Bring Your (Naughty) Son to Work Day!

On Tuesday of the week Todd was fishing, I got a phone call from Nathan's daycare provider at about 11:00 am, saying that N had bitten two of his friends. "Uh oh," I thought. N does not bite at home really, but when he is frustrated at school by competition for toys with his classmates, neither of whom have the vocabulary to resolve their conflict verbally, he vents that frustration by biting. Argh! The teachers, the books, the experts all assure me that this is just a phase, and as N learns better communication skills the need for defending his toys with his teeth will subside. I really, really hope they are right!! At this point it's not like I can sit N down and have a heart to heart with him about why biting is not the best conflict resolution method.

So... a few hours later, I get another call from the daycare provider that Nathan bit his third friend of the day, thus reaching the point in the center's biting policy (wow, crazy to work at a place that has to have a biting policy!) that required me to come and pick Nathan up from school. So since Todd was out of town and I had a TON of stuff left to do at work that day, Nathan came to the office with me!

Luckily I have a very supportive office environment so they weren't phased by the sticky note on my closed office door that warned: "toddler inside." In fact, my boss stopped in specifically because of that sign to say hello to Nathan! :) N was actually really well behaved. He did calmly and methodically trash my office, but no damage done and I was actually able to finish what I needed to. Whew, that was a crazy working mom balancing act--I really don't know how single moms do that all the time!

"Whoa, Mama, check out all of these brochures and business cards! Clearly they need rearranging!"

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

Since Todd was on the fishing trip for Memorial Day weekend, Nathan and I decided to shake things up a bit, and spend some time with the Lepley family at their cottage in Newaygo. They were so incredibly sweet to welcome us into their holiday weekend. The kids all had a blast! Nathan thinks that Ellie is the most amazing girl on the planet, and he and Gavin actually got along well for the most part (with occasional pauses in the action to yell MINE at each other!). The weather was incredibly warm for Michigan in May; it felt more like July! Being an inland lake, the water was warm enough for swimming. Nathan wasn't a huge fan of the water, but he really loved playing in the sand and on all of the riding toys.

It was really great to spend so much time with Suz in a setting far away from work. We actually got lots of time to talk without being in an office or talking about work stuff--such a luxury! And it was so great to see her totally relaxed and in "mom mode" rather than "admission counselor mode." I'd be willing to bet she'd say the same about me!

Pack Night

The night before all the guys leave for their annual fishing trip in Canada, we all gather at Fred and Cindy Bierlein's house. The guys all load their stuff into the cars and boats while the wives catch up and run around after the kiddos. Once the packing is done, we all relax and eat some dinner. It's always great to spend time with our unofficial extended family, and the guys are all SO excited by the time we depart--it's cool to see them already getting into vacation mode.

Chatting on the back porch

Nancy hanging out with Delaney, Nathan and Lizzie

Grandma is one of Nathan's heroes anyway, but especially when she's feeding him cake! :)

Nancy's smiling beautifully, Dan is giving me his serious and brooding look, and my child is taking advantage of the unattended cake!

Beautiful Lizzie Bierlein.

Window into a workday

Ok, so the title of this blog post is slightly misleading, since it's really only once a year that I get to have an ice cream party with a bunch of students as part of my workday, but that tends to be when the camera comes out! Together with my co-workers Maureen and Pat, I help to coordinate, mentor, organize, supervise and rally our group of 225 current students who volunteer for K-Crew, the organization that conducts campus tours, picks visiting students up from the airport and train station, hosts prospective students on overnight campus visits and helps out with all of our group programs. I spend a lot of the year enticing, cajoling and persuading these really busy students to make time in their crazy lives for some volunteer work. At the end of every academic year, we have an appreciation ice cream party for them--one event where we're not asking them for anything! It was a gorgeous day on the quad, and we took some photos.

Not the entire roster, but all of the ice cream party attendees, posing for a picture that will be sent to our incoming first-year students.

Our two student interns (who I also supervise) Jessica and Paige, Pat and me--Maureen was traveling for work and wasn't able to make the party.

Some of my awesome co-workers who came to celebrate, thank the K-Crew members, and eat some ice cream: Ted, Hillary, Emily, Suz, and Ellie (stopping in after school)!

Ellie Ann!

First Haircut!

Well, at last, with much reluctance, I finally agreed with Todd and the rest of the world that it was time for Nathan to get his first haircut. What a bittersweet moment! I knew that the haircut would be more comfortable for him, and fit his age, but I also knew that after the haircut Nathan was going to look like a boy instead of a baby! Sigh, I'm tearing up while typing this, two weeks after the fact! What can I say, I'm pretty much an emotional basketcase when it comes to this kid. :)

Overall, Nathan did better than expected during the haircut--laughter, tears, LOTS of wiggling, but a good boy. I was happy that Todd and I were both able to go so that we could help corral the wiggling and get some photos too.

Before

During

After! SO handsome!!!

Little Artist

Well, I'm finally catching up on my blog postings! So sorry that I've been behind. :) Nathan was sick with a persistent lowgrade fever for the first few days of the week before Memorial Day. For the most part he was acting like himself, just at a lower volume, but the fever meant that he couldn't go to daycare. One of the things we did together was some art--N has started really liking to color, and they do a lot of projects at school. Of course, I couldn't resist taking some pictures--I love the expression on his face when he's concentrating!

Fishing and Watermelon = Summertime!

Ok, so I'm WAY behind on blogging. I promise I'll get caught up very soon. In the meantime, check out these adorable videos! :)

Watermelon!

Message for Dada