Tuesdays With Ale: Spiral Slide

The last few weeks Ale has been running to the other side of the playground where the older kids play. I would run after him and shoo him back over to where the babies and small toddlers would play. Each visit to the park would go this way.

Today he again ran off to the side where the bigger kids play. He jumped across a bouncy bridge, climbed up a few stairs than got on line for the spiral slide. The slide where he almost tumbled over while going down two weeks ago. I don’t want to be a helicopter mom so I stood back a bit. Ale maneuvered his way down the slide. At the bottom he smiled proudly and exclaimed, “That’s Fun!”. He went down the slide about ten more times laughing and saying it was fun each time. Most importantly….. he never fell once!

Bloglovin

Hi Fellow Bloggers!

In my quest to expand my mommy blogging audience just joined Bloglovin.

You can also follow me there!!

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10759505/?claim=2b6rtjbm3vs”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

 

Cheers!

 

Leibster Award!

On September 8th The Winding Road nominated me for the Liebster Award! I have not been able to sit down and respond until now. I love getting awards and I love to pass them on. Please stop by the Winding Road’s beautiful blog about a mother and her two children.

Rules: Display the award logo, thank the blogger who nominated you  and link back to his or her blog, answer the 11 questions that your nominator asks you, post 11 random facts about yourself, nominate 11 bloggers of your own, with under 200 followers, whom you think are as awesome as you,  and create 11 questions for your nominees

Here are the 11 questions from The Winding Road:

11 questions for your nominees.

1. What is your favorite beverage? Wine. I have a glass of red wine each night. 
2. How many hours do you sleep at night? Sleep? What is that? I get 5-6 hours a night. 
3. What do you eat for breakfast? Coffee, cereal, toast, fruit, yoghurt. 
4. Do you like to cook and why? I do like to cook. I love The preparation and making something delicious.
5. How do you spend your “down time?” Blogging, reading, getting a pedicure.
6. Do you play a musical instrument? No.
7. Are you superstitious? Not really. 
8. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Introvert. 
9. Do you like to camp? Camp? Me? Too many bugs and it gets too dark.
10. What is your ideal vacation? Any vacation turns into an idea vacation as long as I can be away from my work! It should be at least two weeks. I need to be close to the water, and it must be sunny. I’m not hard to please.
11. What is the most recent book you have read? Gone Girl. Skip it. It was a waste of time.

Here are my nominees! I like to break the rules every once in a while. I have nominated eight blogs instead of eleven. But please nominate eleven more bloggers. Don’t let the blog loving stop here!

Kukolina

What The Mom?

Pen & Stink

Magical Chaos

The Educated Nanny

Broken Condoms

Autism Mama 76

Her 30’s

 

Here are my eleven questions for my nominies:

1) Do you drive fast or slow?

2) What talent do you possess?

3) What did you have for dinner last night?

4) Where will you next vacation be?

5) Have you traveled without your children?

6) Do you prefer the summer or the winter?

7) Chocolate or vanilla ice cream?

8) What is your favorite song to sing to your children?

9) What was the last book that you read?

10) When did you start blogging?

11) What is your favorite blog post that you have written? Add the link if you like!

 

So excited to see your answers!

All the best!!

 

 

Pre-School’s Don’t Like Working Families

A week ago we went to a birthday party of Ale’s friend who turned two. It was a lot of fun. The kids were running and playing together. There was a woman who did face painting and made balloon animals. The parents were having beers and chatting. I spoke to a mom who’s daughter just turned three. Her little girl left Ale’s day care and was starting pre-school the following week. This was the moment the party ended for me. I learned that the applications and process to attend pre-school next fall starts now.

We live in New York City. I love New York. I am from New York and I suppose my family will be here for many more years. Unfortunately, New York’s education system is a mess and it’s very much divided by class. If you live in a wealthy school district your public, private and parochial schools will most likely be good. If you live in poorer areas the opposite will occur. Yes, the city has improved over the years to shorten the gap but this is still an issue.

I am fortunate to live in a fantastic school district. My local public school is excellent. As a plus it has an early drop off and after school until 6pm. Unfortunately, it does not offer pre-K and to get into a public pre-K class somewhere in my neighborhood I essentially need a hope and a prayer as the seats are few next to nothing. If my son were to attend a pre-school next year then stay for pre-k for the following year I would have to pay a pretty penny. There are few options for middle-class working families.

This week I made a preliminary list of the pre-schools in my neighborhood. So my hunt is still fresh. There are a few that I like and I know that Ale would thrive in. They are pricey. What upsets me even more than the cost are the hours. Most pre-schools start at 9am and end at 3:30pm. Doors close. Goodby kids. My husband and I both work. I must be at work at 7am and I don’t get home until after 9pm. My husband works 9 to 5. Who is going to drop off and pick up Ale? I would have to hire a nanny – another cost. Some schools offer earlier drop off and extended afternoon hours at an additional cost. Even more money.

Excuse me for this rant but it’s so hard to be a working parent in New York City. I want the best for my child. My husband and I need the two incomes. The pre-schools appear to not want to assist families like mine.

In the end, I know this will all work out because my husband and I will make it work out. We are determined to find a pre-school that is right for us in terms of cost and that will meet our schedules. Until then, we are on the bumpy road to pre-school. Or…. maybe Ale will stay in daycare one more year. Will that really lower his chances to getting into an Ivy League University? 😉

Daily Prompt: Sorry, I’m Busy

On my days off from work I try my best to devote 100% of my free time to Ale. There are, however, days when I have to carve out time to make phone calls, pay bills, clean the apartment, and organize my life. If possible I try to do most of this during nap time. This is a one to two hour window of time to rush and get things done. If I’m super busy it will spill into the rest of the day.

This is when the working mom guilt sets in:

Guilt for doing chores and having Ale on my leg vying for my attention while I tell him to stop- Mama is washing the dishes. Guilt for using the iPad as a babysitter. Guilt for talking on the phone and making excuses for the sound of Ale playing in the background. Feeling guilty on the rare days I say – Forget it! The Cheerios can stay in the rug another day and I try to do something for myself. At the end of the day I feel like I failed miserably in my role of super mom.

These scenarios happen to all moms but I think there is more pressure on the working mom. As a working mom I have to work more than 40 hrs a week then go home and take care of my home and son as if I was a stay at home mom. This is often places way too much on my plate. In the end, it’s Ale who feels the brunt of it. He is the one who sometimes gets placed on the back burner. I greatly dislike this.

Time is so precious. Each day Ale surprises me with something new in his growth and development. I just wish there was a bit more support (family, friends, city, state and federal government) for working moms/dads so the “Sorry, I’m busy” phase is said to our children less often. This way we can enjoy each moment a bit more and be more present when we are at home.

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Tell us about a time when you should have helped someone… but didn’t.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/15/daily-prompt-denial/

Tuesdays With Ale: Best Friends

This morning Ale was reunited with his best friend Cassidy! Cassidy was away all summer visiting her family overseas. She has been gone since July. When she left my husband and I could not say her name. If we let it slip Ale would look for her or go to the door thinking we were going to meet in the park. This morning before the reunion I was afraid that Ale would say No! and runaway as he often does when he meets people. Yes, he does this to even people he knows well. My fears were unfounded. As as soon they saw each other they were so happy. They hugged and kissed then ran off towards the monkey bars together. Sounds like a perfect friendship to me!

Staycation

I’ve been quiet this week in the blogosphere. I’ve been on a week’s staycation at home.

Originally I planned to blog daily and catch up on other blogs. That did not happen. During my week off Ale and I saw our friends and family whom we have not seen in a long time. The time with my loved ones was a much needed as the summer flew by way too fast this year. Tomorrow I’m back to work and our usual routines.

So I’m still here! I have missed my fellow bloggers but I’ll be back later this week.

Happy End of Summer!

Weekly Photo Challenge : Sea

This week’s Photo Challenge is the Sea.

The summer is not summer without time spent by a body of water. Each year we visit pools, lakes and oceans. Each has the same effect. They refresh, offer a great place to play, and give a sense of peace.

This photo was taken in July at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. It was a cloudy day but we still had a wonderful time by the sea.