Seriously serious

Tonight you fought going to bed, as usual, but chose a new tactic. You started yelling, "This is serious mommy!" and "I can't believe you!" 

I am in for some very difficult teenage years. 

Oh my darling

So my love, I am now your full time, stay at home companion. No more working, just all Thomas all the time. I am beyond excited to have the chance to be with you every day. Our poor Michael is working a second job to make it work, but we're both committed to giving you the best possible start in life. 

We've been working on sort of a lax pre-preschool curriculum, but it's basically just been a workbook so far. Now I'm planning a more formal preschool curriculum for us to work on. You're so smart, so I'm sure we'll do well. You already love doing "school" and homework. It's the only thing I can use as a reason to get off your bike and come inside when it's starting to get dark and cold.

Ambi what?

You, my boy, are ambidextrous. You refuse to choose a primary side and seem to switch back and forth at will. Your grandmothers (and great-grandmothers) have been laying bets since birth, but I think you will continue to refuse to be pigeon holed. You're just like that. So you paint, write, eat, and even throw with either hand with no real discernible difference. We shall see if you ever choose a side.

Here is a gratuitous shot of us... just cuz I love it when you make this face.

Words I love

Polkadots = Polkanuts

Banana = Big-banna

Rebecca = Bebecca

Little = Widdle

Great minds think alike

This morning you woke up and were bouncing off the walls. When I asked if you need some toast you said, "That is a great idea mommy!" Always nice to have your approval.

Mommy, stay with me...

Oh doodle bug, you break my heart some mornings. I hate leaving you to go to work. Especially on mornings when you grab my hand and say, "Mommy, I just want you to stay with me." I wish I didn't have to work to provide for you. You deserve to have your mommy home with you during the day, but at least right now you have my sister. Becky stays with you all day. You love to chase her around and go on long butterfly walks with her. You have always been two peas in a pod and are oddly similar.

 

As far as the way your brain works, you are all me. But you have Becky's same mix of bravery and fear as well as her chatterbox tendencies. You both have winning personalities and turn on the charm at odd moments, like in a grocery store checkout line.

 

So doodle, I would love to be home with you right now. But rest assured that no matter where I am or who I am with, my mind is always on you. The second I found out you were growing inside of me, my entire existence wrapped itself around you. You are the center of my universe and I wouldn't have it any other way. I just wish I could spend my days with you right in front of me instead of just carried around in my heart.

POTTY TRAINED! FINALLY!

You are officially potty trained. I think me finally just dragging you to the toilet every hour for two consecutive days finally broke down your resistance to being a big boy. Everytime I hear you yell, "I have to go pee pee!" and hear the patter of your little footsteps streaking down the hall to the bathroom, I can help but laugh. You're doing so well and I am so proud of you.

 

We went to our first movie this weekend. Rather than be tortured (and torture others) with chatter in a busy theater, I took you to see an animated movie at a drive-in theater. It was perfect because we were watching a coworker's 7 year old son for the evening. I loaded you and the 7 year old into our truck and drove to the theater. The other boy decided he would pick out candy as his refreshment but your heart was set on popcorn. (I've only recently started to let you eat real popcorn instead of puffed rice masquerading as popcorn, so it's still a big deal.)

 

It had been raining all day, so we jumped at a break in the showers and sprinted to the concession stand. You very proudly told the clerk what you wanted and carried it back to the truck yourself. You had eaten half of it by the time the movie started!

 

You did pretty well in spite of your short attention span. I am glad we went the drive-in route instead of the theater route though. You did want to discuss some of the finer plot points mid-movie, such as what kind of car the villain drove and if the love interest was pretty.

Gotta go pee pee!

I heard you yell something just before 11:00 pm last night and went rushing into your room to check on you. You were tangled in your blankets as you frantically climbed out of bed, telling me "Mommy! I just have to go pee pee!" I swept the blankets away and ran into the bathroom ahead of you to turn the light on and clear any hindrances to a clear shot.

 

The thing that cracked me up most was that you didn't just have to go pee pee, you had to go pee pee standing up. You pulled your little pants and (dry) Pullup down, braced yourself against the top of the toilet and aimed (handsfree) into the bowl.

 

It's amazing the moments that inspire parental pride. Such a simple thing but I wanted to run around the house yelling, "Yay Thomas!" I restrained myself however because such undignified moments perturb you.

Showtunes and lullabies

Oh doodle bug... you were so grumpy last night that I resorted to performing show tunes and lullabies for the duration of our 45 minute car ride. If I stopped singing for longer than a minute or two, you started making dreadful noises. I haven't been that desperate to entertain you since you were 2 months old and colicky!

 

Your favorite song of all time is still "Wheels on the bus". It's the only song that I'm guaranteed to get your participation on. There is still one special lullaby that I try to reserve for your hardest moments. For some reason the lullaby from the movie The Prince of Egypt has calmed you down since the first time I hummed it a few weeks after you were born. It works 95% of the time and is one of the most reliable tools in my mommy arsenal.

 

The first time I hummed it, you were just a few weeks old and refused to sleep unless I was holding you. After a few bars of this lullaby, you calmed down. One verse in and you were snoring softly. Sometimes you would scream for long periods of time and nothing could calm you down. I think you were having reflux (that's what your pediatrician) said anyway. I finally just gave in to what you seemed to need and let you sleep on my chest all the time. If you were in a bad crying jag, I would sing to you. It seemed to soothe you, probably because of all the singing I did in the car while you were in utero. You still have an inexplicable (well to the outside world) passion for Reba songs.

 

Hush now my baby, be still love, don't cry. Sleep as you're rocked by the stream. Sleep and remember, my lullaby. And I'll be with you when you dream.

Going to outer space

I just opened your door to find you standing in the middle of your room, crying in the dark. When I calmed you down and got you back in bed, you told me that you just wanted to save me. Apparently you are going to space and you thought I didn't have a space ship of my own so I cannot go with you. Your ship is called Rocket and thankfully you have room for me. So tomorrow we will be going to space.

Phone chat

You are the jelly to my peanut butter, so it makes sense that we have our own song. I call out, "Peeeeanut, peanut butter" to which you respond, "and jelly!"

 

I just got off the phone with you. You told me that you're eating a sandwich, so I asked if it was peanut butter and jelly (followed by a quick song - see above). You replied, "No. It's just jelly. We're all out of peanut butter."

 

Your language skills improve daily. Sometimes you astonish me with how much of the English language you actually grasp.

Why not?

Today I informed you that we would be buying a truck tonight. At first you were rather excited, but after your initial surprise wore off, you replied, "How about an airplane?" When I reminded you we had no place to put an airplane, you essentially told me you would settle for a monster truck because they make "soundses" that regular trucks and cars do not.

Amazing weekend in the desert

We had such a nice weekend! We went to Marzie's house and saw lots of aunties and cousins. We went to the Living Desert, the street fair, and swam a lot. I grabbed you by the hand and took you to the bathroom every hour whether you wanted to or not. You fought me when we were in public, I don't think you like having your fun interrupted for something so silly as a potty break.

 

However, all in all, I think we're on the right track with potty training. You wore regular underwear all weekend (with the exception of night time) and only had one very minor accident. The only problem is you do not approve of our potty dance celebrating your accomplishment. You told us in no uncertain terms that we were not to perform the potty dance. I think you should have been born into a very reserved British family. Instead, you're stuck with a rather eccentric, loud, but loving bunch that is just crazy about you.

Butterfly walk

Yesterday you and Becky went of a butterfly hunt. Apparently you found quite a few of them... we have a neighbor with lots of flowers. You picked a flower for me and told Becky, "No. It's not for you. It's for my mommy."

 

There are no sweeter words than "my mommy."

 

Lessons I've Learned From My Toddler

1)      "Chuck E. Cheese is nice. But I do not like him." Just because something or someone is considered pleasant by others does not mean you must enjoy it. Make your own choices.

2)      "A monkey stole my yogurt. He ate it all!" If you are still hungry after snack time, perhaps you should have eaten a more substantial snack.

3)      "Don't tell me 'go on timeout' mommy! That's not nice! You go on timeout mommy!" The house always wins, unless of course the house is up against a tiny human being with the brain of an expensive attorney.

4)      "It's not in my mouth. It's just touching my lips." Please see lesson number 3.

5)      If you're in trouble, kicking a cat (or an underling) does not make anything better. It just leaves you with scratches on your leg.

6)      "A cookie makes it all better." Seriously, there are very few things that don't seem more rosy when you have a freshly baked cookie in each hand.

7)      Don't trust men that hit on mothers in grocery stores. Glare at them reproachfully until they back away and leave your mother alone.

8)      "Bad guy go home!" Label everything as either bad or good. There is no gray to right and wrong. And if something is bad, banish it from your presence.

9)      "Mommy, say 'Bless you Thomas!'" Always acknowledge a sneeze. It doesn't matter that you're crossing four lanes of busy freeway traffic, you should not abandon common courtesy simply because you're preoccupied with other matters.

10)   And finally, yesterday, a week from now and ten minutes from now might matter; but nothing is as important as this particular moment. So scream your head off until everyone around you recognizes the moment too.

Mr. Sandman

Every morning when you wake up I ask you what your dreams were about. Every morning you respond, "Shamu". I'm not sure if you have either the most boring dreams in the world or if you are just destined to become a star in the Seaworld training community.

We do have Seaworld passes, and it is one of your favorite places. You know the freeway route to Seaworld and start to freak out if I take a certain stretch of freeway. I now avoid that freeway entirely unless we are actually going to Seaworld because it breaks my heart to disappoint you by getting off on a different exit.

Hair cut anyone?

I hope someday you can tell me why you love getting your hair cut. You are so incredibly enthusiastic about hair cuts! Is it the focused attention by a well coiffed young lady (you throw a fit if we go to a male barber) or is it the lollipop after the fact?

 

Last night when you were hitting on small Russian girls, you were sporting a nifty faux hawk, fresh from the salon. Perhaps that explains your aggressive friend making...

Two Russian Girls + You

Last night we had dinner in sort of an open air food court with some friends. You were in such a good mood that we brought you along even though it would push your bedtime back a little bit. After walking around and chatting with several of the more interesting adults, you ended up spotting a couple little girls in strollers on the other side of a large fountain. By the time I walked over, you were leading one girl (who was rather reluctant) around the fountain while holding her hand. After half a turn around the fountain, she dropped your hand and went squealing back to her mother. The moms and I cracked up as you chased her around the fountain trying to get her to hold hands with you again.

 

Facing rejection from the little Russian brunette, you raced over to her little blond friend, who was all too happy to stroll around the fountain clutching your hand.

 

You are hilarious. And I am in so much trouble! I thought I had at least ten years before I had to worry about you and the ladies, but golly!

Hunger is as hunger does

You seem to always be hungry, even if you are only for pb&j and bananas. You frequently lie in bed and yell, "I am hungry!" until some unwitting soul (probably Becky) takes pity on you. Typically we insist that you come out to eat if you're waking up, but if it's the middle of the night and we're truly exhausted, you get to eat a piece of really boring plain wheat bread right there in your bed.

 

Right now you are in your bed after napping. Becky tells me that you are lying there and just yelling "I'M HUNGRY!"

We need to talk

This whole potty-training thing is a bit of a nightmare. Unfortunately, you are very much like me. NOT stubborn at all.

 

I have to remind myself daily that you might have my force of will, but I've had 23 years to hone that strength, whereas you are just a n00b at age 3. My prayer for you is that you use your stubborn streak for good. I picture you as a tall, handsome, but most importantly good man in twenty years. You will be the kind of man that opens doors for women regardless of how independent we all claim to be. You will know how to change your own oil but also how to make a mean spaghetti sauce from scratch.

 

Nurturing you to successful adulthood seems so impossible when we're heatedly debating whether or not you should have to wear underwear versus a diaper.

 

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." So I'm putting in the dirty work now (sometimes literally) so that you will be the amazing man I dreamt of when you were still just a flutter in my abdomen. We'll get there.

You seem to exist entirely on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We sing a song as I prepare it, I call out "Peanut, peanut butter..." and you respond with "AND JELLY!" from another room.

Side note...

One of your favorite people in the whole world is your (aunty) Becky. She's my teenage sister and from the moment you met two weeks after birth, the two of you have had a very special relationship. When she first held you, the whole world held still. We were picking her up from the airport so she could meet you for the first time. She picked you up (I had you tucked inside my jacket sound asleep) and her whole face softened. You took a rough edged, concrete young teen and turned her into a big softy. She loves you SO much!

When you took to calling her Bad Becky at about a year old, she wore the name as a badge of honor. You didn't give anyone else a nickname, so it was special. Now you call her just plain Becky but still worship the ground she walks on. She asks you endless "why" questions just to get you to respond in your grownup, exasperated tone with, "Stop it Becky."

Amazing little man

Yesterday I called you from work just to chat. Right now you're staying at home with my sister until you start preschool (OMG!) next month... so I get to talk to you whenever I want. When I called you I could tell you were rather bored (you're not used to getting to watch so many cartoons). I asked you if you wanted to know where the Play-doh was and in an almost breathless voice you told me, "Yes mommy! I do! I do!" I gave you instructions on how to find the Play-doh and heard only a faint "I found it!" before the thud of the phone hitting the ground.

If you were anyone else, I'd be hurt that Play-doh is more important than talking to me, but because it's you, I was just pleased that you were having fun.

One of the best days EVER

You were quite the brave little man this weekend. You spent the morning as a chicken (full costume) at Seaworld. That same darn pilot whale tried to soak us again during the dolphin show, but my handy sweater protected us. You and I hid under my sweater and giggled while everyone around us screamed when the ice cold water hit them. Your aunty Becky got hit, which just added to our fun.

After we rode a couple kid rides and you scaled a rope net (still in costume), we hit the road for our next stop - the ice skating rink. On the way we stopped for some chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-a, where you introduced yourself to a table full of policemen. You have a fascination with policemen that I try not to discourage since you never know when you might need to depend on one.

When we finally made it to the ice rink, you were rearing to go. We strapped some skates on you and I held my breath as you teetered onto the ice. Imagine my shock when you took to the ice better than me at first! Thankfully we had trusted Aunty Becky to hold your other hand because I was less dependable on the ice than anticipated. You hit the ice a couple times as we dragged you around the rink, but you fought tooth and nail to keep going. It was not an easy task to get you off the ice when we were finished for the day.

From the ice rink, we proceeded to our final fun stop, the pumpkin patch... duh duhn duhn. I saw a horse trailer from the freeway, so I had a feeling it would be an intersting trip. You practically flew to the pony ride and picked out the biggest horse in the bunch. Such a change from the little boy who wouldn't even ride a carousel horse a few months ago! After a quick pony rid you went on a couple LARGE inflatable slides and drove a jeep in a circle for a while. Then, you spotted it! They had a harness hooked to bungee cords and suspended over a trampoline. Kids were flying through the air and doing tricks midflight. You HAD to do it too!

As your slightly skeptical mum, I stood in line with you for nearly half an hour, expecting your attention span to be breached at any moment. But you continued to stand there, very seriously clutching your tickets and asking the attendant if it was your turn. When it finally was your turn, I rather nervously strapped you into the harness and cringed as you started to bounce. You LOVED it! Your giggle was non-stop. Finally I reminded myself that I am a mother of a boy, so I grabbed your feet, pulled you down to the ground and launched you up into the air. Now this was fun! After a few all too short minutes of being a human slingshot, the attendant brought you down to earth once more. It was one of the most fun things I've ever experienced, so I can only imagine what it was like for you.

Seaworld - $0 (we have a pass)
Costume - $0 (bought it on sale at Old Navy last year for $5)
Ice skating - $9 (for whole family of 4 - thank you groupon)
Chick-fil-a - $6 (meal for 3 - thank you Readersteals)
Pumpkin Patch - $20 in tickets (YIKES!)

One of the best days EVER

This morning I continued our new routine of pulling you out of bed rather than trying to wake you up gradually in your own cozy bed. You immediately wrapped your arms around my neck and snuggled my neck. Talk about heart melting! As I changed you, you started to do your fake cry routine, but couldn't play it off today and instead giggled off and on throughout me dressing you.

Last night we had dinner with my best girlfriend, Aunty Kat. I think you annoy her when you ask her over and over where her boyfriend is, but you like him more than her. She does outlandish things to impress you (like the time she ate a lemon) but you are an excellent judge of people and seem to be able to pick out the ones that genuinely like kids. She's fantastic, but tiny people aren't her thing.

You, my darling, are not a morning person. I believe you get it from your daddy, because I am an early bird. This is the one personality trait of yours that I cannot accept blame for. You regularly whine, "Please mommy, just leave me alone" when I attempt to wake you at 6:30. This morning I tried a new tactic. Rather than singing our good morning song (Goooood morning, good mooooorning, I missed you all night through) and being my chipper self, I simply wrapped your blankets around you and swept you up into my arms. As I carried you to my room for a quick cuddle, you kept saying (half asleep no less) "I love you soooo much mommy". What a relief after months of "mommy leave me alone!"

 

So doodle bug, I love you soo much too. Even if you are a night owl who would enjoy being a lazy lie-a-bed all day. Heaven help us when you're an actual teenager!

You once complained to me on the drive home from the babysitter's house that a monkey stole your yogurt and ate it all. So obviously you were hungry and needed frozen yogurt to make up for the regular yogurt the monkey stole. Your babysitter was troubled to find out she had monkeys in her house.

Trading places

"You are my Dooooooodle Buggggggg, you are my Dooooooodle Buggggggg..." keeps coming from my backseat. I frequently call you my doodle bug, and now apparently I am your doodle bug. I'm not complaining.