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!

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!

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.

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.

Potty Training Commences

Eh...I've been teetering for awhile.  I had no intention of ever considering potty training until after 2.  And then my 14 month old started holding things, telling me he was dirty, and then when he got his diaper off, he'd run across the room and squat on the floor.  For both kinds.  Gee...thanks.  I have steam cleaned the rug in his bedroom too many times to count. 

SO.  Once that all started happening, we got a potty.  That he hated.  So we got a hand-me-down potty from our friends.  That he tolerated.  But no success.  He did pee on TOP of the hated potty once, but that was as close as we got.  I didn't care, I wasn't pushing it.  I just had them out to talk about and get him accustomed to.  We checked out a potty book from the library.  He loved it.  Still nothing.

This month, I got selected for a "Pull-Ups Party" and sent a party pack.  I was a little annoyed about this since I had changed my mind about wanting to do it, and hadn't invited anyone.  Sigh, alright, fine.  REALLY didn't make a big deal of it, but a few of us gathered over at my friend's house today. 

 

Lo and behold...Robby peed in the potty tonight.  WOO HOO!  I again wasn't trying too hard, but I took his diaper off, and told him if he peed in the potty, he could have chocolate (a hershey kiss).  Kid is TOTALLY bribe-able with chocolate.  I may have to switch to something smaller, but I'm SO proud of him, and we did a big ole celebration.  And then you got to hear about it.  Ha!  I'll try and not make it a regular occurance. 

Cooking for Two Diets

Now that I'm back to attempting vegetarianism, I'm back to the challenge of what to cook for dinner in my house.  I get home first, so I cook.  It's just how it is.  (Except last night when I was exhausted, and we weren't home until the same time, and I threw a hissy fit that I didn't want to cook, and Chris made pierogies.  Thanks hun.)  The issue is that my husband is decidedly not a vegetarian.  He doesn't have a problem doing vegetarian meals about 1/2 the time, but the other nights, he'd really prefer to incorporate meat.  That's fine, it's his decision.  Even if it makes things a bit more difficult.

What does that usually mean?  It means that I make meals that have an "optional" meat component.  Stir-fry with meat and tofu on the side, to be added by the respective person.  Taco fixings that you can put whatever in your shell that you prefer.  And sometimes?  I just end up eating the sides.  That option hasn't proved to be a very balanced method for me, though.  It's also time consuming!

For example.  One day this week I did baked chicken, twice-baked potatoes, and at the last moment because I realized that while it had taken forever, it was missing vegetables, green beans.  The chicken and potatoes were pretty compatible, since everything got thrown in the oven together, and I made massive quantities with the ideas that then I wouldn't have to worry about meat the rest of the week.  The chicken's still in the fridge.  :/  May be my fault for cooking other things that were appealing.

One of the hits this week was Shrinking Kitchen's Fragrant Chick Pea Stew.  Just do it.  It is phenomenal   I did use sour cream instead of greek yogurt to top it, but otherwise I followed it exactly.  Amazingly, both Robby and Chris ate it, and ate well, so I had no leftovers!  Boo!  I seriously would have enjoyed leftovers ever day of the week if I could have.  Doubling it next time.

Long and short of it...I need to start planning again.  I am so much less stressed, more on budget, and we eat healthier when I do, but WHINE, WHINE, WHINE.  

Snow Day

While we were in NYC, our house got hit by a little bit of snow.  Still not enough to be worth much, but enough for us to play in it a bit.  We need to get a sled, but this was barely more than a dusting, so we didn't miss much.

Robby has his own shovel, but found it much more entertaining to use dad's.  Even if he had to keep informing us that it was "Heavy".  That's one of his favorite words at the moment, so no surprise there.

And we may have neglected cleaning off the fire pit, but Robby was quick to remind us that there was snow there that needed to be shoveled.  Sure.  Go for it.

Our middle child, or youngest furry child, or...whatever gets almost as excited as the one that can SAY "snow".  Ok, maybe more excited.  As a puppy, Harper would lay outside in snow drifts until you physically pulled her inside, fearful that she would get frost bite.  Now getting to watch Robby throw snow for her to catch?  It's too adorable.  Chris threw the shovelful above, but Robby was attempting it, as well.  I love snow days, and can't wait for a REAL one soon!