Toddler Transition Day 2 and 3

My monkeys had great mornings in the toddler room on Tuesday and Wednesday! Yet they were just as happy to go back to the infant room afterwards. That made me so happy for some reason.... The last little boy who transitioned to the toddler room would stand by the room and cry when he came back to the Infant room. That must have made the infant teachesr feel real good...
Here's an email from one of their Toddler teachers:

From: Toddler2
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:27 PM
Subject: Sahil and Samira

I just wanted to send a quick e-mail to let you know what a wonderful transition the twins are having! They seem very at ease in their new environment and seem to enjoy exploring all the new ideas in the toddler room! They fit right in and are making new friends. I hope this helps ease your mind on how they are doing through-out their transition. Joselyn and I are enjoying getting to know them. They are so sweet! Have a good rest of the day!
Michelle

Toddler Transition Day 1

Today Chetan and I drove together so I showed him around the monkeys' new Toddler room. I think he was having a hard time imagining our lil peanuts in that room, sleeping on cots, using the sink, eating at the table on their own...I know I did when I had my orientation for the room.

Today Sahil and Samira were supposed to go to the Toddler room from 8:30 to 9:30am. I went down there at 10:30, and they were still in the Toddler Room. Josslyn, one of the their teachers, said they were doing really well so they kept them longer. She said they sang songs, talked about the weather, read a book, had morning snack, painted pumpkins, and were now playing with play dough. I think that's more than we did all weekend! :) Sahil saw me, said hi, and then went back to his play dough, and same with Samira. I loved that, since in the Infant room they come running to me, hang onto me, whine and carry on if I don't hold them both...and then cry when I leave.

I think I'm more sad for myself about S&S leaving the Infant room. Two of their teachers are seasoned moms and have been there for ME every single day. They've given me advice, listened to my vents and stories, comforted me when I had meltdowns, and cuddled and loved my kiddos while I was at work. I am so grateful to have had such wonderful people taking care of my monkeys. I know the toddler teachers are just as wonderful, but I will still miss the infant room teachers so much. Yes, they are just a room away, but it's not the same....

Pumpkin!

I love all things Pumpkin! Pie, lattes, bread, cookies, ale....I'll stop before I sound too much like Bubba from Forrest Gump! "Shrimp salad, shrimp scampi...."
This morning my dear husband brewed a pot of coffee and surprised me with Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer! This evening my wonderful husband came home with a pint of Jeni's Heirloom Pumpkin 5-Spice. He is the best!
AND he's not even a big fan of pumpkin....

A Nice Fall Day

Ready to pick out our pumpkins
This past Saturday the weather was sunny, crisp, and dry. Who know how many more days of that we'll get, we decided to take advantage of it and get out of the house early. We started off my going to North Market's Harvest Festival. There were lots of great things to buy and see. We had some yummy, hot Vietnamiese for lunch and Jeni's Pumpkin 5-spice ice cream for dessert. The monkeys really enjoyed people watching, and loved the pumpkin cookie and apples they got, for free! Chetan also stocked up on his hot sauces from CaBoom.

When we were first going into North Market, I was pushing Samira in her stroller when I noticed the corn husk in front of me move a bit. The next thing I know the corn husk is actually a live scarecrow! He was starting to lean down to say hi to Samira when she SCREAMED! It was the funniest scream I've ever heard from her, like "get the heck away from me, you freak!" It's still cracking me up! :)

Later in the afternoon we ventured over to Freeman's Farm to pick up some pumpkins. They also had a small petting zoo. It was a really fun time and the kiddos picked out two nice pumpkins.

And in the evening we watched the Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers, while drinking some Great Lakes Oktoberfest. A nice day.

Toddler transition

This week is Sahil and Samira's last week in the infant room. They are finally moving to the toddler room! They were supposed to move over sometime around July or August but it's taken a while to find two spots in the same room for them. I thought I was ready for them to move over, since they should have a while ago anyway, but now that it's near, I'm so sad! My babies have to grow up next week! No bibs, no sippy cups, no cribs, no rocking to sleep for nap, no help feeding them those last bites of yogurt in the morning....whhhaaaaaaaaahhh! My poor little monkeys!

Okay, so they are 20 months old now....I guess they're ready. I know they'll have more fun in the toddler room, since they seem to be getting a bit bored in the infant room. So I should be happy...

This is just another reminder that despite all I do to stop it, my babies are growing up.

Beer vs Wine

While Chetan is still into his red wines, I have (maybe temporarily) moved to drinking more beer than wine. I've always enjoyed a cold beer in the summer, at a BBQ, during the game, etc, but now prefer it even in cooler temperatures, like the Fall. Right now I am ALL about Fall beers, and have tried some really good ones. Chetan picked up some Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale the other day which I thought was fantastic! I've also had my usual 3 favorites - Sam Adams' and Greak Lakes' Oktoberfests, and Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, and am looking forward to trying many more before winter comes along :)
On a monkey note, Sahil now points to a beer bottle and says "bee-aah" and knows where we keep them in the fridge....a proud bad mommy moment for me.

Oktoberfest Beers

From Beer Advocate:
Märzen / Oktoberfest
Description:Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content. The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies'n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains roughly 5.0-6.0% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

9/29: Bell's Oktoberfest. A good beer but little too light for me.