Nicki And Adam's Family Blog

It is the last day of summer break for students and teachers here. It has been a great summer and I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on all the good that happened this summer: -I got to stay home with my sweetie and see all of his developments. -I met a bunch of stay at home moms through a variety of organizations in my city/county. -Adam got to play on a summer volleyball league; I got to work out at the YMCA regularly! -I read quite a few books. -Went to the UP for a few days over the 4th of July. I love my profession, but I love my child more, that is why I am teaching just one class a day to focus on my first and foremost job, raising a child. Beyond my 17%, I am also mentoring online students (I am called a LEG-Local Education Guide) for these students. It is fascinating and I have learned a lot already. Most of these students might be called "at risk" for various reasons. I hope that I can be a positive influence in their life and ultimately help ...

Dinner is now more of an "event" with a toddler in the house. Every now and again he throws food on the floor. We are not a fan of this. The first few times this happened, we would look him sternly in the face and tell him no. He would cry. Well, he has grown up a bit. This is now the scenario: Charlie: (food goes on the floor) "Uh Oh!" Mommy/Daddy: "Charlie, don't throw food on the floor!" Charlie:.....silence....(point out the window) "TREE!" So, what is happening: 1.) He is not responding to our command 2.) He is trying to divert our attention to something else (always a tree) 3.) He has the attention span of a mouse... Oh the funny times! Lovin' It!

This weekend was the annual West Bend Germanfest! It is always a great time with lots of polka dancing and beer drinking and everything else that is "German" or somewhat German. Although this is Charlie's 2nd Germanfest, this is the first time that he really enjoyed all the music. Most of the tim he stood in front of the band clapping his hands. He would cry when the song ended and then would start to clap again once the music started back up. Too Cute! Here is a video of my Dad and I dancing. I LOVE dancing with my Dad and am so honored that I have a 75 year old father that can still move this well. In fact, he can easily out dance me any day of the week! What a cool passion he has. This is something that we will all pass on to our children as they grow up. Here is a link of my father and I dancing and Charlie (if you look closely) standing by the stage and clapping. I am in the pink :) Here are some other pictures of a fun weekend with Grandpa (and Grandpa and G...

Again, a good friend of mine puts updates of her children's development regularly on the blog. I think this is a great idea so that I will REMEMBER what happened in his life. I think I am already starting to forget a whole bunch. Sleeping -Goes to sleep around 8 or 8:30pm. Often wakes up between 7:30-8:00am. He talks to himself when he wakes up or clinks his "boggy" on the railing so we know he is awake. - Takes ONE nap a day from about 1pm until 3 or 4pm (depending on the day). We transitioned him to one nap a day when he was 14 months old because he was no longer taking an afternoon nap and the morning nap was getting too long. We are VERY blessed to have a wonderful sleeper on our hands! Eating -This varies from day to day. His favorite foods are: strawberries, raspberries, guacamole, veggie straws, hummus, cottage cheese, milk, juice, water. -On certain days I can get him to eat meat, whole wheat bread, etc...but I can never be sure which days that will be! ...

We took Charlie, in July, to his first county fair. The Washington County Fair. This is a really well run and clean fair. I actually liked it! My only memories of fairs are the Dane County Fair which was just full of a bunch of carnies who were missing most of their teeth. Surprisingly, most of these carnies had their teeth. This is Charlie's first encounter with an animal beyond a dog or cat. He was not fond of the bunny. I am glad. I don't want a bunny in my house and Adam regularly threatens to shoot them in our backyard. Next we enjoyed feeding the goats carrots, until the pesky Llama butted his way in. Adam, being the lovely camera man that he is, didn't give me a warning of the llama's approach and thus Mr.Llama scared the daylights out of me as I thought he was going to eat Charlie's ear. Luckily, he didn't, but devoured the carrots that I had purchased. And last, but not least, what fair would be complete without a tractor climbing. I am sure thi...

So I have decided to do a blog because I saw a friend (Thanks Ann!) who uses it frequently. Beyond the fact that I love reading hers, I love, even more, the fact that she can make a book out of it and have it for her keeping. I think that is a neat idea for memories down the line. How cool will it be for my child, Charlie, to see what was going on in the year 2011 when at the moment all he seems to care about is: well, balls and books! I am hoping by the time he is actually able to read, his interests will have turned to: dancing and singing.