Posts Tagged ‘toddler’

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My High and Low Kid

October 5, 2011

My first kid was pretty even tempered.  Sure he had his moments, but he is pretty much the same relatively happy kid all the time.  Parker on the other hand, is my high and low kid.  He certainly makes things interesting!

High: Spontaneous ‘I love you Mama’

Low: Pulling out the 6th and last pair of clean underwear and pants for the day during potty training (and yes, the dryer has been broken for over a month…)

High: Excited exclamation from the back seat as Zach is driving past a speed reader “39! Mama, that’s 39!” (yep, the number on the reader was 39 – no clue how that happened…)

Low: Ear piercing screeching in public places while spread flat on his stomach (i.e. Olive Garden, Boston Museum of Science, etc…)

High: Happily playing with his brother for nearly an hour!

Low: REFUSING to let anyone except Mama comfort him (which is simultaneously sweet, but sad because this ‘phase’ has been lasting for over a year now…)

High: Getting closer to potty trained!

Low: Still going through 1-2 pair of underwear and pants every day (the shoes are slightly more problematic)

High: The mimicking is just so adorable ‘Have good dreams Parker’; ‘Have good dreams Mama’

Low: He figured out how to properly use the word nuts. ‘You drive me nuts Mama’ or (loud Parker sigh) ‘Them dinosaurs drive me nuts Xander’ (yep, it’s really tough to keep a straight face when he says this stuff)

High: Regardless of the day I’ve had, or the day he’s had, when I walk in the door at day care I am always greeted with a running hug and the biggest smile ever.  Hand’s down one of the best parts of my day (who doesn’t love it when someone is happy to see you?)

He’s my high/low kid.  The highs totally make the lows worth it and I wouldn’t want him to be any other way.

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Conflicting Feelings

September 13, 2011

I like to sleep.  I sleep pretty well when I don’t have small children climbing into my bed in the middle of the night.  I also like to eat foods that my kids don’t yet find appetizing.  I like to go out to dinner and a movie with my husband.  I like to close the door to the bathroom and keep it closed the whole time I’m in there.  I like it when my house stays picked up for more than an evening.  Sometimes I miss the days of sleeping in and eating what I wanted and the freedom to do things on my own schedule.  Sometimes I look forward to the days when my children will be self sufficient.  When they will be old enough to stay home alone, or to the days after they have moved out of our house and I find free time again.

The other day I told Xander when he was older he wouldn’t want to hang out with me, he’d choose to hang out with his friends instead.  Xander giggled, smiled and told me he’d always want to spend time with me because he loves me (duh Mom).

And then, things like this happen.  And last night when Xander crawled into my bed at 11:30pm saying he’d had a bad dream, I didn’t send him back to his bed.  I wrapped my arms around him and held him for the rest of the night.

When I drag my exhausted body out of bed at 5am so I’ll have enough time to make lunches and breakfasts and find clothes for everyone it feels like these days will never end, but I remember that soon enough I’ll be trying to drag my boys out of bed and frowning at the piles of smelly laundry on their floors.  I will think back to all of those nights where I held a sleeping child in my arms and miss the days that I sacrificed sleep or privacy or sanity for my babies.

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Happy 2.5 Birthday Peanut!

August 9, 2011

Just in case anyone reading this isn’t already aware, we celebrate Parker’s half birthdays.  He was born at the end of December, and it’s not a great time for anyone to get together to celebrate a birthday when we’re all busy celebrating Christmas and New Year’s.  We decided before his first birthday that we would acknowledge the day with a brunch for family, but not celebrate with a party or presents until the summer.  It’s worked out well.  Parker gets his special day, and he isn’t sad about it being in the summer instead of winter.  We kind of like kicking off the summer with Parker’s party and then ending it with Xander’s party.  This year Parker’s wasn’t really at the start of the summer, but we’ll get back into the swing of things next year.

So, we celebrated.  Lots of people came and it was a great afternoon.  Pretty hot, but not bad in the shade.  Parker got his cake (which was really his primary focus for the day) and wound up with some really fun toys.  He is finally getting to an age where he has friends that he likes to play with, and a few of them came – it was great to see him playing so well with them.  Making this little boy happy was totally worth the 7+ hours of cleaning I did along with the 4-ish hours we drove to have a free day to clean, plus all of the hours in the hot sun Zach spent working in the yard.  We always say parties are a good excuse to make sure your house is really clean…

He is a stereotypical two year old, fiercely independent one minute, and desperate to cling to my leg the next.  His speech is getting better and better by the day, and the things he says are so freaking cute, most people can’t help but mimic everything he says – we’re guilty of it too, but if I were him, I’d be sick of people copying me by now…  Just recently he’s been in to ‘singing’ his A,B,C’s but can only do it if he’s watching someone and mimicking them (oh, the irony).  He can count to 16, but won’t do it anytime we want to show off his new skill of course.  He tries his hardest to keep up with his older brother and manages to succeed most of the time.  His imagination is phenomenal and he can play make believe with his brother for lengthy periods of time.  I am still the favorite, but sometimes Dad can kiss a boo-boo.  And he melts my heart every day when he calls out ‘I love you Mommy’ as I’m walking out the door.  He doesn’t always make it easy, but I’m still head over heels in love with this little guy.

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What Do You Do With Your Mom’s Chap stick?

July 20, 2011


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I’m Hungry

July 19, 2011

So, I was prepared for the invasion of locusts disguised as my children when they become teenagers.  I know that my cupboards will be bare and I’ll spend hundreds of dollars in food each week only to see it devoured in days.  I was not however prepared for this to happen when they are 2 and 4.  The most common refrain I hear in my house these days is ‘I’m hungry’.  I hear it every afternoon without fail when I pick the boys up from day care.  I give them a snack when we get home, and then they have dinner, and often another snack after dinner.

Last night was a perfect example.  We got home, the boys ate applesauce.  I gave them a bath and then made dinner.  While making dinner they ate cheese sticks and two helpings of yogurt.  They ate sandwiches for dinner (I didn’t have the energy to convince them that homemade pesto really is yummy) followed up by a popsicle and more cheese sticks.  They ate constantly from about 5:30-7:30.  And since I hadn’t really planned that much snacking into the weekly shopping list, it sort of depleted their breakfast options for the next few days.

Please tell me this is just a growth spurt and eventually we’ll get back to normal.  I’m not sure my wallet can handle this level of eating for the next 16 years.  I’m certainly not filling them up with junk food, and we always have plenty of leftovers for them to have seconds or even thirds of dinner and sometimes they do.  Apparently the locusts are making an early stop at my house…