Animal Lover

Jack,

Yesterday you and I had some quality time. It's horribly hot out lately so we decided to go to the pool, followed by your second haircut. You were incredibly good.You didn't need to bribed or anything.It helped that the place we went to had a toy for you like you might see in a Happy Meal or something so that kept you occupied the entire time they were snipping away at your hair.After doing such a great job, I decided to take you a couple of store fronts up to the pet store. We had a wonderful time there. You got to pet a guinae pigAND a bearded dragon.Although, when I tried to get a video of you with the dragon, you simply weren't having it. :)

You were much more content to wander through the many tanks of fish trying to "Find NEMO" which basically meant pointing to any fish that was orange.

and NOOOOO, we don't now have an additional new pet in the family so those of you that were thinking it, can now stop.What a great day! :)

Love,

Mommy

A Little Bit of Everything

Jack,

Okay - soooooo, when you allow enough time to pass without blogging, you will inevitably have an entry at some point that is a conglomeration of everything. So many topics in one entry that it simply isn't possible to pick a subject line to capture the content. It's probably going to be THAT bad.

The first thing is simply that I recently got my grades for a couple of master degree level courses that I signed up for this summer. I love these grades. Mostly because I became convinced somewhere in the past 8 weeks that I would never survive to see the end of the classes. That I would be one of those people that reaches the ends of their capacities to deal and then just *poof* disappears, or that I would suddenly become comatose and not be able to snap out of it and flunk out of the remaining couple of weeks ensuring that I had a violent F staring at me from my grades telling me that I would have to pay for this failure in full monetarily and psychologically by having to endure the friggin classes a second time. Luckily, these things did not happen.

My grades came and I got an "A" and a "B" in my classes and I was SO HAPPY with these results that I wanted to make out with my grades. I wanted to get a room with them and roll around on them naked! ***I know, I know - gag, hurl, why would you put that in here, Mom?***

I made copies for my HR department and walked across the office holding my grades in front of me - casually stopping for conversation at just about every office I passed and then shoving the paper into their unsuspecting faces. SEEEEE?!? I'm SMART!! Did you know that? HUH?!? Well, NOW YOU DO! BECAUSE I AM! Want a copy for your records? I'll make you one...."

I know - it sounds pathetic ANNNNND I don't care! :)

Now - onto you.

Your Daddy has been traveling a lot for work lately and - it's really because he got this promotion at work and after about A WEEK in the new position, I think they realized what a fantastic move they had made. They realize at this point that your Daddy is super smart and not only deserving of the position but with potential exceeding the position he is currently in. His authority seems to be growing daily and it's actually very interesting to hear about the meetings that he has led, where he goes to meet his co-workers, the lunches, the hotels, the evening dinners, etc. It sounds very exciting - if not incredibly stressful.

As a result of this traveling, you are becoming WAAAAAY more adept with talking on the telephone. When I tell you that Daddy is on the phone and to say "hi", you will now take the phone and say "Hi, Daddy! Daddy work! Daddy sleeping... I go potty! I go Magic House! I-I-I all done, too!" (this last one is a stuttering explanation that you offer whenever a meal begins, all throughout AND when I am in the process of getting you down from the table)

All I can usually get out of you is "noooooooooooooooo!"
One of your favorite games lately is taking every one of your cars that we have in the house and driving them across the coffee table so they go flying off the end of the table and crashing into the floor. As a result, we have a ton of little nicks in the hard wood floors of the house. (***I'll know when Grandma Mary reads this entry because she will call me and say "NOOOOOO! DON'T LET HIM DO THAT! - she won't be able to grasp that I am able to cope with those little nicks existing on the floor...***)

Did I try to stop it, you ask?!? Of course! I have piled pillows everywhere, but they only hit those targets SOMETIMES ~ and I can't do away with the activity in full because it is the only game that you get so involved in that you can play by yourself allowing me time to do things for myself like drink a cup of coffee, fold laundry, load the dishwasher, change a load over, feed and water the cats, pick up dog poop and - my all time favorite - put together a blog entry like I am doing right now!..... while you play with your cars in this wonderful game.

Frequently, though, I will hear - "uuuuuh-ohhhhh. Bwoken!"

Usually without even looking now, I go to dig in the kitchen drawer for our tube of super glue before I even head over to see what is broken. I am becoming MacGuyver with a tube of super glue - HONESTLY! (WOW - again with the MacGuyver references! What am I? 80?!? --- oh... sorry about that GG!)

I actually have superglued your Mater car, your tractor toy, Mack truck, and even used it to reattach the coat hanger to the wall on our front porch (did you hear that? That was the sound of your Daddy uttering explatives under his breath, because I hadn't admitted this to him yet....)
Sometimes when I fix something that you brought to me and I hand it back to you (AFTER the glue is dried - remember, I'm SMART!) you will call me "Handy Manny Mommy" which always makes me want to put on a utility belt and hitch up my pants while I puff my chest out in masculine pride. :)

Another thing - you are currently going through what I would call an accident prone phase. I'm hoping this isn't my genes because that means you will never grow out of it.

In the past week, I think you have run into walls at least five times, fallen flat on your nose at least three times to the point where you sometimes get mysterious nose bleeds from rubbing your nose too hard, and have a bruise on the side of your forehead that is a sickening purplish color. I worry constantly. If you grow up and can't spell atrocious or amplification or cappuccino or can't do your calculus homework properly, it's probably for this reason and I will curse myself for not making you wear football padding and a helmet through this period of your life.

I just keep reminding myself that we all managed to survive so you probably will, too.

I have to confess, though, that yesterday I was at the end of my rope with you. You wouldn't go to bed and I was trying to drag your kicking and screaming and contorted body up the stairs with me while keeping the gate in place to keep our overeager and attention starved dogs downstairs when the gate fell over. I angrily set you down three stairs up so I could pull the gate back in place before the dogs took full advantage and then the entire nighttime routine was set in horrible motion for failure. Only, when I set you down forcefully in my frustration, I pitched you forward thus knocking your bottom row of teeth into your lip causing you to bleed. I felt so bad about it that, I predict even to the day that you are reading this, you could probably remind me that I did this to you and I would bribe you to not bring it up again for another 10 years or however long it has been by that time....

I sat down and cried with you in my lap. I felt like this is the closest I've come to abuse because I set you down with anger even though I didn't mean for you to get hurt - and THE GUILT is overwhelming.

The little cut on your lip is so small that it didn't bleed much and I can't see it anymore. You are getting angry that I keep wanting to tug down on your lip and peer into your mouth.

I am so sorry, angel! I am compelled to admit to this mistake so that I can deal with it. Your blog, afterall, is sometimes Mommy-therapy for me where I can pour my heart out about my mistakes and feel that I am forgiven and will learn from this internet reminder so it doesn't happen again. Hopefully when you read this you have a lifetime of great memories of our times together so you can see this as a minimal mistake and tell me that you love me and I did a good job. That's what I want to hear someday - that in spite of the mistakes that I confessed to in your blog, that I did a great job as your Mommy.

Annnnnd, finally - last night we went for a playdate with your cousin Calum!:


You were thrilled and had a great time watching shows with him and running in circles. You both seem to appreciate this activity.


Then, you played hide and go seek in the curtains:



Emmett even tried to join in the fun, but as has been his cross to bear - you and Calum still refused to acknowledge his entry into the family quite yet:



It was a wonderful evening although there were multiple instances of rebellion which finally triggered us to call it a night.

All in all - life is good!

Love,

Mommy

Keeping Me Humble

Jack,

We all have things about ourselves that we wish we could change. Some of the things are more superficial than others.

Well, I've always been really self conscious of the mole that I have on my chin. I've had it since I was young and kids always have a way of noticing things that are different about you and bringing it to your attention.

I remember being in high school at a dance with a boy that I liked and he liked me. I remember once we were standing close to each other on a Riverboat and I was hoping he would kiss me when he looked at my face and said "What is that on your face?" I don't really remember if I ran away, but I left immediately because I suddenly felt like I was the most hideous person there and I didn't want to see the look of disgust on his face before he kissed me because he had to get closer to that thing on my face!

Looking back on that scenario, I'm sure it could just as easily have been something else - a pimple or a speck of something - but in my mind, it could only have been the mole on my face that I've been self conscious of since I became aware of it's existence. (Not that a pimple would have made me feel better....) :)

Even more recently, though, a co-worker was talking about an actor on the show Scrubs, Donald Faison, who plays Chris Turk and who I always thought was cute. He has a mole over his upper lip and this co-worker who is extremely short on tact, said that he wished he could give him a dime to have a rat gnaw that thing off his face because he couldn't stand looking at it.

This is a little rougher of a comment to bounce back from when you have the exact same facial mole as the one that your co-worker has just - well.... set new records for insults about.
I remember wanting to make him feel bad about it and so I said "You mean, like this?!?" pointing out my own facial mole which made him look at the ground and say "well, no, it's not the same thing...... stutter stutter, backpeddle, backpeddle...

(heh, heh, heh - insert evil laugh here)....

Well, you like to think as you get older, you shed these insecurities like a snake sluffs off a layer of skin and move into adulthood completely confident in who you are and with no "issues" to deal with - but insecurities are part of our personalities. They may temporarily lay dormant, but the minute someone brings them to our attention, well - they are back with reinforcements.

Okay - so where am I going with this?

Lately, you have really been noticing the mole on my face. You have decided that it is "Mommy's beeper" and will take your finger when you want to be amused and push it into the mole on my face and wait expectantly for me to make the "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" sound that I make when you do this so you will 1) stop poking me in the mole on my face and 2) laugh and smile at me!

It always seems, though, that we are in very public places when you decide you want to push Mommy's beeper. When I drop you off in the morning at your daycare and I'm in the middle of a conversation with a teacher, or when we are at the grocery store waiting in line to check out, or at the swimming pool when I'm putting on your sunscreen or drying you off. Here it will come, starting with a devilish little smile as you look me right in my face and then here comes your little finger about to point out to everyone in the world this facial flaw that I abhore - just in case they hadn't noticed yet. PRESS!

.........timid sounding "beeeeeeeeeep" comes from me.
This is obviously not the reaction you were looking for because you pull your finger away and jab it more demandly into my facial mole. PREEESSSSSSSS!
Okay - obviously this isn't going to go away until I deliver, so "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"
You laugh and say "MOMMY'S BEEPER!" and I respond "that's right, honey! That's Mommy's beeper!"

People that notice this display usually look away uncomfortably as though they are embarrassed for me. It's when I started to notice this reaction that I started offering explanations to people like family and his teachers and then I stopped offering explanations and began to think about this.
Why not correct you? Tell you this isn't okay? Well - because it's not a malicious or mean act. As a matter of fact, we usually have a good laugh afterwards, the two of us.

I guess I see it like this. We all have things about ourselves that we wish we could change. It could be something big or small - doesn't matter - they all seem big to us. But imagine yourself without those things. Can you? Would you be the same?

Without our insecurities, we all walk around thinking that we are gods gift to the world with a sense of superiority and entitlement and - well.... talk about flaws!
My point being that there will be things you don't like about yourself or others. My recommendation - own those flaws and, if you absolutely can't because it's just too hard, do something about it! That's my recommendation to you as your Mom! You'll never be able to let go of those insecurities, but if you try to keep them in perspective, you can sometimes get a great laugh at yourself out of it and - BOY, does that feel GOOD! :)
So - thank you, honey for keeping me grounded and forcing me to evaluate my perspectives. You have helped me to become a better person and I can't thank you enough for it! Maybe - by sharing these thoughts with you, I can return the favor someday. :)

Love,

Mommy

(Insert Maniacal Crazy Laugh HERE....)

Jack,

Okay - so I have to confess something here and it's not something you are going to like.
It's a coping technique and - as a parent - I'm not very proud of it. When you are the parent of a 2 year old that says "noooooooooo" all the time, refuses to do anything you want them to do and only wants you when you absolutely HAVE to go - you can go a little crazy.

So, maybe the field is leveled a little when this same parent doesn't always respond right away when called upon especially if there is a humorous aspect to the request that may not be apparent to that 2 year old.
Example? Well, if you insist....

Maybe that 2 year old has been driving a parent crazy all morning by driving his cars as fast as he can across the floor in the living room and maybe those cars have flown airborn into the parents legs while walking and perhaps the parent was ousted from the couch because that was the driving track for the cars and then a car flies under the couch out of reach! OOOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"I neeeeeeeed heeeeeeeeelp!" "Snotride! MY SNOTRIDE! I Can't reach it!!!"
suddenly my feet seem to be moving slower than normal - like there are big weights on the ends of my legs and the slow movement just increases the panic in the situation because SNOTROD IS STUCK! I CAN'T GET HIM (so I can continue to toss him through the air)! HURRRRYYY!

Don't worry - I rescued your car. I just didn't RUN to do it. A more "evil" example would be when you were piling your stuffed animals Pluto, Garby (Garfield) and Rufus on your push car and racing them across the room to crash into the front door and the back door alternately. When they fell off, you couldn't figure out how to stack them on the car again so they would stay put. I was video taping you at the time and I couldn't help but laugh a little while you declared "Ooooooh noooooooo! Garby fall down!!! Oooooh noooooo! I need heeeeelp!"

Like I said - it's a coping mechanism and one I'm not that proud of, but it's also an acknowledgement that I'm not perfect. But I love you! :)

Love,

Mommy

Jack,

I never thought I'd get soooooo tired of that word.

No.

Wow - did you know that if you hear the word "no" about 1,000 times in a day, boiling hot lava will shoot out of your mouth at your spouse and burn his face off?

It's not pretty and it's a very serious side effect. :)

Okay - maybe not so much, but hearing "no" all the time DOES get old pretty fast.

I'm learning that a cure for the "no"-ing two year old is exposure to friends. Friends are less likely to cause a rash of "no" answers because they are fun and not gatekeepers to all things unsafe, sugar, or bad for you.

Friends will say "yes - let's have animal cookies for breakfast!"

Stinky old parents will say "animal cookies are for snack time. Let's have some cereal."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Friends will say "you don't have to change your diaper"

Parents will say "come here and let's change your pants"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Friends will say "Yes - dump every toy in the house out on the floor regardless of whether you would play with them or not because that in itself is an activity."

Parents will say "You have to help clean up what you get out, Buddy!"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Anyway.... I've had a bit of a release valve lately with some after work parties. Daddy makes it home from his traveling and I blow off some steam on Friday nights and then all is well again. The boiling lava subsides, 3rd degree burns heal and we can move on!

Love,

Mommy