Success Here & There

Well, I have good news to report: We have had success at preschool. I was starting to lose hope. Wednesday both Ryan and I went with Zachary to school. I left first, but Zachary was immersed in play and made no reaction. He did start to cry when Ryan left shortly after I did, but quickly calmed down and participated in the class. Thursday I took him (it was quite the sight to be dressed in my belly dance clothes at the Baptist Church!) but I had to leave fairly quickly because I had to teach my class. He was crying when I left, but the teacher said he was fine about 5 minutes later. When I picked him up Wednesday he was so happy - he hugged all his classmates and the teacher. When Ryan picked him up Thursday he was giving a girl in his class an 'eskimo kiss' by rubbing his nose to hers. So all is improving with preschool.

Some other changes that are not so pleasant, Zachary's suddenly developed sleeping issues. He's precariously close to giving up his nap, but I'm hoping to delay that a little while longer. Michele told me she's waiting until the time change to drop her kids' naps, I think I'll do it that way too. I like him napping for many reasons: 1. It gives me a break and I can get a surprising amount of things done; 2. Because he's napping his bedtime has been pushed back to 8:00 or 8:30, giving us time after dinner to do something fun like ride around in the little boat looking for the dolphins; and 3. We can go places as a family (like Friday Fest we went to last night) and have dinner out. Once he gives up his nap I'll have to push his bedtime back to 7:30 or so, because I have to get him up by 7:30 a.m. for school. An early bedtime shortens our evening family time, but then again with the time change it will get dark around 5:30 so there won't be as much to do as there is in the summertime. Ok, so anyway, back to his sleeping issues. Thursday night he started crying when I put him down. This is extremely unusual, I don't even remember the last time this happened (he didn't even do that as a baby). I know what the problem is, we are in a state of flux between the big boy bed and the crib and all this change has happened way too fast for him. Poor little guy! There are SO many changes he's been through the last few months: potty training, preschool, me being gone a week, and now a bed. Every night I ask him if he wants to sleep in the bed or the crib, and he says the crib. So we carry on our routine as usual, yet he still cries when I leave the room. It took me an hour and 1/2 to get him down Thursday (boy was that exhausting - I had a week of not enough sleep and I thought I would get to bed early that night - oh well!). Last night we went downtown to Friday Fest, and after the heat and the blissful time in the jumpy house (run by a chain smoking county fair reject, ugh!) he was exhausted and went straight to sleep at 8:00 p.m. Tonight he cried for a minute, but he settled down before I could go back in. I hate that our smooth, happy nighttime routine has changed. I hope we can get it back soon, I just hate the thought of him being sad before he goes to sleep.

On to my issues. My website is up and running, and it's surprisingly easy to update. I even found myself offering to help a friend of mine with a website he wants to do (what the hell am I thinking???). I have Tamra-henna, Belly Dance Superstar, booked for a workshop and performance in October. In my agreement with her agent, I have to have a minimum of 20 participants registered for her workshop a week prior to the event. Right now I have 4. Geez. If I don't get the minimum then they'll cancel. I won't have to pay anything, but I will be a huge failure in local belly dance scene. I'm sure that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is to me. It's keeping me up at night and beginning to affect my health. I'm working on getting the word out, but I'm starting to worry I won't make the minimum.

BUT, it is Saturday night, and it's College Football season. And there is a night race at Richmond. And the U.S. Open men's finals are tomorrow. And preschool is Monday, hopefully that continues to go well. The belly dance workshop is out of my control, so I shouldn't worry about it. Tonight I won't.

Monumental Changes

I'm back from Costa Rica. My trip was awesome. I learned so much. I am such a geeked out fan of Rachel Brice, but she is really so cool. She said some really interesting things in our personal conversations that lead me to believe we could be kindred spirits. I'm not ready to share much on that front, yet, but one day I will. If you're curious, it concerns teaching others and the energy transference that occurs. I also met some other wonderful ladies that I think could be lasting friendships. Here's a couple of pictures.

In our room:

We are, from left, Noelle, Jennie, me, Janet, and Renee.

And here we are on the last day of classes. We are, from left to right, Jennie, me, Renee, Karen, Noelle, and Janet. Janet is from my troupe here and was my roommate. She went with me last year as well.

I learned some great new ways of doing things, so I'll be making some monumental changes in my teaching methods. I am starting an advanced class this Wednesday night. I'm quite excited about all this new stuff to teach. One interesting side note, Rachel Brice has added quite a lot of Pilates in her teaching, particularly her dance prep section. I'm delighted by this, since this means at least one other person in the world sees the connection between Pilates, Yoga, and Belly Dance (and it's none other than the Goddess of Tribal Fusion Belly Dance herself).

More monumental changes around here. Zachary's new furniture and 'Big Boy Bed' arrived while I was gone. I set up his room all day Sunday. It's so cute.

Can you tell it's a boat? It's a boat bed! There's a matching dresser on the far right (out of the picture). So Zachary was all excited about his big boy bed. For his nap he wanted to sleep in it. I told him the responsibilities that come with having a big boy bed, particularly the fact that he must remain in the bed during naptime and nightime. So I did our usual routine, kissed him night-night, and tucked him in. Then I quietly walked to the door. As I closed the door to his room, I could see him open one eye to watch me. So I didn't close the door all the way, I heard him get up and start jumping on the bed. So I opened the door quickly and said "Zachary!" and he plopped down on his bed and closed his eyes - like I didn't see him!! I told him he had to stay in bed, and that if he didn't now he would have to sleep in his crib. I knew he wouldn't stay, and once again I could hear him jumping on the bed after I left the room. So I went in and grabbed him up and put him in his crib. He protested a little, but then went happily to sleep. I figured we would try again Sunday night. Interestingly, he asked to sleep in his crib Sunday night, and today at naptime, and tonight. Hmm. What does this mean? I will not push him, there is plenty of space in his room for both the crib and bed. He seemed a bit distraught when we moved his old dresser out and the new one in, so maybe these big changes are happening too fast for him. So we'll slow it down and when he's ready the big boy bed will be there. Besides, I rather like having him in a crib, I know he can't get up in the middle of the night

And today was a monumental day in my boy's life. He caught his first fish today. Apparently that is a big thing in a boy's life, especially one who lives by the water. Here is the photo:

He got this fishing pole from his Grandpa Cox for his birthday. We had a good time fishing, then we went over to the island (Shell Island) to frolic in the sand and surf. We worked on Zachary's swimming skills, looked for hermit crabs, and generally splashed around in the water dancing to a neighboring boat's music. We made it back in time for lunch and a nice nap. It's been a monumental Labor Day!