale’s diaper in Forsyth Park. Then the little toddler man refused to eat lunch. After mama and papa ate lunch Ale just screamed through the city as we wandered through the beautiful squares. My husband and I had our heads down to avoid what we felt were heavy stares and whispers about bad northern parents.

At 3pm we reentered the hotel lobby with a screaming toddler. Guess what- the room was ready. He finally took a nap at 4:30pm in the hotel room. He was so tired and excited I had to put him to sleep like a tiny baby with a bottle of milk, rocking and signing to him.

Tonight to make it up to him we are forgoing BBQ and Southern fare and having Italian. We hope Ale will say “Wow!'” when he sees his favorite dish- a bowl of spaghetti bolognese presented to him.

——
Update — Later This Evening

Score! We have a happy toddler again! After dinner Ale petted a horse, ran through sprinklers and even had a few bites of ice cream.

We can continue our vacation with a clear conscious.

Daily Prompt: Journey

Mama! That’s the plane we are going to take!
—
Photographers, show us JOURNEY

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/daily-prompt-journey/

Hello Summer!

Even though today it’s dark, rainy and in the high 50’s it was HOT this past Tuesday. It was typical New York City hot- in the 80’s and a bit humid. Everyone was out and about in flip flops.

After nap time. I packed Ale’s bag with snacks, a towel and an extra change of clothing. I whisked him into his room and changed him into swimming trunks (swim diaper underneath) and covered him in sunscreen. Then I put on his feet the adorable flip flops with red crabs I bought recently. That was a mistake as he just looked at his feet and screamed. Then he walked around the apartment like Frankenstein.

When the Frankenstein walk resumed to the normal toddler waddle we headed to the playground. The playground was jumping! It was filled with ecstatic kids. The sprinklers were on!

Ale at first did not know what to make of this mayhem. Kids running in all directions laughing with joy. He just stood there in front of the sprinklers looking overwhelmed. He wanted me to hold him.

What is great about having a kid is that I can do silly things with Ale and no one bats an eye. Off came my sandals, I rolled up my jeans and got right in there and started splashing. Slowly Ale stuck his little toes in the puddle. Then his hands went through the undulating sprinklers. Next thing I knew Ale was running through the sprinklers laughing and shouting out for joy.

After 45 minutes of water madness I had to pull him out because he was turning purple and shivering. He had so much fun. In fact, fun is an understatement.

So, Summer if you are reading this post- please come back. Ale desperately wants to run through the sprinklers again.
By the way: His mama wants to get her feet wet too.

Daily Prompt: Bittersweet Memories

Unfortunately, sometimes the tissue paper is the best part of the gift that you carefully selected.

—-

Daily Prompt:
You receive a gift that is bittersweet and makes you nostalgic. What is it?

Photographers, show us GIFT.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/daily-prompt-bittersweet/

Daily Prompt: Feed Your Senses

Daily Prompt:
Write down the first sight, sound, smell, and sensation you experienced on waking up today. Pick the one you’re most drawn to, and write. (For a bigger challenge, pick the one you’re least drawn to.)

**Sight**: Ale sitting straight up in bed. He still looks half asleep. His uncombed curly hair sticks out in all directions. He smiles and points out of the bedroom.

**Sound**: “Papa?”

**Smell**: If papa is in the living room then why do I not smell coffee being made? He has to make coffee now.

**Sensation**: Why oh why do I have to get up? It’s 7am on a Saturday- I’m so sleepy.

I’m most drawn to the sensation of the lack of sleep. I have not slept well since *before* I was pregnant. During the pregnancy I suffered from insomnia, and back discomfort. I was a stomach sleeper. Then came the basketball belly. Now I never sleep well even on that one night I was home alone. I swear I heard Ale wake up even though he was miles away.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/daily-prompt-senses/

The Sandbox

Detail of sandbox with toys (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was pregnant I was so excited that we were going to welcome a new little person in our lives and home. And oh! All the fun things we will do together! We could go to the zoo, museums, and Disneyland! And… Wait a minute. Ugghh! I’m going to have to go to the playground and hang out and talk with other parents. Um, no! I’d rather not. Thank you. Now, however, that Ale is actually here I really do love to go to the playground and I like talking to the parents.

Ale of course has a built in playground GPS as he can spot a towering slide miles away. When we arrive at the playground we park our stroller by the swings and swing back and forth for a while. Next up are the slides, steps, monkey bars and tunnel. Then Ale suddenly remembers — SANDBOX! He makes his way there often leaving me behind as I run in the other direction for the stroller while at the same time I try to keep track of the little boy in the green jacket.

I park the stroller and sit along the border of the sandbox. If I had a coffee in my cup holder I take that out and have a few sips of cold coffee. Ale walks around looking for a fun communal toy. This is when the kiddy sandbox politics begin. All the mom’s and dads look at their iPhones checking out Facebook or the New York Times. They think that if they comment on the photo of a friend’s homemade pie the eruptions won’t happen.

Ale reaches for a rake. “No!!! That’s mine!” and a child takes it from his hand. Ale goes over to another corner if the sandbox and I chit chat with another mom. Then a little boy who did not want to surrender his bucket yells out, throws himself in the sand. His dad comes and takes him away.

Ale is now playing with a dump truck. A girl tries to take it from him. This time he resists and continues to play with the truck. The little girl then takes her shovel fills it with sand and pours it into Ale’s hood. I catch her eye. She was caught in the act. What can I do? Tell Ale to give her the truck? Do I reprimand her? Then I see her parents and think twice.

The sandbox is really a giant tool to test your child day in and day out on how to directly interact with other kids and learn how to share. For the parents it’s also a test on civility and to see if you can also stand by the same rules we expect our children to follow. For example in the situation above I was able to successfully direct Ale to another toy but I really wanted to push the little girl for pouring sand into Ale’s hood and shout “He’s my sweet baby! Leave him alone!”.

Then Ale gets up and sees another girl making a sand castle. He walks over points and then knocks it down with his hand. Now I’m apologizing to the girl and to her mom.

The sandbox lesson of the day: When faced with something we don’t like we have to just keep our cool, move on, and rebuild if necessary.

Bouquet of 3 Nomination!!

My busy week is finally winding down. I can now finally write a post thanking 21centurymom for her nomination for the Bouquet of 3 Award. This is my 4th award this week! When it rains it pours. Im just upset that this week in particular I was not able to do a lot of blogging.

Like 21 Century Mom, I am so new to blogging and I had no idea that bloggers were awarded by other bloggers. All I know is that I am having so much fun and I love reading new posts from all of the people I follow and the amazing other blogs that I come across.

Rules:
The rules for the awards as I have received them:
1. Display the Award Certificate on your website.
2. Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented you with the award.
3. Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
4. Drop them a comment to tip them off after you have linked them in the post.
5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

For the nominations I too will limit the number of nominations as I just nominated others for the Liebster Award and I want to reach out to a few more people.

Here is a go at 7 interesting things about me. I’m running out of things to say!
1- I am addicted to my iPhone.
2- Today I just passed a national certification exam in my nursing specialty and I’m super happy!
3- I enjoy going to the playground with Ale. I thought I would hate it but I love to see him having so much fun.
4-I like Lowes more than Home Depot but I could happily spend hours in each store.
5- I like to have something with chocolate every night after dinner.
6- I love flip flops in the summer.
7- I’m so happy that I am a blogging mama!

Nominations in no particular order:

1- Joy, Lovely, Joy

2- Nannypology

3- Atlanta Mom of Three

4- The 4 A.M. Writer

Thank You!

Thank You!

🙂

Liebster Award #3!

This is my lucky week! I received Leibster award for the third time!! The final nomination was from Marta from The Corner of My Imagination. Please check out her beautiful creative writing blog. Thank you so much Marta!

Since I nominated other blogs yesterday I will just answer Marta’s questions.

1. Why are you writing?

I am writing this blog to express my feelings as a new mother and to connect with other new mothers and experienced parents.

2. Where do you look for inspiration?

I look at my little son, he is always growing and changing. Then I also look to other fellow bloggers.

3. What is one thing that you regret most in your life?

I regret that I chose nursing as a second career. I wish that I knew to go into nursing when I was younger then I would be further in my career. However, life happens and it was ultimately circumstances that led me to nursing. Now I can’t see myself doing anything else! I love being a RN.

4. What is one thing you are most proud of in your life?

My little boy Ale

5. Tell us one amazing thing that happened to you in the last month.

I found $20 on the subway platform!

6. Do you believe in magic?

No.

7. If you could talk for 15 minutes with someone who is long dead, who would it be?

My dad who died several years ago. I want to hear his laugh and have him tell me one of his silly stories or jokes.

8. Do you have your favourite motivational quote? If so, tell us about it.

“This Too Shall Pass”- whenever i’m in a situation that I don’t like I say this and it reminds me that things keep changing and evolving and it will have an end.

9. What is your favourite place to write?

I write on my phone, ipad or computer. So I write whenever I have a chance. I sometimes can write on my commute to work via my phone.

10. Do you have a pet? If so what is its name?

No 😦

11. Who is your favourite writer of all times?

I don’t have a favorite author but I love many books. I tend to read Jane Eyer over again every few years. I love Gone With the Wind and when I want a total escape I read excerpts of The Tale of Ginji.

 

Liebster Award X 2!!!!

During the weekend I was nominated twice for the Liebster Award by Nannypology and Moving Mommy. I am more than flattered that other people like what I post and want to recommend others to check out my blog. So please also have a look at Nannypology and Moving Mommy!!

The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers to encourage them to continue their work.  What is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Below I’m nominating 11 other fantastic bloggers who should have a million followers because they are just so amazing, fun and informative. I can not tell how how much I have learned from other follow bloggers since I started blogging this year.

To the nominees: You must write 11 facts about yourself and then answer 11 questions that follow. When you are done nominate 11 other blogs and have them follow the same rules- 11 facts, 11 questions and 11 new blogs with less than 200 followers.

11 Nominees in no particular order.

1- Mama Gets Real

2- Not A Typical Mom

3- Crew & Lu

4- A Game of Diapers

5-Monkey & Squish

6- Adventure of Yasmin B.

7- 21 Century Mom 

8- Rookie Mom Adventures

9 – Julie Mom On Wheels

10- The Corner of My Imagination

11- Military Bride

Here are the 11 questions:

1- Where is your next vacation going to be?
2- What are you having for dinner tonight?
3- What is your favorite time of year?
4- If you could quit your job right now because you just won the lottery what would you tell your boss?
5- Why did you start blogging?
6- What is your favorite color?
7- How many bothers and sisters do you have?
8- What is your favorite movie?
9- Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?
10- Do you have a green thumb?
11- PC or Mac?

————————————————————

11 Facts About Me

1- I am an undercover blogger! Only my husband and my immediate family know that I have this blog. I am very reluctant to advertise that I have this blog. Next week, however, I will “come out” and let some of my closest friends know.

2- I’m into baking again. The next thing I want to try to make is a chocolate molten cake.

3- I guess my favorite color is green as I have been unintentionally buying many green things. The other day when I went outside with Ale, he was wearing a green jacket, gray and green sneakers, in a green stroller. It was raining so I had my green umbrella up and a green backpack.

4- I would love to have a cat.

5- I am an expert at getting a seat on a crowded subway train.

6- I forgot my keys in Ale’s lunch bag this morning. Very frustrating as I walked home then had to go back to the daycare. I tried to avoid Ale, be he saw me and wanted to leave with me and started crying. I felt horrible.

7- I love cheese.

8- I have a glass of wine every night.

9- I also love anything pickled! Bring on the olives, beets, and kimchi!

10- I am horrible at parallel parking.

11- I am terrified of flying, but love to look out the plane window and see the land underneath. Its beautiful and it looks like a huge map in an atlas. Over water I’m more nervous.

——————————-

Since I was nominated by two bloggers for the sake of time I will just answer the first six questions by Nannypology and Moving Mommy. This week I am pressed for time but I really want to get this post out.

1- What musical artist are you listening to these days?
I was a huge audiophile up until Ale was born. I always had music playing and was looking for new music. With work being so loud and crazy and Ale running around I am so happy to be at home with silence! However, I want to change that ASAP as I want Ale to be exposed to music.

2- What is the most embarrassing moment you have had online? (Come on, you can tell us! I just gave you an AWARD)…
I wish I could say something interesting so far I have not had one. Its bound to happen at some point.

3- If you could be any animal, what would you be? Why?
On a day like today a cat. I yearn for a day that I can just lounge around, have food given to me and a nice person comes by to scratch my belly everyone in a while.

4- If you could get paid to do anything in the world (and make a very comfortable living), what would you choose to do?
I would be a midwife with just a handful of clients. Birthing babies is amazing but the malpractice insurance is too high.

5 – What do you say when your (or someone else’s) kid asks you why the sky is blue?
If the child is young I would say– because it is! If the child is older I’d say lets go look it up. —- I guess I should look it up now so I have a proper answer ready!!

6- What would you rather die from: being eaten slowly by a 50 foot anaconda? or, getting your head ripped off by a great white shark? Explain.
Head ripped off by shark. I don’t want to suffer inside the belly of an anaconda. Yuck!

7 – Favorite Food?
It depends on the day, my mood. However, it is hard for me to turn down a piece of homemade pound cake.

8- What game/competition show would you most like to be on? Why? And do you think you would win?
Cash Cab. This looks like fun! Hop in a cab, the fun lights come on and you answer trivia questions and win money by the time you get to your destination. I have a lot of useless info in my head so I might win.

9- If $$ were no object, where would you travel on your next vacation?
India!

10- If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Pasta- so may types and ways to cook it.

11- How do you like your eggs?
Hard Boiled. I love egg salad sandwiches.

12- Would you rather be forced to make spelling errors, or grammatical errors on a daily basis? Explain.
Spelling errors! I am already a terrible speller. Bless the person who invented spell check! If my grammar was off as well, no one would not have a clue as to what I said or wrote.

 

Thank You!!

Thank You!!!

Daily Prompt: Hi Mom

Dear Mommy,

Happy Mother’s Day. As you know I am at work and I really wish that we were together. For the last two Mother’s Days I have worked. Hopefully next year we can change that and have brunch together.

Despite this national day to remember moms, everyday I am happy and thankful that you are my mom and grandmother to Ale. You are a wonderful, strong and kind woman. You are my rock and my inspiration. You keep me sane and your love for me, Ale and my husband is so reassuring.

I have asked Ale to give me a message that I could include in this letter. He says the following :

“Nooooo!! Byby! Bob the build-a! Byby!”

He’s blowing you a kiss and waving.

Mom I love you.

Xox

Daily Prompt: Hi Mom!

Today is Mother’s Day in the United States. Wherever in the world you are, write your mother a letter.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/daily-prompt-mom/