International Day of the Girl - October 11th

As most of you know, I am on the board for the Studio Samuel Foundation. It was founded by my friend and fellow adoptive mom, Tamara Horton. Our mission is to provide sustainable skills to young women so they can break the cycle of poverty with dignity. We'll be launching an occupational training sponsorship program soon, Training for Tomorrow, and I will act as the the liaison between the young women chosen to be in the program and the sponsors. I am really excited about it and will post about it as soon as everything is finalized.

In the meantime, Studio Samuel is continuing with our 1 Hundred Girls program and we are looking for your help. You may remember back in January we launched a bra campaign and we were able to collect well over 500 bras for young women and girls at an orphanage in Addis Ababa. We've recently teamed up with the organization, Days for Girls, to provide sustainable sanitary supplies for young women who don't usually have them. Did you know in places like Ethiopia girls will miss school and work due to the lack of menstrual supplies? That can mean DAYS without income. Girls will use leaves, mattress stuffing, newspapers, anything they can find but still miss up to 2 months of school every year when they have their period. Studio Samuel now has dedicated sewers that are making the Days for Girls reusable supply kits! Here are the first 50 assembled kits ready for distribution! So amazing!

October 11th is International Day of the Girl and in honor of this day Studio Samuel is collecting panties to be used as part of the kits and we're asking for an $11 donation to help fund our programs.

Will you join me in supporting these women? CLICK HERE to donate. I would be so appreciative if you would share this with your friends. Thank you so much! 

*Email me at ekbuster@gmail.com if you'd like to mail some underwear.

First Day of Preschool

LB started preschool the week after Labor Day. He is going to the same school where he did the Parent's Day Out program last year. This year he will be going two mornings a week as part of their 3s program. Parent's Day Out ended up being a great experience for him and I think it served it's purpose. My hope when I signed up him up last year was that it would help with the transition to preschool. Well, when we walked in the building this August, a few weeks before school started to drop off some forms, LB declared, "This is my school!" I took that as a good sign. I started telling him towards the end of August that school was starting again soon and that he would be in the "big kid three year old room" and that he would have new teachers. When we visited before school started the director showed LB his new room and let him play in there for a while. His new teachers sent a letter to the kids with their pictures so we were able to start learning their names before school started. I also pulled out one of our old Music Together CDs with the song about how Mommies and Daddies come back. We listened to it over and over in the car and I loved hearing him belt out, "Whoever takes care of you comes back because they do love you."

The school does a good job of really easing the kids into it. The first day the parents stay for a bit and then just go down the hall for 30 minutes for a parent meeting and then that's it. Super short. The second day school is only an hour and a half. Finally, on the third day they stay the whole morning. On the first day I made sure to take pictures of LB with his new teachers so that I could update his Safety Book. He learned their names really fast this year so I'm glad I knew all these tricks already and wasn't starting from scratch like I was last year.

I attempted to get a few official first day pictures of him at home in the morning but this was the best I could do.

It was a beautiful morning and LB was really in good spirits. I expected a little more nervousness from him. He insisted on carrying his bag into the school. So precious.

Thankfully, there are several kids from his Parent's Day Out class that are now in the 3s room with him. He was happy to see several familiar faces. I stayed and played with him for a while and when it was time for the meeting I told him I would be gone for a tiny bit and he gave me a kiss and off I went. It was such a relief. After school I bribed him with a sucker and begged him to stand in front of the building so I could get a good picture. He accepted my bribe.

Perhaps I was a bit more nervous than he was. That afternoon we went to Tar.get and mid way through our shopping trip I noticed something was missing.

About 10 concerned citizens of Tar.get approached me to make sure I knew my son was missing a shoe, which made me feel a little dumb. Then when I got home D pointed out that I had LB's school name tag on the back of my shirt. I had forgotten he had put that there. At that point, I was feeling super dumb and decided I must have used all my emotional energy to get through that first day and had nothing left. I don't even want to think about what dumb things I will do on LB's first day of kindergarten.

Here's to hoping he has a great school year!

Unexpected Fun

Most of the fun activities and special treats we did this summer were all planned. I had a list of places and things I wanted to do with LB so I spent the summer trying to check things off the list. However, on this occasion we happened to be in the right place at the right time. Totally unplanned fun!

One day in mid August, LB convinced me to go to the OSU airport. Again. I was reluctant but I didn't have any other ideas for activities that day so off we went. As we were walking into the building, we walked past two men in suits. For some reason, LB thinks only pilots wear a jacket and tie. D is able to dress pretty casually at his office so I guess that is why LB associates a suit with pilots. As we were walking, LB says quite loudly, "Mommy! Look! Pilots!" The two men heard him and smiled. One of them started engaging LB and asking him about the planes LB was carrying and the planes on his shirt. LB is happy to have a conversation with almost anyone, especially if they want to talk about planes. So LB showed them his planes and told them how he is going to be a "pilot of jets" when he is older, etc. They were charmed. Then one of them hands me his business card and explains that he is with the company, Net Jets. I have only heard of them because LB and I spend so much time at the OSU airport and we often see planes owned by Net Jets taking off and landing. They are like a rental car company but for planes. And clearly, the pricing is a little different. A lot of athletes use them, like professional golfers and tennis players, as well as businesses. I looked at the card and the gentleman, Mr. Brown, was the Senior VP of Sales. I started to get a feeling we were in for something good. He told me they had a plane landing in about 30 minutes and if we were still around he would love to show LB their plane. Yes! (I didn't tell him that a typical trip is about 2 hours.) So LB and I went up to the observation tower and did our normal thing. About 30 minutes later a jet landed and I saw Mr. Brown walk out onto the runway. After it landed he looked up to the observation tower and waved us down. I hadn't said anything to LB because I didn't want to promise him something in case it didn't work out. I told him we were going out on the runway and that he was going to get to see a jet and probably go inside. His eyes got huge. We got out there and were introduced to the two actual pilots. One of them picked LB up right away and started showing him around the plane. He showed LB where he checks the oil and they looked in the engines and at the wheels. I was so excited for LB that I could hardly contain myself. I was pretty much holding back tears the entire time.

Then they let us get on the plane and LB got to sit in the cockpit. It was a tight squeeze so I didn't get any photos of him sitting in the cockpit but the other pilot let him push a lot of buttons and see them light up, which was a thrill. LB impressed him with his plane lingo as he referred to the steering wheel as the yoke. I also think LB just loved sitting in the big, leather seats and looking out onto the runway at all the other planes that were close by. The plane was gorgeous. They gave us some of the fancy Dean and Deluca snacks that they have for their passengers and then we had to go as they were flying somewhere else.

Look at that smile. Pure joy. We walked back into the terminal and headed up to the stairs to the tower. As we were going up the stairs, LB turned to me, wrapped his arms around my neck and said, "I'm so happy." I was too.

I think I got teary about the whole thing because it was just so generous. They are busy people and they took time out of their day to give a three year old a special experience. I think it's easy to get bogged down in all of the nastiness and meanness that exists in our world but this was a moment of true kindness. Don't you think we all need reminders of that every now and then? Net Jets is my new favorite company. If only I could afford their services....

Pool FAIL

Yes. I am still talking about summer. Can't help it. I will move on eventually.

My intention at the beginning of the summer was to spent A LOT of time at the pool, like 2-3 times a week. I bought a pool pass that gave us access to three community pools so we would be able to mix it up throughout the summer. I really wanted LB to be comfortable in the water by the end of the summer and I think it's important to start young. The pools didn't open until noon and I knew that would be a little difficult because of LB's nap schedule but I figured he would nap and then we would play at the pool until dinner time. Well, that didn't happen. It wasn't entirely my fault but it kinda was. The one pass I will give myself is all the rain that we got towards the end of June and beginning of July. I think we had something like 16 straight days of rain. The pool just wasn't an option and there was no way I could have predicted all the rain we got this summer. Once the rain subsided then we left for New Mexico for a week. I also discovered the pools are really strict about "hearing thunder" in the area. So even if it is 90 degrees and sunny they will shut down the pool if any thunder is detected. LB and I went to the pool one afternoon and it was so bloody hot but they wouldn't let people in because of supposed thunder. They would say "30 more minutes" and so we waited. Then they said "15 more minutes" and so we waited. When they said "15 more minutes" again I decided that was it. Poor LB cried and I wanted to cry too. So it wasn't entirely my fault. But here is why it was my fault:

*I am lazy.
*I am a wimp. I think growing up in Oklahoma I got used to pool water feeling like warm bath water. By the end of June the water was usually pretty warm and you didn't want to scream obscenities when your toes touched the water. Even by the end of August the pool water here in Ohio was still REALLY cold. I always had to give myself a little pep talk about it being good for LB and that I needed to suck it up and deal. Sometimes that worked.
*I am lazy. Trying to squeeze in a trip to the pool post nap was more work than I thought it would be. By the time he got up and was out of his post nap fog and was willing to put on his suit and sunscreen we would be pushing 3:30-4pm and then it didn't seem worth it to go to just stay for an hour.
*Shaving is a pain in my a*s. Even in the summer I despise it and do the bare minimum. So really it all goes back to my laziness.

We did make several trips to the pool and usually had a pretty good time but we certainly weren't there 2-3 times a week. Not even close. And for some reason whenever we got there LB would want to spend a lot of time lounging on the chairs and eating a snack. I am not against lounging. (See above laziness.) But it frustrated me because I wanted him to use up energy so that he would go to bed easily. There is something to be said for sitting in the sun but I wanted him up and moving. I would say he got a little more comfortable in the pool but nothing like I hoped. He still won't put his head under the water. Although, he got close a few times. Mostly he liked to stay towards the wall and play with various pool toys that I brought for him. I got him some diving rings and he would reach down pretty far to get those but that was usually the extent of him moving around. One of the community pools is more of a water park and LB definitely liked that one the best. They had some fountains that he liked playing in and a little slide he could do and a big slide he wanted to do but wasn't tall enough. He watched me go down it once when we met friends there and for some reason that satisfied his curiosity and he didn't beg to go down it when we went back. Sometimes he makes no sense to me. He doesn't want to move around too much in the water but a big twisty slide he is dying to do. I don't get it. The pool was a great place to go on days when D was working late or when he was traveling for work. Then I felt like we could take our time getting there and stop somewhere for dinner on the way home. It helped pass the time so LB wouldn't miss D as much.

I didn't manage to get a single shot of him playing in the water all the summer. I think because he always wanted me close to him and getting my phone near water wasn't really an option. I have about a billion photos of him lounging and snacking. Here is a sampling. If you've seen a few then you've seen them all.

So we ate a lot of snacks and got really good at pool lounging. I suppose that's something.

Next summer, the plan is to get serious and do lessons, which happen in the morning. I will not be deterred. At least, I hope not.

New Mexico Vacation 2013

I haven't done as thorough a job as I would have liked documenting our summer but LB started preschool this week so I'm feeling the need to move on. However, I can't move on without posting about the absolute highlight of our summer. At the end of July, we boarded a plane for New Mexico and LB had the time of his life. We met my parents and my sister there and we all stayed in a rented house together. This was our first real vacation with LB. We have a traveled a ton with him but mostly for visits to my parents, which is like a vacation but not officially, and he's been to Pennsylvania for my cousin's wedding and St. Louis for my sister's graduation and we went to Florida when he was 11 months old but none of that really counts. This was a true vacation. LB experienced so many firsts and he still talks about them. I think it helped for it to feel like a vacation for D and me since we had three other adults, who happen to love LB and he loves them, with us. I highly recommend the 5 to 1 adult to child ratio when going on vacation, especially since some of his favorite people were with us. I was usually number 5 on the adults he came to for something. I was able to read a whole book. I read, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which I highly recommend. It was one of those books that I didn't want to end.

LB did great with all the traveling it took to get to Taos. We decided to take a direct flight to Denver and then drive 5 hours to Taos rather than take a connecting flight into Albuquerque and drive for 3 hours. We're still not sure if that was the way to go since the Denver airport was such a pain but that's what we did. LB had a moment during the drive that was unpleasant because he had to go to the bathroom and there was no exit in sight but other than that he handled it all like a trooper. Air travel isn't so bad when you have a child obsessed with airplanes. There was even a time on the plane where I got a glimpse into the future. I hadn't brought anything to entertain myself on the 3 hour flight to Denver because I assumed I would be keeping LB happy and occupied. Well, at one point I looked over at him and he had the Ipad in his lap and some pretzels in his hand and he was perfectly content. I thought to myself, "I should have brought a book!" and "I could have bought a trashy magazine!" It was a crazy thought. But one I welcome. Oh trashy magazines, I have missed you.

The house my parents rented was gorgeous and ended up working out perfectly. LB called it "New Mexico." He is still a little unclear on the whole concept of geography. We we would be out and about somewhere and he would say, " I want to go back to New Mexico." And when we'd pull in the driveway he would say, "There's New Mexico." It was so cute that I hesitated to correct him. 

LB woke up the first morning at 4:30am. That was not fun but we expected it would take some time to adjust to the 2 hour time difference. The second morning he was up at 5:30am and by the third morning he was up at his normal time of 6:30am. So it wasn't too bad. That first morning he made himself right at home and set up his planes on the table on the patio outside. His New Mexico runway had much better views than his Ohio runway.

That first morning he was also very eager to check out the hot tub. I think he convinced my dad to get in with him before 8am. He loved it and I'm not gonna lie some days the hot tub served as his bath.

The hot tub was one of several firsts for LB and he responded to all of them with such joy and excitement. He saw a rainbow in the sky, a glider and a hot air balloon. The below picture is right after the rainbow. You can't see the rainbow but you can see the happiness in his smile.

He went on his first hike, saw a waterfall, got to sit in a helicopter and saw all sorts of new bugs. The rest of us had been to Taos several times so I think we all enjoyed viewing it from his first time perspective. He also forced us to notice little things that normally we would walk on pass, like butterflies along the trail or a "really big rock." Some days we would be driving and he would shout "Look at that really big mountain." I loved being there with him.

The food in Taos is amazing and D and I were talking about it before we even got there. Since Taos is such a relaxed place most of the restaurants are very chill and kid friendly. Several of them even have these big outdoor areas where kids can run around and play while the adults finish their beers. And, of course, they all have amazing views.

LB really had a blast. He wasn't perfect. He is three. There were some bedtimes that were challenging and a few times he wanted things he couldn't have but those aren't the moments that I think of when I look back on our trip. I remember the good stuff because there was so much of it. My mom and my sister both came armed with bags of tricks for downtime at the house, which helped tremendously. I was really happy that he was so happy. I guess that's how it works.

On our last night there we went into town to the plaza and there was a bluegrass band playing. LB didn't hesitate and went straight to the area where people were dancing. My mom danced with him for a while but mostly we just watched him.

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the week.

Hopefully, we'll go again next year.

The Joy of Popsicles

*This post was NOT sponsored by Edy's Outshine Fruit Bars. This is just a memory from Summer 2013 that I want to remember.

This summer, LB discovered the joy of a cold popsicle on a hot day. I offered him popsicles last summer but no matter how hot it was outside he declared them to be "too cold." This year he was singing a different tune. It's become almost a daily or every other day tradition for us. To help him get out of his post nap fog I'll suggest we go outside, watch some cars and have a popsicle. He'll jump up and down and run to the freezer. I enjoy this tradition too considering most days I partake in the popsicle consumption.

At the beginning of the summer, I was perusing the frozen treat section at our grocery store and picked out these Minute Maid popsicles that I remembered from my childhood. I checked the ingredients and lo and behold they all had food dyes. I kept checking other brands and they would have the food dyes and high fructose corn syrup and 20 other ingredients I couldn't pronounce. Yuck. I'm pretty strict about keeping that stuff away from LB. Clearly, I had them as a child and survived but it's a thing I have and I am sticking to it. Finally, I found the Outshine popsicles and they had no dyes, no HFCS and just had a handful of ingredients, all of which I could pronounce and understand. LB has tried most of the flavors and has become very partial to the lime popsicles, which I think is kind of interesting for a three year old. I like good, old fashioned strawberry. So he'll grab his lime one and we'll head to the front steps.

Even though LB loves popsicles now, he still refuses to bite them. So he just licks and licks them into oblivion. If a piece breaks off in his mouth then he spits it out. He's weird. Since he doesn't like to bite them it takes LB about 20 years to finish his popsicle. No joke. And even though I love this daily tradition the mess makes me twitch. I am usually really good about messes but there is something about sticky messes and watching that sticky mess trickle down my child's arm to his elbow and then drop onto his thigh that makes me want to look away. I decided this trickling, sticky mess needed to be documented. Some days he'll let me keep the wrapper on and that decreases some of the stickiness but most days he just wants to hold the stick and doesn't care.

Are you twitching? So gross. But it makes him so happy so I've learned to deal. Once he's finished his popsicle we head straight to the hose and then he ends up playing in the water for a while, which is a good afternoon activity. It works out well. If we have somewhere to go in the afternoon then I try and avoid the popsicle licking extravaganza. Some days we just go straight to the pool. 

It's 66 degrees outside currently so our popsicle days may be numbered for this year. Maybe next year he'll work himself up to taking bites. We can always hope.

I'm feeling nostalgic about Summer 2013 coming to a close already. LB starts preschool next week!