A Game and half? A Game and a half?

What has happened to the Red Sox? After two straight losses to Toronto and two Yankee wins, only a game and a half stands between the beloved Red Sox and the dreaded Yankees. Will what has so far been a fantastic season be ruined? I am banging my head against the wall in frustration (not literally, of course). Such is the life of a Red Sox fan.

Teeth are not for Biting

Along with being a genius, my daughter has quite an aggressive streak. With her best friend, she would sometimes tackle her just to hug her. She also would tend to bite her every so often. Since she has been in school, the teachers have mentioned to us that she sometimes has some issues with hitting, pushing or kicking. I knew that there was a problem yesterday when I walked into Ella's school, and her teacher said to me, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Uh-oh, my first parent/teacher conference. Ella's teacher proceeded to tell me that not once, but twice in the course of the day, Ella had bitten one of her classmates (different classmates, you have to spread the love). I felt embarrassed, sheepish and was quite apologetic.

As I took Ella out to the car, I asked her if she had gotten in trouble, and she told me that she had, and for biting. So we talked about how we don't bite our friends. We also went to the library and checked out a book that we had looked at before, Teeth are not for Biting , along with companion books, Hands are not for Hitting, and Feet are not for Kicking. We read each of the books last night and again this morning. I don't know how much Ella understood, but I guess that at least we're trying. On the way to school we talked about how we act with our friends, not hitting, pushing, kicking or biting, but instead sharing our toys and playing. What else is a parent supposed to do? And how many more playmates will my daughter abuse?

I am sure that Ella will grow out of this stage, but in the meantime, it leaves me feeling inadequate as a parent :(

The angst of Parenthood

Ella has been in daycare now for almost 3 weeks, and she loves it. Unfortunately, she's only attended one day this week, because the center was closed on Labor Day (but Trevecca and Vanderbilt were not) and then she has been sick this week (now she has a recurrence of her hand, foot and mouth disease and can't go). Well, 1) we pay for her to go whether she's there or not and 2) we need her to go because we're working, taking class, doing homework, etc. A person only has so much sick time that they can take! I'm a little concerned about it all, and wonder if we're going to make it through. Part of me wants to find a way to stay at home, but if I stay home, we don't eat or have a roof over our heads. This is the reason that families stick close together, Ella has a grandma who stays at home everyday (and soon a grandpa, too) that would love to spend time with her. If only we lived in Indiana.......

Tonight's the Beginning of Something Exciting

So tonight's the night, the NFL season starts! Of course, I am doubly excited because the season starts with my Indianapolis Colts facing off against the New Orleans Saints. When I was 5, my mom signed me up to be a cheerleader for pee-wee football, and I have loved it ever since. I love the competition, I love the hype, I love listening to sports talk radio. Everything things that the Colts won't make it back to the Superbowl this year, and they might be right, but I'm ready for an exciting ride. There's just something about Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy that gets me excited!

My Child....Ever Amazing

Here Brad and I are, heartbroken about sending our angel to daycare. On Friday, I took the day off, and we took Ella to "school" to meet her teacher, her new class, and to become slightly acclimated before we drop her off for a full day on Monday. We stayed in the classroom for about 20 minutes, then left her there.

A half an hour later, we went in to get her and she said, "No, go! No, go! Me stay!". We finally convinced her that we would come back next week, and she relented to leave with us. That afternoon, we had planned a swimming adventure with Ella's best friend, Noelle (or Bauble as Ella says) and her mommy. When Ella woke up from her nap I asked her, "What do you want to do this afternoon?" Without hesitation she answered back, "School, me school." She was happy to go to the pool, but obviously she's ready to leave the nest. At least for a little while.

Children are amazing! Okay, maybe just mine :)

Times They are a Changin'

Next week is a big week in our house. For the first time in her life, our 21 month old is going to daycare. In order to make ourselves feel better about taking our child to be cared for by someone else for 40 hours a week, we call it school. Ella got a backpack for school, and she picked one with Elmo on it. Pretty cute.

The next week, Brad will begin school and take his first language exam for his PhD program. We are excited about this fall, but also a little nervous about all that we have to get done. Lots of families have two parents who work full time and make it okay. So will we, right?

Cute Ella story: This evening, Brad and I were in the kitchen talking about the slumping Red Sox and the soaring Yankees. All of a sudden, Ella, who was sitting in her booster seat in the dining room began to say, "Boo, Yankees" and make a thumbs down sign. We had taught her this months before, but we hadn't tried to get it out of her in a while. It was pretty cute, and pretty smart!

I'm about to become a Celtics fan.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge sports fan. Mostly just baseball (I'm a proud member of Red Sox Nation) and football (Go World Champion Colts!), but I also watch some basketball. I religiously listen to Boston sports talk radio, WEEI, for news on my beloved Sox and hate for the Colts. Even when we were in Boston, I could care less about the Celtics, they stunk. But today , I open up ESPN and see that my all time favorite basketball player, Reggie Miller "Knick Killer" is considering making a return, and playing for the Celtics. How awesome is that? I love Reggie Miller, and I could listen to news and comments about him on my favorite station, WEEI. Go Celts!