It’s hard to believe that another summer has come and gone so fast.  This is the first summer I’ve worked full-time since I’ve had the kids, so I kind of feel guilty that I wasn’t able to do more with them or take them on a family vacation.  So now I am in the midst of packing up school supplies, slapping name labels on their belongings, and laying out uniforms for them to get dressed in tomorrow.

This year, Felicity and Chase will be going to the same school.  Chase is so excited.  He’s been counting the days down for the last month.  I’m afraid he might be a little nervous, too, though.  Tonight he wouldn’t go to sleep unless I held him.  He said he was “scared,” but I couldn’t quite get him to say what he was scared about, which leads me to believe it’s got to be about the big event happening tomorrow.

There always seem to be two kinds of parents when it comes to kids going back to school: those who can’t wait for the kids to go back to school because they’re bored and driving them up a wall, such as Del, and those who want to keep the kids at home for awhile longer, like me.  In all honesty, there is a bit of selfishness that makes me feel the way I do, and it’s called HOMEWORK!  I am so burnt out on homework.  Take this summer, for instance.  Felicity had a school project that is due the first day of school.  I don’t know what compelled the teachers to assign a project over the summer.  It’s called summer VACATION for a reason.  So the parents can have a break from homework.  But for some reason, the fourth grade teachers decide it would be a good idea to have the kids do a cereal box book report.  They had to wrap up a cereal box in gift wrapping paper.  Then on the front, write the name of the book, author, summary, and draw a picture from the book.  On one side of the box, write the characters with a description of each one, and on the other side, write a review of the book.  All of this seems to be a decent amount of work, but not too terribly bad — until you get to the back of the box.  They had to make up a board game about the story to put on the back of the box.  Are you kidding?!  Really?  Who does this?  I’m all for the summer reading, but this project was the pits.  And Felicity, being the procrastinator that she is – despite my warnings to her about getting the project done early – was still working on it up until bedtime tonight.  I still have to glue all the pieces in place on the box.  This year, not only will I have Felicity’s homework to worry about, but now I’ll also have have Chase’s.  Great, homework times two.  Good times.

Which reminds me … I still have a bunch of supplies to pack …

It’s barely the end of summer and the stores are already putting out Halloween costumes.  Normally, I wouldn’t post anything about costumes this early on in the year, but since I’ve had lots of people ask me where I got the Lightning McQueen costume Chase wore for Halloween last year, I thought I would let anyone interested know that Disney is selling a similar costume at their stores now.  It’s similar to the one Chase had, but I think Lightning McQueen is pictured a little  more prominently.  I bought Chase’s original costume there, so I trust the quality, and this costume lights up like the old one does.

You can view the Lightning McQueen costume online.

You know the old adage about being in the right place at the right time?  Well, turns out there’s a bit of truth to it.  At least for me there was.  You see, the job I have now is temporary.  It’s been a long-term temporary job, but nonetheless temporary.  Our office is closing in the next few weeks, and then after that, nothing.  I’ve been submitting resumes and applications to every place short of McDonalds — okay, let’s be honest, every place short of anywhere paying minimum wage; with a family to support, I can’t afford to work a minimum wage job, save nothing of the fact that a miminum wage job would most likely be void of any kind of mental stimulation to me.

So I’ve been a slave to the computer each night submitting away, filling my email box with lots of don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you autoresponders.  It just so happened, though, that a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a couple gals at the office, when one of them asked if I had anything planned when our jobs ended.  I told her what I’d been up to.  She asked where I lived, and when she noted how close I live to the Regional Office for the organization we’ve been working for, she suggested I try getting a job there.  Sure, that was the first thing on my mind — but everytime I’d checked the web site for any openings, there weren’t any.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it again, so on a whim, I did.  Imagine my shock when I actually did see a position posted — a position I was more than qualified for.  The problem was, it was 2:00 pm, and the closing date for the position was 4:00 pm that day, leaving me a whopping 2 hours to fill out an application, go home and grab a resume, and hightail it to the Regional Office, at least a half hour away.  Luckily for me, I had a current resume already saved on the computer, so all I had to do is print one up.  I got to the Regional Office at 3:45 pm, where the receptionist proceeds to tell me in a drone-like voice, “You’re supposed to have two applications.”  Excuse me, two applications?  I don’t think so.  I handle all the Human Resource functions at my current office, so I know what’s required to apply for a position.  She points to her paper, and says, “See.  You need this form and that form.”  To which I retort, “No.  You need this form and either that form or a resume.  Not both.  It’s your choice.  I gave you my resume.”  So she squints to read her paper again and tells me, “Well, I don’t know if they’re going to take that.”  Trust me, they will, but I challenge her, “Why don’t you ask while I’m still here so if they want me to fill one out, I can?” all the while knowing I didn’t need to, but still not wanting to chance the possibility that they did things differently here.  She informs me the person she needs to ask is no longer there and that everyone else has turned in both forms along with a resume.  Well, I’m not most people.  She finally relented and agreed to accept my application before the deadline.

Hurdle one down.  Now I needed an interview, assuming they had indeed accepted my application, which I was sure they had.  A week or two later, I got a call not to schedule an interview, but to conduct an interview.  On the phone, really?  Okay, let’s go.  Was I prepared?  I didn’t really have a chance to prepare.  Luckily I had filled out enough applications that I pretty much had a good idea of how to respond to their questions.  I asked when they planned to make a decision and was told in a few days.  At this point, it was nice to just get a phone call at all, even if I didn’t end up getting the position.

A few days passed and still no word, but I wasn’t dwelling on it as much as my co-worker, who would end up with an extra few weeks of work if I did get the job.  As I would enter the office each morning, he’d greet me with a hopeful face saying, “Any calls from the Regional Office?” and when I’d say no, his face would fall.  That’s when I would tell him, “Gee, Rob.  Don’t be so happy to see me.”

So, cutting to the chase, yesterday I had to pick up some supplies at the Regional Office.  While I was there, I asked for the person I had interviewed with on the phone.  He came out and I introduced myself.  I told him since I was at the office, I thought I’d check and see if they had made their decision yet, even though I was fairly sure that since I hadn’t heard from them by now that they probably had.  So lo and behold, he told  me they had already made their decision, which wasn’t a complete shock to me, but there was another position they were looking to fill and I was one of the top candidates for it.  He said he’d check with the other person making the decision and would call me and let me know.  I thanked him for his time and left.  Two minutes later, while I was on the phone with Del, filling him in on what had happened, I got a call on my other line.  It was the person I had just met with, asking me how far away I was.  I told him I was still close by and could go back to the office if he needed me to.  He said they had decided to offer me the position and that they needed me to come back and fill out some paperwork.  I call my boss, tell him I’ll be in a little later than planned, and do a happy dance.  I later found out that someone they had decided to hire fell through, so they decided to hire me instead.  I’m sure meeting him in person was probably what did the trick.

So there you have it.  Right place, right time.  Job! 

Read about the new recalls for eggs, pistachios, and the Levana Wireless Video Baby Monitor.

For more info, visit my other blog, Children’s Product Recalls.

This past weekend, we decided to bite the bullet and take the kids to Disneyland since we wouldn’t be able to go on a family vacation.  Chase was so excited — it was all he could talk about for a few days, so you can imagine how happy he felt when he woke up the morning we were going.  Since we were going to be out all day, I told the kids to feed their fish because I knew they’d be too tired to feed them when they got home.  A few minutes later, poor Chase, who was so excited about Disneyland, came crying into the living room.  I didn’t even have a chance to ask what was wrong before he told me: his fish, Finding Nemo, was dead.  Oh, great.  I hoped this wouldn’t be an indication of how the day was going to turn out.

The good news is that it wasn’t.  After I explained to Chase that Finding Nemo was in Fishy Heaven, making lots of new friends and doing a lot of swimming, Disneyland was exactly what he needed to cheer him up and take his mind off his fish.  As for us, Del & I couldn’t have planned the day any better if we had tried.  Our timing  was impeccable, from the time we left the house to the time we left the park. 

This is Nick thinking, "What did I get myself into?"

We tried taking a different route than normal and ended up shaving half the time off our trip.  We got Fast Passes for the last World of Color show as well as Soaring Over California.  We decided to go to Toy Story Mania while we waited, and ended up seeing Mickey Mouse along the way.  The line to see Mickey wasn’t too long, so I thought I’d let Nick see Mickey, since this was his very first time going to Disneyland.  Let’s just say he wasn’t as thrilled to see Mickey as Mickey was to see him.  He wouldn’t even let me put him down.  It was the same reaction he had when he saw Santa Claus at Christmas.  While we waited for the time we could use our Fast Pass for Soaring Over California, Del went and stood in line at Toy Story Mania (a 45 minute wait — incidentally the only wait we had the entire day), and I took the kids to go get some ice cream since it was 90 degrees outside.  The kids finished their ice cream, and just as we walked back to Toy Story Mania, Del was heading through the turnstile to get on the ride.  We literally walked up and through the gate to the queue where we boarded the ride.  By the time we finished with the Toy Story ride, it was lunch time.  We ate lunch and returned to Soaring Over California just as the Fast Pass became active.  I won’t bore everyone with every little detail, but suffice it to say the rest of the day went just as well.

Carousel Fun

This was Nick’s first time going to Disneyland, so I was curious as to what his reaction would be.  It wasn’t quite what I had expected.  He mostly observed — just looked around and checked things out.  His biggest reaction came on the Merry-Go-Round.  He was fussing about being strapped onto the horse, but as soon as the ride started and he felt the horse start moving down, a smile sprang from the corners of his lips and stayed there for the rest of the ride.  His biggest reactions, though, came with the fireworks show and the World of Color show, which, by the way, was amazing.  He got so excited, laughed, and smiled the entire time.  And Felicity and Chase kept telling us all day long how much fun they were having.

Small World, huh? We'll see about that.

Overall, it was a fun family day, if you ignore how much it all cost.  That’s the one problem I have with Disney.  They make this wonderful, family friendly place, but there’s nothing friendly about the prices.  It should not cost a week’s salary to take your family to Disneyland for one day (or anywhere else for that matter) .  And that’s with Nick getting in for free since he’s still two, and Felicity still getting in at the kids’ price.  It’s absurd — $101 for an adult, and $91 for a child.  But … the kids had fun, and that’s what’s important.  So what if they don’t eat for a few days?

Tea, anyone?

We’ve made a little progress with Nick, but it’s slow going.  I was hoping he’d be saying a word or two by now, but nothing yet.  Nick uses the sign for “more” every day now, but he still doesn’t understand that just because he gives me the sign doesn’t automatically mean he’s going to get whatever snack he wants at the exact time he wants it (for example, cold pizza at bed time).  His vocalizations are getting better and he’s started pointing at some pictures inside books.  His speech therapist wants us to start using the signs for “eat” and “open”.  He’s done “open” a few times, but when we try to show him the sign for “eat”, he could care less because all he wants is whatever food is in front of him.  He won’t even look at my face to see the sign because he just stares at the food.  If I take the food to show him the sign, he thinks I’m taking it away from him and starts crying and screaming.  And then by that point, forget getting him to try and concentrate on making any kind of sign. 

Sometimes he gets bored or silly during his sessions and doesn’t want to participate, but on the good side, he is much more comfortable with his therapists and interacts with them without Del needing to be right there.

He’s also doing something that completely took me off guard — he’s potty training himself.  I’ve been taking him to the potty, but one day it must have clicked for him how to go to the bathroom.  He goes on his own, without anyone telling him to go.  He isn’t to the point where he goes to the potty every time, but at least half the time.  We can usually tell because then he walks around the house without a diaper or shorts on!  He’ll even throw his pull up in the trashcan by himself.  He hasn’t tried pooping on the potty, though, but will still take his diaper off when that happens — and then it’s the mad dash around the house to make sure he hasn’t sat on anything or left any remnants or souvenirs anywhere!

It’s been a couple of weeks into Nick’s speech therapy and we’re starting to see a little progress.  The speech therapist is focusing on one concept at a time.  The first concept is communicating via sign language.  Our first word: “more”.  We have to work with Nick by asking him when he wants more of something and having him make the sign for it before giving it to him.  The last couple of days, he has actually given us the sign to ask us for something without being prompted, which is really good news.  On the flip side, it now means that Nick thinks that because he used the sign to ask for something, it automatically means he’s going to get it.  So when he asks for chocolate covered blueberries and it’s bedtime, he assumes he’s going to get it.  He made the “more” sign, right? 

So now we have to figure out how to communicate when it is and isn’t appropriate to ask for more.  We’ve also been battling him throwing food on the floor when it’s something he doesn’t want.  I almost sent him to bed without dinner the other night because I was so frustrated at him for throwing his food on the floor.  I have to keep reminding myself that he’s probably just as frustrated as I am, but it’s a constant struggle at times.

Campbell’s Soup recalled 3 different varieties of “SpaghettiOs”.  For more information, visit my Recalls blog, www.childrensproductrecalls.com.