Falling Into Place

Well, I've slacked. A ton. But I have a good defence for it, which I'll get to below. First, some pics.

Pool party with Justin and Lily this weekend. We LOVE it when friends just stop by (seriously...!)

Yoga in the park with Mo. While I liked the idea, I think she's still too young. I ended up doing most of the poses while she either sat in the stroller or took off in the park. Maybe in a few months we can revisit this idea.

At the USA vs. Haiti soccer match in Boston. I love this guy, and love that he's made sports actually kinda fun for me to attend!

Mo's new bike, and 1st birthday present from Grandma and Popa (Grandpa)

On our way to check out some schools in CT! (more on that below)

And Mo got a tent for her playroom! Perfect timing since we're actually setting up some playdates now!

And now, all about Mo at 23 months. Basically she's amazing. She woke up this morning and before getting out of bed she had to say "hi" to all her animals/babies on her bed. Then she did some hugging (most just with the dogs). Then she wanted to rock the "baby" (my premie cabbage patch- David). Then we could finally get going. But she's just reached this super sweet/super volatile phase and when she's sweet, I want to milk it for as long as possible. Even though her tantrums are heartbreaking/nails-on-a-chalkboard they're usually over quickly and involve basics and testing boundaries. She will 100% run to another parent when one says no so this has been a new effort in parental communication between Bill and I too.

I've also really tried to back off on being my usual over-organized, everything-in-it's-place self with her. She has her playroom and behind the couch in the family room where I just check my OCD self at the door and let her be a kid doing what she wants. I haven't even vacuumed the playroom yet (a feat- I've discovered I LOVE to vacuum. I'm so weird) and turn a blind eye when I see crayon marks. It's her space after all to be creative.

She's learning so much too- more on that a little later. It seems overnight she knows ABCs, is saying numerous 3-4 word sentences, knows her numbers up to... 5! Also, she can identify animals, name most basic animal sounds and usually what color they are too. And speaking of coloring, she loves to do that. She's also a great helper in the kitchen- if she's not helping me make something then she's usually at the lazy susan rearranging my spices.

So here's the big news. I got a promotion! After months of dawdling, culminating with the recent news that no one was getting any raises or promotions until Oct, then about a week+ of intense negotiations with my boss... it all got sorted out and I got a pretty good deal out of the whole thing. Official title is Media Investment Director, I will now be working out of our Norwalk office full time (making occasional trips into the city though for literal face time), and I get to work from home one day a week. And to the second part of that news...

We're moving Mo to a school in Ridgefield, CT (one town over and on my way to Norwalk every day). We toured 3 schools last week and were just blown away by this one, plus I found out I have a sales rep who's daughter attends that school already and will be in Mo's class! Her feedback, plus the other references we reached out to really sealed the deal that Mo is going to an awesome school, but we're really sad to say goodbye to POA Market St.

To help Mo transition I've already set up a playdate with my work colleague and that first week will just plan to monitor Mo very carefully (they have cameras where you can watch the kids), plus just communicate with the director and her teachers. When we toured though she had no trouble making herself right at home and even got some hugs from the other kids. And in addition to the Big Brother Mommy-Daddy cams, they email out each kids' report daily along with pictures they took during the day! According to the other Moms we asked, her teacher is a pro at getting kids to potty train, plus they offer fun activities like soccer and karate during the school day (things that would normally take up a parents weekend time with their kids)- so it just seems like an awesome, caring, and technologically advanced school and we really hope Mo loves it there. When we asked her which one she liked of the 3 we saw (1 being this school, 2 and 3 being the others) she kept saying 1- so I think we're all in agreement!

Upcoming:

• I'm now working from home every Friday this summer (changing to Thursdays in the fall)!
• Dropping off all Mo's enrollment papers and check so she'll be officially ready to go on Aug 31
• My sis and bro-in-law come to visit this weekend!!! We've got a Mets/Nats game planned, pool party on Saturday and a few other friends/Bill's sis and fam possibly joining
• Finding Mo a new pediatrician for her 2 year appt
• We have a playdate with Danielle (work colleague) and Reznor either 8/8 or 8/9 and then with Judith and Cora on 8/14!
• 8/15 we're having another pool party with my game night crew plus basically all Bill's friends without kids, plus Mike, Amanda and Maddie
• Then we're off to the Cape for a week!