Preschool!

We eat healthy 80% of the time, so giving Nico a giant cookie AND ice cream after dinner was only because it's the night before his first day of....PRESCHOOL!!

We have enrolled him in 2 half days of preschool (8-12:30), where he will be in a class with 10 other 3 year olds! I'm so excited for him. Even though we get out and do things with him all the time, I think it's important for him to do this and get some formal structure. If he can sit still for 5 min for an activity, listen to a teacher, and interact/share well with his classmates, then our mission is accomplished. Plus, you gotta love all the cute little projects that I know he will be bringing home!

The typical schedule for him includes free play for the first 30 min to an hour while everyone is showing up, then some outside recess time, and then mostly classroom time before he finishes up with lunch at noon. Some days there is Spanish class and other days they learn about the Bible.

David packed some of his favorite foods to help him get through this first day! I think he could eat cheese and crackers every day for lunch.

Love this little guy. He looks so much older with the recent haircut and holding a lunchbox. Yikes.

 

 

 

As I write this blog, it has now been many weeks after his start of school, and I can say that his first few weeks did not go well... at all! He cried and cried before leaving home, cried in the car, and cried for the first 5-10 min there. (Luckily he was fine after the initial 10 min after drop off.) His sleep schedule was totally screwed up, and he woke up every morning between 6 and 6:30 asking if it was a school day, when he normally slept til 7:30-8. He talked happily about not having school on the days he didn't. He also literally threw up one night when I mentioned school the next day. It was so dramatic. And he was not the happy, fun loving Nico that we were so used to every day. The poor guy had anxiety!

 

But... he got a little better each week. His teachers provided him so much comfort and attention. They even let him bring his blanket to ease the big change for him. He started to learn that David would always pick him up after lunch. He also made friends and was excited to see them and especially to play outside. After about 5-6 weeks, things really started going what we could call okay. There was only a little hesitation and whining at drop off. Phew! To be continued...

Date night!

We had such a fun date day today that was noteworthy. We are fortunate that my parents watch Nico for sleepovers here and there so we can go to concerts, out to dinner, etc, but this was a special, extended amount of time to include the daytime too. Score!

So what did we do? We spent the afternoon hitting golfballs at Top Golf, followed by some Wii baseball and tennis at home, and then had a really nice dinner at Creek Road Café in Dripping Springs!

We haven't been able to find much time to have a whole day to ourselves like this. I felt like we were dating again!

I give David such a hard time whenever I beat him, because it rarely happens.

Dinner was so awesome. The dipping sauce for the bread was a-maz-ing. David also said they made the best pork chop he has ever had in his life. We will definitely be going back again!

The Austin Bats

Because when you live here (or are visiting), seeing the roughly 1 million bats suddenly flying out from the South Congress bridge at night time is something you need to do....

The pictures totally do not do this experience justice. It's pretty amazing to see the flood of bats coming out all at once!

Johnson City daytrip: Exotic Animal Tour

The Exotic Resort Zoo in Johnson City was seriously cool. It's a 137 acre park that is filled with over 500 wildlife. It features an hour long guided tour throughout the grounds where you can meet and feed the animals, and there is also a petting zoo.

He was pretty pumped on the way over there. He kept telling us that all the animals couldn't wait to see him and they were all wondering, "Where's that Nicobaby?"

In the petting zoo, he was so sweet and gentle to all of the animals and tried to equally give them all food!

We may have had as much fun as Nico on the tour. It's definitely not an atmosphere we are accustomed to! There was a constant flow of different animals running over to us in anticipation of food.

It was funny to watch the ostrich peck food outta the buckets. I was a little nervous to be too close though!

 

Nico threw most of the food on the ground to the animals rather than let them eat out of his hand. Some of the bigger animals ate right out of his bucket though!

Always finding new and interesting things to do around here!

Ordinary days of summer

Here's a general summary of what we have been up to this summer!.....


Jeepin.

Splash pads. 

 

Parks and playgrounds.

 

Margaritas.

Yardwork.

FIFA World Cup watching.

Daily morning walks around the neighborhood.

Being Super Nico. (In this picture, he put his superhero cape on in order to lift his bike. "I'm super strong.")

 

 

 

Deer feeding and watching right from our backyard.

 



Water guns, water guns, and more water guns.

 

 

Movie nights and cuddling.

Adult time: occasional dinner dates, bar hopping, and concerts

A crazy storm knocking down half of the neighborhood fencing = not cool.

Snow cones, popsicles, and ice cream days.

 

Kisses, high fives, and knuckles from this guy to start my day right every morning on the way to work.

 

 

Nutty Brown nights to see the parrot, Cheeto!

Abel's on the Lake days to feed the ducks and fish.

 

Being a rockstar in his make-believe band.

Learning to play his first boardgame, Candyland.

And getting in trouble for being impatient during said game. (Love this look!)

Happy hours and new restaurants.

Fishing for "lunkers."

 

 

Bike riding laps through the house, since our neighborhood is too hilly!

 

A continued love for hockey.

 

And baseball.

Lots of hide and seek.

A fruitbar, milk, and a movie/Mickey to start every single morning.

A handful of Chuck E Cheese trips. (He loves this shooting game. Not sure how I feel about this?!)

 

 

Just hangin out in the backyard. (He's gotten so blonde this summer!)

 

Beginning to show the ability to sit still and do some educational activities!

He loves making a mess in the bathroom, but how can you get too upset with this face?

Just being a goofball.

 

 

 

He thinks he is cool when he gets to sit in the front seat to drive down the street and get the mail. 

 

 

 

 

Best summer yet because of this guy!