Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Lion at 21 Months

I know, I know, I haven't posted at all about how my time away has been going.  Quickly, it's going well, I was glad to come home for the weekend, but things are good.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to write this week.  Now onto Robby's update.


Verbally, Robby seems to make such leaps in the week I'm away.  I come home and he has so many new words, strung together in so many new ways.  I do talk to him every night on Skype, but I still don't realize it until I'm there in person.  Apparently, last night he was gleefully announcing "a goose, a goose!" as he and Chris walked around the grocery store.  That's funny because we're always calling him a [silly] goose.


Physically, I don't suppose there's much new.  He's trying to climb out of his crib now, but it's really not a great time to deal with a switch, so we haven't tried.


Sleep is not going well.  He is trying to drop his one and only nap, which is not acceptable at 1.5.  This is happening at both home and daycare.  We're a little worried with my parents coming into town and letting him stay home that he will be more successful in fighting it.  We NEED that time on the weekends.  I know, selfish, but C'MON.  LOTS of kids nap until 3 if not kindergarten!


Favorite things: trucks, trains, cars, all vehicles, sports.  B-O-Y.  I was a little worried that leaving on the train would ruin it for him, but at least he still gets excited about that part of Sunday evening.  The conversation when I get on the phone, though, does go, "Train...bye bye...Mommy...work...no."  Over and over.  It's pretty sad.


Food: He hasn't been eating a ton.  He's been sick, his 2 year molars are coming in, you know the drill.  He still prefers carbs, junk food, and fruit.  His favorites are rice, grapes, apple juice, bread, and yogurt.


Danger: There's pretty much nothing that he can't get to anymore.  He can climb, move chairs, open doors, the whole deal.  We have washcloths hanging over doors to keep him from locking them. He has already locked me out of the bathroom once, and we didn't have a key for it.  Miraculously, I got him to open it for me. 


He apparently has been very well behaved for his father, but has acted out a LOT when I come home.  I guess we've finally proved that what daycare and other people have always said is true...he's good for everyone but me.  AH.  Apparently he didn't dump any of his toy bins the entire week last week, and then pretty much the second I walked in the door, he had dumped them ALL, and was coloring on the floor with crayons.  Cute.  You may notice that he's distracted in the above picture.  Um...yeah.  He's so his father's child.  See below:

At least it was an Ohio State game.

I miss you, I love you, I wish I had more time!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Why I Don't Deserve My Husband


Chris is a lot of things.  A football fanatic.  An engineer.  But most of all he's a pretty great husband who doesn't get very much credit.


So why don't I deserve him?  

He's a neat freak....I am "relaxed".

He is driven...I like down time.

He is compulsive about certain details...and I am compulsive about opposite ones.


He has passionate feelings about many things (mostly involving Penn State football)...And I try to always at least act interested.

He does chores that I abhor like lawn mowing and vacuuming and other noisy things...And I, well, do the ones he hates like ironing.  Draw there, I guess.

He is a fantastic dad that is going to do the single parent thing for the next month...while I go lounge around a hotel (and work, but pssh).


He sleeps well...and I stay up all night with the light on.

He is generally healthy...and tolerates that I am not.

He sticks his ground when toddlers misbehave...and I'm more inclined to give in.


Pretty much, he's just awesome, and loves me regardless.  Thanks, hun!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Lion at 20 Months

Ok, you may notice that I missed this by over 2 weeks.  I'll try and think back.  I know I haven't taken any pictures since then, so at least those are legitimate! 

Robby still loves to "help", but it's more on his time frame.  Picking up toys?  No.  Not unless there are some stern words.  Sweeping the wall?  Sure.  It's a bit variable, but he does like to do things for himself.  At dinner tonight he insisted on wiping up the yogurt he got on the table.  That sort of thing is still happening.  Oh, and one I LOVE, is at the pool, I can ask him to throw away his swim diaper while I'm getting changed and he does that very nicely, even though the can's a good 20 feet away.

 
He also loves to explore and see how much he can do on his own.  Note the child standing on the couch so that he could look out the window at our neighbor's bike.  Sigh.  He hasn't fallen from there, but he does it a lot.  He has fallen of the seat of the couch fairly recently because he was jumping around like a lunatic, but that didn't cause any injuries.

 
He certainly understands feeling "proud" of himself.  He grins the biggest grin or claps or says "yay" if he figures something out, or thinks he's done something right.

 
See above.  Little man is spending a lot of time pants-less because of potty training.  I know this is more recent than 20 months, but we've gotten BOTH kinds in the potty AND he went 3 times at daycare today.  Progressing quite nicely.  He's still absolutely getting wet diapers, though, too.  And still performing his little stunt of getting diaper-less, then peeing on the floor.  So, we're working on it.

 
Robby LOVES snow.  Which is difficult, because he says it as "No".  And I end up getting frustrated because I don't understand what he's telling me "No" about.  When really he just wants to go outside and play.  He both loves shoveling and riding down our little hill in our back yard on his sled.  Which he refers to as his "boat".  His dad may have confused him on that one.

 
These chair pictures are not going so well anymore.  Guess that's ok since he's almost 2 (!) and I think I'll, if not eliminate monthly posts, change their format.  HE IS SO BUSY.  And yet when I talk to daycare, they continue to say that he is the quietest, most well behaved child.  I had approached them asking what they were doing about his bullying.  We had multiple play dates where he had hit, stolen toys, pushed, etc...  His teacher continues to claim that he does not do it there, and in fact is the one the other kids pick on because he's so quiet.  I don't know what to think, quite honestly.

 
He is far from quiet at home.  His language continues to improve, and he definitely says at least 2 word phrases quite often.  Most of the time I can get answers to why he's upset or what he wants, which is helpful.  I mean, it's not much detail, but I can get "hurt", "drink", "eat", "Harper off", "dirty", etc...  You know, the frequent culprits.  And then the crazy toddler reasons like "Harper rug" (the dog moved the rug), "OH NO.  Box" (there is a piece of recycling on the counter), "AAAApple.  Cup.  NO." (there was milk in his cup instead of apple juice).  You get the idea.

 
He's not eating particularly well at the moment.  We keep thinking that his 2 year molars must be coming in, but I don't see them yet.  He does try and hold out for junk food, though.  He LOVES chocolate, cereal bars, fruit "flats" (dehydrated?), GUMMIES, cookies, pretzels...pretty much anything we shouldn't be feeding him.  Healthier things he likes: "daddy's" yogurt (strawberry Activia), Total, strawberries, bananas, grilled cheese, green beans.  Um...that might be it.  There's not a lot of variety right now.  We try to feed him everything, but it doesn't necessarily go well.  I'm a little worried that while I'm gone he's going to entirely subsist on hot dogs and mac n cheese, but we shall see.


We are seeing more of the "terrible twos".  It's not so bad, but you do have to account for the time to deal with melt downs.  Multiple times per whatever you're doing.  I have found success in letting him make more decisions, usually giving him two options that I want equally.  Such as, "Do you want to wear the truck shirt or the dog shirt?" or "Do you want an egg or a yogurt for breakfast?"  That sort of thing.  He's still very cuddly and loving, and is starting to vocalize it a little.  He'll now answer the question, "Who do you love?"  Usually, it's very sweet.  Tonight?  It was "God".  Followed by "Bus".  Followed by "Elmo".  Mmm.  Ok.  You must understand that it's a little unusual that he'd choose "God".  We have not been particularly good about exposing him to religion or church.  Though I do at least daily read what the cross on his wall says to him.  "God hold me in your arms with love."  So, pretty sure that's why he always answers that he loves God first. 

 
There's my precocious little man.  Love him to bits. Going to miss him terribly.  All 27 pounds and 32 1/2" of him.  Even if HE now whines "HEAVY" the entire time I'm holding him.  Maybe I say it too much.  ;)  Apologies for the rambling nature of this post, but I had to get it out.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Full Disclosure

I had found it harder and harder to write recently because so much of my life was not able to be discussed in a public way.  But as of today, that can all change!  (Sure, I'll use this as an excuse why I haven't posted Robby's 20-month post, even though that has nothing to do with anything)

The short version is that I had been job hunting.  More things were seeming promising, and then one came out of absolutely nowhere, I got an offer, it's been accepted, I've tendered my resignation, and woah.  It's all happened very fast.  I'm excited for this new opportunity for growth, and that it's going to be a challenge, but honestly?  I'm also having some difficulty coping with a HUGE thing that is looming in the near future.  In two weeks I will start my training.  In New York City.  By myself.  For the next month.

I have never left Robby for more than 24 hours.  Just saying that makes tears start to well up in my eyes.  I honestly am not sure how I'm going to stay professional while so far away from my little man.  I'm going to have to, but OH will it be hard not to break down every time I think of him.  About a hundred times a day.  I get to come home on weekends, but it's still a lot.  I'm so scared that he'll no longer be my cuddly little momma's boy when I get back.  That he'll some how have moved on, or will resent me, or...gosh, I don't know.  I doubt I'll MISS anything huge (though, I hope that potty training continues to improve while I'm gone.  Hmm hmm).  But I do fear what it will do to our relationship.  I know, he's 1 1/2.  He'll be fine.  But...I don't know if I will be.  And, I don't know if Chris will be.  Being a single parent for the next month will be rough!

When I get back, we're going to be putting our house on the market, and moving.  Where?  I don't know.  But our current house is an hour commute each way.  I'll be doing it for awhile, but it's not a long term solution.  More questions yet to be answered.

Anyway, there's where I've been.  And some of where I'm going.  And maybe I'll post a bit more in the future.