Home School: Domestic Science

Cole is learning a lot from his time spent with Dada.

From gardening to vacuuming, Cole is getting an array of lessons in how to take care of a home and how to tend a garden.

Below are just a sampling of the photos Keith has texted me over the past month. I can't tell you how much I love getting texted pictures of my little sweetheart taken by my big sweetheart.

Afternoon Academy: The Natural World

Whenever Keith has to work two jobs in one day, which has happened a number of times during the past 5 weeks, Cole and I have had time together to hang out on the town and have dinner together. Those Mama and Cole dates usually involve outdoor activities that are mainly focused on throwing rocks or sticks in a body of water - ANY body of water. He likes to call mostly everything a stream, but he does know "river,""ocean" and "lake,"  he's beginning to tell the difference between stream, river, ocean, and lake.

Since the weather has been pretty warm over the past month, being outside has been a joy. Watching Cole do something he loves is a lot of fun. He gets so focused and can spend almost an hour finding rocks, watching them "bounce", finding the right sticks to "bang" the water with, following sticks as they float down the river or stream, and, most importantly, squishing his nice new Vans onto the muddy shores of the streams, river, and lake that we frequent.

We also spent a good amount of time in our very own backyard, which is a great resource for investigating plant and insect life. Cole can also use the time to practice his gardening skills.

One more routine we've established, whether on a date or not, is to have a snack before bed. I always eat a snack before bed so I don't wake up at 3 a.m. starving. And as you probably know from Cole's sleep history, we don't want Cole waking up at 3 a.m. either. Since Cole seems to have inherited my metabolism, I figure it's good insurance for longer sleep.

Cole looks at the ecosystem that lives underneath our "herb barrel"

At Split Rock, Cole sits on a bench with a cereal bar.

Cole loves Split Rock so much that when Keith asked Cole where an airplane was landing (after Cole so helpfully pointed out it was flying over us) Cole said "It's going to Split Rock."

Cole plays gardener

Nightly snack time.

This is yet another time that I come unprepared for Cole to fall in, which he did very shortly after I took this picture.

Cheese!
(I actually took this before I got the new iPhone, so go me for getting a good shot without seeing what it looked like).

Our backyard is full of spaceships and boats.

The Wallkill River, another beloved spot.

Happy 23 months to my little boy! One more month and you'll officially be a 2-year-old. Oh boy!

Friday's future; Monday's memories

This past weekend was a solid weekend. It was jam packed with quality family time. We each got to do things we enjoyed and we got things done for the house. The only thing I wish I could've done more of was blog. I appreciate you die-hards sticking it out and coming back regularly to see if I've posted. It's tough going now that Cole is basically on-the-go from the time he wakes up until the time he goes to sleep. Sometimes I just need some me time. And sometimes that means no blogging. (Boo.)

We started off the weekend hiking at Minnewaska State Park, which is now (with recent land purchases) the largest state park preserve. (Well, before we went there, we made a necessary pit stop at the Bistro Mountain Store for some coffee, tea and organic chocolate milk.)

We were thinking of going to Awosting Falls, but with the recent drought, we decided it wouldn't be worth the walk. Good decision, because we decided to go down the Mossy Glen trail and we re-discovered just how awesome the Mossy Glen stream really is. The last time we had been on this trail, Cole was about two months old.

Dada and Cole on the trail in April 2012. 

Mama and Cole in July 2010 on the trail.

A hike would not be complete without a picnic on the trail

Our little hiker just keeps getting better and better

Because why else did we come here?

Some people like sandy beaches and blue water. But to me, THIS is paradise.

Cole, how'd Dada get over there?

The perfect rock. Too bad he can't sit still long enough to enjoy it!

More rock throwing

Can you say - swimming pool? If you can't find me in the dead of summer - this is where I'll be.

Cole always falls in when we don't have a spare pair of pants

The best part about our family hikes is that we hardly need to hold Cole. He can usually walk the whole mile or so with no complaints. It's more fun pushing leaves around with a stick or picking up rocks to store in his pocket that riding Mama's back.


On Sunday, we followed through on our family resolution to go to a local event once a month. It was there we ran into Amy and Ellie, who told us about the brilliant event called Touch-a-Truck.

Cole at the Rosendale Pancake Breakfast  

Who can pass up an event designed for kids to crawl, walk, and sit all over trucks they can usually only admire from afar?

Just some of the trucks at Touch a Truck at the Fairgrounds in New Paltz

Cole's very first time getting on a school bus (and that's Ellie right behind him - in a few years they'll be going to school together for real!)

These steps are not made for little legs

He got to DRIVE the school bus!

Looking out from inside for the first time! 

Hiking

Exploring the mossy glen trail at Minnewaska.

Making my resolution a reality

Back in January I posted about resolving to spend more time with family and friends in addition to holidays and birthdays. Back in November, Allison and I came to the conclusion that living one hour away from each other was not a good enough reason to not spend more time together. At that time, since having kids we'd only get together a few times a year (not including the camping trip we took together last summer). So we decided that we could spend time in the following ways: play dates with the kids maybe once a month and getting together for a double date night every two months (sans kids). We've been making good on our promise! We've gotten together for double dates twice this year and we've gotten together for play dates twice.

I am lucky to have such an amazing friend. And Cole is lucky to have such a good friend in Juni. We all win.


Here are some pics from the most recent play date - Cole and I visited Allison and Juni in Albany.

Contemplations of Weaning

I know I've told you dear readers about my boob problems.  My milk ducts clog more than I care to count. The past few months for some reason have been the hardest on my boob. I've had mastitis twice already in two months (this is when a clogged duct gets enflamed, red, hot and the best symptom of all- the owner of the duct gets nasty chills, even on a gorgeous day). After fighting most of March to keep the duct from clogging after February's bout with mastitis, I wound up coming down with it two days into my week off. I tried to cure it naturally, which was successful in February. However, this infection went beyond that. And I had lost all patience. I did not want to try another homeopathic remedy and wait and see some more, so I bit the bullet and took the antibiotics. I started feeling better in 12 hours.

This was Wednesday (the feeling better part). Since then I've seriously considered weaning Cole completely. It was such a difficult decision because I had always wanted to let him wean himself since I know how much he enjoys nursing. I, too, love the connection it allows us at the end of my work day after 10 hours of being apart. After giving it much thought and experiencing what the word "No" did to my little boy, I finally came to a compromise with myself (this probably had a little bit to do with my realization that cutting a night nurse would be a nightMARE.) When I am home on the weekends, or any other vacation day, I am only going to nurse him 3 times a day. That does mean that I have to say "No" at times, but he's slowly learning that I'm not giving in.

What I have done to try to keep him from always asking is this: more physical contact in terms of head rubs, hugs, tickling, peek-a-boo hugs, etc. I also have been keeping as busy as possible doing all sorts of fun play. When he does request Doo Doo and it's not time, I firmly say no and do everything in my power to give him food or drink. If it's comfort he wants, I try and give that to him too. But sometimes if it's a nurse I've typically always done, he throws a fit no matter what I do, and I just have to give it time and/or an episode of "Yo Gabba Gabba" and it's forgotten.

Before I made this decision, Cole requested the Doo Doo whenever he pleased (he still does to some degree), and this sometimes meant every 1.5 hours. I would try to push him off, but he does not easily forget. It was just easier to nurse him than to fight. He's got a molar or two coming in, so I knew the reason he was wanting more, but I just can't let it go on like that. Why? Well, demand equals supply, so I end up with too much supply. Add that to a misplaced shoulder strap from my camera, or a crappy night's sleep, or a stressful drive from New Jersey and voila you have a clogged duct that, if I don't catch right away, gets enflamed. Thus the vicious cycle begins once again.

I have irritable bowels. I probably have an irritable uterus. It makes sense that I would have an irritable breast.

Moments like these make me think twice about weaning before he's ready. {3/30/12}

But moments like these don't. {3/11/11} 

One day

Can you say SPRING BREAK????

I certainly can. It's here. Eleven days of freedom from teenagers and their "What homework?" or their "I was NOT sleeping!" shenanigans.

To celebrate, Cole and I spent the day visiting Andreea and her son Lucas (2.5 yrs) all the way in Joisey. Along the way, Cole got to see an assortment of dump trucks and construction vehicles. He kept yelling from the back seat "Again?! Again?!" when he wasn't busy snoring.

When we arrived I whipped out Keith's old camera (now my new camera) and took some in focus and out of focus pictures. I'll get the hang of this thing soon enough, I promise. Even so, I like the results. This camera is awesome.

First, we went for a walk to their neighborhood park.

Pay no attention to the sign. Any toddler worth his salt can play in this park!

Pretzels were the snack of choice.

Cat chasing seems to be a favorite past-time of toddlers around the world.

What a cutie!

Their own version of Peek-a-boo

We even tried unsuccessfully to get a picture where all four of us were smiling and looking at the camera at the same time.