Taekwondo Tournament

Carter participated in a Taekwondo (TKD) Tournament today at his TKD school.  Honestly, I was very much against him signing up for this.  He’s only been doing TKD for about 3 months.  He’s still the lowest belt level possible (white).  I was thinking that he would be the youngest, smallest, least experienced kid there and it would be a disappointment for him. 

Well, I was right on the youngest, smallest, least experienced part.

Given his level and (in)experience, he could really only participate in the board breaking portion of the tournament.  I was definitely not excited about this because he’s never tried to break a board before.  I was so nervous for him to try this in front of an audience.  To make matters even worse, they started with the least experienced kids and worked their way up through to the black belts.

You can see him in the picture below with one board in front of him and one board behind him.  The goal is for him to punch through the one in front of him and then whip around and punch through the second board in one fluid motion.

Carter didn’t break the first board on his first attempt.  But he totally stuck with it and on his third attempt (and after he calmed down a bit) he punched that thing in half. He quickly turned around and broke the second board into three pieces on his first try!

Sorry for the terrible quality of the photo but I was ridiculously nervous for Carter.  In fact, I only got that one photo because I think I was holding my breath the whole time.

Needless-to-say, Carter was beaming with pride afterwards (as was I).

Carter earned a participation trophy which he was thrilled about until he saw that it was possible to earn bigger trophies.  

PS – No, I was not thrilled that my son was strong enough to punch through a piece of wood, I was thrilled that he had the confidence and focus to do it.  I cannot say enough good things about TKD.  It has taught him confidence, respect, and self discipline and is a fabulous work out for him twice a week.  AND, most of all, he loves it.

New Bedroom Furniture

With a baby on the way, we needed to get Carter some new bedroom furniture. His furniture is actually part of the nursery set and so we need to move his dresser, nightstand, and bookcase into the baby’s room.

We decided to upgrade Carter to an even bigger “big boy” bed.  He now has a full size (aka, double) bed.  We are planning on this set lasting him for at least the next 13 years…at which point he’ll be sleeping in a crappy, twin-sized dorm bed.

 

I still need to find that perfect picture or two to hang above his bed.  It’s looking rather bare up there.  Do you remember the mod-podged stars from this post?  They’ll be moved to the area above his bookcase to the left of the bed.  I have a trophy shelf type thing on order that will go were the stars were originally hanging. 

Clearly there’s more work that needs to be done but we are making progress (which is more that I can say about the nursery these days!).

PUKE!

Carter puked for the first time ever last night.  He actually puked two three four seven times.

Seriously…this kid is 5 1/2 years old and has never thrown up before.  Were we the luckiest parents in the world or what?

OK, so that’s not entirely true. He threw up once when he was roughly one year old. He had a double ear infection and was given the antibiotic Augmenten.  It made him sick to his stomach and threw up once, we never gave him anymore of the stuff, end of story.

So anyway, back to last night (as if you are dying to hear all the details).  Shortly after putting Carter to bed, he came out of his room complaining of a tummy ache. I snuggled with him for a while and so did Ben.  Being totally exhausted from driving in hazardous snow conditions all afternoon, I went off to bed.  Ben woke me around 11pm saying poor Carter threw up everywhere and he needed help cleaning up.  

Ben was awesome. He had already stripped the bed and gotten Carter out of his nasty PJs and was tending to Carter in the bathroom.   Me? I’m terrible with vomit.  I violently gag if I have to clean up cat puke.  I absolutely cannot handle the sound of someone else throwing up.  And now, with my overactive sniffer (thanks pregnancy hormones) I have to go into a room and clean up birthday cake laced puke from the carpet? Yikes.

Suck it up, Carla!  What kind of a mom are you??

I got the room all cleaned up and Ben got Carter all cleaned up.   Having never done this before, Carter did not understand what happened.  He said something to Ben along the lines of, “ Daddy, that was terrible. I didn’t like that at all.

I spent the rest of the night running between the laundry machine and Carter’s room.   Fortunately, he picked up pretty quickly to the concept of getting it into the bucket.

Sometime around 4:30 am, he said to me, “I’m having a pretty rough night, aren’t I?”

Poor kid.  If he/his room hadn’t smelled so bad, I might have snuggled longer with him.

PS – I don’t recommend realizing you are missing a critical piece to your carpet steam cleaner AFTER your child has thrown up all over his bedroom carpet. 

Sledding

We had a blast sledding with some friends this morning.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

I love how you can hardly see Carter’s face in this one.  He’s made sure there’s no exposed skin to the cold air.

Sledding buddies!

Carter went down the hill all by himself…face first!

 

How cool is this kid?

Tae Kwon Do

We signed Carter up for tae kwon do at the end of last year.  We thought he needed some sort of physical activity for the winter months and we had heard that martial arts were great for helping develop focus and discipline in young children.

I’m not sure if we are seeing any improvement in focus or discipline, but Carter loves classes and looks so darn cute in his uniform.

Soccer – Week 5

F I N A L L Y ! ! ! ! 

Good weather.  And it made all the difference in the world.  Everyone had a blast.  Carter participated in the practice, played in the game, and was thrilled to wear his jersey.  There was no crying and only minimal whining.   It was actually an enjoyable Saturday morning and not at all a taste of purgatory like some of the prior weeks.

It’s really fun to watch Carter do the drills during practice.  When he’s focused, he’s quite good.  The problem is that he has the attention span of a Labrador puppy.

Carter is goofing around before the game with friend and former next door neighbor, Bennett.

Carter resting with Nana during one of the breaks in the game.  I swear these kids run the fastest when they are told it’s time for a water break.  They nearly race to the sidelines.

Aunt MB also came to the game but somehow I failed to snap a photo. 

 

In the final minutes of the game, Carter got to play at the same time his friend and classmate, Theo, was playing for the other team.  They were total goofballs together on the field.  They pulled their jerseys over their heads.  They pretended to shoot each other with their hands shaped like pistols.  I was laughing too hard to actually get a picture of Carter and Theo together.

Thanks to Nana and MB for coming out to the game and thanks to Mother Nature for FINALLY providing us some decent weather on a Saturday morning.

Next week I’ll have to miss the game as I will be walking 5k with my mom in the Komen Race for the Cure.  Hopefully I can convince Ben to drag the camera along and take some pictures and/or video of Carter in action. 

Hmm…maybe I can even get him to write a posting of his own.

Soccer – Week 4

The poor kid just can’t seem to get a break.   It was 75 degrees earlier this week, yet, today it was 38 degrees with gale force winds.  It was so dang cold and windy that my eyes watered the entire time we were out on the field.

The odds were stacked against Carter this week.  Not only was it frigging cold, but (because of the cold) the coaches decided to essentially skip the practice part and just play the game so we could all go home sooner.  Yep, they skipped the one part of the whole ordeal that Carter really enjoys.

 Coach Pat, Bennett, Carter, and Austin

Carter wasn’t too excited to play and preferred to be on the sidelines on my lap.  Truthfully, I preferred when he was on  my lap, too.  It kept me much, much warmer.

Right now the forecast for next Saturday is 65 degrees and partly sunny.  My fingers are crossed that we actually get that weather. If so, I have high hopes for Carter and soccer.

Soccer – Week 3

We woke this morning to a huge thunderstorm.  The thunder shook the house, the lightning seemed to be right in our backyard, and the rain was absolutely pouring down. 

Ben and I were pretty convinced there would be no soccer, but we didn’t mention anything to Carter.  The last thing we wanted to do was give him the idea that there would be no game and then have to drag him out kicking and screaming if the game was on.

Turns out the rain stopped 5 minutes before game time and the temp was in the upper 50s.  Amazing…finally some decent (not great) weather.

I am so proud of Carter today.  This was a great day of soccer for him.  Carter wore his jersey!!!  Carter participated in practice and had fun.  Well….for the most part anyway.  There was one drill that he didn’t do.  It was a game of sharks and minnows.  Carter didn’t like the idea of the sharks coming around and stealing the minnows’ balls.   Overall, though, practice was a huge success.  Carter was a champ at Red Light, Green Light and has decent ball control.  He laughed and had fun.  He listened to his coaches.

Though he still didn’t want to play in the game, I didn’t care. I was too busy beaming with pride from the improvement over the previous two weeks.

When the coach put Carter into the game, he stood where the coach placed him on the field the entire time. He just watched all the other kids run around after the ball.  He didn’t even bat an eye when the ball rolled right past him.  Carter would just look over to the sidelines at us with big eyes that seemed to be saying, “Really? I have to do this?”

We can’t figure out his aversion to the actual game given how much he seems to enjoy the drills.  I guess for today, I don’t really care….he wore his jersey!

Of course I don’t have any pictures.  After hauling my camera out to the field two weeks in a row for no reason, I didn’t feel like doing it again (especially with the threat of more rain).

Vision Test Needed

Today was the deadline for submitting Carter’s registration for Kindergarten.  Of course, I turned it in on the last day possible.  And you do know why? Because it was like 40 pages long.  Besides, I was busy filling out the paperwork for summer camp, before school care, and after school care first…all of which were due a couple of weeks ago.

It’s outrageous how much paperwork I have submitted to the Northville Public Schools in the last 3 weeks.  I have gotten hand cramps from writing so much.  Clearly the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) has not trickled down to the State level, least of all the public schools in Wayne county. 

I had to fill out emergency contact cards in duplicate for summer camp, kindergarten, before school care, and after school care.  That was 8 copies of the same dang form.  All of which will be held in the same central repository at the elementary school.  And, NO!, I couldn’t just photocopy them.  They need originals because my signature is on them.

And I was not exaggerating (at least not a lot) when I said the registration was 40 pages long.  I had to fill out Carter’s personal identification information. I had to provide a copy and show his original birth certificate and I had to provide a copy of my driver’s license.  I had to make a list of his strengths and weakness and sign a note stating that he has no know hearing problems.  I had to make a list of things he liked and disliked in preschool.  There were questions about buses and AM or PM kindergarten preferences.  There were forms for sunscreen and permission to use his photo in publications.

And then I had to prove residency in the township.  In order to prove said residency, I had to provide a copy of my mortgage statement, a copy of a utilities bill, and a copy of my bank statement.  Good grief!!  I think I provided less information when we applied for our mortgage.  Clearly there is no sneaking in to this school district. 

I am quite certain that I have seen college applications that were easier than the registration for public school kindergarten.  I kept waiting for the essay portion of the application.  I can see it now…Kindergarten candidate, have you experienced a moment of epiphany, as if your eyes were opened to something you were previously blind to? Describe this moment and your percepts about it.  Or perhaps he would opt for: Does any specific attribute, quality or skill distinguish you from everyone else? How did you develop this attribute?

[an aside…I have no idea what the word “percepts” means in the above paragraph.  Had I actually been writing a college application essay, I would have skipped right over that question and picked another one instead of taking the time to look up the word.  I’m lazy like that.]

As you can imagine, I had all the paperwork neatly filled out and in a folder.  I had all the supporting documentation paper clipped to the registration form in the order it was requested.  I also had the original cover letter with the paragraph requesting the documentation highlighted.  This is my anal retentive way.  If you know me, you should not be surprised.

In the school office submitting the paperwork:

Carla: I’m here to register my son for kindergarten

Admin: Great. Let me take a look at your paperwork.

(While she peruses my nice stack of papers, I watch the principal shredding reams of paper. I have visions of an elementary school version of Enron happening right here in Northville)

Admin:  Looks great, but you are missing the documentation for the vision screening.

Carla:  What?  That wasn’t requested in the letter. (as I point to the paragraph that I highlighted)

Admin:  (pointing to the area just below what I’ve highlighted) It says it right here in the second paragraph.

Carla:  Oh.

Who needs a vision test now?

Soccer – Week 2

Today was Carter’s second soccer game.  The weather was marginally improved over last Saturday.  The temp was in the 50s but it poured rain the entire hour.  Carter was a trouper tough and didn’t cry or complain about the weather.  I can’t say the same about myself.

I brought my camera but didn’t even take it out of the bag because it was raining too hard.

The no crying was big progress over last week.  Because of this alone, I declare the event a success.

Though we were still unable to get Carter to wear his jersey or to practice with the team or play in the game, he did practice with me and Ben. He even practiced a bit with his friend Bennett.  AND, he laughed and smiled while doing it.

I am happy with the progress but we still have a long way to go.

PS – I noticed this week other kids having bouts of crying and general unhappiness.  I guess this happened last week, too.  I was just too preoccupied with our own little problems that I didn’t notice.

Ready For His First Soccer Game

Carter starts soccer tomorrow.   Every Saturday morning for the next 8 weeks they meet for 1 hour, during which they will practice for 30 minutes and then have a 30 minute 3 on 3 game. 

Since Carter has never really played soccer before, we wanted to do a trial run with all his soccer gear tonight.  We got him all dressed up in his cleats, shin guards, special socks, etc.



Carter was thrilled.  He thought the shin guards were so cool.  I had been nervous that he wouldn’t like the shin guards or like the cleats.  He was happy as could be.  He immediately wanted to go outside and practice.



Carter is actually pretty good at dribbling, when he’s not laughing or giggling to hard too pay attention.  He still doesn’t really understand why he can’t use his hands and keeps forgetting this rule.



Here he is yelling, “GGGOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLL!”  I think that’s the couple of years in Germany coming out.  [Please ignore the fact that he’s pulling his shorts out and it looks like a skirt.]



Am I officially a soccer mom, now?

Here Kitty, Kitty

Ben:  Do you think you look like Mommy?

Carter:  No

Ben:  Do you think you look like me?

Carter:  Yes, but I’m not furry.  You are furry like a cat.

My sides still hurt from laughing so hard.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Carter made a very nice valentine for me and Ben today at school.  It’s a handprint on a heart.  The teacher asked him what message he wanted to include.

Here’s a close up so you can see the heartfelt message…

Fortunately Ben is a good sport and isn’t taking it too personally.  I can’t say that I would do the same…in fact, I’m sure I would be in tears.

Poopy Pants + Mind Your Own Business

Carter pooped in his pants today.  Quite possibly the first time ever.  I’m not sure in all the potty training time if he ever pooped his pants.  Sure there were plenty of wet accidents…I just don’t seem to remember any dirty ones.  Maybe it’s just selective memory.

Carter and I were spending some time at a book store while Daddy was next store doing some grocery shopping.  I’m a little burnt out on some of his books right now so I thought it would be a nice treat (for both of us) to get him some new books.    This was also going to be a consolation prize for him after spending over an hour with us at the tile store.  Carter was such a good sport while Ben and I hemmed and hawed over which tile would look best in our new bathroom.  

Nothing like dirty drawers to bring everything to a screeching halt.

So, we were in the bookstore and had just walked over to the kid’s section.  Not only is there a HUGE selection of books, but there are fun toys and a train table all set up.  Carter ran right over and played for a whole 2 minutes before “it” happened.  He walked over to me and said, “I have to go potty.”  As we were making our way over to the restrooms, I noticed Carter was walking with a strange gait.  “Carter, are we too late?” I asked.  The answer:

“Mommy, I have poop in my underwear.”

*sigh*

I'll spare you the details of the clean up.

I now have a pounding headache.  I need a drink.  Unfortunately, there is no liquor store attached to the bookstore, but there is a Starbuck’s.  Close enough.

Me:  Medium, non-fat caramel macchiato, please.

Barista:  Sure.  Would you like a double chocolate brownie with that, today?

Me:  No thank you.  Just the coffee.

Carter:  Mommy, can I have a cookie, please?

Me: Absolutely not.

Barista:  We have chocolate chip…

Me:  No thank you.

Carter: Please, Mommy.

Me: No!

Barista:  Oh, doesn’t he look sad.

Me: (giving him the stink eye) Just the coffee, please.

I'm sure you can imagine the rest of the conversation, including the hushed whispers I had with Carter reminding him of his dirty drawers from two minutes prior. 

Clearly this idiot behind the counter of the bookstore Starbucks does not have any children of his own, nor has he ever interacted with young children.  Because if he did (or had), he would have never tried to undermine me.

Why can’t people just mind their own business?

Lego Countdown Calendar

You are likely all aware of Carter's fascination with Legos (really, the whole family is obsessed). Well, Lego makes an Advent calendar every year and each of the 24 doors opens to a small Lego (usually a max of about 10 pieces).

Last year we used the calendar for the countdown until we flew home for the holidays. This year we are using it as the countdown to the movers. Last night was the first night. We only have 23 nights left in the house.

"Aargh!  Get packing or I'll make you walk the plank..."

PS - The Carter picked out the Pirate themed Advent calendar (pictured above) this year.  I was pushing for the Lego City theme which would coordinate with much of his Lego collection already.  He has nothing pirate related nor has he ever shown any interest in pirates. Until now.   My whole point of telling you this is to tell you that this set retails for $55 on amazon.com and we picked it up for 12 euros here in Germany.  That kid is smart...he somehow picked the "rare in the US" edition.

Move Over Jamie Oliver...

There's a new Naked Chef in town!

OK, ok...so he's not naked. BUT, he's definitely cooking without any pants.

Pedal Bike!

I'm not even sure I need to say anything here...other than I am so proud of him.

Special thanks to Gus Johnson who grew out of his bike and loaned it to Carter to try out.

Gross, Lice!

Someone at Carter's school has lice.  How gross is that?

Last week someone was diagnosed with chicken pox (fortunately Carter has had the vaccination) and now this week someone has headlice.  I guess it's a common problem in daycares and preschools (and camp) but I still can't get past the idea that it's due to general  uncleanliness.  I have not stopped itching since I found out. 

Carter does not appear to have any sign of it but I still want to burn everything of his that was at school in the past week.

Have you or your kids had lice?

PS - don't forget that I'm donating 50 cents to breast cancer research for every comment my blog gets this month.

More Random Stuff

This morning as I was drying off from my shower, Carter was using the potty. He looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why is your tushie big?"

Let's just say that I'm looking forward to moving back to the States and getting a master bedroom with an en suite bathroom. And Carter can have his own bathroom. No more sharing.

I had been recently wondering at what age should I not let Carter see me naked. I think I have my answer.

***********

I recently purchased Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. I have been loving it and am so excited to try a bunch of new projects. Problem is...craft stores here in Germany are terrible. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss Michaels.

I have also just been kicking myself for sending my sewing machine and scrapbooking supplies to storage and not bringing them over here with me. I guess I thought I would just be sooo busy traveling and living the European life that I wouldn't have time for boring old crafts.

Oh well, I now have a long list of projects for the future.

***********

I'm thinking of becoming a Mormon. I think at least 70% of the blogs I follow are written by Mormon women. These women are superwomen. Not to generalize or anything, but they all have at least 3 kids, churn out a quilt a week, make their kids clothes, have incredibly beautiful children, have fabulously decorated homes, have 4 course meals waiting on the table for dinner when the husband comes home from work, and write wonderful and witty blogs. Perhaps if I were to become Mormon, I could have these traits, too.

Come to think of it, it's either (A) the polygamy thing -- multiple women masquerading as 1 wife in the virtual world. One to cook, one to quilt, one to clean, one to tend to the children, one to blog, all to have children. Or (B) it's really only one woman but she's taking her kid's ADHD medication and has become uber-productive.
Sorry if I have offended any Mormons out there, but seriously, I'm in awe. How do you do it?

Carter - 4 Years

Dear Carter,

Today you are four. I know I sound cliche, but the time has just flown by. I still think of you as my baby but you are far, far from it.

It's been a big year for you. You are likely not going to remember all of the places that we have visited in the last year of your life. Bruges, Strasbourg, Prague, Nuremberg, Berlin, Lake Constance, Neuschwanstein Castle, Ravensberger Spieleland, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv.

You passed your German proficiency exam at school and you took swimming lessons. You traded in your toddler bed for your big boy bed. You became toilet trained. You still have very little interest in writing or coloring, or crafts in general. But you do seem to have an aptitude for math related things and you love sorting and organizing your Legos. Some of your favorite toys are still Lightning McQueen, but you have also expanded to Bob the Builder and all things Lego related. You are obsessed with Berenstain Bears books and Richard Scarry books.

One of the favorite things for me is watching you and Daddy do Legos together and watch Star Wars. The two of you have become best buddies this year.

For the better part of the year you had an orange baseball cap attached to your head. You loved it because it had the Ford logo on it. You actually think that Mommy and Daddy working at Ford is really cool and you've asked to come to work with us. You want to come see all the Fords in the parking lot.

You are an extremely picky eater and really only have a handful of things that you eat. If you had your choice, you could eat cream cheese and crackers and yogurt for almost every meal. Your other stand-bys are black bean burritos, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks. After numerous trips to Ikea, you started eating hot dogs. You have been making great progress in the last month with trying new foods. A surprising new hit with you is meatloaf. Daddy is doing a great job of getting you to try new vegetables...cucumbers and bell peppers are your latest. Of course there are some kids' standards that you refuse to eat like macaroni & cheese and peanut butter & jelly.

Sometimes you say the funniest things (see Penis Store here and Baby Store here). In fact just the other day, you had another great one:

Me - Carter would you like some more cereal.

Carter - No thanks. I have to get dressed. I have a really busy day.

Some of my favorite sayings you have are: "You are frustrating me," "Who put that there?," "Who did that?," or "I have a good idea."

You are growing so big but you are still small enough for me to snuggle. Soon I think that you will not put up with me so much. You are still very affectionate and love to hug and kiss us. One day this will stop and it will break my heart.

This morning you were already talking about your 5th birthday. Oh, I wish you would just slow down this whole growing up business.