The Post Vacation Catch Up Mode

And so we just finished 2 weeks with our dear friends from Poland, Darek, Beata and Mattie.  So much fun, and Zak changed so much.

First of all, he's getting much better at expressing his feelings...but he does get mad.  I don't even remember what he was mad at me for, but right before Darek and Beata came, he was so frustrated with me for something.  I saw him walking around my bedroom fuming.  Finally, he took a wedding picture of Kuba and I, and put it in the bathroom.  He said he was so mad, he didn't want to see our picture right then. 

On my day off, we took them all to Glenwood Commons.  I like that park, but it's impossible for me to get Zak away from the trains they have there.  Mattie was not so interested in the trains, so I forced Zak to explore a bit more the rest of the park.  He again got very frustrated with me, and told me to sit right down and explain to him what I wanted from him and why.  He then proceeded to sit cross-legged on the ground and waited for me to sit down across from him and talk to him.  I assume this is something they do at school because I certainly didn't teach it to him.  It did work though, I sat down, explained that Mattie wanted to see more of the park, and he said, "OK, 5 minutes.  Then we go back to the trains."  I think I was too shocked to argue.

On the flip side, he'll just come up to me sometimes and say things like "I just love you so much."  Or yesterday, Kuba went out to the backyard in the morning to check on something, and Zak hollered out "Tato!  It's a little coldish out there...you might want to put on a jacket!"  He was very serious.  

Work wise I've decided to go back to 4 days a week.  There was definitely an interesting discussion with my manager about what are my ambitions here, do I want to continue further up the ladder, time is ticking by, etc.    I still need to internalize some of the discussion.  I think he was very happy I decided to return to 4 days.  Funny thing is, no discussion on the work load, because I had already let it grow too much for 3 days, and we both knew it.  I think going from 3 days to 4 days is going to feel like a huge amount of time for me...and I think Zak is ready for 4 days a week at school.  We have such a good base.  I'm so proud that I made it work for a year and a half..and happy to continue on at 4 days.

Today wasn't the best use of our day together though.  I had a migraine all night, and it continued until around noon.  Poor Zak.  I debated between taking him on in to school or not...but he sat near me on the bed, bounced around and watched WallE all morning.  The bouncing around certainly didn't help my head...neither did the little face in my face every 30 minutes asking me "Mommy, are you still sick?  Can you get up now and play?"  It made me feel even worse.  I feel so sorry for any mom dealing with a chronic illness....I would hate for Zak to see me like that all the time.  The afternoon we spent doing chores to catch up from our vacation.  Zak has chores that he likes to do, and those that he doesn't.  I asked him to take some folded laundry up to his room...but he said he felt the floor needed cleaning instead.  He said Tato "made a big mess of the floor and he needed to clean it up."  Never mind that we just mopped it yesterday, and I have no idea what mess he thought Kuba made.  Anyway, it got a good Zak cleaning today.  

I did ask him if he'd like to take some more swim classes, he said he'd prefer gymnastics (Tumblebees)...so I think I'll look into that again.  

Anyway, last month for 3 days a week!  I hope to make the most of it from here!

5 day weekend (can I still call it a weekend?)

So last week I rearranged my work schedule so that I'd have Thursday and Friday off, which then tagged onto the Labor Day holiday on Monday...hence a 5 day weekend. We flew up to Minnesota to visit with my brother's family (Jude, Chad and Maya). My sister and her family flew up too (Ann, Dave, Ethan and Logan)...and we rented 2 cabins on Farmer's Lake (one of the 10,000 Lakes, very near the Canadian border.)

Some Pics

We had no internet in our cabins, nor phone service. We could go to the main lodge for internet, and we did so several times a day, I mean, you can't be disconnected for toooo long...but for the most part we were disconnected. Having 4 children 4 yrs old and under all together can never be completely relaxing (unless they are all napping, which never happened at the same time), but it was certainly enjoyable. We went for a pontoon boat ride, hiked to a waterfall, threw rocks in the lake, and grilled hot dogs and smores over the camp fire. By the end, I was definitely tired of managing the interactions of the kids (don't take that without asking, say thank you!, no hitting!), and really liked my brother-in-law Chad's idea to just let them go and see what happens. :-) One more day and I would have been there.

It was our first attempt at getting our families together...and I think our 8 bedroom set up really helped us feel close, yet not crowded. Maybe we overdid it on the bedrooms, but the set up worked and we had a great time.

Before we left for vacation, Zak worked very hard to get 15 stars. He needed 15 because he asked for a specific train track that was more expensive than his normal toys. Once he got his 15 stars, he had to wait a couple of days before I could get it. I had it set up in the living room for him when he came home from school. He didn't disappoint me :-) He ran over to it, and said very slowly..."This is a very, special track." He's been having a blast with it.

Later that night he was so engrossed in his train track that he probably waited a bit too long to decide to go to the restroom. He went running in to the restroom, pulled down his pants and started to go....and accidentally hit the floor with the first bit. Kuba happened to be walking by and said "Zak, are you crazy? Your supposed to pee in the toilet!" He was joking, but Zak didn't find it funny. He came back with "Hey! Don't call me crazy! It was just a mistake!" Kuba and I loved that. So I called in..."Hey, no problem on the mistake, but make sure you clean up the floor afterward." He responded "Oh, just wait a few minutes. It'll dry, you'll see." At least he's thinking things through. :-)

Our close friends from Poland arrive tomorrow, Darek, Beata and their 3 year old son Mattie. I can't wait to see Mattie and Zak interact without understanding each other's language. Something tells me they will manage just fine :-) Zak is excited because we decided to let them have our upstairs for the week (Polish people don't like basements, even if they are finished)...which means Zak will come down to our room. He told my friend Sara at lunch today that our friends will sleep in his room, so he'll have to sleep in Mommy's room now.

Work this week is hectic, but not too out of control. I had a president/CIO review yesterday, which I finished the prep for before I left...and surprisingly there were no last minute changes to it while I was gone :-) I actually had a very productive day yesterday even though my calendar was a mess. I weeded out the non-essential meetings and in the end think I picked the right ones because they were all very productive. It's tough having a 2 day work week this week...I know... **sniff, sniff**. I think Zak needed a relax day. It's been rainy and dreary all day, and we cuddled up a lot to just recoup from being gone the 5 days (and prep for our friends' visit)...he's been hugging me all day and saying "I just love you so much." Am I making him too sappy? :-) I'll take it while I can get it.

We did start the day with 30 minutes of homework which is due tomorrow. I'm in for a rude awakening when that has to be done during the night. When he gets home from school and Kuba and I from work, helping him with homework is the last thing we're going to want to do. I'm sure we'll manage :-)