I'm a Smart Cookie

Toddlers live in ‘the age of discovery’ and let no one ever claim them as smart. Our delightful son, whom we formally claimed as brilliant, is eating his goldfish crackers out of a zip-lock baggie. For some reason, he decides to bite a whole in the bottom of the bag to access the crackers, despite the top being open. Now he’s crying because they won’t stay in the bag. Wow.

Just call me Private Grape

So we decided to go see my folks who are about an 8-9 hour trip with our toddler. We’ve been on the road maybe 30 minutes and already I’m thinking we were crazy. Our son won’t eat the breakfast we bought for him, mommy already spilled his grape juice in her lap while trying to pour it into the spill proof cup, and he insists on watching his ‘show,’ which is yet another repeat version of his DVD Backyardagains. I’m sure whoever invented the DVD player in the car is a genius, but when you have a two year old who thinks “YAY, I love repetition” and you have a 9 hour trip ahead of you…I’m beginning to think that person is a sadist. 34 minuets and counting.

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

A warning to all new or future moms: It Is Not G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S!
Aside from the newborn peeing or pooing on you...you stick your finger in it...you can step in it if its on the floor...babies eat it...
In the movie Baby Mama you think a mom might be tasting it, though it turns out to be chocolate.
Ok so today I hit a new low. I sniffed it. It smelled so strong, that I thought the pants might be dirty, but they're brown so I gave it the ol' sniff test you imagine single guys doing to dirty shirts found on the floor. Wow my life is sad. What's my next low point to be? Tune in soon!

What did you eat boy?!?

There are days I feel like my only task as a mom is to feed the boy so that he can empty and make room for more. What’s worse than changing dirty diapers every 45 minutes? …Probably sticking your finger in it every time. Does anyone know of a place I can get a new hand?

"Zip" Happens!

No one ever told me trying to change a toddler’s clothes or diaper was like riding in a rodeo! My poor traumatized boy learned first hand today what it means to get ‘caught’ in his zipper. Oh does the guilt flow over me!
Our son “is in this fiercely independent phase. It's driving us absolutely batty. He won't let us do anything for him. So, even mundane tasks take forever.”
Having to almost resort to hog tying him, I’ve got him pinned down and ready to unzip his footie pajamas, only to discover…GASP ~ His diaper was around his ankle and he’d done number 2! Ok ewe, gross aside, he’s squirming around fighting me changing his clothes or anything. Mommy, trying to rush the agony for us both, unzips his pj’s only to catch the poor boy on the way down. Screaming ensues. Mommy wants to cry now too! What a day. Today he must get his every wish granted.

I wanna do it!

Right now our kid is in this fiercely independent phase. It's driving us absolutely batty.

He won't let us do anything for him. So, even mundane tasks take forever. For instance: he's potty-training now but he has turn on the light, turn on the fan, position his little stool in front of the toilet, take his clothes off, climb on the toilet, etc. He even wants to wipe himself (that always turns out badly). All these thing would take me less than a minute if he would let me help him. Instead, even though he only sat on the pot for a minute, we spent 10 minutes in the bathroom.

I can even tolerate (reluctantly) the tantrums and shrieking but this "Let me do it!" phase has got to stop.

Hush little baby

There's few things as sad as a little kid with a cold who just croaks when he tries to speak.

Granted, it's really a blessing in disguise but, still, it's a little sad when he just squeaks instead of shrieks.

Temper-tantrums aren't so bad now...

Lil' Overachiever

I just have to take a moment and brag about my son.

For a while now he's been able to identify and say about half the letters in the alphabet and, today, we found out that he recognizes his written name as well as the word "mama".

I'm so proud :)

JINX…not just a childhood game anymore!

Jinx:
N.
1. A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing.

Yesterday after a rather uneventful day, Brian turns to me and says: “Do you realize that Ethan was good ALL day? He had no tantrums, he didn’t fight sleep for his nap or bedtime and he was well behaved at meeting. To top it off he was actually asleep at a decent hour!”

Enter the Jinx. Guess who woke up at 11:45pm and again around 3am? Guess who had temper tantrums all day.
FUN!

Diapers and Wipes and Potty Training - Oh My!

About two weeks ago potty training started. Ethan really really wanted to sit on the big potty like mommy and daddy does. So we strip off the pants and undo the diaper and sit him up there.

Now for quite some time we've had a little potty in the bathroom that he loved to play with. He'd sit on it when I used the "big potty" and he'd put toys in it, he'd take the bucket part out and put it on his head...all kinds of fun stuff to do! Thank goodness he never actually used it for a potty.
But it's one of those nifty kinds that converts to a step stool when they start moving on. So we broke it down so he could use the step stool part of it to get on and off the "big boy potty."

This has been a huge learning experience for all of us. Probably me most of all, at least more than Ethan. He's got this thing down:
Step 1: Grab and point to crotch until mommy notices, then point to the bathroom and say bath.
Step 2: Run yelling and laughing into the bathroom and move step stool in place. Wait for mommy to catch up and strip me down.
Step 3: Have mommy help me onto the potty.
Step 4: *Sigh* Remind mommy to turn on the fan, hand me my tp and a magazine all with points and grunts...remember to be exasperated if she doesn't understand or forgets.
Step 5: Throw magazine down and demand another until all magazines have been read.
Step 6: Jump off toilet, grab stool, position in front of sink. Wait for mommy to wash my hands.
Step 7: Hands wet, no pants...QUICK run out of bathroom as fast as I can before mommy catches me. Enter "toddler temper" mode when she does.
Step 8: Pee on mommy while she tries to diaper me.

Need I say more?