Chatty

One thing that amazes me is E's ability to comprehend every single thing we are saying despite his ability to communicate in a well versed fashion with us.  He is at the point now where he can follow through a string of commands.  For example, "When we get home, I need to you take of your jacket, shoes and socks, then put your socks in the hamper!  Ok?  What are we supposed to do when we get inside?"

He will respond, "Jacket.  Shoes.  Socks."  Good enough!

He will run up to you, grab your finger, pull and say, "Mommy/Daddy, come play.  Come play.  Come play cars."  He will lead you to the toys, then say, "Sit down mommy/daddy.  Right here."

He responds to questions like, "What time is it?"  If it is after dinner, he will say, "Vitamin!" or "Bath time!"  Both are correct.

We had ants coming into the house through the floor vents.  The house is on concrete slab which cracks over time.  I am *so* not cool with this occurrence, but it is predictable and can be handled with Raid ant traps.  E's eyesight is phenomenal.  So, one day, he points to the carpet and says, "A is for ant."  Sure enough, there's an ant.

I feel bad sometimes because I've made my son neurotic about bugs.  I don't like bugs.  Don't care what kind.  We get wolf crickets which are super ugly and erratically hoppy during the cold weather.  I hate them.  We get stink bugs on occasion.  Rarely, we'll see a spider.  I make G catch and release, so we keep a quart wonton container and piece of cardboard to make the capture.  Now, E will see something on the floor, run and get the tupperware to catch it, then say, "Bug!  Bug!", in a worried voice.  Oh no....This is so my fault.

Recently, I found that that over the last three weeks his behavior has been digressing and he has not been listening at school.  He won't participate in circle time and wants to wander the room.  He pushes around chairs.  He pushed his best friend and refused to apologize even though his friend did.  I feel like an awful parent.  He is disruptive and setting a bad example for the younger kids.  He's one of the older ones, and I feel like he should've been moved up to the 2.5 yo room and is getting bored in this one.  The same thing happened in his previous room.  He's just NOT listening, even at home.  The time out chair is going to start real soon.

Part of me feels like it is my fault.  G has been doing almost all the E care since I can't pick him up.  He is too heavy at 30 lbs.  I can pick him up if he is already elevated.  For example, if I can get him to stand in his car seat and grab onto me, we're OK.  I just can't pick him up out of the crib.  So, I bought little stepstools and they are all over the place.  He likes them.  He likes having independence.

I'm sick.  G came down with the cold first.  It has been going around work. Then, E got it.  Then I woke up on Saturday feeling pretty awful.  My turn, YAY!  It's hard to go go go all the time between working FT, tending to E, making sure our food situation is handled, etc.  I think we do keep up pretty well, but at what cost?

I need to rest.  It has been go go go today, and I even stayed home from work to rest.  Will need to stay home tomorrow also.  Using up vacation, which i what I need to hoard in order to get PAID during maternity leave once disability runs out.

Without getting too political, the US is so far behind when it comes to maternity policies, and it seems like it will only get worse under this new regime.  God help us all.

No Belly, A Birthday, and Come on, guy!!

During the usual evening hustle and bustle in the kitchen preparing dinner, E comes up real close to me while I'm standing with my back to the sink, looks up and says, "No belly.  Mommy, no belly."

This is the first time he has acknowledged my growing belly.  I'm past the fat-or-pregnant phase with a little basketball protruding from my midsection.

"Belly!!"  I start rubbing it, smiling.  He usually likes to play belly games.

"No belly."

Oh man...think fast.   I lift up my shirt and pull down the maternity stretchy panel of my leggings and point to my belly button.  "Belly button?  See?  Belly button!  Where's your belly button?"

"Right there!!"  E points to his, lifting up his shirt.  Then, points to mine.  Then, lifts the panel up and down and up and down on my belly, then pulls my shirt down and up having fun.

We haven't told him yet.  I need to go go the library and get some big brother books; just things that will clue him into what is going on.  His little brother will be here in just four months, and time is flying by fast.  We haven't even started the transition yet in putting E's big boy room together with a race car toddler bed.  It's not for lack of trying.  It is just exhausting working full time, being pregnant, keeping up with...life, and of course, being a mom.  As you can imagine, I do absolutely ZERO for myself.

Going back full time was a recent change.  I didn't want to, believe me.  But, full time insurance benefits are vastly different than part time, and I needed to do it.  It's short term.  When I come back from maternity leave I will be part time again for a while until we figure out what the new normal is.  The terrible thing is that sometimes even getting 20 hours in was hard, and this wasn't even with watching E for the other 20.  He is in school for a full day, though, I try to make it such that it is only 8 hours.  Some kids are there for ten.  Poor kids.  While E enjoys it, I still would like to spend SOME time at home with my kid, you know??

**

We celebrated E's birthday last weekend.  He's two, can you believe it?  NY family drove in, and we invited our neighbor friends who also have kids E's age.  It was a lot of work to get the fake-house ready, get supplies, order food, get set up, entertain, tear down, clean up.  I like entertaining, but it is a lot of work.  E had a blast, and even the adults enjoyed themselves.  We had sushi, pizza, subs and lasagna as main courses.  Thomas the Train was the party theme.  It was a lot of work, and I was wiped out for the next several days, but it felt good that it went so well.  I'll enjoy the at home parties while I can.  Looking into parties outside of the house, like, at the trampoline place, or indoor kid playspace, or Chuck-E-Cheese is sooo pricey.  We will have to set limits later.  People around here do crazy things; it's just too bourgeoise.  I know someone who had her daughter's birthday tea party at the Ritz Carlton.  You bring your American Girl doll with you.

Say what?

**

The crazy thing about toddlers is that you can say something once, and they remember it.  That said, I've cleaned up my driving commentary to phrases like, "Nice, guy!!" and "Let's go!  Come ON, guy!!"  Those are substitutes for the usual things one might say when getting cut off, someone doesn't let you in, someone makes you miss a light, general bad driving, etc.

Diverging from our usual schedule, G picks up E from school one day.  (He usually does the a.m. drop off.)  When they get to the intersection where you need to make a left, it ebbs and flows depending on the light cycle.  You can usually get through, but when you get that person who had PLENTY of time to make the left, but didn't....that's when I usually start yelling.  Well, G is sitting there with E and has no clue.  Then, E starts saying, "Come on, guy.  Come on, guy."  G starts cracking up.  Which causes E to say it more.  Repeat.

I find it hilarious.  Besides, there's enough inadvertent cursing due to poor pronunciation.  For example, when E says "shirt", it doesn't always sound like shirt, if you know what I mean.  Sit, is another one.  "Sit.  Mommy, sit."  Gotta just let it go, you know?