Everchanging Emotions and the Terrible Two

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When I was pregnant with the little guy I kept myself up to date on the stages of my pregnancy by receiving a weekly e-mail and reading the books that tell you exactly how the baby is growing, how you should be feeling, and what is next.  This time around, I have glanced at those books to double check things that I think are OK, or to check on things that I don’t remember experiencing the last time.  In addition to occasionally reading about the pregnancy, I have been reading A LOT about toddlers.  I think I have read about 4-5 different books in the last week!

This period that we are going through with the little guy is a an amazing and frustrating  period called toddlerhood.  And, it has me boggled most of the time.  For instance, this morning, the little guy and I started out just perfect.  He was happy when I went into his room this morning, we waved goodbye to Poppa as he left for work, we shared some scrambled eggs and ham together, he didn’t thrash around as I changed his diaper and got him dressed, we played with stickers, read books, and even colored in a coloring book (which is not something he used to be fond of). 

The morning was going so smoothly, I decided that we should venture out to the craft store to get some things to finish up some projects for the kids rooms.  I armed myself with jelly beans in my pocket should I need to bribe the little guy to sit in the cart, and we were off!  Yes, I had to give up a couple of jelly beans, but the outing was also a success.

Lunchtime came earlier than usual, but that was no big deal.  He ate a good lunch, and cooperated for the most part when I reminded him that sitting at his little table was a priviledge and he needed to stay in his seat.  He played nicely while I cleaned up the dishes and then all h-e-double-hockey-sticks broke loose!

He came running to me to tell me he had poop in his diaper and his head started spinning around, his arms started flailing, and his legs started kicking!  For the next hour, I fought with him (mind you, I am not as able bodied as I might be when I am not 1-month away from giving birth) to get his diaper changed.  He kicked, screamed, weasled, hit, ran away with the diaper, ran away with the wipes, knocked over furniture…I was in tears.  He would come to me like he was sorry and wanted to give me a hug and then he would hit me and turn away running and laughing!!!  I called Ryan, but what was he going to do 3 hours away in Seattle?!  All he could say was he was sorry and I was not happy with that answer.  Eventually, I was able to get his diaper changed, and he is now in his room for naptime/quiet-time.

A couple of the books I have read compare being a toddler to having PMS or being pregnant…all of which only a mother can understand.  So, here I am frustrated with a toddler who I cannot understand because he has no control over his everchanging emotions while I have no control over my own everchanging emotions.  While I sit here and feel sorry for myself, I should really be feeling sorry for my husband, who lives in a household with both of us!  Now wonder he “has” to be in Seattle every week for work…I would want to get out of the house, too!  Forget the “terrible-two’s”, he has to deal with the “Terrible Two”!

Stick the Landing

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Just about everyone is in awe of them.  Whether a person is an athlete, or an intellect.  Male or female.  Young or old, everyone is in awe of a perfect score…a perfect “10.” 

 The All American trait of competitive spirit often drives people relentlessly towards this achievement.

 Who wasn’t in awe when they watched Scott Hamilton come off the ice after getting a perfect score in the Olympics?

 Who didn’t stare at their television in disbelief when Michael Jordan scored 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers?

 Who hasn’t pondered the raw intellect it took to put a man on the moon?

 These are the thoughts that went racing through my mind this morning.  As I was pondering the pursuit of perfection and what it takes to achieve this my focus returned to the task at hand, and it hit me like a perfectly placed putt on the green of the 18th hole at The Player’s Championship…the perfect diaper.

 I’m a fairly competitive guy, I may lack some of the tenacity and drive that Tiger Woods has, but I still want to be the best I can be at everything I do.  Well friends, this morning it happened.  It was spectacular, it was incredible, it was everything I had dreamed it would be and more…it was perfect.

 The sticky tabs were perfectly aligned across the front of the diaper and equidistance from the centerline to the nanometer.

 The top edge of the backside of the diaper lined up perfectly with the front side.

 There were no bunches, bumps or any other irregularities that might have cost me valuable points.  No, it was simply perfect, and perfect in its simplicity.

 As you can imagine there are hundreds, if not thousands of diapering techniques and I have tried ‘em all.

 There is the “Bean Pole” – Subject is standing.  This is the most difficult technique of all, in my opinion.

 There is the “Pit Stop” – There are multiple diaper technicians working on the subject at the same time.  Each technician has one specific task, and is an expert at this.  Each technician is working at a feverish pace in order to change the subject’s diaper without the subject knowing it is even happening.

 “The Electric Slide” – Utilizing this technique the subject is placed on their back on the diaper.  Following this step either the diaper and/or the subject needs to “slide to the right…now slide to the left” for proper alignment.

 I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “The Smooth Operator” – The subject is placed on their back on the changing table, both feet are held with one hand, subject is lifted up and diaper is slid in to position.

 Me?  I was just “in the zone.”  It was…surprisingly peaceful.  I wasn’t nervous, I had no butterflies in my stomach and my palms weren’t sweaty.  I blocked out the roar of the crowd, it was silent.  I didn’t feel any pressure to perform even though I could sense Bela Karolyi staring holes into the back of my head…looking…critiquing…picking apart every one of my moves waiting to pounce on the slightest mistake, like a tiger waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass too close.

 But, none of that mattered.  I couldn’t be stopped, it was destiny!!

 The diaper couldn’t be better.

 I put on his pajamas, straightened his hair, we turned around to face the crowd and bowed, then we bowed to the judges.  It was on everyone’s faces, the smiles from the judges gave it away.

 Friends…I stuck the landing.

 

“Stick the Landing” contributed by guest blogger, Ryan Taddeo.

Baby Growing

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All is well in the world of baby growing.  We had our 32 week check up today and heard a strong heartbeat again…145-147 bpm.  Mom (me) is tired, but that is to be expected in this stage of the pregnancy.  Only 6-1/2 weeks to go until the scheduled repeat c-section on September 20th!  Hard to believe!

On another note, the little guy went to school again today.  He was not too keen on it this morning, but I’m sure he will be fine when I pick him up in an hour.  He has had a rough go with getting to sleep at night.  We are going to try to shorten his afternoon nap and see if that helps us at all.  There have been a lot of changes to his routine lately (visit from Meme and Topher, starting school, etc.), so I am sure it will even out eventually…until September 20th!

Wish us luck…

Berry Picking

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We have had a major heat wave in the Northwest the last 10 days.  This weekend, temperatures in the 90’s felt like a cool off after a high temperature 0f 106 on Wednesday!

After a lovely visit from Meme and Topher, we decided to take it easy this weekend.  This, of course, included daily trips to Cook Park to walk and swim the dogs.  On Saturday morning, we discovered that the blackberries growing along the path were beginning to ripen.  Some are still tart, but if you get a sweet one there is nothing better!

Berry Picking

The little guy loved the berries and we picked them on our morning and evening trips to the park all weekend!

Not-so-terrible-two’s

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We have a 2-year old in the house now.  The little guy’s birthday was on July 5th.  Of course, we have heard of and witnessed some of the outbursts that come with the “terrible two” phase, but we have been more impressed by the incredible leaps and bounds he is making…literally and figuratively. 

He is ALL boy and shows it physically.  Jumping and climbing off of and onto anything and everything he can.  He is interested in potty training and using his potty multiple times a day.  He is trying new food, excited about going to “school” beginning in August, helpful when he wants to be, repeating new words instantly, and beginning to speak in short sentences.  More than that, he understands so much more than we give him credit for…the following story is an example from today.

After returning home from Safeway and Trader Joe’s this morning I let the dogs out into the backyard.  Since it was such a nice day, I decided to just let them hang out and went to open up the doors to their dog runs in case they wanted to go into their houses (which Oak and Odyssey like to do).  Since the little guy has figured out how to unlock the locks on the glass “storm” doors, I closed both doors to the backyard to keep him from following me outside (once he goes outside he does not want to head back indoors, and I still had some things to get done inside the house).  I opened the dog runs, walked back up to the house, opened the “storm” door, and then tried the main glass door…it was locked.  I thought to myself, no problem, this is whay we had the keypad installed on the garage after I got locked out last year around this time (with the little guy in the house that time, too).  So, I calmly walked around the the front of the house and tried the keypad…it didn’t work.  So, I tried again…no luck.  A little bit of panic set in. 

I had just locked up all of the windows knowing that it would be hot today and the AC would kick on to keep the house cool.  I walked to the front door to check to see if it might be unlocked…nope.  Side door to the garage…locked.  I tried the keypad again…NOTHING!  So, I walked around to the back door.  I knocked on it so the little guy would come back to it, and he did.  I tried to explain to him how to unlock the doorknob lock, which was how I got locked out last year.  He tried, but just couldn’t quite figure it out.  My panic grew just a bit. 

So, here I am thinking of how to get back into our house.  We gave our next door neighbors a key last year in case I got locked out again…unfortunately, they were gone for the day.  Our friends down the street also have a key…last year I was able to have our next door neighbor watch the little guy through the window while I ran down there to get a key.  This time, I did not feel comfortable leaving the little guy alone in the house for what would be at least a 10 minute time period, as I am in no shape to run down the street and back at 7-months pregnant.  Ryan, who I was also able to call last year, was out of town for the day…still in the state of Oregon, but at least 1-1/2 hours away.  I had no cell phone (locked in the house) and did not want to leave the house with the little guy by himself inside.  More panic, but told myself that it would all be OK, and I just needed to relax.

I thougt, my last resort is to break a window.  I walked around the house again to figure out which one would be best and decided the office would work since the door was closed and the little guy would not be hurt by broken glass.  I walked around to the back one more time to try to find something to break it with…I have no idea how to break a window and this was not something I really wanted to do.  It was this time around the house that I noticed it was the DEADBOLT that had been locked, not the doorknob!

That little stinker figured out how to lock the deadbolt!  I was hoping that meant he could also figure how to unlock it.  I walked to the back door and knocked so he would come to it.  He came running, and I told him to go get his stool from the bathroom.  I had to repeat my request only two times, and he went running into the bathroom (thank goodness it was unlocked as we also keep doors to bathrooms locked to keep the little guy from playing in toilets) and came out carrying his step stool for washing his hands!  I told him to put the stool next to the door and to climb onto it.  He did.  Then, I asked him to turn the “thing” on the door.  I don’t know how many times I asked him to do this, but it was only a couple and the door was UNLOCKED!  I immediatley pushed it open enough to keep him from locking it again.  Now, I had to convince him to step off his stool so Mommy could come inside.  By this point he tought it was all a fun game, which was fine with me, but I also wanted to get inside and tell him what a wonderfully smart little 2-year old he was!  He let me back into the house and was not impressed by what he had just done, but I sure was!

So, we definitely have our share of “terrible two” behavior, but the amazing cognitive and physical ability that our little guy (and I am sure all other 2-year olds) has is amazing.  To think that at this time last year he was just beginning to take steps on his own and to know all that he is capable of now is truly amazing.  I’m going to make sure that I focus on all the positive aspects of our little guy being a 2-year old and believe in the not-so-terrible-two’s!

a very good day

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The headline of the Oregonian is not going to read this tomorrow morning, but my blog will:

THE LITTLE GUY WENT PEE ON HIS POTTY!!

This is what I get excited about now as a mom to an almost 2-year old!

I didn’t even ask him if he wanted to sit on the potty. I got him undressed for his bath and he pointed at the potty. So, I asked him, “Do you want to sit in your potty?”
He said, “Uh-huh.”
I sat him on his potty, and I sat on the big toilet (lid down) across from him and sang, “We’re going pee! We’re going pee!”
And, HE WAS!
He got off the potty, we flushed the pee in the big toilet, he ran into the hall, into his room, and jumped on his bed.  He was so proud of himself!
I reminded him that it was bathtime and we proceeded with our evening routine.
We had a VERY good day today and Ryan is coming home tonight!

23 weeks

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Funny. I’m at 23 weeks with Baby Girl. I also think that Ryan will spend 23 weeks away from home this year. It’s a guesstimate, but I bet it’s pretty close.
It’s tough to have him gone so much. He’s pretty much gone every other week. We have it worked out so it’s not a full week at a time, but the weekend in between is usually so busy that I am exhausted when he leaves for Seattle again on Monday mornings. I know the travel isn’t easy on him either.
I am sure it is harder on me right now being 5 months pregnant, but I am scared about how I will handle it with 2 kids come October! I know it is something that I will “get used to”. Fact is, I am used to it now and that doesn’t make it any easier…
How do other moms deal with traveling spouses? Any ideas?

Lost in Transition

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A lot has been going on the last two weeks.  We found out we are having a baby girl, my 97 year old grandmother passed away, we became a two car family and coordinated the transport of a car from Oregon to Colorado, we moved the little guy to his “big boy” room, we had new carpet put in the house, and today we had to say goodbye to our beautiful little kitty, Murphy.
It seems that every time I sit down to write something that the right words don’t come out.  I guess that’s why I don’t write for Hallmark.  I want to be deep and meaningful, but I am at a loss.  The ups and downs of life come at us all the time, but the last couple of weeks they have come with lightning speed.  Some of the events were planned or “expected”.  Others, like the loss of our sweet Murphy, came on suddenly and have been quite a shock to the system.
The good news is that we have a healthy baby girl on the way, the little guy is sleeping well in his new room, and we have beautiful new carpet.  The hard stuff is dealing with the loss of Grandma and, right now, Murphy.  And, while dealing with all of these emotions, my house is not put back together and that will have to wait until the weekend after Ryan returns from Seattle.
I am on a roller-coaster of emotion due to my fluctuating pregnancy hormones as it is, and I am feeling a bit lost in transition.