Saturday, September 24, 2011

Diaper by Flashlight

You'd think with two kids, one who is now potty trained and one who is a year old, that I would have seen almost everything with diapers. Not true, my friends, not true.

I've just returned from a new one: I changed a poopy diaper by light of a flashlight.

Not because we had a power outage, not because we're conserving electricity, but because of the following story.

Today was a wonderful and weird day. Smiley had her 1-year shots yesterday so was a little cranky sleeping last night and today was mostly happy with a few bouts of more-than-usual tired. Turbo was fine until about 4:45 PM.

We had spent a lovely afternoon in Bellingham visiting some great friends (love you guys!), enjoying their park-like yard, and petting bunnies and kitties. Turbo seemed tired when we got into the car and within 20 minutes or so was asleep. Not typical, but he'd had only a short nap earlier, so perhaps he was making up for that.

Smiley is the one who got more and more cranky (although she napped too), and so around 4:45 PM we pulled into a Mexican restaurant and got some dinner.

I don't know if you've had the same experiences with bringing in 2 small children into a restaurant, but we usually get seated in the very back of the place, next to no one. This time it worked out for us.

In the end, the dinner went like this: Smiley was really only happy if she could practice walking and so we did laps with her around the place. She was happy, but mom and dad didn't enjoy much leisure in their meal (very typical, right parents?). Turbo seemed fine at first, but then kept asking to go potty and then couldn't really deliver and so spent the meal laying in my lap while I ate one-handed. I asked him if his tummy hurt and he said 'yes' and so I immediately shoveled some food in, packed it up and tried to get out of there before we had a vomiting episode. That is one restaurant experience I do not want to have!

All was well, but Turbo was getting whinier and looking sicker as we got closer to home.

Long story, cut short... neither kid is feeling all that well today. By the time Turbo was ready for bed he was running a good fever and really needy for mommy and so I was the one to put him into bed. Thank goodness, because while I was feigning sleep as Turbo drifted off with one hand cupping my face (sigh, so sweet), I overheard the undeniable grunts of a Smiley pooping in her diaper.

Here's the shocker, she didn't wake up. She is known, at home and at 3 different daycares, for waking up immediately if she has a BM while sleeping. But no waking.

So I recruited Dad to help me and together we quietly took care of business in the hallway outside the bedroom, Dad with the flashlight helping me so that the overhead light won't wake her fully.

But she did open her eyes, and she saw her darling Daddy looking down at her and she cooed.

She loves her Daddy.


ps - to our friends in B'ham, the kids were feeling great at your house, so thanks for a wonderful afternoon! Glad they waited until after we left to take a turn.

pps - please wish us all a good night's sleep tonight.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Actually, Turbo

Tonight the word "actually" was used in sentence by Turbo. One of the most overused words these days, if you ask me, so I guess it's not too surprising that he picked it up. But still, it's like he started preschool and now he wants to grow up way too fast.

The context was when we were reading this David Shannon book:



On one of the pages there is a Santa ornament on the tree. Turbo pointed to it and asked, "What's that?"

"That's Santa Claus," I replied.

And Turbo said, "It's actually a pornament." (Yes, he said 'pornament,' that's not a typo.)


ps - I've you've never had the pleasure of reading these David Shannon books, I highly suggest you pick one or two up. There is almost always a naked picture of David streaking somewhere he shouldn't. The gist: David gets told, "no" a lot. :)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Smiley Cuddles

Forgive me if this sounds like a complaint, but Smiley is such a good sleeper that she can no longer snuggle before bedtime. It's awful to realize some of the best cuddles (sleepy time ones) are gone or going away.

She has been sleeping on her tummy, and often flat on her face, since she was 4 months old. There was no turning this one back onto her back, believe me I tried. At 4 months she was still in the co-sleeper right next to my side of the bed and so when she started flipping over like that, I had to cease swaddling and start sleeping with one eye open.

When you give birth to a baby in the Back-to-Sleep era, it's a bit of a heart stopper when your child wants to sleep on their tummy that early. But the experts (and this mama) also believe that when they can turn over on their own, they are ready.

Babies sleep better, more soundly, on their tummies. They also sleep with their round little butts in the air and I have loved every sneak-into-the-bedroom glimpse of that round little butt.

Turbo was not a good sleeper.  He is now, and we often have to wake him in the morning for school. Oh, the sweet irony. With Turbo, we were also first time parents, so I have to accept that I might have been part of that problem. So when Smiley was born, I was bound to do it right and while I think she did most of the work, I also think it helped that I set the stage for a sound night's sleep.

I digress. The point of this post is to lament the passing of bedtime snuggles with my little Smiley.

I bless you, little darling, for going to sleep easily, for sleeping through the night (barring any teething unpleasantness), but I also miss you and your cuddles.

Good thing she still climbs to her perch on my left shoulder during daylight hours. Let that never cease.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Report Cards

When your kids go to daycare, you get daily report cards when you pick them up at the end of the day. On some level, this is a huge waste of paper, but the truth is, the info on the paper is quite important to the parents. The hippie in me just wishes they could transmit electronically, ya know?

For example, when you have an infant, you need to know what they ate and when they last ate. You also need to know if they napped and how well they slept. All of this info is valuable if you're going to be potentially stuck in a commute - the last thing you want is a hungry, cranky baby wailing from the back seat. It really messes up your time for listening to NPR.

There are also "Incident Reports." This is what you get when your child has been injured during the day.

Now, please don't worry. The worst that we've ever seen is a scratch or a scrape and an occasional bruise. Pretty good, actually, when you consider kids are running around all day with little biters and hitters whom we are told to call "friends."

Picking up Smiley tonight I saw an "Incident Report" near her sign-out sheet. I didn't worry as I skimmed it. Long story short, she was bitten. But I did think the detailed account of the event was pretty funny. Here it is, exactly as it they wrote it:

Smiley was in the library playing next to another child when that child leaned over and curiously bit her on the back of the neck.

Children were separated, child who bit was talked to while Smiley was comforted, area was cleaned and ice was applied.

My two favorite parts are 1) she was in the library (doesn't that bring hilarious visuals to mind - like a smoking jacket and a pipe?), and b) the biter was talked to (what does one say to a young toddler that they will truly absorb? But thanks for your crime prevention, folks.). The 'curiously bit her' part is actually pretty cute too.

The injury is surprisingly big. It's a dime-sized red welt on the back of her neck. When I saw it, I asked, "Exactly how long did this child's teeth hang on to my baby?"

But it's all good. She's fine. I'm sure it won't be the worst we'll see.

Not For Lack of Material

I miss blogging! It's been difficult to post any real content recently. Life is busy, but that's not anything new. I think life just accelerated all of a sudden and 'busy' became something to strive for.

While I'd sit at dinner each night, I'd often find great things to write about - Turbo gives me lots of material at dinner time - but by the end of the day I was spent. Unable to sit my butt down anywhere but in my bed or on the couch.

I secretly hope you've missed my blog too. :)

Here is a little gem from tonight. Oh, thank you, Turbo, for being the awesome kid that you are.

Turbo and I were in the bathroom tonight getting ready for bed. Have I mentioned to you that it takes forever for this dawdler to get on his PJs and brush his teeth? Oy vey. I've found peace with it by ignoring the clock and gently and consistently reminding him of the task at hand. I admit I've sometimes run screaming from the bathroom at the end of it all with a, "He's all yours!" to my husband.

Tonight we had spare time, so I sat back, relaxed, and watched the Turbo Show unfold.

As we were heading into the final stretch - jammies on, teeth brushed - I noticed a bit of black gunk in the corner of his left eye. My first thought was oh-no-he's-got-some-horrible-disease (do we ever stop worrying about our kids?), but that thought left my brain quickly, as I've gotten used to these freak moments of worry and find it easy to flick them away now.

Because of my amazing skill at being relaxed during the Turbo Show, Turbo was very willing to explore this new find with me. Amazing what a strong-willed child will be open to if you give him room to breathe.

I said, "Turbo, there is some dirt in your eye. Let me take a look."

He hopped onto my lap (me, sitting on the toilet), and I got out a hand-held mirror so we could look at his eye closely. The mirror served no help at all, since Turbo held it smashed against his eyeball and said to me, "Look. I'm holding the mirror to my face." Yes, sweetie, and thank you.

When I was finally able to fish out the black gunk - which, in the end, looked suspiciously like dark green crayon flakes - I showed it to Turbo on the tip of my finger.

"Look," I said. "This was in your eye."

"Oh." He said. And then:

"Now eat it!"

I guess if you're someone who eats your own boogers, then anything you dig out of your eye is also worth taste testing.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Dinner by Whole Foods

I'm not cooking this week.

Life has been a bit over-packed with happenings and stress and so in planning this week's meals, I through out any kind of plan and went to Whole Foods and bought food that someone else had made. Steak, meatloaf, chicken... all looking yummy because someone else had done the prep work and the cooking.

This week it's all about reheating.

Amen.

Smiley Walks!

It's official. Our little just-turned-one-year-old finally started walking for real. It's pretty exciting around here.

She is overjoyed with herself and very, very aware that she has accomplished something nifty. She's got a little gleam in her eye like she's seen behind the curtain and knows a few more secrets now.

It's funny that it took her this long, not that I'm complaining, because she was steady on  her feet about a month and a half ago. She barreled through most of the early physical developments faster than most, but she held onto this one a little bit longer. Maybe it was a birthday present to herself.

And now she's showing off a little too, walking around with a sippy cup and leaning back for a drink of water while walking. That's pretty talented if you ask me.

But then I'm her mama, so I'm wearin' it proud today anyway.

Monday, September 12, 2011

You Can Sleep With One Toy

This is what Turbo wanted to sleep with last night.


I said no.

Missing You

Not quoting song lyrics by John Waite, but rather feeling an ache to spend time with Turbo.

Tonight I had to work from home. I got to put Smiley to bed, cram a slice of leftover pizza in my mouth, and then came upstairs to get cranking on this project. I'm actually making great progress on something that was a bit stuck, so I'm pleased with my work.

But I missed a lot tonight. Daddy played with Turbo outside after dinner (summer is waning, we have to take advantage), Daddy watched Shaun The Sheep on the couch with Turbo (although Daddy also snuck away to do dishes, so I can't really say I missed that part), and Daddy read books and put Turbo to bed.

Right now Daddy is snuggling with Turbo in that little twin bed and I'm sitting here with a cool breeze on my left arm, not cozy, not cuddling with anything warm.

It's OK, of course, because this is how it goes sometimes.

But I missed Turbo tonight.

Extra hugs in the morning to make up for it.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

My Foot Feels Sick

This morning after breakfast, Turbo stood on the kitchen floor, held up his right foot and declared:

"My foot feels sick. I need a piggyback to watch Shaun the Sheep on the couch."


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Smiley's Favorite Song

Smiley has a favorite song.  If you sing it, if you play it on one of her Fisher Price toys, she will smile and bounce and dance.

I'll give you a hint: the song has every letter of the alphabet in it.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Muffins Save Hands

"Dad, don't burn your hands! I'll get you two muffins."

Let me explain.

Daddy cooked dinner tonight, which means dinner was grilled out back. Yummy grilled chicken and grilled asparagus - delish!

Early on in the process, Dad was cleaning the lit grill using a paper towel (yikes!), and I said calmly, "Be careful that you don't burn yourself."

Turbo took a cue from me and gasped, "Dad, don't burn your hands! I'll get you two muffins."

And then Turbo sprinted into the house to return with these:
"Oven Mitts" sounds like "Muffins" (sometimes)

If I bend my brain a little I can see where "oven mitt" might be confused with or sound like "muffins," but this innocent mistake was paired with an intense gasp and mad dash into the house. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

You see, we've been playing kitchen with Turbo's new prize for getting fully potty trained. Shh, secret... this was really a gift to mom and dad to give him something age appropriate so he'd stop being Godzilla knocking over all his sister's toys.

New toy! We call it 'green kitchen.'

Thank you, Turbo, for your urgency in preventing Daddy from becoming a burn victim.

My husband and I are lucky that we get to laugh almost every single day with our darling little Turbo.

Little Mynah Birds

Kids are wonderful mimics. I'm not always aware of some of my own catch phrases until I hear them repeated back to me.

Unbeknownst to me, I say, "Let's check it out" a lot. It's pretty cute coming from Turbo, like last week when I said, "Do you want to go play in the backyard?" And Turbo replied, "Yeah! Let's go check it out."

Last night was a new one for me. I was running late on making dinner, so was considering going for a plan B, even though I didn't have an actual plan B. I said out loud that I was going to make dinner, and Turbo declared that he was going to help me (didn't ask, of course, just informed me instead).

I opened the fridge door and as I was about to speak these exact same words, Turbo beat me to it and said, "Hmm. What have we got in here?"

Little mimics!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

You Can Only Like Your Job So Much

This one is dedicated to all the mamas who have to spend time away from their babies to go to work.

There are some advantages to work, of course - we own our home and couldn't afford it otherwise and we really, really love our home. Our kids are able to go to some pretty decent daycares/preschools and we've met some great teachers that have helped us teach our kids and the schools gives them access to lots of other fun kids and a huge variety of toys we could never afford. And, to be honest, there are days when I'm grateful for the break from the kids. They are cute and all, but can also be a handful and too much of a good thing can wear on ya at times.

But I also ache to be with my babies. Sometimes being away from my baby girl nearly busts my heart wide open. She is growing up so fast, nearly walking and beginning to form words like "ball" and "da-da."

The best part of my day is walking into her preschool to see her face light up as she squeals with delight at the sight of me and slaps her happy little palms as fast as she can to greet me with a tug on my legs and an expectant please-hug-me-now expression. And her smile. Her 5-toothed, dimpled, wonderful, infectious smile.

I like my job.

I love my babies.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Ava Lus

Turbo speaks pretty well these days, pronouncing most words very clearly. There are still a few gems that aren't perfected and I really like them all. It keeps him young for me. :)

Two of my favorites:

Ava-lus = all of us. He uses this one a lot as he's getting the concept of 'our family' and distinguishing between times when he's hanging out with just Dad, or with 'all of us.'

Breck-fix = breakfast. I almost hope this one never corrects itself.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

With Careful Consideration

On Turbo's first day of preschool, his teacher earned big points by squatting down to his eye level and asking if she could play cars with him. He was holding a blue Lightning McQueen car at the time.

My shy little sweetie warmed right up.

The best part of this exchange to me was how carefully Turbo considered her request.

Teacher: "Oh! Is that a car? Can I get a car too and play with you?"

Turbo, leaning on me for moral support, looked thoughtful for a moment, then confidently nodded his head, saying:

"Yeah. Sure."

I love how he gives serious attention to all requests made of  him.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

First Day of Preschool

Somebody did not want to go to 'big boy school' today.  I think this photo pretty much sums it up.



For the past few days, I've been talking about what a big boy he is, and that pretty soon he was going to go to a big boy school. It was all very theoretical, and he nodded along and made brief comments like, "yeah." I didn't really see the point in overdoing it.

Wednesday was our last day at the school Turbo has been at since he was 12 months old. He's now almost 3. For an entire year, he's been with one of the best teachers around. I got pretty choked up to say good-bye to her. If Turbo were just going to a new classroom, it wouldn't have been the tearful, huggy farewell that it was, but today Turbo not only started preschool, he did it at a new place he'd never been to before.

Turbo is not a lover of new environments. He takes a while to warm up, which is totally OK and kind of endearing. So, I knew I'd have to be a little bit of a Pollyanna to show my enthusiasm and hope he'd ride that wave of good cheer.

Yesterday, while saying good-bye to Miss Aura, I told Turbo he'd be going to a new 'big boy' school tomorrow. That's when his tune changed. His "yeah" turned to an emphatic, "no!" And not just once either.

Usually Dad drives Turbo to school (and I take in Smiley - oh, the joys we'll have when they are both at the same school!). This morning I told Turbo I was going to take him to school. Didn't mention the new school, but he was onto me. These are the types of comments I heard throughout the morning:

"I don't want to go to new school."

"I want to stay here with you." and "You want to stay here with me?"

"I don't want the new boy Turbo school." <-- this was my favorite. :)

I'll skip forward here a bit because it took forever to get him dressed this morning. It was like trying to put clothes on cooked spaghetti. If he wasn't running away from me, he was sliding down the floor, or the stairs, or in any other form that prevented the clothes from making their way to his body. I wondered briefly if the school has a 'clothing optional' policy, but in the end we found success. Good thing I told my work crew I'd be in a little late today.

We arrived in the parking lot of the shiny new building. I turned off the car, turned my can-do, smiling face toward the back seat and was greeted with a narrow-eyed boy saying, "This gonna be bery, bery bad."

Smile, mama. Don't show any doubts in your decision to yank your kid out of his comfortable world. You're doing the right thing. He'll be fine.

Me: "Turbo, it's going to be so great! You get to run around outside, and ride trikes!"

Nothing.

I tried again: "They have fish! You want to go see fish?"

His eyes lit up, "Yeah! A green fish?"

"Sure, let's go!" oh, please let them have a green fish.

I came around to Turbo's door, unbuckled the little cutie, and we headed toward the front doors, hand in hand. After a couple of tentative steps, he paused.

"I think it's gonna be really, really, really... happy."