Desperately overdue!

Yes, I know it has been over 5 months since my last post.  I’ll try to get caught up over the next few weeks – so much has happened!  Stay tuned!

Now I know my A-B-Cs …

Guess who knows the alphabet song?!?  We were sitting in the living room tonight when he just suddenly sang the song from beginning to end, with only a few mixups …  L-M-N-O-P came out more like M-O-P, and T was pronounced as P, but it was really amazing to hear out of the blue like that.  I had no idea he was even leaning it at daycare (her 11-year-old daughter has been teaching it to him, I learned afterwards).  He stumbles over the last couple of phrases and hums the tune when he can’t remember the words.  Pretty impressive, eh?!  I wonder how long it will be until he starts his own garage band or compete on Canadian Idol. <teehee>

Venting

After my post the other day, I sent an email to a group of mums to vent a little.  We always talk about how proud we are of our children – it’s so easy to share the happy, good stuff – but I needed to share how hard the day was and hopefully hear back that I wasn’t the only one having tough times on occasion.

I got what I asked for – a bunch of mums posted back that they were expreiencing “the terrible twos” with their precious little ones.  It was also interesting to see how many found it difficult to admit their kids were less than perfect … or to even complain about the kids they love so dearly.  I want to make sure that I stay somewhat real through this mothering process.

He’s amazing on so many levels, but he has his moments when I’m not quite sure how to react.  Like when he turns to me with the I-Know-I’m-doing-something-I-shouldn’t look and proceeds to do it anyways.  Or when he screeches at the top of lungs, no matter how many times I ask him not to.  He’s out of the phase of throwing food on the floor during dinner, but into dumping all his toys out instead of picking just one to play with.

The one thing I promise to myself is to allow myself to be frustrated with him from time to time, because squashing that emotion won’t do either of us any good.  I hope that I can help him learn to deal with his own frustration, too, while I’m learning to manage mine.

Tough day!

What a day!  This was the kind of day where I could happily put him in daycare 24/7!  By the time Patrick walked through the door, I was in tears!  The last think on earth I felt like doing was taking him to the skating lessons he’s been asking for all day, so Patrick called up a friend and asked him to take Nicholas instead.  Thank goodness he was able to (Patrick doesn’t skate) because it gave me a much-needed break!

What on earth caused the screaming, hitting, kicking, and throwing today?!?  One friends suggested the full moon coming up on Tuesday, another wondered if his molars were bothering him.  I have absolutely no idea, because this behaviour is SO not normal for him.  He has his moments, don’t get me wrong, but not an entire day, like this!

To top off the night, though, he was adamant that Mummy should take him to bed (Daddy usually does it every night), so perhaps that was his own little way of apologizing for the horrific day.

On the plus side today, I did get a chance to catch up with a friend from 30 years ago.  It was really great to see her – we chatted non-stop for 2.5 hours while he napped.

No ___, right now!

Little parrots … that’s what kids are … ready to mimic anything back to you in the least opportune moment.  I guess I often say “do ____, right now”, usually after I’ve asked nicely twice (with “please”), cajoled once, and then ordered once.  “Right now” signifies I’ve reached the end of my patience and a count to 3 or “time out” is imminent, depending on the situation.

I want to respect his feelings and wants, but “no potty right now” or “no sleep right now” or “no toys away right now” doesn’t always really mean he doesn’t want it, right?  I think he’s just testing out his newly-understood independence and control over the situation.  “Pick your battles” comes to mind in these moments, and I have to selectively choose the ones I push and the ones I let go.  It definitely keeps me on my toes.

Independence is certainly the theme these days as he has become aware of his separateness from us.  I want to encourage it, but it’s tough to let go at the same time after two years of dependency.  A great example was walking down the stairs today.  “No mummy’s hand right now” is how it started … and he proceeded to walk down 4 flights of stairs just holding onto the railing, as if he’s done it all along.  The sense of loss and pride are equal in that moment, and it’s hard not to smile and realize he really is becoming the “little man” that he refers to all the time.  The happy medium is giving him the room to grow and explore, but staying close by for when he decides he does need Mummy still or when he doesn’t realize he’s entering a dangerous situation.

Ah, speaking of dangerous situations … he does realize that cars drive on the roads and that we should check for them before crossing the street.  His ritual now is to arrive at the street and say “no car, no car”, completely missing out on the fact that we need to look first … but at least he’s on the first step to doing it right.  He cracks me up!

Tooth #15 & #16

I have absolutely no idea when they showed up, but they are a definite part of his mouth now.  Somehow, along the way, recording the arrival of teeth became insignificant to the day-to-day happenings around here.  Go figure!  We have a full plate, so always seem to be rushing out the door to something.  That explains how we completely missed filling in the baby book, too.  I think it’s too late to sit down now and try to remember emotions of 2 years ago – it’s probably not even possible anymore, because my emotions are always changing with each phase he goes through.  Nothing is stagnant with this child … not for a moment!

He’s had a few nights of waking between midnight and 2 and not settling down again (even announcing that it is playtime) – I wonder if that’s the 2 year molars coming through, even though I don’t see anything there yet.  He does eventually fall asleep in bed with us, but not without lots of “shush or you’ll have to go back to your own bed – Daddy needs to sleep”!  Daddy’s alarm at 5:10am comes all too early on nights like this.

Oh Canada!

While “3 Blind Jellyfish”, “I Like Traffic Lights”, and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat” are staples around the house, “Oh Canada” has taken centre stage! That’s the only line he knows, but can be heard singing it over and over again repeatedly throughout the day, especially if he sees a Canadian flag or hears the word “Canada”. You’d be amazed how many Canadian flags there are around us … I’m now acutely aware of every one within sight of everywhere we go. Try walking through a parking lot, stopping at every other car to make note of the flags on the license plate covers and sing the first line of our national anthem … it makes for a very slow process!

Bottle … broken

Nicholas and I had a neat conversation the other day in the car.  Here’s how it went:

N: Uh-oh!

M: Uh-oh? What happened? (Only slight dread on my part because there isn’t really much he could do while strapped into the carseat.)

N: Water bottle.

M: Did your water bottle fall down?

N: Bottle … broken.

M: Broken? I don’t think so. (It’s a plastic bottle that I don’t believe could break when falling out of his lap into the back seat of the car, although I guess I could be wrong.)

N: Mummy … (sigh) … other bottle!

Ahhh, now I understand.  He’s talking about the water bottle that he broke last week, when he threw it really hard and broke the top, drinking part.  He has a wonderful memory for someone so small.  Ah, here I go again, underestimating his abilities.  I seem to do that a lot, even though I wish the world for him.  How is that?  Is it worse to overestimate or underestimate?  Or is it possible to find a happy medium?  Oh, this parenting thing can get confusing at times!

Speaking of memory – he blew me away again a couple of weeks ago when we were downtown.  We drove past the library, which he has been to all of twice in his life, and he called out, “Bye-bye library!”  How on earth did he recognize it?  I guess the same way he knows that certain streets lead to a “casa bombero” and “casa policia”.  Car rides are never boring when the tour director in the back seat is pointing out all the best sites … firehalls, police stations, basketball hoops, Andi’s house, etc.

On again, off again …

… describes our potty experience, to a tee.  Not only does each potty session include at least 3 times of jumping up and being reminded to sit down, but he’ll go complete days without wanting to be on it at all, followed by days of wanting to be on it multiple times!  For the most part, he’ll sit on it with every diaper change, with some liquid success, most of the time.  I’m still not pushing it, and if he’s adamant about not using it, that’s fine, too.  I don’t know when he’ll be ready to stop using diapers, but I’m ready when he is.

Mummy … potty!

Aha … and so it begins.  Mum was visiting earlier this month and heard Nicholas say “poopy” as he was sitting in his high chair.  Without hesitation, she swooped him up, ran down the hall, removed his diaper with one fell swoop and deposited him on the potty.  Much to everyone’s surprise, he finally used it!!!  I don’t know whether it was the excitement of the whole process or what, but he was really pleased with himself, even though it was the tiniest of tinkles!  We made a huge deal out of it, and he’s been using the potty rather steadily ever since.

We’re being careful not to overdo it, though.  We offer the potty with every diaper change (not in between yet, unless he asks for it, specifically) and respect his wishes if he says “not” (remember this comes out as “no-te”).  The introduction of the “royal potty” has been fun – it rewards him when he sits down or actually uses the potty, with a little royal entrance “ta-da-da-da-da-da” sound.  He’s still a bit chubby, so when he squirms around, it also sounds off, because he’s triggered the sensor!  Oh well, he’s getting the point, little by little.  I have training pants on hand in case he’s ready for them, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet.  Pity, because our cloth diapers have finally started to fall apart (not bad, after 5 years of use) and we’re having to replenish our stock (thank goodness for craigslist!).

At the swimming pool the other day, he stopped still, stared at me with such a look of concentration on his face, signed “potty”, and said ever-so-quietly, “bum burp”.  I was laughing too hard to do much about it as he headed back into the pool.  Thank goodness he just meant that he had passed gas, and nothing more!