Eyes Wide Open

I woke up in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago and for some reason had a feeling I should open my eyes vs. rolling over and trying to drift back off to sleep.  When I opened my eyes I almost screamed out of sheer surprise.  Staring right back at me was my son – standing next to our bed!  He had walked over to our room because he too had woken up in the middle of the night.  It took me a minute to process if I was dreaming or not since he wasn’t saying anything, he was just standing there looking at me.  Then he said “Hi Mama, I couldn’t sleep.”

I walked him back to bed and then went back to bed myself, but I couldn’t quite fall asleep.  I kept opening my eyes expecting to see him back at my bedside.  I think it might be time for a lock on our bedroom door. LOL

This week’s Working Mommy Wednesday prompt from Julia over at Work, Wife, Mom….Life! is: I woke up in the middle of the night and....

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Last week I took A to Florida to visit my mother and step dad for a week’s vacation….by myself!  I know what you might be saying, “is she nuts?!?”  I figured I had the vacation time and it only cost us 2 plane tickets so why not take him away for a little beach time (my husband couldn’t get the time off of work so it was just the little man and myself).

I said to myself hey, I can do this.  He’s almost 3 years old and able to follow directions well so it shouldn’t be that bad.  All I need is a DVD player, a bunch of movies and some snacks and I should be fine.  So I strategically packed bags that I could carry on my back and left only one bag to pull with the stroller and I drove us to the local airport vs going down to NYC.  I was feeling great walking into the airport with A and all of the bags when a nice man offered to help wheel my suitcase in for me.  There was no line at Jet Blue and we checked in and got through security in no time (A was very cooperative through the security check).  He even got a pair of wings from the nice man at the Jet Blue counter.

I was so worried that take off was going to be a horror of A screaming that his ears hurt (we have a history of bad ear infections and he currently has tubs in both ears).  I came prepared with lollipops and drinks to help with take off, but to my surprise he never made a peep during both take off and landing (BOTH ways!).  He was too busy counting down to “blast off” as he called it.  3…2….1….blast off!!!!  It was too adorable.  The DVD player I brought was the best money I ever spent.  He spent the first hour glued to it watching Monsters, Inc.  He never made a sound…just sat there with his headphones staring at it.

The rest of the flight he made himself right at home in the seat and enjoyed some snacks and playing with his toys.  He was an excellent boy and got a few complements from other passengers on what a good boy he was.  Looking back on it I don’t know why I was so worried that he was going to be a terror on the plane.

The whole week was filled with new “firsts” for A.  First time on an airplane, first time at the beach, first time in the ocean…  He had a complete blast and I am so glad that I was there to watch him experience these things for the first time.  We played in the pool a couple days but of course it was the very last day that he was really getting into it and wanting me to toss him into the air and have him jump off the side into my arms.  We went to the aquarium one day and they have on exhibit a Clown Fish and a Blue Tang.  A runs right up to the tank points to it and says “there’s Nemo and Dory” and refuses to budge for about 10 minutes. LOL  I had to bribe him away from the exhibit so that we could see the rest of the aquarium.   He loved looking for shells and playing in the sand on the beach, but the ocean he wasn’t a big fan of.  He was scared of the waves and I think just the sheer size of the ocean scared the poor little guy.  By the last beach day I did get him to finally put his hands in and touch the ocean! 

A was allowed to do a lot of things while we were away that he wouldn’t normally be so we’ll see just how long it’s going to take to un-do all of these habits now that we’re home….most importantly sleeping.  Daylight savings occurred while we were down in FL and since the extra bedroom at the condo my Mom is renting only had 1 bed, A and I shared a bed for the week.  It should be interesting to see how tonight in his own bed goes.

A had such a great time this past week that this morning when we were packing up to leave he started to cry because he didn’t want to go home!!  I had a great time too, but I won’t lie…I was ready to go home.  A week was just enough.  It’s not entirely relaxing running after a 3 year old so after a week I am ready to go home and pass off to Daddy for a while :)

Here are a few more pictures from our week.

Mean Boys

Last weekend at a birthday party I witnessed my son get bullied for the first time.  Bullies at 3 years old?  Really?!?!  I could hardly believe my ears.  This almost 3 year old boy, who is A’s “best friend”, was telling A that he couldn’t play with him and the other kids because he was too small (mind you A is much taller than this kid) or he would just simply say to A “No, this isn’t for you”.  My poor son would burst into tears and come running to me saying that his friend told him he couldn’t play.  It broke my heart.

Two and three-year-olds are still trying to figure out what is socially acceptable behavior.  Three-year-olds are just beginning to reconcile their natural empathy for others with their desire to get what they want. They are also just beginning to develop the impulse control that will help them to grow out of this aggressiveness.  If a toddler finds out that the chosen behavior of bullying works, he will continue to use it as long as it gets him what he wants - usually control over another person.  This is exactly what seems to be happening in my son's case.  As long as this boy keeps getting the response from A, this is going to keep happening. 

That said, while the behavior the other boy is exhibiting is normal, it's our responsibility as parents to protect our kids and just because it's normal doesn't mean it's good for my little one.  This boy and A attend daycare together and from what we understood the two of them were good friends and played together well during the day.  That is why it struck me as so odd to see this boy act this way towards A at the party.  When I get back from vacation I will be calling his teacher to discuss what I saw and find out what/if anything she’s observed during the day.

I really didn’t think I would be having the bully conversations at this age so I feel a bit unprepared.  I just keep telling A to not listen to this boy and that he can play with whoever and whatever he wants.  I want A to be assertive and stick up for himself but at the same time not become too aggressive himself.  

Oh the joys of toddlerhood.

Mangia, Mangia!

You know you have an Italian kid when he eats his spaghetti like this:

Spill Your Secrets…

…your potty training secrets that is.  Like many of you other toddler moms out there I am trying to get my little guy out of diapers.  However, he seems to have different plans.  We introduced him to the potty around 24 months.  Then about a month ago I started a sticker/prize system with him and it seems to be working somewhat (still slow going).  He gets a sticker every time he goes on the potty (2 stickers if he does #2) then puts it on his sticker chart.  Once he gets to 5 stickers he can pick a prize from the ‘prize bag’. They are doing a sticker chart system at daycare also, so it’s good I’m consistent. 

I’ve decided not to attempt pull ups, but go straight from diapers to underwear.   A was very excited to wear his new dinosaur underwear so one Saturday when we were home I gave it a shot (kept him close to the bathroom).  It turned out to be a big fail, so back a couple steps we went.  More recently, he’s had a couple good days where he’s stayed dry in his diapers and gone on the potty, which I’m taking as a really good sign that he’s getting it!  My goal is to have him trained by his 3^rd birthday in April, but if he isn’t that’s ok.  I haven’t heard of a kindergartner starting school still in diapers so it will happen, eventually ;-)

So tell me what worked/is working for you?  Stickers? food bribery? naked approach? 1 Day or other ‘fast track’ methods? Waiting for him/her to be ready?  Are you using pull-ups or no pull-ups? I would love to hear other success stories of approaches that have worked.

Share, Share!!

A Christmas Memory

 

This is my first time participating in Working Mommy Wednesday.  The prompts this week are  #1 A Christmas memory... from this year or year's past  #2. Biggest challenge for the new year.  Since you all know already that my biggest challenge for the new year, I’ll give you a memory.

#1 A Christmas memory... from this year or year's past

It was so heartwarming to watch A this holiday season.  This is the first year he really ‘got it’ and it was amazing to watch his reactions.  We have this dancing snowman that plays “Frosty the Snowman” and A would play it (and dance/sing along) every single day, multiple times a day.  Each day when he came home from daycare he would stand in front of the tree and say “it’s so sparkly”. This year was especially fun because A was old enough to understand the whole Santa thing. While he was petrified to sit on Santa’s lap he enjoyed talking about him, we “called” him on the phone a few times to tell him what A wanted and on Christmas Eve we put out milk & cookies for Santa. 

So Christmas morning I parked myself next to the tree and set up the camera prepared to film an excited A coming down the stairs and running over to see what Santa left.  Well, when my H came downstairs with him, A casually walked over to me (didn’t even notice the presents) and asked to go downstairs to play with his cars!  When I pointed out that Santa had left presents for him and ate the cookies and drank the milk he left for him, A replied “No Mommy, Layla ate the cookies and drank the milk.”  (Layla is our 5 yo lab mix)  I just had to laugh.  That’s my kid….

Of course once he realized the pretty packages beneath the tree held toys we got this reaction from almost everything he opened:  Priceless!

A Year in Pictures - 2010

A friend of mine over at Baby Bits did a pictorial review of 2010 and I loved the idea, so I "borrowed" it ;-)  Here is the past 12 months of A in pictures. It's funny to see how small he looked in January compared to now.

Enjoy!

January

Lounging in his chair

February

bath time

March

hanging out with Mom

April

2nd Year Pro Pictures

May

Hanging out by the pool Memorial Day Weekend

June

Van Saun Park with Mommy and Grandma



July

4th of July



August

Playground "crashing" with Mommy



September

Any way to get comfortable, right?!



October

Pumpkin Picking with Mommy & Daddy

November

Thanksgiving



December

Annual Lights Picture

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Over a foot of snow fell at our house between yesterday & today.  Luckily I am on vacation this week so I didn’t have to worry about going to work.  I was able to relax with my little man and have ourselves a snow day.

Last year he wanted nothing to do with the snow (except watching it).  Boy, what a difference a year makes.  He was hesitant at first, but after a few minutes he was kicking and throwing the snow. It was so amazing to watch him play and truly experience the snow for the first time.

After our playtime and a nap, the two of us curled up on the sofa and watched Toy Story together.  A perfect snow day!

A Thomas Christmas



Let me start by saying Christmas Eve dinner was a big success!!  It went very smoothly and we got a lot of compliments on the meal.  It was a lot of work, but worth it.  I love having all of our family together for the holidays.  Christmas day we spent at my mom’s house and I was so happy to just relax and be a guest for the day.

A was completely spoiled this year by our families and loved every minute of it!  Haha.  It's amazing to see him light up on Christmas, but this year was even better than last year.  He still doesn’t quite get the whole Santa thing, but regardless he was just in awe the whole day.  We left milk & cookies for Santa x-mas eve, but when A woke up Christmas morning he was more interested in playing with his other toys vs looking to see what Santa brought.  Once he started opening gifts he didn't want to stop.  Of course he wanted us to take out every toy he opened so he could play with it, so opening presents took quite a while.

As indicated from the title of this post it was very much a Thomas Christmas for him.  He got some clothes and other toys too, but almost everything he got was Thomas.  Trains, tracks, table & chairs, tub toys, personalized blanket, books, DVDs……  It started to get a little comical after a while opening Thomas after Thomas, but he was in heaven.  Today he played with his new train set for 2 hours all alone and without a peep out of him. Mommy now loves Thomas too!  LOL  Next gift (for his b-day) will be a wooden train table with drawers to keep all of his trains in.

Oh and my H and I didn’t make out too badly with gifts either :-)  It was truly one of the best Christmases we’ve ever had. Watching A’s excitement was better than any gift I could have received.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday



The End is Near…

…of teething that is.  Last night my son complained that his cheek hurt.  I immediately though maybe his 2^nd year molars were finally here.  I tell my husband to look in his mouth and the reply I get is “I see some swelling but no tooth”.  Well of course I don’t believe him so I look for myself and to my surprise I see that BOTH of his bottom 2^nd molars are half way in!  Wohooo!!  This means only 2 more to go and we’re done with teething (until the next baby of course!)

Wordless Wednesday

A Happy Halloween Makes for a Cranky Monday

What a difference a year makes!  Last year trick or treating consisted of collecting candy out of the candy bowls around grandma & grandpa’s living room, dumping his full bucket out on the floor & doing it all over again.  This year we went trick or treating for real

After a bit of complaining, and even a full on temper tantrum when I put his costume on, off we went.  I was expecting to go to one house and then pack it in, but once we got past the first couple houses his mood suddenly changed.  A was racing his buddy (our neighbor who went with us) to each door to be the first one to knock, yelling “trick or treat’ before anyone even came to the door and making sure to say thank you (when prompted of course).  About an hour later I came back with a smiling happy 2 year old and a load of goodies!!  Which of course mom & dad will eat since A doesn’t like candy (I know, I have a weird kid).

I am so glad that Halloween fell on a Sunday this year so that I could experience this with my son without having to take a day off from work.  He had such a blast that he asked the following morning if he could do it again!

You would think that all the walking around would lead to a sleepy toddler, but no such luck.  A gave me such a hard time going to bed and then kept getting up every couple hours wanting to be snuggled.  So needless to say we were all a bit cranky Monday morning.  I just hope he’s not getting sick again…..