When One Pre School Door Closes A New One Opens

It’s the end of February in New York City. This means the pre school application process is coming to an end. All three of my pre school applications were sent in. Then I got notice that the school that I loved and wanted Ale to attend did not offer him a space. I was heartbroken. I received an email cordially informing us that we have been placed on the wait list. It continued to tell us not to worry there is still hope. The list moves throughout the spring and summer. I was resolved to wait.

Thank goodness my husband was quick to think and look again into a new school that fell off of our radar. The school is close to home, has the hours we need and the price is not outrageous. The deadline was at the end of the week. I called the director spoke with her for twenty minutes and was impressed. Plus they had two seats left in the upcoming three’s class!! She was kind enough to hold one for Ale. She did not give me the runaround. She was a mom like me and understood my frustrations with the New York City pre school process. Amazing!

To make the story sweeter Max- Ale’s best toddler buddy from his current day care will be going to this pre school as well! Win! Win!

Good things come to those who wait — and who do not give in to the crazy NYC pre school pressures!

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Here are other posts I wrote about our rocky journey into New York City pre schools:

Pre School Crunch Time

Pre Schools Don’t Like Working Families

Toddler Nutrition Quiz

Please refer to the photo above.
Question:
According to the 2004 International Conference of Toddler Nutrition which bottle of milk has been deemed safe for toddler consumption?
A- Bottle labeled A
B- Bottle labeled B
C- Bottle A and B are not safe for toddler consumption.

Correct answer is B.

Rational:
* Bottle labeled A on the left has colorful numbers and words representing numbers. This bottle most likely contains a suspicious white liquid that should be avoided at all costs. Do not trust your mama even if she swears its milk.
* Bottle B is safe as it is a bottle with blue sail boats. All bottles with blue sailboats contain yummy milk.
* Keep in mind that Answer C can accepted under certain circumstances. The International Conference of Toddler Nutrition can change their positions on toddler nutrition at any moment. On a Sunday at nap time at 1:17PM it may be best to go with option C. In this case ask your mama for juice. At this moment the milk in the blue sail boat bottle appears slightly off. Demand that instead she gives you juice in a glass that is actually made of glass. Remember- plastic purple cups are for babies. Take three sips of juice. At the fourth sip let the juice dribble down your shirt soaking it well. Next, go to the sofa. Put your hand inside the glass to swirl the juice cleaning your hand. Then pour as much juice on to the sofa as you deem necessary. Then call for mama. Point to the juice stained sofa. In your sweetest voice shout, “Oh no mama! The juice!” Then grab any cloth lying about like papa’s cardigan sleeve to do clean up. With these actions you have avoided death by poisoning by refusing the “milk” in the blue sailboat bottle, stayed hydrated with the sips of juice, washed your hands, and helped mama clean the sofa.

Please pick up a copy of the updated 2014 publication by the International Conference of Toddler Nutrition, “Spaghetti: Why Plain Spaghetti With Butter And Cheese Is All That you Need For Your Growing Toddler Body”.

EVENTS: Ale, President of The International Conference of Toddler Nutrition, will be hosting nutrition seminars at a playground near you in the spring. Return to this webpage for dates and details.

Daily Prompt: It’s Friday I’m In Love

I’m not the kind of person who writes mushy, lovey-dovey tributes to my loved ones but since it’s Valentine’s Day the romantic in me peeks out.

You see these two handsome fellows in the photo above? Well those two are my son and husband. They are the loves of my life. I’m so lucky to have them. So regardless if it’s Friday or any other day, I’m in totally, utterly, smitten with love. 💋💋

Daily Prompt: It’s Friday I’m In Love

Blog of The Year 2013 Award!

Wow! Wow! and Wow! Kerry from Winding Road nominated my blog Running After Ale along with nine other bloggers for Blog Of The Year 2013. When I saw the ping back in my WordPress notifications I read it about five times. I could not believe my eyes. This news made my day! I love writing this blog but I frequently get writers block or think of an idea and crush it thinking it would not work well. This nomination came just when I needed a bit more motivation.

There are so many wonderful blogs here on WordPress that I enjoy reading. I wish I had more time to carefully read each one post by post. I love the community that I found here, bloggers from all walks of life and around the globe. It’s amazing since all in all we express similar hopes and desires.

The award was created by The Thought Palette. From this blog you can find all of the details of the Blog of the Year 2013 award and find widgets to proudly display on your blog.

Here are ten blogs that I want to pass on the award to in no particular order. Please stop by their little corners of the internet. Don’t forget to also visit Kerry’s blog!! Thank you!! ☺️

1- Mama Gets Real

2- Journey2dfuture

3- Red Lipstick Mama

4- Finding Cooper’s Voice

5- What The Mom

6- Game of Diapers

7- What A Lady

8- The Adventures of Fanny P.

9- Fascinations of a Vanilla Housewife

10- Raising 5 Kids With Disabilities And Remaining Sane

Tuesday With Ale: Walking Down The Street

In the afternoon after being cooped up in the apartment all day it was time to venture out. It was too cold and icy for the park so what is the next best thing? A trip to the hardware store! The hardware store is just three blocks away so I decided to turn it to an adventure and ditch the stroller.

We suited up in our winter finery and out we went. With a toddler with little legs the three blocks suddenly appeared a mile. There was so much to stop to look at and examine. Up in the sky flew helicopters and birds. A truck zoomed up the street. Numerous gray blocks of city ice to pick up and to crush with booted feet. Dog poop to avoid. People in a hurry to pass by us. Then finally in the hardware store shiny things to pull down from shelves and isles cramped with interesting tools. Thank goodness the owner knows us and high fives Ale when we go in or else he may have been less forgiving about a small rack of key chains that was pulled off the wall.

Once we paid for our things back on to the street we went. Ale wanted to turn left to go home “This way home!” and was frustrated that it was to the right. He then looked up and saw the familiar corner of our block and walked along with me again. He was fantastic about crossing the street. Every city mom’s fear is that their child will just run into the traffic. With my gloved hand with his little hand in a mitten we carefully crossed the streets. By the time we returned to our building the little man probably did feel that we walked a mile. He was ready to be carried.

Our adventure to the hardware store was fun. I think we both had a sense of freedom without the stroller. I loved the feeling of walking down the street with my little boy. Oh! The places that we will go! Next thing I know he will be leading me to and from.

What My Toddler Thinks

I have often wondered what my little two year old son Ale thinks of certain situations. I worry about him having fun, feeling comfortable, and I make sure he is well fed and has his water bottle close to him at all times. I find my role as mama is to constantly provide Ale with a safe environment and provide him with nice toddler experiences. Life is so new and exciting that I want him to live it to the fullest. I often think I go to extremes to make sure Ale has a good time wherever we go. However, I’m confident that his train of thought is pretty much the following in just about all we do– except for when we go to the supermarket:

This is fun! Where is mama? There she is! Truck! Car! Truck! Hahaha! Papa is funny! Mama, did you see what Papa did? Truck! Wow! Train! A horse! This is fun! Mine!!!! MAMA! Where is Mama? There she is! Boo! This is fun! Jumping! Milk, mama. Nap time. Yes, fun!

If I’m right that this is Ale’s current perspective I’m confident that so far we are awesome parents!

BlogHer NaBloPoMo

Monday, February 3, 2013
Write about an event that happened today. Now write about it from the perspective of someone else in the room — your child, your partner, a person dining in the same restaurant… your choice.