Bouncy Balls - Always trying to escape

We're in that stage of the "threes" where Daniel is arguing with me about everything. The food list is shrinking (Hello carbs!). He's too busy to use the potty, and no he really doesn't need a nap. The one plus to the recent ice storm and the current snowy weather is that he has finally stopped resisting the idea of long pants, long sleeves, coat and occasionally boots and a hat on his body.

No amount of coaxing, cajoling, redirecting (misdirecting) or smoke signals on my part seems to move us from an impasse on the other items however.

A recent tantrum on both our parts regarding the afternoon nap found me hoisting him under the arms, hauling him into his room and settling the two of us on the rocking chair in his room that has been sitting idle for awhile. I was a little amazed as the tension seeped away, and he laid his head on my shoulder and within ten minutes was asleep. We might have stayed longer, but my arms had started to ache holding up his 30+ pounds. I rolled him and his blankie onto the bed for his afternoon nap.

I resolve to make more space for "cuddle time" in 2009 and beyond.

It's All in the Attitude

Christmas Day, Daniel has just played the animatronic dancing bear, and dancing penguins for the umpteenth time while ping-ponging around the room in harmony with the music. His big cousin Robert managed to turn down the volume on the creatures in between songs.

Daniel, having noticed asked Robert to turn it up. After which we got this exchange:


Robert: Oh, I don't know how.

Daddy: Poor Daniel...

Daniel: No, I'm not! I'm happy!

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Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Push Me, Pull You

Meals are something of a loosey-goosey affair around our house. H works very hard for long hours, meaning he is out a good portion of the time. All the physicality his job entails also means that when he gets home he is hungry. For me, left to my own devices I tend to subscribe to the eat when you're hungry, stop when you're not routine - one not governed so much by the clock.

Enter the three year old. The three year old who is currently surviving on crackers. He's steadily shrinking his list of acceptable foods, and it's driving me a bit battier than I already am to begin with. Days often start with a request for warm juice (not sure where the warm trend started for him, blech, but I'll run with it). Then it's a request for crackers. How about some peanut butter on those? Nope, just crackers. Crackers and cheese? Oh, Okay. Only to have me discover a plate full of cracker crumbs and a mound of cheese not long after.

I recently nixed a breakfast request for marshmallows.

And oh, the wailing and screeching at not getting his way! Well then, I'm not hungry and he marches away from the table.

And we all stage a repeat of this scene, center stage, at the next mealtime.

This tug-of-war is getting to me. Thank goodness for Flintstone's chewables!

Well, this has been fun...

H woke me around 4:30am last Friday to let me know that our power was out. Really out - as was the rest of the area. To further add to the complications he had left his car at the mechanic the night before to have it looked at... If he went to work I was facing no electricity (no heat, no cooking) and with no way to leave, having no car. With a three year old.

Needless to say, H called in to work and we drove out to find a town with power to grab something to eat. Stopped at Gram's to meet her new kitties, and headed back home. Rather disheartening to have the power still out when we arrived. You know those shows like Survivorman? Adventure expert gets dropped into the wilds with a Swiss Army Knife and is expected to make it out alive? I would so be toast.

The three of us were cuddled under a mound of blankets on the sofa, candles lit, listening to Christmas music on a battery-powered radio and musing about our limited dinner options when poof! Power back on. It had been a total of 12/13 hours for us. I'm very aware that we were pretty lucky and many people went much longer with no power. I'm saying many small prayers about the approaching snowstorm.

Following our no-electricity adventure very closely was my developing a rather nasty sinus infection. Antibiotics seem to be kicking in, and this is the first day that I feel like my head isn't going to come rolling off my shoulders anytime I bend over to do something. I have started to realize that there is a lot of bending involved in the daily life of chasing a three year old around.
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Stay tuned over at Relishing the Dirt for a giveaway!

Rewards

There are days where I'm still looking for the instruction manual for this Mom Gig. I mean, as soon as you start to feel you have it figured out, it changes up on you. First it's the sleep deprivation, and the breast feeding and the endless marching line of diapering while you try and figure out the wants and needs of this little being who is so totally dependent on you for everything. No sooner do you settle into a routine when...

It's walking and solid foods and talking up a storm and potty training. My formerly dependent little being has become a decidedly independent boy who has found his voice. And his opinion. On everything from what to wear and when - (He's now in his Fall coat. In December. At this rate the Winter coat should be on his body by mid-February or so...) to what to eat, and firm opinions on the decided injustice of having to take a nap when there is so much to do.

And there are the days where Mama wants a do-over and I have to remind myself that my boy is no longer just that cute, cuddly little thing that I brought home from the hospital and that maybe he is just having a do-over day too.

Then the bed time routine rolls around. These days it involves pajamas and story time with Daddy. I really don't mind, as it gives them a chance for some "boys time." He comes to say goodnight, and I get open arms and a Mwah (kiss), and an I wuv you.

I love you too, my baby boy.

Unraveling

It's finally happening. A week or so ago Daniel walked up and handed me a handful of yarn. When I asked where he'd gotten it, he gave me his impish grin - Blankie.

My Aunt Anne had made him a baby blankie, fleece, with a crocheted, sort of scalloped edge and whoosh, Daniel was in love. Blankie is our go-to-sleep item, calming-down-in-a-crisis item, snuggle on the couch, all-around cuddler. Luckily he hasn't needed to carry it everywhere a la Linus, but it has been a fixture at our house for quite some time now. If he's asleep, a corner of fringe is stuck in his mouth or the blankie is at least within arms reach.

I've been anticipating this moment, but not really sure what to do. My Aunt was kind enough to make a Blankie #2 awhile back - but with a shake of his head, Daniel dismisses it. It's not the real deal. Even today we came home from the library and he rolled onto his blankie on the floor, curling up and declaring how much he'd missed it. The look on his face when a clean, warm blankie emerges from the dryer is a thing to behold.

He couldn't have pulled this when his crafty Grandmother was in town a few weeks ago? I don't crochet. Some of the fringe is being held by safety pins at this point, while I hunt down a yarn/craft store that might point me in the direction of someone who could do some work on it. If Daniel lets it out of his hands that is. Wish us luck!