King Nicholas

3 year old entertainment

I really don't have anything interesting to blog about today until I just realized that during the last 30 minutes Nick has provided me with plenty of entertainment.

Nick was trying to work on one of his trucks this morning and it wasn't going the way he wanted. Suddenly, I heard him yell...."Curse my Brain."
Then, the mama turkey made her appearance again this morning and I heard Nick say......."Mom, the big chicken is back."
Once Nick got his truck fixed he exclaimed..."This truck is indispensable!" This was quite hilarious hearing a 3 year old say the word indispensable and then to use it in the proper context.

This story won't be funny to some but people who truly know Nick know how obsessed he is with his "animals." He names all his animals after what they are....Example: penguin, dino, sheep, etc....Never once has he named his animals. This morning he got out of bed and told us that Dino #1 was named "Jack" and Dino #2 was named "Nicholas." How original!

Grapes - They can be dangerous

Yesterday was Jay's first day riding the bus. This year Jay will be riding the bus to school every day. Last night he came home and said there was a problem on the bus that morning. He said an older boy, who was eating grapes, hit Jay in the mouth with his bag of grapes. Now whether or not this was done intentionally I do not know. In these situations, my first question to Jay is always, "Did you do anything to provoke it?" Jay said he did not. In fact, he claims he was minding his own business (something Jay really hasn't perfected) talking to his buddy, Reece, when he got hit in the mouth with a bag of grapes. If I were to bet, I'd bet this kid was using some animation when he was talking, swinging his grapes around, and accidentally hit Jay. Jay said the kid continued to swing his grapes around and hit him a second time in the mouth. I suppose at that point Jay decided to take matters into his own hands and grabbed the bag of grapes and threw it out the bus window. Now, if this story is true then I say, Good for you Jay, way to take charge because Jay said that kid didn't bother him at all today. Go figure.

First day of second grade

I can hardly believe my 5 lbs. baby boy started second grade today. Jay was excited and so was I. It appears he has a great teacher and a brand new school! When I picked Jay up from school today he said, "Mom, we have air conditioning now." Big stuff since he hasn't had A/C since he started 4 years ago in the Pre-K program. Of course, Nick had to get his back-pack on and pretend he was a big kid too.

Mama Turkey

About two weeks ago, Nick and I got to witness a mama turkey and her five babies walking down our road. We got a big kick out of it and told Mike and Jay that night when they got home. The next day, when Mike and Nick were driving on our road, Nick exclaimed to Mike, "Dad, this is where we saw the big chicken." Anyway, we've discovered that the mama turkey is living in our timber. Our dining looks out into our backyard so on weekends when we sit down for breakfast we see the mama turkey and her five babies scurry across our yard. We've had a good time watching how much the babies have grown in two weeks.
I tried to get a picture this morning but mama turkey kind of blends into all the timber. You can barely see one of her babies (off to the right) following her.

One H*&^ of a Week

It's been a week! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Jay is slowly recovering from surgery a week ago. Nick has his good days and bad days when it comes to dropping off at his new school/daycare. I got a small glimpse of what it would be like if I had a child who wasn't healthy. Jay got up every night this week crying and in pain. By the third night I wasn't sure I could take much more, not because I was exhausted but it's really hard to see your child in pain. It has made me thankful that my sons are healthy. Yesterday morning I had been up a lot during the night with Jay so I was exhausted (which never helps anything). Jay had finally gotten to sleep around 5am only to be woken back up at 6:30 so I could take him to his grandparents house so I could go to work. The entire drive he looked pathetic. He didn't feel well and was tired. Then when I got Nick to preschool, he cried. I know he just needs to get use to it but it doesn't make it any easier for me. I decided that if the boys would have stuck knives in my heart that morning it still wouldn't hurt as bad as the guilt I felt yesterday morning. But as any working mom knows, I put a smile on my face and was ready for my meeting by 8:30 that morning, trying to not think of my 7 year old, exhausted and in pain from his surgery and my 3 year old, crying and trying to adjust to a new school.
Today has been a better day, that's for sure. Jay seems to have turned a corner today and is actually spending the night with his grandparents. Nick still cried this morning but I was able to get him settled down so I left watching him getting settled to play. Can you say, TGIF?

Siebert Boys Update

Jay is recovering nicely from his surgery. He still isn't himself but he's eating and getting along pretty good. He has been a delight since his surgery and I'm not kidding. He hasn't whined or complained once and he would certainly be entitled to. He was up last night at 3am shaking from the amount of pain he was in but didn't cry. Once he gets his pain meds, he's good to go. Right now, his throat isn't bothering him at all, it's his jaw.
I am also happy to report that Nick did not cry this morning at drop-off. In fact, he told me to leave. I guess I lingered too long and he looked right at me and said, "You can go now." HUH? Over the weekend his preschool threw a grand reopening party so Nick and I attended. I think it really helped him. He could see his school is a place where you go to have fun!
I also found out today that Jay got Miss Snowden for 2nd grade. I know nothing about her, other than she's fresh out of college and she's impressed the heck out of our principal. Our prinicipal told me that Miss Snowden is one of those people who knew she wanted to teach since she was little, he said she was born to teach! School is undoubtly hard for Jay so I think having a teacher fresh out of school with a lot of energy will be good for him. I'm personally looking forward to 2nd grade.

A Sick Confession

I have a confession and it's an ugly one. I really enjoy it when Jay doesn't feel well. Before I go any further, let me first say I do not ever wish that he gets sick or have a painful procedure. But when Jay gets down he is the most polite, easy-going, loving child. He doesn't whine or complain, he just wants to hang out at home and be close to his family which really is part of his overall personality, it's just increased when he doesn't feel well. Since he had his tonsils out yesterday he is remaining true to his usual "sick" personality. He even hugged Nick this morning. He has been chatting with me all day. I accidentally dropped one of his new cars today and a piece broke off. I apologized right away and his response was, "That's okay, mom, it's no big deal." HUH???
I laugh because my mom said the same thing about me when I was a kid and I got sick. I was such an active kid that I never sat still which is exactly how Jay is. It's just nice to see him take a breath for a second and I can write that without any guilt because he hasn't experienced much pain, so far. He's taking his pain meds every four hours so we are staying on top of it. When he was a toddler and got sick, he would let me rock him. Jay didn't like to be rocked much past 8 months old so getting to rock him when he was a sick toddler was truly a rare treat.

The Patient

Jay had his tonsils and adnoids out today. Tonight, he is doing well but I hear days 2 and 3 are not pleasant so we'll see how he does tomorrow. He is taking his medicine and eating and drinking which is good! The only difficult part (today) was when he came out of anethesia. I'm sure that is tough for all kids. There were 3 little kids (including Jay) who had tonsil surgery and all 3 of them were howling in the recovery room when they came to. The only other "hurdle" was me almost fainting when Jay came out of surgery. He was upset which made me upset and I had not eaten breakfast. Before I knew it Mike was telling me I was white as a ghost and to sit down. Once I sat down and drank a Pepsi, I was fine.
We'll see how Jay progresses through the weekend. I'm hoping and praying it's smooth sailing for him.

Nick's new daycare setting

Nick started at his new daycare/preschool yesterday. Once we hit Veterans Pkwy today and yesterday he started telling me to turn back so he could go home. When he realized we weren't going home, he insisted I take him to his nana's house. Yesterday I was able to drop him off with no tears. He wasn't thrilled about it but he wore his frog shirt so he was showing his new teacher his frog shirt when I left. Today....things didn't go so smoothly. I left him in tears, kicking and screaming on the floor. It was a hard visual to go to work with. I did call later in the morning to check in and his teacher said he was having a rougher day but that was to be expected. He insisted to his teacher that he needed to call me because he had a question for me (this is typical of Nick, everything is........"I have a question"). The teacher told him they couldn't call me because the phone in the room could only receive calls, not dial them out. My sharp as a whip, Nickel Pickel, told his teacher to get some batteries in that phone so he could call his mom and ask her a question.
I'm hoping tomorrow goes smoother but if it doesn't, I'm patient. I know he'll eventually adjust. The nice thing about this new "setting" is it's so close to my work. However, with that goes a long drive to and from work with Nick. He's already been bossing me around as to when we listen to the radio, how long we listen to it, how loud it is and what we listen to. Ugh!

Nick's love of his stuffed animals

Sometimes the differences between my boys astound me. Jay never cared about stuffed animals. He was and still is rather attached to his "blankie." Nick has a blankie too but he doesn't discriminate. He loves his blankie and his animals equally. The top picture is of Nick and his animals. He buried Mike underneath a blanket and his animals. The bottom picture is a picture I took of Nick the other night before bed. He insisted on sleeping with all those animals in his bed. Notice the brown rabbit off the left of his bed. He wanted to make sure his rabbit or Wabbit as Nick calls her was covered up with his blankie for the night.

Growth Spurts

What a difference a year makes with 3 little kids. I would have to say Lauren has changed the most. Jay has gotten taller and Nick still has the same ornery look! These pictures were taken almost a year a part to the day.

Transitions

Today was Jay and Nick's last day at Kelson Kids. I knew back in April that Christy's last day would be Aug. 5. Even though the summer went fast, it's hard to believe an era of our life is over. I know Christy is thinking the same thing. Christy reads my blog so I simply want to tell her how much we will miss her and we wish her well. Thank you for everything you did for us!! Best of luck at Olympia and even though we won't see you everyday, we will remain in close contact and stay friends! And Christy, whenever you need a "Nickel-Pickel fix," just read my blog. Ha.
Nick will start at his new daycare/preschool on Monday. I think he'll do fine but he will have a transition period. It will be a transition for me too. I am use to dropping the boys at Christy's in Danvers and then having a good 20 minute drive by myself, listening to music. Now I will have Nick with me on my entire drive to and from work. And trust me, Nick is my motor mouth and doesn't understand what the quiet game is all about. Oh well, I'll get use to it. I'm sure he'll provide me with plenty of laughs on some of those drives and a good laugh is always a great way to start the day.
Jay is being shuffled between me, Mike, my mom, Kim and Mike's mom from now until Aug. 24, when he starts school. Next Thursday is his surgery date so I'll be home with him a few days for that. He was really nervous about it over the weekend but seems to have calmed down as the week goes on.

"Love" Notes

I had dinner with my good friend, Jenna tonight so when I left for work this morning, I left Mike a note that said........"Mike, the dishes in the dishwasher are clean." When I got home tonight, Mike had left me a note that said......"Thanks, you can empty it when you get home." Ahhh, the joys of marriage!