I do it!

Pardon my slacking, I've been busy building myself an igloo. The fourth (fifth??) snow storm in the last 3.5 weeks is headed our way tonight, which is really just so awesome. If you're someone who likes that much snow. Which I don't.

Brendan started his new daycare in the beginning of the month. They love him and say he's doing really well, making friends and having fun. Problem is the whole drop-off thing, which as I've complained about already, is the job of yours truly. The first week he actually did really well and I felt a little silly that I had been so anxious and dreading this transition so much.

The second week, on the other hand, didn't go quite so well. He cried and held onto me for dear life. How I would have loved to stay there with him all day and make him feel better, but I have a job and it's now an hour away so I don't have the luxury of time. Not to mention, they don't want me sticking around making things worse and it doesn't help him get adjusted if I baby him. I have to take the opposite approach and peel him off of me and run out the door. So that's what I did. Then I got in my car and cried.

It made me think of that first day I dropped him off at daycare after my maternity leave was over. It was sooooo much harder on me than it was on him. And it's the same now. He puts on a great show when I leave but I know within five minutes he's fine and having a dandy old time. But I feel awful for hours after. I just keep telling myself that he won't remember any of this a few years from now. I also tell myself that when he's testing the limits of my patience and I do something ridiculous like growl at him and make him cry. Yes, I'm a horrible mother.

So yeah, two and half is an interesting age. His vocabulary consists mostly of No! My turn! I do it! and I don't want to! He moves at a glacial pace, inspecting everything in his path, doing things when he's good and ready and not a moment sooner. Which is why we have a delightful morning ritual of him running away from me when I try to get him dressed so we can get out the door at a reasonable time. He doesn't get the sense of urgency and I learned quickly that you can't rush a toddler because it backfires and they resist even more. So either I'm trying to outwit him and trick him into letting me get him dressed, or I'm peeling off his pajamas and shoving his clothes on him all while running after him. Fun stuff.

It's all about Jedi mind games at this age. They're too young to understand "later" or "tomorrow" so there's no reasoning with them. You need to give them choices, but not too many because you overwhelm them. I'd like to start potty training him but he's much more interested in sitting on the potty and using up all the toilet paper while he pretends to wipe himself (he shoves the toilet paper into the potty between his legs). Oh, and he's discovered the joy of picking his nose.

I'm really making B sound like a beast, but this age is truly a lot of fun. He's so much more independent and the things he says are just hysterical. He teeters between being super affectionate and telling me he loves me "toooooo much!" and yelling at me because I had the audacity to sit in "his spock" (spot) or take the hairbrush away because he's brushing the wall. Which has the same effect as scratching nails on chalkboard, by the way.

I've heard that age three is actually harder than the terrible two's. I'll admit it, I'm kinda scurrred...

Snow!




Making a snowman with Daddy


Decapitated snowman












Brendan is 2.5 years old!

Hiiiiiii!

Holy cow, it's been a long time! I'm so busy, blah blah blah. But seriously, we moved, I have a long commute, I'm pooped when I get home. Then it's the weekend and I blink and it's over. There's too much to cover so I'll give you the Cliff's Notes:

We officially moved into our new house on August 21st. We LOVE it. It's roomy and fun and best of all -- it's all ours. The roof that we had to patch, the septic pump we had to replace, the electric panel we had to replace -- all ours! No one ever said owning a home was cheap!

Brendan is getting smarter by the second. He says a lot of ridiculously funny things, like:

Mommy be nice to the song! (whenever I sing)
I love big boobies!
Where's your penis Mommy?
Where'd my (boogie, penis, insert random noun here) go? Oh, there he is!

And he's very complimentary too. He'll tell me great counting, or dancing or whatever I'm doing at the moment. Great job Mommy! Good manners too, lots of pleases and thank yous (or just enthusiastic "thanks!").

There are so many other ones that I just can't remember at the moment. I really have to get better at writing them down.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. Mom stayed over the night before so she could get up nice and early to help me cook. Everything turned out perfectly; no one had food poisoning so that's promising.

We skipped sitting on Santa's lap this year. B is a little suspicious of strangers, especially big ones in funny red suits. Santa may bring him toys under the Christmas tree if he promises to sneak in and out quietly. But in-person visits? No thanks! Mima and Papa hosted and had a nice crowd, including Nana and Uncle Scotch and Aunt Lauren. And of course everyone spoiled him rotten. Doesn't hurt to be the only grandchild!

B is starting a new daycare next week. I have such anxiety over the transition, not to mention saying goodbye to his beloved Chrissy that's watched him since he was a little ball of 12-week-old mush. That's going to be a really hard goodbye. :*( She's been so wonderful to him and he has a very special place in her heart; she's already said how her heart is breaking at seeing him go. Ack, I'm getting upset just writing about it.

The new place will be great, it's a preschool right around the corner from us so it will chop off about 20 minutes from my currently 1.5 hour commute. He'll meet more children his age that live in the area and that he will eventually go to school with. All great things. But he's really awful in new situations. Kenny and I were both super shy growing up and B takes after us big-time in that respect. I have the drop-off so of course I have the hard job of seeing him get upset when I leave him in this new place. Kenny gets to be the hero and pick him up at the end of the day. I just keep reminding myself that I don't remember anything from when I was 2.5. So he'll be just fine. Me? Might take a while to recover.

I'll be back soon... I promise. With pictures!

New Milestones!

Last Friday, at five days past the 11-month mark, Sir decided it was finally time to figure out this whole crawling thing. I guess he got tired of public transportation (i.e., mom and dad carrying him everywhere) and took matters into his own hands (and feet). He's not crawling all over the place or anything just yet. He's kind of lazy like that. He'll only exert that kind of effort for something REALLY important. Like Daddy's cell phone. Exhibit A:



And we didn't stop at just one new trick! On Monday, Sir and I went to watch Daddy play softball. Sir decided to show his appreciation for the game by clapping his meaty hands. We were sitting there... (Well, that's not really true. More like, I was sitting while he climbed all over me, bit me, wiped his excessively snotty nose on me, etc.) Anyway, I was sitting there cheering on the team when all of a sudden the little loudmouth started yelling and clapping. And he's been a clapping fool ever since.

For instance, the other night he was having a hard time falling asleep and one of the times I went into the bedroom to calm him down, Sir was crying. And clapping. AT THE SAME TIME.

He's been doing it a lot at daycare too. Today's note read: "Brendan played and crawled and clapped his hands all morning." There's really no rhyme or reason for it at the moment. Just claps when the mood strikes. Of course, when I try to get it on video he acts like I'm terrorizing him. Exhibit B:




Brendan is 11 months and 10 days old today!

Pipe Down!

LOUD. This is the only word necessary to describe Brendan at the moment. OH. MY. GOD. I don't know if this is something he picked up at daycare, maybe the other kids yell too? Or maybe he just thinks we're all deaf like his daddy? Best is when he pulls himself in close to hug me (or so I think) and then proceeds to YELL AT THE TOP OF HIS LITTLE LUNGS INTO MY EAR. Then stick his finger in there and pull my hair for good measure. Ouch.

Brendan is now in full-on "I need to be moving every second of the day" mode. He's pulling himself up on furniture and wreaking general havoc. Anything that's not on the floor must end up there. This is Sir's new rule. Oh look, a pile of papers. Pick up. Throw on floor. Repeat with every other object on the table, couch, etc.

It's the final countdown to the big O-N-E. And I'm still not happy about it. But I guess there ain't a whole lot I can do about it! We're celebrating with friends and family on the 28th. Hopefully he'll have a good nap beforehand so as to avoid the whole cranky, everything makes me pissy, sort of behavior.

Sir is still not into the idea of table food. I'm pretty sure we're going to be sending him off to kindergarten with a lunch bag full of pureed fruits and veggies. We've tried cheese, meatballs, pasta, macaroni & cheese, turkey, mashed potatoes, chicken, bread, even a cupcake! Yuck, yuck and more yuck to all of them. As soon as the food is in his mouth, his little face gets all contorted and he starts his whole gagging routine until he either swallows it or, more often than not, throws up. Awesomeness all around. He digs Cheerios and puffs though. I think he'd eat those all day if we let him.

Anywho, here are some recent pictures for your enjoyment.

With Aunt Lauren


Snoozin on G'pa Charlie


The infamous cupcake (what kid doesn't like cupcakes???)


Too cute!


And I said, you've got to wait out the market. You can't just sell, sell, sell...


These are mobile pics so the resolution stinks but you get the idea.
Before:


After:



Brendan is 11 months and 4 days old today!

Back to the grind

Monday was my first day back at work and Brendan's first day at daycare. We are bringing him to a woman who watches 5 kids at her home. One, because I'm more comfortable having him in a smaller setting and two, because it's a crapload more affordable than sending him to a big daycare center. Anyway, I dropped him off Monday morning and cried. Then I got in my car and balled on the way to work. Then I got to work and every time someone came over to welcome me back and ask how it was dropping him off I'd get teary eyed again. Brendan, on the other hand, had a grand old time being with the woman who watches him and the other kids. I'm sure they're a lot more entertaining than dear old Mom. Needless to say, it ended up being way more traumatic for me than it was for him. Now, at my third day back at work, it has already gotten much easier. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I know he's well taken care of and he's having a good time.

Here's a pic of Brendan on his first day of "school":



Work has been going well so far. The 12 weeks off did wonders for my patience because the few people who used to irritate the shit out of me with their "I can't do what you're asking, everything is impossible" attitudes don't bother me one bit. At least not yet. I'm all smiles and sunshine for now.

Brendan seems to be getting bigger and older by the second. He'll be 3 months old next Tuesday which, frankly, is just insane. Because it means he'll be 16 before I know it and because it also means I'm 3 months closer to turning another year older. The little ball of mush who used to fit in the crook of my arm is now too heavy to hold for very long (granted, I'm a little out of shape at this point but that's besides the point) and can't sit still long enough to cuddle with me unless he's fallen asleep on me. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

So Halloween is just around the corner. And being the thoughtful and compassionate mother that I am, I searched high and low for the perfect costume for my little man. Let me tell you, costumes for infants under 6 months are hard to come by. Every time I thought I found the perfect costume I'd get all excited only to find out that it didn't come in his size. Unless I wanted him to be a hot pepper or a pea in the pod, my options were very limited. Well, on a shopping trip where I was supposed to be getting myself some new pants for work, Grandma Annie happened to stumble upon a very snazzy costume. And they had one in his size! We scooped it up (along with several pairs of pants and sweatshirts -- for Brendan) and proceeded to run back to Grandma's house to try it on. I think I've sent most of you the pics but here are the shots, for anyone who hasn't seen them. The costume came with pants but we thought it best not to press our luck just yet:








Brendan is 2 months, 3 weeks, 4 days old today!