Friday, November 23, 2012

3

K is 3, and poorly documented.



So I'll fix that.

He is finally making headway in the speech department.  I thought he had a delay, so I had him assessed, and was told he scored in the 4 year old category for language and reception by our local speech and language pathologist of the headstart program.  I am both shocked, and amazed at this information, but elated too.  I've noticed a drastic change the past month, and now he is finally doing better with sentence structure.  So we'll keep doing what were doing.

He says kiwi instead of kitty (kiwi cat), and it cracks us up.  R has declared our cat to be named Jill Kiwi Loprinzi because she needed a middle name, and he thought it was funny that K calls her that.

He use to attempt to hold Jill by her neck, I told him to hold one arm under her butt, he said "gross, I not gonna touch Kiwi's butt!  Disgusting!"  After a bit he figured it out.  The cat thanks him.


He still gets a little wild with her.  She is one "loved" kiwi-cat.


He won't poop in the toilet, and it drives me wild.  No bribery of food, toys, fun will convince him otherwise.  He would be golden in the potty business if he did, he wakes up every morning dry.  There are worse things in the world to fret over, he'll get it in time.

He is such a middle child, and plays so well by himself.  I'm a middle child, so bias I am sure, but he is amazing.

He LOVES lincoln logs,



He playing loves trains, and obsessed over driving over train tracks - "mom we going to go over train tracks now..."



and taking 13 identical pictures on my phone of his train crash scenes.

and playing outside.
Like his big brother, he is also becoming a puzzle master.  He can put together 25 piece puzzles solo in record time, and beams with pride as he puts the last piece together.

a take-apart-toy guru

Well known for falling asleep just minutes before arriving at home, then waking up and acting as if he never fell asleep.
When he gets bored he says "I'anna EAT!" which happens a gazillion times a day and may, or may not be extremely annoying.


He is the first to rise in this house.  Always.  He comes into my room, and grabs my cell phone and plays on it, sometimes ordering expensive games...for 30 minutes everymorning while we sneak in some more sleep.

He looks forward to taking R to the bus stop every morning, and then picking him up in the afternoon.  He says "Oh, my Rykie bear is coming home, he comes on the big yellow bus!"

note - this is a cheap-o car he picked out as a "poop prize."  He earned it, and refers to it as "poop bus"


He also frequently asks about "kay" of which is an often debate in the car between him and R of the correct pronunciation





K is obsessed with fruit snacks.


and hates haircuts, but deals with getting it done.

He loves warm, clean blankets fresh from the dryer.  And looks adorable all snuggled up in em'.


 When he tries to fold his hands, his fingers get all goofy, and it makes me smile.  His crazy hair on the crown of his head makes me smile too, the way it sticks up all crazy when it gets too long.

He has lovingly named all of his stuffed monkeys "George"


He loves rides on daddy's shoulders

Giggling swing rides from his big brother
and duo bike rides


causing trouble with his little sister


and taking cheese ball pictures with his mama

He loves watching the sunrise and set, spotting the first star in the sky, and checking out the moon with daddy every night.










Most of all he is our sweet, sweet guy.  He is the middle kiddo, big and little brother, our Kip, Kippy, Kipster, Bubba, Piplin.  And he brings us so much joy.


Monday, November 19, 2012

Staying energetic

Correction to that failing grade - I really got a 90% cause he missed something apparently.

So all that stress, a total waste of a night.

I did have a fabulous run today because of it - 4 miles.  I ended up walking the loooong hill right before our cute yellow house, and felt embarrassed.  Perhaps it was all that wasted energy stressing out.

This run made me realize I want to run a marathon.  again.  I've got a looooong way to go given I had to walk up that hill, but I'm a marathoner at heart, I've got what it takes to get back in marathon shape.  Maybe not finishing a marathon that will give me a personal record time...but finishing a marathon as a personal accomplishment - a marathoner, mama of 3, RN, grad student, and wife to the greatest Mr. around.

Anyway.

P has been a basket case preparing for a lecture on performance enhancing drugs for tomorrow's class.  Apparently his collegiate days as an athlete didn't prep him for knowledge on this topic, which I am not complaining about at all.  He's retired his running shoes, and declared em his stay fit and healthy shoes.  Apparently that loss at the Skeleton 5K Halloween run was too much for him ;(.  I was really looking forward to a redemption title during the turkey trot 8K too.

But these littles keep us too busy for competitive running most days.

Not complaining.  At all.  Just saying how it is.

When you want to keep up, and parent them they way they deserve, training hard enough to win races makes us tired and less patient.  And they deserve more.

So we choose health, and them.  Making our priority to exercise to stay healthy, and have enough energy/time to make a difference in their life.  Maybe someday we'll be rockstars of the masters age group.

Until then, we do what we need to do to keep up with these monkeys...and love every single.second we get with them.



 Why yes, I let them jump off the bed.
 except I didn't let little lady.  She's too small, and would probably break.  And so, she's mad.
 My little loves.



He bumped his head, on the wall, cause I let him wrestle with his brother.  And I melted as I looked over to see R.  Sibling sweetness.

and in a second all was right in the world and the wrestling/jumping fest continued.  He is a tough on, my K.

I hope they are always buddies.





Friday, November 16, 2012

Progression of nursing degrees

I went to nursing school.

Earned my Associates degree in nursing (ADN).

It is the proudest I've been of myself, school wise.  Ever.

Then I continued in school to earn my Bachelors of Science in Nursing, because I am a sucker, and thought it was a big deal to have those BSN credentials after RN.  Several thousand dollars later, and no pay difference than what an ADN, RN makes...I'm here to say, having a BSN just lengthens my already long name on my badge at work.

And so I thought, since I must work, I might as well make something doing it.  So, back to school.  Only this time it is grad school, which isn't for sissies.  Not only is it not for sissies, it apparently isn't suited for people named Kristina, who has a husband, and three kids, and a job, and lives across the country from a support system...

So, the truth...

 I failed an assignment.  Not just any assignment, but one of the "should of been and easy A" type of assignments.  Which for this type A lady, it is huge.  HUGE. 

It is dollar signs, and pride, and handwork turned crap, and tears all rolled into a big, hot mess.

Which is me, right now.

Sigh.

Deep breath.

Leaky eyes.

"But it is a 75%," well let me just tell you that is failing.

So I'm confused about wanting to quit/continue, and frustrated that money rules the world, and driving my husband wild with my irrational thinking.

Like I'll never be smart enough for this.

It has been a recurrent theme this term.

And since I have no other uplifting things to write about, I'll let the pictures talk.  Cause they don't swear.

Which is all I want to do right now.

*****

 A day with them, here, was so sweet, and swear-free.