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 :-)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Recovering
Well, at the beginning of this week, I thought Zak had completely changed his demeanor, and that maybe I was hitting a new stage of "terrible fours." Whenever we have a couple of tough days, I start thinking, wow, maybe I've spoiled him or done something wrong. But then I remembered how busy the last week was at the tennis tournament, and that he'd not gotten enough sleep at all...and I felt a little better. By Friday we were back to normal and I had my normally awesome son back :-)
On Wednesday, he was doing strange things like...as I was unloading the car, I put our backpack down on the ground to get some other things out. I put it down apparently right where he wanted to walk. He walked right up to the backpack and started crying "Why did you put the backpack here? I need to walk here and I can't!" I told him, "Zak, go around the backpack, there is plenty of room...I'll pick it up in a minute." But he continued to cry "No, I want to go through it! Why did you block me!" And he pushed through the backpack.
He also had gotten pretty bossy. I turned right on a red light, and he shouted out "Noooo!!!! Why did you go!?!?! It was RED!!!!! STOPP!!!"
Everything was just a bit more dramatic than it needed to be. But, as I said, by Friday, he was back to his wonderful self, I think because we had gotten back into some semblance of a normal schedule. On Friday we did a 3 hour bike/playground trip with Rowan and Dana. On the way to get them, Zak and I sang songs on the bike. Zak still loves that "You are my sunshine" song, and then he tells me that he's my sunshine. Then he also tells me that I'm HIS sunshine. Which makes me feel good. Then he says "and Tato's our coconut!" :-) Makes me laugh!
His new thing is to ask me "What's the problem?" If I say, "Oh shoot" because I hit a traffic jam, or I forgot to buy milk, or something...he comes running over "What? What's the problem here?"
Friday evening I was getting ready to go out for birthday drinks with friends, and I put on an outfit...Zak told me, "Mama, I like black, but that's not a good outfit for you at all." Then he proceeded to find another, purple outfit that he liked better. Wow! I wore the one he picked out, because it was more comfortable anyway :-)
Work is becoming a bit more challenging. We have quite a bit of business travel planned, which basically makes it impossible to do 3 days. The week of the travel obviously doesn't make sense...and then there is no possibility to catch it up because you already get way too far behind when you travel anyway. My work plan continues to "creep" up...and its slowly becoming much more than I can manage in my 3 days. I'm seriously considering going up to 4 days a week. Not only because of work, because I think I could force the issue if I really wanted to...but because I think Zak would probably do better going that one extra day to pre-school, and I feel like we've got such a great base set now. I'm going to think about it through September and then decide.
By the way, last week at work was great. As always, ups and downs...but all in all, I'm still on the right track and adding value :-)
On Wednesday, he was doing strange things like...as I was unloading the car, I put our backpack down on the ground to get some other things out. I put it down apparently right where he wanted to walk. He walked right up to the backpack and started crying "Why did you put the backpack here? I need to walk here and I can't!" I told him, "Zak, go around the backpack, there is plenty of room...I'll pick it up in a minute." But he continued to cry "No, I want to go through it! Why did you block me!" And he pushed through the backpack.
He also had gotten pretty bossy. I turned right on a red light, and he shouted out "Noooo!!!! Why did you go!?!?! It was RED!!!!! STOPP!!!"
Everything was just a bit more dramatic than it needed to be. But, as I said, by Friday, he was back to his wonderful self, I think because we had gotten back into some semblance of a normal schedule. On Friday we did a 3 hour bike/playground trip with Rowan and Dana. On the way to get them, Zak and I sang songs on the bike. Zak still loves that "You are my sunshine" song, and then he tells me that he's my sunshine. Then he also tells me that I'm HIS sunshine. Which makes me feel good. Then he says "and Tato's our coconut!" :-) Makes me laugh!
His new thing is to ask me "What's the problem?" If I say, "Oh shoot" because I hit a traffic jam, or I forgot to buy milk, or something...he comes running over "What? What's the problem here?"
Friday evening I was getting ready to go out for birthday drinks with friends, and I put on an outfit...Zak told me, "Mama, I like black, but that's not a good outfit for you at all." Then he proceeded to find another, purple outfit that he liked better. Wow! I wore the one he picked out, because it was more comfortable anyway :-)
Work is becoming a bit more challenging. We have quite a bit of business travel planned, which basically makes it impossible to do 3 days. The week of the travel obviously doesn't make sense...and then there is no possibility to catch it up because you already get way too far behind when you travel anyway. My work plan continues to "creep" up...and its slowly becoming much more than I can manage in my 3 days. I'm seriously considering going up to 4 days a week. Not only because of work, because I think I could force the issue if I really wanted to...but because I think Zak would probably do better going that one extra day to pre-school, and I feel like we've got such a great base set now. I'm going to think about it through September and then decide.
By the way, last week at work was great. As always, ups and downs...but all in all, I'm still on the right track and adding value :-)
Friday, August 19, 2011
A Very Busy Week
This week has been probably a little too hectic. The ATP is here, and we've become friends with some of the players, so we get to see the "backstage" of tennis.
We've been there late all week (around 11:00ish)...so poor Zak is exhausted. He wanted to go to King's Island on Wednesday, but I felt he needed to just relax and catch up on some sleep. I offered him a bike ride instead, but he didn't want it. We just kind of hung around all day, then went to the tourney around 4. I planned to come back around 8, but just when we were about to leave, the Polish doubles guys started to play, so we all went over to watch. Of course, we said just for the first set, but then for the second as well, and then for congrats after, etc. etc. So again, 11:00 to get home. Zak did another photo shoot this year with the Polish newspaper columnist from Chicago...he always seems to find Zak in his Polska shirt. If I actually see the publication, I'll make sure to put the link here.
Thursday Zak was sad that Marta had left us, but happy enough that Maciek, Ala and Klaudia came over for dinner and stayed the night. But this morning, when we told him they were all leaving today, he literally threw himself on the ground and said "No! I want some friends to stay with us right now!" I guess he's bored with just Mommy and Tato now.
Also, because we needed to use his room last night, we had him sleep with Kuba and I. Every time we do that, it's a fight the next night to get him back to his room. A few months ago he proclaimed that only little girls needed to sleep in their own beds, little boys need to sleep with their parents. I have no idea where that one came from. Anyway, tonight he informed me that he couldn't sleep in his room because it doesn't have a bathroom in it. So now he needs an "en-suite bathroom!" Anyway, he's asleep now in his own bedroom again, and hopefully will make it to the bathroom literally one step from his bedroom if needed :-)
Today (Friday) - we also took it easy since we were up again last night to midnight hanging out with the crew. I bought a new board game for us to play (Richard Scarry's "I can see it") - another great game. We had fun playing it twice, then got into a fight over who should go first. I wanted to go first, Zak said no, and when I said that was only fair since he went first the last two times, he said he didn't want to play. So we didn't. I didn't want to give into him. I think I'm a little on the tired side myself.
Kuba's aunt passed away on Wednesday. She's been fighting cancer for about 10 years, and it got really bad in the last couple of weeks. I can't do justice to the stress that has put Kuba under, and the arranging of when he should go to Poland, if we should all go, etc. Since Kuba's grandfather passed away just a few weeks ago, it's definitely a trying time for him and his family, which is a very small family anyway. Needless to say, it makes you appreciate what you have.
Anyway, the nice part of this week is that when things are this busy, having those extra two days to recuperate with Zak, or pitch in more to help Kuba, are very nice.
Work was very productive this week too. Ended on a very high note. Monday will be a critical day for me to know how I've really been doing over the past couple of months. I'll let you know how that goes next week :-)
We've been there late all week (around 11:00ish)...so poor Zak is exhausted. He wanted to go to King's Island on Wednesday, but I felt he needed to just relax and catch up on some sleep. I offered him a bike ride instead, but he didn't want it. We just kind of hung around all day, then went to the tourney around 4. I planned to come back around 8, but just when we were about to leave, the Polish doubles guys started to play, so we all went over to watch. Of course, we said just for the first set, but then for the second as well, and then for congrats after, etc. etc. So again, 11:00 to get home. Zak did another photo shoot this year with the Polish newspaper columnist from Chicago...he always seems to find Zak in his Polska shirt. If I actually see the publication, I'll make sure to put the link here.
Thursday Zak was sad that Marta had left us, but happy enough that Maciek, Ala and Klaudia came over for dinner and stayed the night. But this morning, when we told him they were all leaving today, he literally threw himself on the ground and said "No! I want some friends to stay with us right now!" I guess he's bored with just Mommy and Tato now.
Also, because we needed to use his room last night, we had him sleep with Kuba and I. Every time we do that, it's a fight the next night to get him back to his room. A few months ago he proclaimed that only little girls needed to sleep in their own beds, little boys need to sleep with their parents. I have no idea where that one came from. Anyway, tonight he informed me that he couldn't sleep in his room because it doesn't have a bathroom in it. So now he needs an "en-suite bathroom!" Anyway, he's asleep now in his own bedroom again, and hopefully will make it to the bathroom literally one step from his bedroom if needed :-)
Today (Friday) - we also took it easy since we were up again last night to midnight hanging out with the crew. I bought a new board game for us to play (Richard Scarry's "I can see it") - another great game. We had fun playing it twice, then got into a fight over who should go first. I wanted to go first, Zak said no, and when I said that was only fair since he went first the last two times, he said he didn't want to play. So we didn't. I didn't want to give into him. I think I'm a little on the tired side myself.
Kuba's aunt passed away on Wednesday. She's been fighting cancer for about 10 years, and it got really bad in the last couple of weeks. I can't do justice to the stress that has put Kuba under, and the arranging of when he should go to Poland, if we should all go, etc. Since Kuba's grandfather passed away just a few weeks ago, it's definitely a trying time for him and his family, which is a very small family anyway. Needless to say, it makes you appreciate what you have.
Anyway, the nice part of this week is that when things are this busy, having those extra two days to recuperate with Zak, or pitch in more to help Kuba, are very nice.
Work was very productive this week too. Ended on a very high note. Monday will be a critical day for me to know how I've really been doing over the past couple of months. I'll let you know how that goes next week :-)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
the Renewal
Ok, well, I've been trying to determine what to do with this blog. I made it for a year, which was longer than I thought I would :-) But then abruptly stopped. I quit blogging because of what I'll call "the incident" at work. When the "incident" happened, I knew I could not blog about it. It was one of those times where I needed to wait a week or two for my head to clear before I did anything, lest I act (or write) irrationally.
In the end, I decided that no, I couldn't write honestly about the incident, which by the way, had nothing to do with my working part time, but everything to do with the colossal amount of stress that executives get put under (or put themselves under?). And so then I started questioning the whole purpose of my blog. I said in the beginning, I would write honestly about what it is like to work part time as an executive at a large company...and suddenly realized that when it came down to it, I wasn't able to be completely honest. So, am I being fake by continuing to blog under such a pretense?
On the other hand, I've had SO MANY people ask me why I've quit blogging. I think people appreciated it for several reasons, but one recurring one was that it reminded them to appreciate the little, but important things. So even if they aren't blogging, or working part time...some of the little things I recorded about Zak helped them remember not to take their own little life treasures for granted.
So, I've made peace with the fact that I probably won't be completely honest about some of the trials and tribulations at work (although I will try to be as honest as possible)...and so I will change the focus of the blog to be about appreciating the journey...which is what I'm trying to do. Appreciating the journey, in a responsible way :-)
I really missed blogging. It takes effort, but on the other hand, it made me really watch throughout the day for those little nuggets that I could share. So, let's try again :-)
Zak has come a long way in the last few months. He's 4 and so clearly a little boy now. If there is a group of kids between 3 and 6...he hangs with the older kids. He does simple math, and loves to play a subtraction board game I bought for us to play together. On the other hand, I can't get him to spend any time on forming words out of letters, or writing for that matter. So it looks like Math is his clear preference.
I started this "star" system with him, which has had so many unbelievable benefits. I was trying to think of an allowance system, but something not quite as complex because I think he's too young to understand fully money and savings. So we came up with "10 stars" gets him pretty much a toy of his choice. He's got it down and told me the other day that he has 5 stars, 2 5s makes 10, so he needs 5 more stars for "Dash" the tank engine (which he is now back into after several months of cars). I was really, really surprised that he basically figured out 2 sets of 5 = 10! He also negotiates with us all the time (Zak, if you eat some peas, I'll give you a star....hmmm, how about 3 stars?) If he's getting close to the target, he gets really motivated....earlier this week, he was at 7 stars and asked if we had any laundry to do so he could get a star. He then asked if we had any carrots to eat so he could get another star :-)
He's become very aware of his age, and that he's taller than some kids, but shorter than others. He tells anyone who will listen that he was 3, but now he's 4...and now he's tall enough to ride the colorful slide at the King's Island water park. Today he told me "One day, I'll be as tall as Chloe, and then I'll be able to ride all the rides at King's Island" :-) The King's Island height limits have really made an impression on him :-)
Another big impression, his best friend at school, Aiden, broke his arm, so has had a cast for the last month or so. Zak fell the other day, hurt his arm (a little only), ran over to me, and asked me to kiss it quick so it won't be broken. I did so, and luckily, it was just in time to prevent him needing a cast :-)
Today was Chloe's birthday, and she had her party at the Blue Ash Rec Center. Zak and Rowan were playing in one of the playgrounds where we could see them from the picnic shelter. Matt and I were talking about how nice it is that they are old enough to play without us having to watch every minute. About 5 minutes later, we realized there were still a lot of kids at that playground, but no Rowan or Zak. We started to walk over, thinking they were probably in the slide or something....started walking a bit faster when kids were coming out of the slide...but no Rowan or Zak. So Matt, Dana and I start running, realizing that Zak probably convinced Rowan to go to another part of the park. Matt found them first...they came running when they saw him...Zak said, "We were just checking out the river." oo la la. I trusted Zak again a little later...he gave me a high five, and promised he would come and tell me if he wanted to leave the playground within our sight. He kept his promise this time.
Work is going really well right now. The atmosphere is high stress, but manageable. I have a pretty strong team again, and they really step up on the days I'm not there. I think it's pretty seamless for most people. I try to look at it this way...if I had the 2 more days, sure I'd get more done, but I'd also probably spin a bit more as well. I literally tell myself sometimes...you don't have time to deal with that, make a decision and go. And that's what I do :-)
I can't believe next year at this time I'll be sending Zak off to kindergarten, celebrating my 40th birthday, and probably upping my work days (maybe I'll ease back into 4 days a week to start :-))...I have a good life. The best of a lot of worlds.
In the end, I decided that no, I couldn't write honestly about the incident, which by the way, had nothing to do with my working part time, but everything to do with the colossal amount of stress that executives get put under (or put themselves under?). And so then I started questioning the whole purpose of my blog. I said in the beginning, I would write honestly about what it is like to work part time as an executive at a large company...and suddenly realized that when it came down to it, I wasn't able to be completely honest. So, am I being fake by continuing to blog under such a pretense?
On the other hand, I've had SO MANY people ask me why I've quit blogging. I think people appreciated it for several reasons, but one recurring one was that it reminded them to appreciate the little, but important things. So even if they aren't blogging, or working part time...some of the little things I recorded about Zak helped them remember not to take their own little life treasures for granted.
So, I've made peace with the fact that I probably won't be completely honest about some of the trials and tribulations at work (although I will try to be as honest as possible)...and so I will change the focus of the blog to be about appreciating the journey...which is what I'm trying to do. Appreciating the journey, in a responsible way :-)
I really missed blogging. It takes effort, but on the other hand, it made me really watch throughout the day for those little nuggets that I could share. So, let's try again :-)
Zak has come a long way in the last few months. He's 4 and so clearly a little boy now. If there is a group of kids between 3 and 6...he hangs with the older kids. He does simple math, and loves to play a subtraction board game I bought for us to play together. On the other hand, I can't get him to spend any time on forming words out of letters, or writing for that matter. So it looks like Math is his clear preference.
I started this "star" system with him, which has had so many unbelievable benefits. I was trying to think of an allowance system, but something not quite as complex because I think he's too young to understand fully money and savings. So we came up with "10 stars" gets him pretty much a toy of his choice. He's got it down and told me the other day that he has 5 stars, 2 5s makes 10, so he needs 5 more stars for "Dash" the tank engine (which he is now back into after several months of cars). I was really, really surprised that he basically figured out 2 sets of 5 = 10! He also negotiates with us all the time (Zak, if you eat some peas, I'll give you a star....hmmm, how about 3 stars?) If he's getting close to the target, he gets really motivated....earlier this week, he was at 7 stars and asked if we had any laundry to do so he could get a star. He then asked if we had any carrots to eat so he could get another star :-)
He's become very aware of his age, and that he's taller than some kids, but shorter than others. He tells anyone who will listen that he was 3, but now he's 4...and now he's tall enough to ride the colorful slide at the King's Island water park. Today he told me "One day, I'll be as tall as Chloe, and then I'll be able to ride all the rides at King's Island" :-) The King's Island height limits have really made an impression on him :-)
Another big impression, his best friend at school, Aiden, broke his arm, so has had a cast for the last month or so. Zak fell the other day, hurt his arm (a little only), ran over to me, and asked me to kiss it quick so it won't be broken. I did so, and luckily, it was just in time to prevent him needing a cast :-)
Today was Chloe's birthday, and she had her party at the Blue Ash Rec Center. Zak and Rowan were playing in one of the playgrounds where we could see them from the picnic shelter. Matt and I were talking about how nice it is that they are old enough to play without us having to watch every minute. About 5 minutes later, we realized there were still a lot of kids at that playground, but no Rowan or Zak. We started to walk over, thinking they were probably in the slide or something....started walking a bit faster when kids were coming out of the slide...but no Rowan or Zak. So Matt, Dana and I start running, realizing that Zak probably convinced Rowan to go to another part of the park. Matt found them first...they came running when they saw him...Zak said, "We were just checking out the river." oo la la. I trusted Zak again a little later...he gave me a high five, and promised he would come and tell me if he wanted to leave the playground within our sight. He kept his promise this time.
Work is going really well right now. The atmosphere is high stress, but manageable. I have a pretty strong team again, and they really step up on the days I'm not there. I think it's pretty seamless for most people. I try to look at it this way...if I had the 2 more days, sure I'd get more done, but I'd also probably spin a bit more as well. I literally tell myself sometimes...you don't have time to deal with that, make a decision and go. And that's what I do :-)
I can't believe next year at this time I'll be sending Zak off to kindergarten, celebrating my 40th birthday, and probably upping my work days (maybe I'll ease back into 4 days a week to start :-))...I have a good life. The best of a lot of worlds.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Day 92
You know, it's occurred to me, I've just passed the 1 year mark! Wow, time is flying way too fast. I still feel like I'm learning how to manage it, and probably it'll all be over before I do :-) One of the VPs at work asked yesterday when I was coming back full time...I'm counting on another year and a half...when Zak goes to kindergarten. I think I can make it. This time has been precious for me.
I pretty much caught up at work this week, and feel very much ok at the macro level. Unfortunately, I started getting sick Tuesday afternoon, and spent all of my "Zak Wednesday" laying on the counch with a bad stomach ache. I literally ate one waffle all day. I told Zak my tummy hurt, and he got a look on his face of "I know what to do"..and said "Hey, I can kiss it for you!" And he did. And I was all mushing and warm inside.
Luckily Babcia is still here, and Katie came over to play for a few hours in the afternoon, so hopefully he wasn't too bored. We did a few things...we walked around the block at one point, in between rain showers. I've already told you how he points out "Sally" whenever he sees a porsche...he's also started pointing out other characters..."Hey, there's a Rusteze guy", and I look and it's a rusty old car.
I asked him if he wanted to practice writing his letters for another star. He told me "That's a big idea!" I have no idea where he got that! We say it at work all the time, so I can only imagine that I must have said it at home at some point...but i can't recall it! It was very odd to hear that from a 3 year old. I had him write "Sally"...and he told me "Funny that Sally has an eleven in her name." :-)
Zak's been doing this strange thing where he likes to close his eyes, and walk around until he bumps into things. I told him I'd rather him not do that, because he's goign to run into something and hurt himself. He said, very seriously, "Yeah, but if I do, you'll kiss it and make it better." One day he's going to realize how unmagical my kisses really are. I did hear him playing with his car toys in the bathtub later...he kept making one of them go uner the bubbles, and the other car told him not to go under the bubbles. The first car asked "Why", the second car said "Because, you are going to get hurt and I don't want to see you get hurt." It made me smile.
Last thing that I forgot to mention a few weeks ago when I blogged about taking Zak to my office...when we left, he asked "Why do you work in a maze?" Ah!
Anyway, even though I was down and out with the stomach flu, Zak kept me smiling. :-)
I pretty much caught up at work this week, and feel very much ok at the macro level. Unfortunately, I started getting sick Tuesday afternoon, and spent all of my "Zak Wednesday" laying on the counch with a bad stomach ache. I literally ate one waffle all day. I told Zak my tummy hurt, and he got a look on his face of "I know what to do"..and said "Hey, I can kiss it for you!" And he did. And I was all mushing and warm inside.
Luckily Babcia is still here, and Katie came over to play for a few hours in the afternoon, so hopefully he wasn't too bored. We did a few things...we walked around the block at one point, in between rain showers. I've already told you how he points out "Sally" whenever he sees a porsche...he's also started pointing out other characters..."Hey, there's a Rusteze guy", and I look and it's a rusty old car.
I asked him if he wanted to practice writing his letters for another star. He told me "That's a big idea!" I have no idea where he got that! We say it at work all the time, so I can only imagine that I must have said it at home at some point...but i can't recall it! It was very odd to hear that from a 3 year old. I had him write "Sally"...and he told me "Funny that Sally has an eleven in her name." :-)
Zak's been doing this strange thing where he likes to close his eyes, and walk around until he bumps into things. I told him I'd rather him not do that, because he's goign to run into something and hurt himself. He said, very seriously, "Yeah, but if I do, you'll kiss it and make it better." One day he's going to realize how unmagical my kisses really are. I did hear him playing with his car toys in the bathtub later...he kept making one of them go uner the bubbles, and the other car told him not to go under the bubbles. The first car asked "Why", the second car said "Because, you are going to get hurt and I don't want to see you get hurt." It made me smile.
Last thing that I forgot to mention a few weeks ago when I blogged about taking Zak to my office...when we left, he asked "Why do you work in a maze?" Ah!
Anyway, even though I was down and out with the stomach flu, Zak kept me smiling. :-)
Monday, March 14, 2011
Day 88, 89, 90 and 91
Made it through two weeks ago better than I expected :-) There is so much I want to get done at work, I have so many ideas...if only I had more time! I just got asked to take on a pretty major project at work, and I don't feel i can say no. It's so hard to tell what is scope creep on my 60%, and what is just normal work life that everyone struggles to balance. Anyway, it's an interesting one, so I want to do it, I just need to figure out how to fit it in.
In the meantime, Zak has become quite a character. He's become a freak over "Cars the movie cars" as he calls them, to the point of obsession. He started throwing a little fit when we needed to leave the rec center. I told him that was the kind of behavior Tato and I don't like to see, and the type that keeps him from getting new cars. He quickly said he was sorry. I told him "Thanks for the apology, but it still won't get you a new car, at least not today." He said "I told you I was sorry to get a new car!" Inside I was laughing...at least he was honest.
Kuba and I have been trying to figure out the right approach to teaching him about consequences and the value of money too. I'm not sure how I feel about paying him to do chores that he already should be doing. We started a "star" system, which seems to be working well. He needs to get 10 stars in order to get a car....and he can get stars in various ways. If he helps with laundry, the dishes, etc. Sometimes he neogitates for more stars. For example, I told him I'd give him a star if he at least "tried" our salmon...he thought for a minute, and said "how about two stars?" I thought it was a pretty good start into the realm of negotiation, so agreed. But in the end, he decided trying the salmon wasn't worth even two stars. :-) He also beat me at a game of "Snakes"...and suggested that was worth a star. Made me laugh, but not enough to dole out another star :-)
We went to visit Kuba for lunch on Friday, went down to the Montgomery Inn Boathouse to see the river. It was a beautiful day, so we walked outside for a bit. Zak all of a sudden yelled out, "Hey look! It's Sally!" as he was pointing to a very nice looking Porsche in the parking lot. I wonder what the owner would think to have their car associated with the Disney character :-) Interestingly, he can pick a porsche out anywhere now...as Sally.
And now another week has gone by, and I had a bit of a break down at work last week. I had to give up half a day last week for some all day meetings, plus an evening for a business dinner. Those all day meetings usually get me down a bit...just the stress of trying to keep up without letting it consume you. I woke up at 4 most days and started working a bit. Another week gone by without a tennis practice...no wonder I'm losing my matches :-(
But Friday was all Zak, and that helped. I'm still stressed going into tomorrow, I have so much to catch up on, but having the time with the family really helped. Friday was beautiful, so we went up to the park for 2 hours in the morning. We came back, and I turned on some music and started dancing. Zak at first told me "Mommy, stop! Don't dance!" Why does no one in my family realize my artistic talents? Anyway, I told him I was either dancing without him, or with him...so he got up and start dancing, in a very particular and interesting way. He insisted that I follow him around the house, which I did. After 15 minutes I was pooped, but he told me to keep going. Looks like he's a boy of extremes :-)
We went to meet my friend Melanie for lunch. My brother bought us a tandem bike for Zak for Christmas. We've tried it a few times in the driveway, so I was ready to bike up to meet her, but it started looking more and more like rain...maybe next time. I can't wait to go biking with Zak on it :-) After lunch, it still wasn't raining, so I put on my roller blades, and Zak took his scooter and we rolled around the neighborhood. Around 4 it started to rain, so we finally came inside. It was a great day after a stressful week.
I have to tell these last two stories, even if it happened on the weekend, so not really part of my part time adventure...we started a home improvement project this week, a pretty major one. Zak has really shown how much he's grown. He really can help now. We gave him the vacuum cleaner, and he kept things clean as we were tearing down dry wall and such. He helped carry out lumber, took out trash, etc. etc. From time to time, he'd tell me, "Ok Mommy. I'm done helping you, now I'm going to help Tato. Let me go get my tools." He'd come running back with his drill, hammer, and level. The last time tonight, he said "Ok Tato, what can I do?" Kuba said "Hold on, I need to think, I'm not sure what we have to do right now." Zak said "I know. Look at this edge right here? It needs to come off. Here, I'll work on this, you hand me some nails, ok?" Kuba was very surprised.
Tonight I came into my room, and there was a big mess! Zak has this "magnet mosaic" game...600 magnets of different colors that you can put on different patterns to make some mosaics. Zak had thrown all of them on my bedroom floor! I called Zak in, and asked what happened. He said "I was cross." I asked why? He said "I was really mad about dinner." I recalled back that he had wanted what he calls "Toast Waffles" for dinner (cinnamon waffles, in the shape of cinnamon toast.) He had already had a toast waffle for breakfast, so I told him I'd make him a regular waffle or he could eat what we were eating (the "toast waffles" have more sugar in them). He shouted that he didn't like "circle" waffles, and didn't want what we were eating. I ignored him, and prepared his plate. He ran off, but when he came back, he took his plate and asked if we could eat on the patio...which we did. I remember thinking it was great that he started throwing a fit, but then came around. I guess I know now how he let off his steam. So then he started cleaning them all up, and said "But I'm happy now." Is this normal?
Anyway, a great weekend, after a tough couple of weeks. Tomorrow's first meeting, 6am :-) So now I'm headed to bed.
In the meantime, Zak has become quite a character. He's become a freak over "Cars the movie cars" as he calls them, to the point of obsession. He started throwing a little fit when we needed to leave the rec center. I told him that was the kind of behavior Tato and I don't like to see, and the type that keeps him from getting new cars. He quickly said he was sorry. I told him "Thanks for the apology, but it still won't get you a new car, at least not today." He said "I told you I was sorry to get a new car!" Inside I was laughing...at least he was honest.
Kuba and I have been trying to figure out the right approach to teaching him about consequences and the value of money too. I'm not sure how I feel about paying him to do chores that he already should be doing. We started a "star" system, which seems to be working well. He needs to get 10 stars in order to get a car....and he can get stars in various ways. If he helps with laundry, the dishes, etc. Sometimes he neogitates for more stars. For example, I told him I'd give him a star if he at least "tried" our salmon...he thought for a minute, and said "how about two stars?" I thought it was a pretty good start into the realm of negotiation, so agreed. But in the end, he decided trying the salmon wasn't worth even two stars. :-) He also beat me at a game of "Snakes"...and suggested that was worth a star. Made me laugh, but not enough to dole out another star :-)
We went to visit Kuba for lunch on Friday, went down to the Montgomery Inn Boathouse to see the river. It was a beautiful day, so we walked outside for a bit. Zak all of a sudden yelled out, "Hey look! It's Sally!" as he was pointing to a very nice looking Porsche in the parking lot. I wonder what the owner would think to have their car associated with the Disney character :-) Interestingly, he can pick a porsche out anywhere now...as Sally.
And now another week has gone by, and I had a bit of a break down at work last week. I had to give up half a day last week for some all day meetings, plus an evening for a business dinner. Those all day meetings usually get me down a bit...just the stress of trying to keep up without letting it consume you. I woke up at 4 most days and started working a bit. Another week gone by without a tennis practice...no wonder I'm losing my matches :-(
But Friday was all Zak, and that helped. I'm still stressed going into tomorrow, I have so much to catch up on, but having the time with the family really helped. Friday was beautiful, so we went up to the park for 2 hours in the morning. We came back, and I turned on some music and started dancing. Zak at first told me "Mommy, stop! Don't dance!" Why does no one in my family realize my artistic talents? Anyway, I told him I was either dancing without him, or with him...so he got up and start dancing, in a very particular and interesting way. He insisted that I follow him around the house, which I did. After 15 minutes I was pooped, but he told me to keep going. Looks like he's a boy of extremes :-)
We went to meet my friend Melanie for lunch. My brother bought us a tandem bike for Zak for Christmas. We've tried it a few times in the driveway, so I was ready to bike up to meet her, but it started looking more and more like rain...maybe next time. I can't wait to go biking with Zak on it :-) After lunch, it still wasn't raining, so I put on my roller blades, and Zak took his scooter and we rolled around the neighborhood. Around 4 it started to rain, so we finally came inside. It was a great day after a stressful week.
I have to tell these last two stories, even if it happened on the weekend, so not really part of my part time adventure...we started a home improvement project this week, a pretty major one. Zak has really shown how much he's grown. He really can help now. We gave him the vacuum cleaner, and he kept things clean as we were tearing down dry wall and such. He helped carry out lumber, took out trash, etc. etc. From time to time, he'd tell me, "Ok Mommy. I'm done helping you, now I'm going to help Tato. Let me go get my tools." He'd come running back with his drill, hammer, and level. The last time tonight, he said "Ok Tato, what can I do?" Kuba said "Hold on, I need to think, I'm not sure what we have to do right now." Zak said "I know. Look at this edge right here? It needs to come off. Here, I'll work on this, you hand me some nails, ok?" Kuba was very surprised.
Tonight I came into my room, and there was a big mess! Zak has this "magnet mosaic" game...600 magnets of different colors that you can put on different patterns to make some mosaics. Zak had thrown all of them on my bedroom floor! I called Zak in, and asked what happened. He said "I was cross." I asked why? He said "I was really mad about dinner." I recalled back that he had wanted what he calls "Toast Waffles" for dinner (cinnamon waffles, in the shape of cinnamon toast.) He had already had a toast waffle for breakfast, so I told him I'd make him a regular waffle or he could eat what we were eating (the "toast waffles" have more sugar in them). He shouted that he didn't like "circle" waffles, and didn't want what we were eating. I ignored him, and prepared his plate. He ran off, but when he came back, he took his plate and asked if we could eat on the patio...which we did. I remember thinking it was great that he started throwing a fit, but then came around. I guess I know now how he let off his steam. So then he started cleaning them all up, and said "But I'm happy now." Is this normal?
Anyway, a great weekend, after a tough couple of weeks. Tomorrow's first meeting, 6am :-) So now I'm headed to bed.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Days 84,85, 86 and 87
I've been a bit lazy about the blog the last couple weeks, and I'm sorry about that. I've still been tracking notes, so I'll try to catch up now. Work has been good. I think I'm starting to figure out how to let the stress drive me, but not overwhelm me. It's a very hot time right now there, with budget firms being set for next fiscal year, and our lead team of 20 VPs coming to town next week...but I'm trying to do the best I can when I'm there, let myself creatively think on the issues when I'm not, but not let it consume me. There are so many little things I can do, but I need to stay focused on the big rocks...and at least make sure the little things I do do move the big rock forward a bit. I feel like in this new role, there are many more "little" things that consume my time...I need to be careful.
The last two weeks I've also been very reclusive. I don't know if others get like this, and I don't know exactly what triggers it, but from time to time, I feel like a hermit. I just want to hole up in my home, with my family, and keep everyone close. I cancelled most of my tennis last week, same for the gym...and asked Kuba if we could just all stay together each night. We didn't do anything special, just made dinner and hung around. I actually feel pretty lazy after awhile, but I just need it from time to time. Maybe it's me mentally prepping for those VPs coming to town, and knowing I have a big week of several 6/7am to 10pm days coming up. Anyway, for whatever reason, we stayed holed up, not doing much, and I didn't even feel like blogging. Obviously I'm coming out of it now :-)
So now to the good stuff. My time with Zak has been great. When I get in these moods, I enjoy my time even more with him. He's really becoming such a sweet boy. Everytime he meets a new kid on the playground, or at the gym, he immediately walks up to them and offers them one of his cars. They don't always get what he's doing...but he offers it, and my heart melts.
We've been doing our "class work" in the mornings, and it's struck me how different he is than me in certain things. There was a matching page, where you match things on the left with things on the right...this time small things to big things. He did the first 4 or so exactly perfect, drawing lines across...then on the last one, he started drawing, then draw all the way around the page, up and down, in between other pictures, and finally landed on the right match. I don't think I would have ever done something like that as a kid...in fact, I probably would be more apt to take a ruler to draw the lines between the things versus a maze around the page. I love that he doesn't mind being a little non-traditional with his matching :-)
I again tried to get him to at least try some Polish...I asked him to at least say yes please, and thank you in Polish when Babcia made him some milk. It was so sweet to hear him say "Tak prosze" and "Dziekuje"...I think Babcia's heart melted then. She said he says it with such a sweet American accent.
A couple of funny things...on Monday, Zak was pouting because he didn't want Kuba and I to go to work. I asked him, "Don't you want to stay and play with Babcia?" He said "Babcia's not a playing kind of guy...she's more of a cleaning kind of guy." I burst out laughing! Apparently he attributes Babcia with cleaning all day! I must admit, when I come home from work, the house is prestine and I always wonder how she manages :-) I guess now I understand that she probably doesn't spend quite as much time as I do on the playing part :-P
The other funny thing was when Zak and I played a joke on Kuba. He went for tennis one night and usually gets back around 10:30 or so. Zak was up in his bed, but about 10 minutes before Kuba came home, Zak came downstairs and said he couldn't sleep. So I had him climb into bed with me. When we heard Kuba drive up, I told him, hide under the covers and when Tato gets close, we'll jump up and say "Surprise." So he got himself under the covers, and I pretended to be asleep...but I couldn't help but smile a bit. I couldn't believe we could actually play a trick together on Kuba. Kuba came into the room, and I could tell he was sensing something...at almost the same time, Kuba said "What's that goofy smile on your face" and Zak said "Is he here?" from under the covers...so I threw back the covers and said "Surprise! We're still awake!" Kuba started tickling Zak asking what he was doing in our bed and still awake. It was fun.
Last memory for the week...on Wednesday we went to Macy's again (to buy what? cosmetics for Babcia), and then to Fresh Market. When we got back into the car after Fresh Market, I realized we didn't have the toy we started the day with. I asked "Where is Rosie?" (pink train engine)...and Zak said "Oh no, I left her in the store." "Are you sure?" "Yes!"...so as I was getting back out to go look for her...Babcia says, no, no, no, she is SURE that Zak didn't have Rosie when we went into the store...she thinks he left her at Macy's. But I was pretty sure I saw him have her still at Macy's. Babcia is 100% sure though that he didn't have her at Fresh Market, so we start searching the car. Zak said calmly again..."She's in the store." So I go ahead into the store, he had been searching deligently through the Easter candy because I told him he could take one candy...so I concentrated there, couldn't find her, then in the carts, etc. It's a small store, so many of the workers helped as well...but we couldn't find her. So I came back out and said "Sorry Zak...let's go check back at Macy's" Now he started to panic.."No! She's there, in the chocolates!" He's so sure, so I take him out to have him help find her. Babcia is again saying, "No, I'm sure, he didn't have her there!" Who do I listen to? I figure Zak doesn't say much, so when he talks, I better listen. So we go back to the store, and he walks straight to the Easter chocolates, but still we can't find her. He retraces his steps through the whole store...still no Rosie, and then back to the chocolates. He's looking around really sad like "I know she is here!" Finally, I dig a bit deeper into the basket of chocolates, and she's all the way down at the bottom! Zak knew it! Babcia was certainly surprised. :-)
The last two weeks I've also been very reclusive. I don't know if others get like this, and I don't know exactly what triggers it, but from time to time, I feel like a hermit. I just want to hole up in my home, with my family, and keep everyone close. I cancelled most of my tennis last week, same for the gym...and asked Kuba if we could just all stay together each night. We didn't do anything special, just made dinner and hung around. I actually feel pretty lazy after awhile, but I just need it from time to time. Maybe it's me mentally prepping for those VPs coming to town, and knowing I have a big week of several 6/7am to 10pm days coming up. Anyway, for whatever reason, we stayed holed up, not doing much, and I didn't even feel like blogging. Obviously I'm coming out of it now :-)
So now to the good stuff. My time with Zak has been great. When I get in these moods, I enjoy my time even more with him. He's really becoming such a sweet boy. Everytime he meets a new kid on the playground, or at the gym, he immediately walks up to them and offers them one of his cars. They don't always get what he's doing...but he offers it, and my heart melts.
We've been doing our "class work" in the mornings, and it's struck me how different he is than me in certain things. There was a matching page, where you match things on the left with things on the right...this time small things to big things. He did the first 4 or so exactly perfect, drawing lines across...then on the last one, he started drawing, then draw all the way around the page, up and down, in between other pictures, and finally landed on the right match. I don't think I would have ever done something like that as a kid...in fact, I probably would be more apt to take a ruler to draw the lines between the things versus a maze around the page. I love that he doesn't mind being a little non-traditional with his matching :-)
I again tried to get him to at least try some Polish...I asked him to at least say yes please, and thank you in Polish when Babcia made him some milk. It was so sweet to hear him say "Tak prosze" and "Dziekuje"...I think Babcia's heart melted then. She said he says it with such a sweet American accent.
A couple of funny things...on Monday, Zak was pouting because he didn't want Kuba and I to go to work. I asked him, "Don't you want to stay and play with Babcia?" He said "Babcia's not a playing kind of guy...she's more of a cleaning kind of guy." I burst out laughing! Apparently he attributes Babcia with cleaning all day! I must admit, when I come home from work, the house is prestine and I always wonder how she manages :-) I guess now I understand that she probably doesn't spend quite as much time as I do on the playing part :-P
The other funny thing was when Zak and I played a joke on Kuba. He went for tennis one night and usually gets back around 10:30 or so. Zak was up in his bed, but about 10 minutes before Kuba came home, Zak came downstairs and said he couldn't sleep. So I had him climb into bed with me. When we heard Kuba drive up, I told him, hide under the covers and when Tato gets close, we'll jump up and say "Surprise." So he got himself under the covers, and I pretended to be asleep...but I couldn't help but smile a bit. I couldn't believe we could actually play a trick together on Kuba. Kuba came into the room, and I could tell he was sensing something...at almost the same time, Kuba said "What's that goofy smile on your face" and Zak said "Is he here?" from under the covers...so I threw back the covers and said "Surprise! We're still awake!" Kuba started tickling Zak asking what he was doing in our bed and still awake. It was fun.
Last memory for the week...on Wednesday we went to Macy's again (to buy what? cosmetics for Babcia), and then to Fresh Market. When we got back into the car after Fresh Market, I realized we didn't have the toy we started the day with. I asked "Where is Rosie?" (pink train engine)...and Zak said "Oh no, I left her in the store." "Are you sure?" "Yes!"...so as I was getting back out to go look for her...Babcia says, no, no, no, she is SURE that Zak didn't have Rosie when we went into the store...she thinks he left her at Macy's. But I was pretty sure I saw him have her still at Macy's. Babcia is 100% sure though that he didn't have her at Fresh Market, so we start searching the car. Zak said calmly again..."She's in the store." So I go ahead into the store, he had been searching deligently through the Easter candy because I told him he could take one candy...so I concentrated there, couldn't find her, then in the carts, etc. It's a small store, so many of the workers helped as well...but we couldn't find her. So I came back out and said "Sorry Zak...let's go check back at Macy's" Now he started to panic.."No! She's there, in the chocolates!" He's so sure, so I take him out to have him help find her. Babcia is again saying, "No, I'm sure, he didn't have her there!" Who do I listen to? I figure Zak doesn't say much, so when he talks, I better listen. So we go back to the store, and he walks straight to the Easter chocolates, but still we can't find her. He retraces his steps through the whole store...still no Rosie, and then back to the chocolates. He's looking around really sad like "I know she is here!" Finally, I dig a bit deeper into the basket of chocolates, and she's all the way down at the bottom! Zak knew it! Babcia was certainly surprised. :-)
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