learning names and plurals

mosey, if you are reading this someday, know that i am so proud of you, and i'm impressed by you every day.

these past few weeks, i've been noticing how he learns people's names. i can see how he's been practicing his skill, because:

• we taught him to call my dad "harabuhjee" but he calls him "ah-bbah" pretty regularly because that's what i call him
• we taught him to call shane's sister "aunt ree ree" but he calls her "keri," well, because that's her name
• he calls shane and ed by name when he's telling us something like, "there's ed," but when he talks to them, he addresses them as daddy and grandpa
• i think i mentioned that he calls me "honey" and "sweetheart" from time to time (copying daddy), but he called me "helen" for the first time ever the other day, and it was so cute. 
• people generally don't call nana any other name but nana or mom, so i imagine he might not learn "linda" as one of her names. 

pluralization. most of the time, he does it right, but you know, there are some hard ones like ocean (which is so big that it seems like we really should be saying, "look at the oceans") and fish (especially when there are such enormous tanks full of them at the aquarium). oh, and corns. :)

lovelove,
mummy

went back to work yesterday

i went into the office for the first time yesterday since two weeks ago (i've been working at home). when i got home, the first thing Mosey said to me was, "i'm happy to see you!"

best thing, ever.

lovelove,
me

the throw up... oh, the throw up

i have a lot to catch up on since i last wrote. basically, we've been on a 15 hour drive to maryland, a 7 day cruise to the bahamas, and a 15 hour drive back to the big ATL. a whirlwind that has involved 3 enormous suitcases, 6 loads of laundry, and a lot of fun memories.

one memory that was not-so-nice, however, occurred yesterday morning a few hours into our drive back home. we had gotten up quite early and, to my great surprise, were able to get on the road by 6:20 am. we stopped for chik-fil-a, filled out bellies with yummy food, and got right back into our car. well, before too long, mosey was sort of whiny, and shane went back to check on him and that's when it happened.

the throw up.

chicken, fruit, hashbrowns, and apple juice. everywhere. on mosey's clothes, in his car seat, everywhere. it was so much throw up that we had to strip him completely naked (even his diaper was wet) and start from scratch. his car seat had little bits in every crevice of every buckle and strap.

the first thing he said was, "i make a mess." his little tear-filled eyes looking so sad.

it took us about 30 minutes of team work, using water bottles to rinse out the car seat, extra towels, diaper wipes, and clothes to get clean, but we made it. and just about 13 hours later, my hero husband took the carseat to the car wash and pressure washed that thing spic and span. and the vague aroma of throw up is finally gone! :)

lovelove,
me

how our baby sleeps at daycare

how did we get so lucky?

shane invited mosey to go outside with him to walk our dog, and he got pretty excited about the idea. while shane went to get something from our room, he told mosey to go and get his shoes on. mosey started toward his shoes, but once he was nearly there, he turned right around and went back to where he was playing, saying to himself, "first, clean up!"

he dutifully put all his toys back in his toy box and was ready to go and put his shoes on. :O)

also, later on, he was playing with some toys and accidentally stepped on his pig toy, and he said, "oh, sorry, pig."

how did we get so lucky? i just can't believe it.

lovelove,
me

heartless

there certainly is a part of my heart that has become more tender since having mosey in my life. there is also, however, a part of my heart that has become very hard...

this morning, as we were about to leave the house, i foolishly asked mosey, "do you want to wear your white shoes, or your black shoes?"

he chose the black ones, and i put the white ones down, and he screamed, "whiiiiiiiite shoooooooes, moooommy!!!!"

so i said, "you want to wear the white shoes?"

and he said, "yes, mommy."

so i put the black shoes down, and he screamed, "blaaaaaack shooooooooes, moooommmy!!!"

this went on a few times too long, as i was mistakenly thinking he would actually settle on a pair. i decided we would go with white shoes, and he started bawling his little eyes out. i stood up to pour my coffee in my to-go mug while he stood with his arms in the air, clearly in real anguish about the shoe situation, "mooooooooommmmmyyyyyyyyyy!!! uuuuuupppppp, mommmmmmyyyyyyyy!!!"

i said, "you stop crying, and i'll pick you up, buddy." i packed up the rest of my things, put on my shoes, and put on my jacket while he continued crying, and i continued telling him, "stop crying, buddy, and i'll pick you up."

heartless... but not really in a bad way, i think.

thankfully, just around that time, we heard a siren and he perked up, "fire truck, mommy! do you hear it?"

i picked up the child and made it to the van without too much more drama.

lovelove,
mommmmmmyyyyyyyy

he told me about his day

during dinner tonight, mosey (for the first time in his life) told me about his day. perhaps he's told me before and i've not understood. in fact, that's probably very possible. but anyway, tonight, he told me:

• moses take a nap, mommy.
• connor running.
• simone in blue chair, be nice! and the...
• i played trucks, mommy

connor and simone are classmates, and i'm fairly sure the simone thing must have been a little spat they must have had. wow, this child was really telling me about his day! it was sweet and lovely.

also, yesterday, we were driving home, and i had a window down. we smelled a fire, and he said, "smell candle, mommy!" candle is what he calls all fire (candles, fire places, matches). "fire" is one of those interesting words that mosey can't seem to learn, even though he definitely knows how to say "fire truck" (one of his current obsessions). a bit later, he stuck his little face in our christmas tree and said, "smell christmas tree, mommy!" love that kid.

lovelove, 

me

he remembers

i think that because mo's still a toddler and because so much of what he says is still hard to understand, i sometimes forget that he's a little real person. one of the ways it comes out is that he remembers things and asks for them. the other day, i told him we were going to dry him off with his lion towel, and he said to me, "where's the octopus, mommy?" he has a towel with an octopus on it, but we hadn't used it (probably for a few weeks!) because we'd been in heavy rotation with the lion towel. i guess he wanted to have the octopus back. i was so impressed that he remembered that we had that towel, with nothing (to my knowledge) that made him think of it. 

the other thing that he remembers is that we had two matchbox cars that we kept in the car, a yellow one and a blue one. well, because they're so small, we actually (probably) lost the blue one... i think like a month and a half ago. but he faithfully asks me, every time i put the yellow car in his hand, "where's the blue car, mommy?" he remembers.

he also is rather quick to learn people's names. two teachers have remarked to me that they didn't know Mo knew their name (or even how he learned it because they didn't teach him their name), but he just started using it one day. one of the ladies isn't even a teacher in his class... in fact, even i don't know her name. wait. moses knows something i don't know! mind. blown.

lovelove,

me

headlights

these last few days, mosey has learned how to say that while cars have headlights, other things don't have headlights. "car has headlights, mommy. tiger doesn't have headlights, mommy." <shaking head> also, "mommy has ponytail. moses doesn't have ponytail." <shaking head>

it's so cute. :)

lovelove,
me

thanksgiving was great!

nana and grandpa came down to spend the day with us. we went to a thanksgiving morning breakfast and service at an old church that nana's relatives go to as a tradition. we had fun meeting people. we came back home to make some mashed potatoes and watch some of the macy's day parade. we went to a thanksgiving lunch at elinor and paul's house, which are relatives of nana's too. we met lots of people, ate lots of food, and the kingerys actually took a nap all together IN ONE BED, for THREE hours! its actually never happened before in mosey's whole life! it was glorious. we all left there at 6 or so, had dinner at waffle house, and went to walmart for some deals. it was so fun!

lovelove,
me

mystery of the carrot: solved

we've been singing old mcdonald every time we've been brushing teeth, and i do believe it's made the whole process much more enjoyable. he chimes in with animals, as i have mentioned before, but this week, he introduced the carrot. "and on that farm, he had a.... CARROT." i've not been able to figure out what animal sounds like carrot. well, tonight's melissa and doug wooden puzzle has revealed the answer: he picked up the parrot, said, "birdy," and then he said, "carrot." ah ha!!

also, i found out the other day that he can count to 20. he's a genius.

also, he's hanging over my computer right this second saying, "you did it, mommy." "carrot, elephant, too." "right there on the compoooter. right there." love that kid. :)

lovelove,
me

letters and numbers and animals

mosey's favorite letter is W. he points it out whenever he sees it... and also whenever he thinks about it. "that's a W, mommy!"

he also calls both letters and numbers "letters." when i correct him when they're numbers, he repeats, "mummers."

his favorite song is Old McDonald. he picks the animals (loosely defined) correctly, and his favorite ones are: baby, piggy, elephant (said, etta-phant), chicken, and lion. what a farm this man had! also, we were reading the Jesus Storybook Bible (which he asked to read a couple hours after he'd seen it! and he named the right guy Jesus as soon as he saw him!), we were reading the story of Noah, and he correctly pointed at all the animals and said "animals." do kids really learn categories this early? wow.

our Aunt Glady told us a few weeks ago that he was advanced because he could count in his head without having to touch each object. it was pretty cool, but i think his math skills have kind of declined in the last little bit here. now he seems to always skip the number 4, and he doesn't tell us how many things there are anymore. i guess that's the ebb and flow as they're learning so much so fast.

lovelove,
me

random ramblings... some might say, bragging :)

we went on a walk the other day. there is construction work going on in our neighborhood, so there are lots of exciting big trucks to look at. we were watching them from a distance, and he looked at me and said, "cross the street, mommy." i didn't know he knew that phrase, but he sure knew how to communicate that he wanted to see those trucks up close!

also, how does a person even learn the word "too?" doesn't that seem sophisticated? (i.e. my child is brilliant.) he says, "that's a zebra, mommy. oh, that's a zebra, too!" he uses it right every time. i love hearing it.

something he gets wrong every time is the phrase, "do you hear it?" ironic, isn't it? he says, "do you her mitt?" super cute. :)

something that he does so politely is say "s'cuse me, mommy" every time he burps and he also tries to remember to put his little hand over his mouth when he coughs. thank you, daycare!

also, i think now that he's learning to say so much, there are also phrases and requests that i really can't understand. he clearly says the same jumbled phrases or requests over and over, so i know he intends a very specific meaning. anyway, i'm still blown away that he can communicate. it's like a miracle.

oh, also, i just learned this week that he can count to ten. and did i mention that he can sing almost the whole alphabet now? what happened to this baby??

love that guy.
me

sickness

so, normally, mosey is sick with a fever, and shane and i do my best to rearrange our schedules and somehow manage to care for him while he is not allowed to attend daycare. this time around (yes, mo's got a fever again, it was overdue, tbh), i'm also sick. and with each day that passes, my sickness has been getting worse! wth.

it started with a bit of random phlegm from my lungs like two weeks ago. it progressed to a cough over the next week. over the weekend, it turned into a much worse cough, and then quickly to a head cold with congestion and plenty of nose-running and headaches. tonight, i'm feeling achy and my skin is all sensitive. oh man. i definitely can't go into the office tomorrow, but now i'm wondering if i can get any work done at all, even from home.

at least mosey and i can probably just sit around, be sick, and watch a little tv together. btw, our son may be the only kid who ever asks if we can turn the tv off because he's had enough. love that little guy.

lovelove,
sick-o

goofy and pluto

while reading a mickey mouse and friends book and explaining to mosey what all the different characters were: mickey's a mouse, donald's a duck, etc, i came to goofy and pluto and realized that i had stumbled on an age-old paradox. goofy and pluto are BOTH DOGS! they're exactly the same, except goofy wears clothes and a hat, talks, walks on his hind legs and has hands. pluto is a regular old dog, and also a pet. what?? does this blow your mind, or is it just me? all these things that i just took at face value when i was a kid. 

anyway. i guess lots of people have thought about this. here and here for example. many theories, so i'm not the only one sitting around thinking about this. :) 

lovelove,

goofy me 

little things to cherish

"bye bye, poo poo! see you later!!" this is what he exuberantly shouts as he flushes the toilet these days.

also, he pointed to the hair clippers in our bathroom, and he dubbed it, "hair cut fork."













he knows his alphabet pretty well now (very suddenly, like in the last week or so), and i asked him how he learned it, "who sings this song, mosey?" he answered, "miss marie!" while i'm so thankful for our daycare ladies, i am also surprised that his answer was not daddy or mommy. it's been years of singing this song to him ad nauseum.

lovelove,
me

socks

the other day i helped mosey take off his socks. right away, he took them and tried to put them on my feet. well, my feet are a little bit bigger than his, and he still has a tiny bit of trouble maneuvering socks in general. so, with a lot of effort and concentration, he hung one off of my big toe, and one off of my next two toes, and he shouted excitedly, "i DID it!" what a sense of accomplishment! i wish i had a picture of it.

also, mo watched daddy put some of his own socks on the other morning, and after he succeeded, mosey encouraged him, "you DID it, daddy!"

also, mosey has started putting his own sneakers on this month. wow!

lovelove,
sock monkey

the diapers saga continues

two nights ago, we had a softball sized leak on Mo's bedsheet when i went to get him in the morning. last night, he woke up at 4:30 in the morning (i think?) crying, "mommy, blaaaaankeeeeet, mommy..." so, i managed to change his sheets, diaper, and pants, mostly in the dark, and we all actually went back to sleep until morning.

i'm sad about these results, to be honest with you. the promise of super-cheap diapers was in our grasp. sigh. i'm thinking about getting Pampers again, this time in a size bigger, and maybe that will solve the leaking problem. i might consider underwear training again next week during the 3-day weekend, but the nights will still require a leak-proof solution... probably for a long time--this child pees a lot during the night. it's probably because he loves, i mean LOVES, to drink water. but did you know? i used to love to drink water too. my family used to call me 'goldfish' when i was little because i'd drink so much water. i still can chug a glass like nobody's business. i guess i gave birth to a goldfish too.

lovelove,
sleepy mommy blanket

delightful

okay, in case you ever had wondered, it's decided. we have a delightful child. tonight was a real testament that we are experiencing what folks call the "terrific two's." we are certainly experiencing a smattering of "terrible two's," but honestly not too bad. so far. :O) here are some great moments just from tonight:

• he came to me and said, "need some help, momma." i asked him to wait a bit, and he did patiently, and when i told him i was ready to help him, he led me into the kitchen, climbed up the step stool by the sink, put his comb out under the faucet, and said, "need some help, momma." i turned the water on, and he proceeded to wet the comb and comb his hair (we do this in the mornings because of his insane bed head). he did this for a little while, and after managing to completely wet the top of his head, i told him he would get one more time and we'd turn the water off, and he accepted it without a fuss. i guess he had felt satisfied with his results. i told him to go show daddy, and he said, "daddy, comb water, the hair," or something just as cute. he was so proud, and i was so proud of him. 
• he also combed my hair for me. it was nice.
• we were leaving my room, and some of Shane's sketch paper was on the floor. i walked by it without saying anything, but mosey accidentally stepped on it. i think most toddlers would then proceed to do a dance on it because it's actually quite crinkly paper (seems slightly enticing, even to me). i was just about to warn him to be careful when he gently picked up the large, thin, crinkly paper and handed it to daddy saying, "here, daddy, here." he didn't even leave it on the floor like i did. how did our son become more responsible than me?
• in the bath, mosey must have thought about birthday cake, because he started to pretend-eat some and pretend-feed me some too. he actually sang the happy birthday song in very clear speech and with the actual tune! i couldn't believe it. i sang it later during tooth-brush time, and at the end of each line, mosey sang, "momma" on key, like a duet! it sounded great, if i do say so myself. 
• he climbed into the bathtub on his own. he's been doing this for a few days, but seeing his little tushy and him on his tippy toes just doesn't get old. 
• also, i think he either remembers his birthday or his nana's birthday, because right after he sang happy birthday, he said, "donna." we ended up calling donna around this time because mosey was then singing happy birthday to donna. then he actually talked to her on the phone (this might have been the first time in his life that he actually talked beyond a one-word whisper on the phone) about tigers and how they go ROAR! and the animals at the zoo (we went to the zoo with donna, nana, and aiden during the government shutdown). he remembers things, and now he can tell us about them! it's really remarkable.
• a bit later, i asked mosey to go and say night-night to daddy and come back to read a book together. that sweet boy went straight into the other room and said, "i love you, daddy." i think that may have been the first time in his whole life that i've heard him say i love you, unprompted. wow--melt my heart!
• when i was about to put him down for bed, he put his little hands on either side of my head and gave me a big kiss, unprompted, too! my heart is so full!

lovelove, 

mamma

diapers, time change, boogers, and potty--a great day!

the verdict on the walmart diapers? not bad. they generally feel bulkier and noisier (read: cheaper), but they held up just fine last night. they're literally half the price of buying the pampers brand on amazon.com subscribe and save, which is hard to beat. especially as we are on the twilight of our diaper days. i think i'll just stick to them.

the verdict on the time change? we slept a normal night last night, we woke up this morning at around 6:30 (pretty normal), and i stayed in bed until 7 while mosey just stayed quiet in his room. it was just great. his nap was about 3 hours this afternoon, and he went to bed normal this evening. so great!

in other news, mosey picked a booger from my nose today (it was a dry one hanging out of my nostril... is that tmi? ha), and i wiped the booger up and then he took the wipe from my hand to wipe my nose for me. it was so caring, i feel as though my heart could explode with love and pride! he's a really special little boy.

tonight i decided to put underwear on mosey after dinner, and i told him that if he needed to go pee pee, he would have to go to the potty so that he doesn't get his underwear wet. i asked him if he understood, and he nodded and said yeah. about a half an hour later, i was filling up the bathtub for his bath, and when i turned around, momo had pulled his stool up to the toilet and was pulling his underwear down! with no prompting from me! he got up on the stool and peed standing up, like a big boy!! it was so exciting! and of course, as soon as he finished, he said, "get the treat, mama, get the treat!"

also, car-beep-beep! this is what mosey says every time there is a siren or flashing lights on a car. it's so cute.

lovelove,
me

how does he know??

it's getting too hard to keep track of new words anymore, but i did want to mention that Mosey knows words that i literally have never said to him. words like, "kite," "worm," and "Grover." and i couldn't be certain, but i'm thinking that daycare probably doesn't drill those words either. how does he learn them? i wonder.

i heard today that it's daylight savings time tonight. i have generally had a lot of trouble thinking about how the time change affects our lives with a child, but when i finally figured it out this time, i realized... maybe that's why mosey has progressively getting to sleep later and later for the last two weeks! he hasn't fallen completely asleep until about 8:30 most days and then he is sleeping in the morning until we go and wake him up. which means! this time change might be super easy. wahoo! maybe they taught him at daycare. ;)

unfortunately, i decided that today was also the night i was going to try walmart diapers. i don't know what i was thinking. anyway, i hope they hold up. :)

lovelove,
me

halloween festivities

we all went to a trunk or treat event at the church down the road yesterday. it was so fun! there were lots of decorated trunks, friendly people, and free food. some highlights for mosey were: a fake bat flapping its wings, a giant toy spider going up and down, and games! shane got a snow cone to split between the three of us, and mosey decided that he wanted to drink water instead. ha! oh, and mosey's cow costume scored us 3 free chicken sandwiches from a person that works for chik-fil-a! :)  we walked away with a bag full of candy and felt super satisfied with our evening.

tonight, we went good-old-fashioned trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. by the second house, he got pretty good at knocking and whispering, "trick or treat." it was cute! he also loved to go into the houses when they opened the door. also cute! :) i am thankful that for now, mo doesn't know much about candy. he was actually more interested in picking up rocks from people's driveways than getting candy from people.

we trick or treated our hearts out and we still got home in time for a regular bath and bedtime. what a great night. the last thing he said to us as i closed the door to his bedroom was, "trick or treat."

lovelove,
hula girl

PS: we went to the Georgia A-scare-ium as well. for future reference, this is not the place to go for candy. it IS the place to go for advertisements. meh. we had a good time anyway, watching our cow watch the fish. he cried throughout the octopus section, but then referred to it later on in the evening. go figure--they might be listening even when they're having out and out tantrums!

missing people

i've been missing my grandmother lately. it really came to a head today when i started to miss my late sister-in-law, kylee. she would have been 35 today. i didn't know her nearly as well as i wish i had, and maybe that's true of anyone who passes away too young.

my grandmother, on the other hand, had been looking forward to dying for about a decade before she actually did. she felt she had completely finished living and she was ready to go home. i liked that. i liked a lot of qualities about her. i miss her bashful smile and contagious laugh. i miss her dimples. i miss holding her warm hands. i miss how she used to neatly tuck her hair into bobby pins and i miss how she ceremoniously took all the wrinkles out of all of our clothes in one long ironing session once a week. she was slow and steady, content, and gentle. she cried for the wrestlers when she watched WWF on TV, but always quietly requested that we watch it when it was on. she prayed for two hours every morning and wore down the pink carpet in her room where she did it. that patch is still there.

i often wish she could be here to meet little mosey.

lovelove,
little me

why, pampers, why?

after two long years of brand loyalty, i might need to go my own way, Pampers. it's the end of a long lovely relationship. i know, Pampers are more expensive and they're probably not that different from many other diapers. but still. i love them... correction: i loved them. i thought i'd use them until the end of the need for diapers. but they've done it to me again. they've changed.

Pampers cruisers were the most wonderful diaper on the market. thin, ultra absorbent, cute, quality. but for some very strange reason, they've decided to redesign these gems. i think... ugh, now i'm poking around online and it looks like they might actually redesign stuff often. weirdos.

anyway, i think three times this month, mosey has woken up with wet PJs, wet sheets, wet blanket, and/or wet pillow! last night was the worst, where he woke up at 5:30am crying, "blanket!! blanket!! mommy, blaaaaannnnkeeeet!!!" it was so sad. i had to get up and change his sheets and blanket (during which he thanked me several times--i love that little guy!), and i'm quite sure that neither of us had any quality sleep for that last hour or so before we really got up.

well. now that i'm thinking about things, maybe i should go back to pampers and give their size 6 a try. maybe mosey is growing... i have noticed that he's been eating like crazy. maybe he's going through a growth spurt and his diapers are suddenly too small to hold all his pee.

hm. not sure what i'm going to do. all's i know is that i hate waking up to a child who is cold and wet with urine.

in other news, mosey loves sour cream. he ate tonight's white chili like no one's business, including cilantro, avocado, rice, cheese, crackers, and grapes for dessert, but the sour cream... that was his favorite part. :)

also, tonight, when i turned the light on in the bathroom for him to go to the potty, he said, "oh! thank you!" it was too cute.

also, when do kids start saying please? we have coached him to, probably several times a day, everyday, for over a year now, but it's not really sinking in. he learns Goofy's name after i tell him one time, but the powerful word please? seems like millions.

lovelove,
tired me :)

he calls me sweetheart sometimes

see, we have this cow costume for halloween. mosey tried it on at home, and he loves it... i mean, LOVES it! he danced around in front of the mirror for a good long while and loved having the cow face kiss the mirror above his head. when it came time to take it off, it was a really challenging time in his life.

we put it on him this weekend at the pumpkin carving party, because, well, it seemed like an appropriate time to let him have some time wearing it. and he stood there for a couple of minutes outside, looking around at all the other people there. i think he realized that they were not dressed like cows. and he quietly told me, "off, mama," as he tugged softly at the cow costume. i guess even 2-year olds get self-conscious about not fitting in. it made shane and me both a bit sad for him, and we decided together that he'll have to have some experiences enjoying that costume around other kids that are dressed up to make up for it.

in other news, last night, while i mosey was taking a bath, i took a moment to pluck a few of my stray eyebrows. at that very moment, mosey started saying repeatedly, in very clear and deliberate speech, "thank you, sweetheart." haha! i couldn't decide if he was just practicing/repeating what shane must have said earlier, or if he was genuinely thanking me for taking care of those stray hairs. :)

also, mosey has had really disrupted sleep for over a week now. what the heck, edgar? he's been up past 9pm a lot, just talking to himself in bed. several nights, also he's woken up in the middle of the night crying (which is really unusual for mo). i wonder if he's going through some growth spurt or milestone thing. *sigh* i guess only mosey knows the answer to that.

lovelove,
me

slow mo

this evening was delightful with slow mo. he just took his sweet time doing things today. and this entry will probably only be interesting to me, but i'm recording all my lovely details here because... i do what i WANT. ha.

i have to say, after about a week straight of meltdown tantrums in the evening, i'd been doing some deep thinking about how to respond to our son. i have to admit that i have felt myself starting to react more aggressively (like with a louder voice and with more oomph), and i wondered whether that was making things more of a power struggle between us. i wasn't enjoying our precious time together; we were spending way too much of it in disciplinary/rule-enforcing mode.

well, i'm glad i had a break tonight. we had a nice long (lllloooooooonnnggg) dinner (mostly just the two of us), where slow mo decided he wanted to hold and eat a whole apple by himself for dessert. he did a great job, and actually did finish the entire thing. it took him about an hour. before that, he ate two toddler servings of korean curry, string beans, tofu, mushrooms, and several refills of milk. it was a really long, but really enjoyable meal. i watched him throw so much into his mouth and actually eat it all. it was impressive. even his daycare teachers have noticed  and mentioned to me that he opens his mouth extra wide when he's eating, and when he's using his hands, he gets all his fingers in there. i had been awarded the "good eater" award in college by a friend of mine, and i'm rather hopeful that our child is following in my footsteps.

we went straight to the bath after dinner, because by that time, it was already past due. but then, i sat him on the potty (and also placed the stool at his feet because he wanted it that way, little prince that he is), and he sat there for a long while, contentedly reading a book and pooping a great deal (for which he scored two PB M&Ms). i guess his little body needed some space after his enormous dinner. i can't contain how precious that boy is.

we had fun in the bath, talking about soap, shampoo, and cups. and then he handed his toys to me and said he was done. i got him dried off, sang Old McDonald while i brushed his teeth, and i actually went through five rounds of the song while brushing with NO FUSS! it was probably the most thorough job i've ever done brushing his teeth.

we read a story, we sang 'God is so Good' and i tucked him in. he told me he loved me, and i think he really meant it. my heart is so full that it just might burst.

45 minutes after that, he finished singing his own songs and fell asleep. ha.

lovelove,
momma slow mo

my little heart is breaking

i know only a few people read this blog, so i feel that i can safely confess here. i spanked mosey for the first time this week. i realize that it's a very controversial topic, and that the issue is very much slanted toward the side of "spanking will ruin your child for life." unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on what side you fall on), both shane and i were spanked as kids, and we are both thankful that we were. so, we have decided that there are times when it will be necessary to spank mosey. 

up until this week, we have been able to discipline our regularly easy-going child by giving him time outs. however, this week, moses has transitioned into having some really tremendous tantrums. he has started to hit us during them, and has also become completely unwilling to stand in time out. so, we decided it's come time to implement spanking. there are a few things that we have discussed and agreed to, such as giving him ample warning, moving into a private room, making sure we are controlled (we are not hitting from anger), telling him before how many times we'll spank him, explaining afterward what has happened, and asking him to apologize and forgiving him. 

well, i did all these things. during bath time afterward, he told me so sadly, "mommy, boo boo bottom." i got him dressed and sat with him to make sure he was okay (he, of course, had fully recovered by then--young children are really so forgiving)...

and i held that sweet boy and bawled my little eyes out. 

i remember a wise counselor friend of ours said that a parent's job is to teach two things: (1) the child is deeply and wholly loved, and (2) the child will never win. he explained that it's a simple reflection of what they will ultimately need to know about God. i don't want to get all theological here, so i'll leave it at that, and also say that i pretty much agree. it makes it simultaneously easy and painfully hard.

lovelove,

little me

of COURSE our child is gifted!

haha... i'm thinking that every parent probably thinks their child is gifted in some way, right? :)

today was my first parent-teacher conference, which basically means that the teacher told me all about their activities/curriculum, purpose, rating system (to keep track of milestones in a long list of different categories), photos, etc. i really believe the staff works hard to get all these kids to develop all kinds of skills, and i am super impressed by them. they seem to really balance teaching the kids independence and obedience in this classroom. and they notice each individual kid and their quirks! i LOVE this daycare, like with little crayon-drawn hearts coming from my eyes. also, it's a chain, if you'd like to check them out (and i think i get a referral discount, so let me know if you do).

anyway, so back to the special-ness part. let's see, mosey is only 26 months, but the teacher was saying that he has already caught on to a lot of the activities. like sorting colors and shapes--they ask mosey to do his last because he is so eager and quick to finish that it doesn't give other kids the chance to figure it out! they will soon put his cubby on the bottom shelf so that he can get pull out his own box and blanket for naptime (only a handful of kids get this privilege). he basically understands what he needs to do in any activity after one or two times of explanation (he doesn't follow instructions every time because he is known to be a bit of a rebel). he is one of the rare few (the only other kid is michael, who they say is like mosey's partner in crime), that spends a good amount of time in each station in the classroom. she said each station has a different focus and teaches different developmental skills, and he is really interested in everything. also, he pooped in the potty after naptime without anyone asking him to!

i'm so proud i could just explode.

lovelove,
moses mom

habits of a toddler boy

the other day, we had his little suitcase out, and of course, he loves to roll it around the house. well, this time, he examined it, found the wheels, and said with great revelation and excitement, "it's a car!!!" he believes anything that has wheels belongs in the 'car' category. i love it. :)

this week, mosey has been tacking on "mommy" at the end of his sentences. sometimes even after a long pause, "what's that... mommy?" he has been doing it so often that he also calls shane mommy and has to correct himself. it's really adorable.

last night, we had him in footie pj's (he calls them "jamas") for the first time in a long time. he really really loved them until he realized he couldn't feel his belly button (he likes to suck his thumb and play with his belly button to soothe himself). after a bit of trying, he asked me nicely, "off, mommy." i unzipped them a bit, to see if access to the belly button was what he wanted, but he just wanted to change completely. he was happy to wait around for a different set of pj's. no fussing, just a calm costume change.

lastly, mosey refers to daddy's convertible as "da buh buh."

lovelove,
me

potty updates

1. this week, moses peed in the potty standing up at daycare! he really is a big boy.
2. yesterday, after daycare, we had gotten all the way home. mo was playing, and a half moon was peeking out from the back of his pants. i thought maybe the substitute teacher didn't get his diaper all the way tight and it was sagging. nope! to my great surprise, he actually didn't have a diaper on at all! i don't know how long he was going commando, but his pants were completely clean and dry! ha!
3. this morning, i pooped on the potty, with mosey as my audience, and he cheered me on, "you did it!!!" "poo poo potty!!" "yay, mommy!!!" he clapped and cheered. it was pretty motivating, honestly.
4. this afternoon, mosey woke up from his nap crying! i went in and found him with his pants pushed down to his ankles, his diaper completely off, and a giant pool of pee pee covering his sheets, pillow, pants, and stuffed animal. his new found power to take off his diaper might be good, or it might be bad. it's a bit early to tell. and... did he take off the diaper and pee before his nap or after? only mosey knows. 

lovelove,

poo poo potty mommy

the end of the third day

i dropped off mosey at nana and grandpa's house on friday afternoon. while it's been a glorious weekend (a wedding, a group of visitors staying overnight, a group of visitors hanging out all day, a day of real rest, an extended date, and a large amount of uninterrupted cleaning), i am sick with missing our little baby. a number of phone calls, pictures, and videos have shown that Mosey is pleased as punch to be hanging out up there with Nana... and i am starting to wonder when he'll start missing me! :) oh well. we are definitely glad to know that he is able to spend time away from us and still feel secure.

as for me, i have to mention this. while mopping, i used the mop to clean old milk splatter off the lower parts of furniture in the dining area (i.e. table, chairs, and bookshelf). i think that deserves at least an honorable mention for mom/wife-of-the-year. haha...

lovelove,
me

a (slightly irritating) favorite phrase and a responsible child

so. i generally have a long patience for our sweet son. there are certainly some things that we won't tolerate, such as tantrums and throwing and such, but there is a new phrase in Mo's repertoire. and it slightly irritates me. he uses it anytime he wants something (treat, food, drink, jacket, i.e. seven million times a day), and it's always said with a bit of urgency: "GET it, mommy!"

i try to coach him to say 'please' every time he says it, but so far, it's not catching on. and i think it's that sense of demand that sort of gets under my skin.

however, yesterday during story time, our upstairs neighbor was vacuuming, and i guess Mosey had never really heard it quite so clearly above his room before. his eyes were wide with both curiosity and worry (what a cutie). after listening for a while, he looked into my eyes and whispered, "get it, mommy." i think he was telling me he wanted it to stop. his trusting gaze and simple request just made my heart melt. i told him it was almost over, and luckily, i was right. all was well and he went to sleep in peace. :)

in other news, tonight, as Mo was getting undressed for bath time, he forgot to take off his shirt. he ran out of his room, and i said, "Mosey, come back, you forgot your shirt." he came back, thinking i was telling him to put his shirt in the laundry basket (common at this time of day). he picked up his socks and shorts to put them in his laundry basket, and he said to me, "where da shirt go?"

i have to admit, i took advantage of this moment to just laugh at our son, standing there with his little bare bottom hanging out of his shirt, looking around confused. it was like someone looking around for their glasses while they were on their head, but, of course, infinitely cuter.

love that little guy.

lovelove,
GETitmommy

flu shots

so, of course, i've read dozens of PSAs about how important it is to get a flu shot. especially for young children, older adults, and pregnant women. i've researched now for about... 45 minutes now, without luck on where i can find a place to give a flu shot to a 2 year old! CVS gave me the run around, and each location gave me the number of another location, saying they think the other gives them for 2-year olds (apparently, you have to be 13 years old to get them at any old pharmacy). same with Walgreens. i'm on hold with the health department now, which is where i have gotten nearly all of Mosey's shots.

you'd really think that (with how important it seems) lots of places would offer it for cheap, particularly for young kids. dear public health community, this has made me rather sad.

ah... success! for 2-year olds, they give the flu mist for $8!! score!

i heart the health department! well, sort of.

lovelove,
me

a few things that set mosey apart

so, Mo missed 4 days of daycare last week, and when we got back to our routine on Monday, one of the daycare teachers was super excited to see that he was back. she was so happy to see him and gave him extra hugs. she mentioned to me that she missed Mo because she didn't have anything to laugh at last week. it admittedly sounded slightly awkward/insulting, but it made me feel proud. i think what she meant was that Mo is special and entertaining (is that parental-wishful thinking?). she mentioned later that day when i picked Mosey up that he made her laugh by talking to her with his cheeks all full of food. apparently, he is like a squirrel at daycare, storing up food in his cheeks for those lean times between meals and snacks.

yesterday, another daycare lady told us that Mosey is a daredevil! he pushed a little car up to the top of the sidewalk incline outside, stood on the back of it, and shimmied his way until the car rolled down the hill! WHAT? he's definitely not a baby anymore. i would like to slow time down. just a little bit.

tonight, while reading a book, he told me, "cow's eating grass." (it was unrelated to the text i was reading--he was just observing.) amazing, folks.

lovelove,
me

fever fever, go away, come again another day!

mosey is down, yet again, with a fever. he's got spurts of feeling great, mixed with stretches of lazy lounging on the couch, mixed with miserable coughing fits. so. it's been four days now, which to some, means a serious illness... but i guess it really hasn't been super bad yet.

i sure am tired, though, folks. waking up during the night to coughing/crying toddler, and then changing my schedule around so that i can manage to start my day super early and work full time but still only pay a sitter half days... it's been tough. but i suppose the extra toddler cuddles makes up for it. he's such a sweet kid. 

i ask him, "are you coughing?" and he says in his pathetic, sad voice, "yeah." 

lovelove,

me

cute spoonerisms and a classic

i've been meaning to write a few cute things down from the last month, for the memories. :)

• Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
• mosey calls the purple cat "kurckle pat"
• mosey calls the black sheep "sha beep"
• he called mickey mouse, "mick-a-mau" or sometimes "donna." he's already corrected it slightly over time, but it was super cute for a little while there.

lovelove,

h

singing

mosey has sung his first two recognizable songs this past month. ABCs and the itsy bitsy spider. it's pretty amazing, guys. and, have you ever thought about how hard it must be to learn the alphabet? so many sounds to remember. kids are amazing.

that's all. :)

sentences

so, i don't think i mentioned this, but around mo's 2nd birthday, he suddenly began to say short two-word sentences. i know this probably doesn't seem like much, but remember, this kid didn't really start saying much of anything until just a few months ago. to me, it feels like a christmas miracle.

the other day, he used this sentence-power to tell me, "i get it!" when i was trying to take his bib off after dinner. and indeed, he got it. similarly, he's been telling me, "i find it!" and "i did it!" when he is successful in his searching or achieving or whatnot. i am so proud that my heart might really just burst out of my chest.

tonight, during our bedtime story, he was holding the book Hello Animals (a fond throwback from his infant days), and he said, "where'd you go, panda?" and after flipping to the page with the panda, he smiled a satisfied smile and whispered, "panda." i can see why people say this stage is their favorite.

also, the pizza. this kid says the word "zebra" as "pizza." he gets a lot of practice saying "pizza" because, you'd be surprised, there are a lot of zebras in our world. oh, and we love to eat that (pizza, not zebra) too. so... that's confusing.

also, i guess i haven't written in a little while, mosey loves to put together this random monkey matryoshka doll that we have. he put it together with virtually zero assistance yesterday. which basically proves that we have a genius on our hands, no?

lovelove,

sock momma

child proof

the only things that we've child proofed in our house are... some of our outlets. i have figured that i've wanted to teach Mo not to play around with cabinets and drawers. in other words, my parenting philosophy (instead of relying on child proofing items) is that i have wanted to actively teach our child how to behave in the bathroom, kitchen... the real world. it has definitely kept me on my toes, and slightly more anxious than i would have been if there had been safety clips in place, but i believe it's paid off.

also, a kitchen with childproofing clips on everything is such a hassle.

anyway, now, when i leave the cabinet door under the kitchen sink open, he closes it. well, first he takes the all purpose cleaner bottle off the kitchen table and puts it back under the cabinet, and then he closes it. i didn't even teach him that part.

also, new favorite phrase these days: "oh der dare" for "over there." LOVE it.

lovelove,

me

the end of day 3, aka, the end of potty training

folks, as of this afternoon, we are no officially longer "officially" potty training.

yesterday and today were somewhat better in terms of pairs of underwear--only three pairs yesterday and three today. he also didn't drink as many fluids, which i'm certain had a role to play. but after three full days of persistent potty training, practice running to the bathroom, praises for dry underwear, disapproval for wet underwear (even emphatically claiming that his pal elmo doesn't like wet underwear), cleaning up puddles together (following that book's instructions)...

i watched as my son squatted in the middle of the hallway and peed a medium-sized puddle.

that was the moment when i suddenly lost my will to potty train. it just drained right out of me, especially as i began the protocol, and he dropped his truck into the puddle of urine. i tried to do the drill, but i just didn't have it in me. i couldn't do it. i realized i had failed. we sopped up the mess. i sat him on the potty and then gave him a quick bath. i left him naked, disinfected the floor, washed the truck, and snapped at him when he tried to flush the toilet when nothing was in there. i hate when i snap at that sweet boy.

i thought to myself, "self, you should have bought that bottle of wine."

he's going back to daycare tomorrow, and i can't in good conscience send him there with underwear on. so. diapers it is. hello-four-year-old-moses-with-diapers-on.

i do feel like i wasted a perfectly good labor day weekend with astoundingly hard labor. but i gave it the best try i could, and after a short cry about it this afternoon, i'm okay with how it's turned out. i am confident that though mosey has nearly all of the readiness signs, he is just not ready. i think he'll have the desire to wear big boy pants and go on the potty as he wants more independence, but for now, when i ask him if he's a baby, he says simply, "yeah." and that's okay with me.

lovelove,
momma mia

day 1 of official potty training

i didn't meant to officially start potty training. but here we are. officially potty training. i bought these two books for reference: toilet training in less than a day and that's how i roll. the first book was very specific and regimented, and seemed like it would produce the results that it advertised (complete potty training in less than a day--this means walking to the potty, pulling down pants, sitting, peeing, pulling up pants, dumping pee from potty into the toilet, returning potty container to the potty, and flushing the toilet). after about an hour and 45 minutes of absolutely some of the hardest work i've done so far in motherhood, i realized, this isn't going to work for me. i mean, it started off very promising, but... cut to 4 completely soaked pairs of underwear later, we were both sweaty, semi-covered in urine, out-of-breath, and miserable. my back is still yelling at me.

so i put diapers on him.

then i started reading the second book. and i realized, i can't turn back now. we've already moved to underwear. putting diapers on him now is basically saying, oh, potty training is hard? that's okay, we've got diapers. you can wear those until you're 4, and that's okay with me. it's mixed signals, and i hate that kind of parenting. besides, i've done nearly all the big-ticket changes in mosey's life cold turkey. why start doing something different now? oh, and by the way, that second book is poorly written, but very funny. unfortunately, it was about 200 pages too short for my taste. it should be called a booklet, or a glorified pamphlet, to be honest with you. but, well, different strokes for different folks, right?

okay. so now on to share what i've learned in the past 24 hours. first. my shopping list:

• toddler underwear, preferably with his current favorite characters. initially, i bought 8. when i went through 4 in 1 hour and 45 minutes, i realized i probably needed more. i went back to the store during naptime today and bought 16 more pairs. i think that will be enough not to have to do laundry any more frequently than we already do it. 
• treats for mosey. i bought gummy fruit snacks, which he loves, and i like to think they're not as bad for you as straight up candy. when i saw how the morning went, i upped the anty a bit. i got some peanut butter m&ms. it was a good move. the desire for these special treats is very high.
• a jelly jar type of thing that shows off those treats for mosey but keeps them sealed (tightly, if possible, toddlers are very persistent). this will stay in the bathroom. 
• treats for mom. i read to do this in the second book up there. she mentioned two bottles of wine. after the morning i had, i decided what i needed were those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars. i had one this afternoon. it was amazing.
• we had a cushy toilet seat for mosey already, so we used that today.
• i couldn't find a step stool in all of god-forsaken walmart, so i got a plastic milk crate. the height is nice, but the corners have hurt mosey on several occasions already. oh well. it works for stepping up to the toilet and the sink.
• i didn't have a peeing dolly (as the first book suggested), so i used a stuffed bear as our teaching tool and a squirting bath toy to simulate the bear going pee pee in the toilet. it worked very well. i just had to watch out that mosey didn't drop mr. bear into the toilet on accident.
• bed liners. i don't know if we'll need these for his bed, but we already have used it on furniture to help catch any pee pee during meal times so far. 
• more paper towels. i wasn't using the cushy potty seat this morning (just because they don't use it at daycare, and i thought, it'd be great if mosey could learn to hold himself up and pee in regular toilets). well, the problem is that the regular toilet doesn't have a splash guard for boys. this means that if he's got two sippy cups of juice in his bladder and he's peeing full-speed ahead with his penis sticking up, everything between the toilet and about two to three feet in front of the toilet will get a generous splash of urine. whoops. paper towels became very handy. our bathroom currently smells like a public stairwell, even after careful cleaning. :O\
• juice. 
• stickers. i bought this roll of 600 Cars stickers for $3. what a find! i used them today each time mosey felt his underwear and they were dry. it was kind of an adapted reward system from the first book's recommendation. basically, i wanted for mosey to learn that dry underwear is good underwear. wet underwear is underwear we can't wear anymore, and there is no prize for wet underwear. he seemed quite proud of all the stickers he'd gotten through the day (we taped a piece of paper on the bathroom door and then checked the underwear every few minutes; with each dry check, he got to put a sticker on the paper). 
• pull-ups. i'm thinking that we'll have to use diapers or pull-ups during naptime and nighttime for a while. he's always got a full diaper after sleeping. i haven't used the pull-ups yet.
• "friends-who-care" list. this wasn't purchased, but it was prepared. a list of all the people in the world that would be happy/proud that mosey was doing all the things he was doing. lots of praise and encouragement. 

the wet underwear count was up to 9 by the end of the day, i think. he full-on cried a few of those times, because i think he really knew that he shouldn't have wet his underwear. i will admit to you, i am having my doubts now that maybe i started too early.... but it's too late now. *shrug* hopefully, he'll be farther along before we have to go back to daycare on tuesday. 

lovelove,

drained momma

2-year old stats

we had a visit to the pediatrician last week. i forgot to update you.

• weight: 26 lbs 14.5 oz, 50%
• height: 35.75 in, 75%
• head circ: 19.75 in, 90%

in other words, moses lollipop head. at least for now.

also, he said, the next well-child visit is at 3. it seems rather strange to have it be a year from now after so many regular visits for so long. it's just as well. mosey got his hep A shot in the morning at the health department, so when he got to the actual doctor's office, he was super scared! it's probably better to give it some time before we go and see the doctor again.

ah, who am i kidding? we'll probably be back to see him with the new crop of illnesses next season. thanks, daycare.

lovelove,
mimi

underwear tantrum

so, at daycare, the teachers have been putting mosey on the potty. the goal is for the toddlers to be completely potty trained before leaving the 2's class. we have plenty of time, but i guess they get started right away. just as well. mosey is probably able to be trained at this point. he regularly has BMs on the toilet on the weekends, and his diaper stays dry a good part of the day. 

anyway, so i ordered some underwear for moses online. they came today, but i wondered if they were too big, so i slipped a pair on him tonight after his bath. they fit great, and he genuinely loved having them on. it came time to get his diaper and pajamas on, so i slipped them off. when i scooted a diaper under him, he broke out into the loudest, saddest cry you have ever heard from this toddler. i don't think he's cried so long and sad about anything in a long long time. i asked him if he liked his underwear, and he replied sadly, in almost a whisper, "yeah."

maybe we'll try to potty train this weekend, especially since it's labor day and we'll be home. i'll keep you updated.

lovelove,

mean momma

imagination

i didn't have much of an imagination when i was young. i remember thinking my friends were ridiculous for proposing that we play house (because none of us were adults and i couldn't imagine a house without adults). my lack of imagination was pretty bad, and through elementary school, i felt it was a real handicap to my education, especially when teachers said, "just use your imagination." i knew i was doomed.

well, now that our son is really talking suddenly, i can see that he does, to my great relief, have an imagination. :) the other day, while he was eating, he had his toast in a particular shape and said, "lion, roar!" then he flipped his orange wedge over and said, "turtle." then he took his sugar snap pea, waved it around horizontally, and said, "alligator!" i am still so impressed, days later.

lovelove,
me

yucky pie-der

we found out this morning that Moses is afraid of spiders. we were having a regular start to our day, with shane and mo in the dining room, when moses realized that he was staring at a spider. and screamed. shane picked mosey up and comforted him while he got a paper towel. he killed the spider and mosey said, "kee kyoo (thank you)." shane told mosey about how he doesn't like yucky spiders either. mosey said, "yucky pie-der." shane told mosey that he needed to tell me about it when i came out (i was in the bathroom showering). 

when i came out a full 15 minutes or so later, mosey wasted no time. he looked right in my eyes and said, "yucky pie-der." then went on to describe what happened in his mumbles. it was pretty awesome. 

he doesn't have a problem with any other insects. or pictures of spiders. very interesting.

lovelove,

me

it's the last day

so, mosey's been joining the 2-year old class at daycare over the last month or so, and he joined full-time this week. it's really weird, guys. he's suddenly a much bigger kid. well, smaller because all the other kids look so much older in this class (i mean some of them must be much closer to 3 because they're speaking in complete sentences and are so much taller), but i mean, they do things different in the 2's class. they drink from regular cups, they learn shapes, they use scissors (!), and they use the potty. wow. they do all kinds of amazing things that i didn't know that 2 year old kids did. but he's still my baby!! and still my one-year old for the rest of today.

lovelove,

sheba, queen of de nile

black beans, a joke, and a compliment

i wore my favorite bracelet today. my son pointed at it and identified what he knew, "black beans." indeed, son, my favorite bracelet sure does look a whole lot like black beans.

the other day, shane and i were talking about old friends, and we actually forgot the first name of the husband of the couple. when we finally figured it out, we both said, "jeff!" and laughed with relief. then our little boy yelled, "jeff!" too and laughed with us! he's been saying it ever since, whenever he feels like telling a joke.

also the other day, i was wearing a dress with flowers on it, and moses pointed at it, and said, "pretty!" i'm fairly certain that he was only saying what he thought flowers were called, since i'm sure everyone points at flowers and says, "pretty!" nevertheless, a complimentary word from my sweet toddler felt like a million dollars.

lovelove,
me :)

"sigh, fry"

little guy is coughing in the next room as i write this, and i wish so badly that i could just scoop him up and bring him into our bed. too bad getting him out of his crib is a sure-fire way to wake up him and instantly stir up tons of curious energy. poor guy. he's transitioning to the 2 year old room at daycare, he's still sick from over a week ago, he's covered in angry mosquito bites (like momma like son), and to top it off, he's turning 2 years old. it's gotta be a tough time in life.

also, shane and i just realized today that he's turning 2. in 11 days. what?? i sort of can't believe it and wish it weren't true. i'm sad about it honestly.

anyway.

big boy moses has had some significant (according to me) social developments as of late.

• he has not only mastered the dramatic NO of a toddler, he has also begun to say the word "yeah." and he says it plainly, just "yeah." i ask him questions and he answers, "yeah." i can really get used to that response. it's like music to my ears. soothing, lovely music.
• the other night, when mo took a while falling asleep (which, i have discovered happens when we go on evening walks after dinner), he just repeated, "momma," about a thousand times, probably hoping that i would give in and go play with him. i'm sure it'll probably get old over time, but for now, it was super cute. it kind of reminded me of this clip.
• he knows what "you okay?" means and he uses it once in a while when he senses something hurts or something. it's really precious. 
• on a related note, i was crying a little the other day, and mosey came straight up to me and said, "itchokay." that kid is too sweet! i canNOT handle it.
• he tells the dog "bresh you" (bless you) whenever he coughs or barks.
• when we swat (and kill) flies, he says, "sigh, fry," which translated from mosey-talk is, "sorry, fly." and no, we didn't coach him to say that. he seems genuinely remorseful for the fly's pain.

lovelove,

momma

new phrases!

several new phrases these days:

• i told mo to go tell daddy that dinner was ready. he went to our bedroom (where our door was closed), and knocked, saying, "daddy, dinner!" 
• he tells people and jude to "sit there" while jabbing his finger down next to him. i think it's especially cute that jude has finally become a playmate in mosey's mind. he's brought him toys all along, but now he interacts with him, throwing things for him to chase, petting him, giggling with him, and telling him to sit with him. it's just super cute.
• he points to things and says, "fly, dyooseeit?" "birdie, dyooseeit?" "puppy, dyooseeit?" (do you see it, is what he's asking, in case that was unclear). he also holds up pictures and books in just the right way to show us what he's talking about. kind of like a teacher holds up a book as she reads it.
• this last one's not a phrase, but he loves to carry bags around. he particularly drapes them over the little crook of his arm, calling it a "purse" (instead of a bag, which he is also able to say), and walks around proudly. 

also, there have been little glimpses, but i think he's finally become a full-fledged, moody, opinionated toddler. i was thinking it was because of his fever last week and the time he spent being spoiled at home, but... i'm not sure. we'll see, i guess.

lovelove,

me

i see you!

i'm working from home today, and mosey is at home too, because he's got a fever and we can't find a sitter. it's not been too bad, to be honest with you. i just wanted to tell you that he is sitting under my chair and saying, "i see you!" to jude who is sitting on my feet. it's a precious moment that should be documented.

also, he says, "tissue, help," because he needs his nose wiped... and he brings me the childproofing outlet cover and says, "help," because he wants it to go back over the outlet but he knows he's not supposed to touch the outlet. what a special little kid. i love him!

lovelove,
me

here, hand, and sit

these past couple of weeks, Momo has started to talk to me in commands. though a bit bossy, i am just delighted with these three: here, hand, and sit.

"here" is what he says when he wants you to take what he is holding. it's usually a toy he wants to share, a sippy he doesn't want to drink anymore, or a book he'd like you to read.

"hand" (said with a bit of a British accent) is what he says as he reaches his hand up, wanting you to hold it.

"sit" is what is he says as he points to the seat next to him and he wants you to sit down.

with these particular three words, i blissfully obey every time. :)

i've been thinking these days, with a bit of influence from Brene Brown, about how vulnerable it is to love a child so much. we're not guaranteed that we'll see our child grow up to be a healthy, successful, happy adult. our road ahead is actually more likely to be filled with all kinds of challenges and heartache. but each day, we open ourselves up to love this child, take delight in him, get to know him more, and not hold ourselves back. thank you God for each day you give us to enjoy this child! i've also been reading her book, Daring Greatly, and thinking about how to live, work, parent, love, think from a place of worthiness. i suppose this all is not going to make much sense in just a few lines, but i want to know more about who i am... about who God says i am. shortly before i turn 34, i guess i'm returning to that old fundamental question.

lovelove,
helly belly

"sigh"

that's the way mosey says 'sorry.' the other day, he bumped my forehead with his own head, and he came over and rubbed my head and said, "sigh, mama, sigh." it made me so grateful. he's such a tender kid. i wish i could put him in a bubble and protect him from this broken world we live in.

last week, i saw him on three different occasions take Jude's face (our floppy basset hound mix puppy) with both hands, gently lift it to his, and kiss his little puppy lips. oh. my. gosh. wish i could get these moments on film.

last week, he also started coming up to me and saying, "mama, poopoo." i would take him to change his diaper (which he calls 'biaber,' ha), and after getting a fresh one on, little guy would say, "kee-kyooo," which is his way of saying 'thank you.' let me be clear about this, our child thanks me after i change his diaper. what??

i think it's partly personality, and partly daycare magic.

sigh. i love this kid.
helen

where are you, choo choo?

we got a train set a couple of weeks ago from nana, and we keep it in the original box (for now), because i'm terribly anal and i hate to lose things when they are a set like that (one set of tracks that fit in a circle, three train cars, and two zoo animals). well, a babysitter helped us out last week (another fever and no daycare), which i was grateful for, but by the end of their time together, our living room was a toy explosion zone. i'm not entirely sure this babysitter has much experience... in fact, i'm sure she has very little because she has only ever changed one diaper, and it was Moses' a couple of weeks ago. i don't mind though, since he's strong  enough now to generally not get too injured and she's a friend that we trust.

anyway, so back to the choo-choo's. i was sort of sad to find that the train set had been scattered. i found pieces stuffed in lots of different hiding places. i (rather skillfully, i might add) located every piece and put them all back in the box. every piece, except for one blue choo choo. we have literally looked for this choo choo everyday for the past week. so much that moses knows how to say, "where are you, choo choo?" his comes out a bit jumbled, but he says it with the proper inflection and everything, which is so adorable.

and victory! we found it today. we were just playing around in the living room, and moses started to say, "whereareyou, choo choo?" and picked it up from under the couch. yay!!! i put that train right back in its proper place in the styrofoam package. and truth be told, i think moses was glad to have the set complete again too.

maybe we're both a little anal.

also, moses knows the color blue. it's kind of blowing me away. or maybe it blue me away... hah!

lovelove,
sa-mama

suddenly!

a lot of changes happen suddenly during these first few years of life, i think. there are a few firsts that i'd like to mention in today's entry that seem rather large... and make me think of his budding career as a dancer... engineer... or doctor... or.... well, really, i just love to watch him play. he is just pure delight. :)

• he started repeating after us--the brown bear book has been a real favorite of his, but mine has got to be the very hungry caterpillar (which he actually tries to say!). i've already told you about pickle, but he also calls the "salami" "sa-mama," which i adore. maybe our child will be a motivational speaker. 
• we sing a few verses of the song God is so Good to him before he sleeps (both naps and bedtime), and this week for the first time, he started kind of singing along with us! no words, just sounds, but still! maybe our child will be a singer. 
• he's been dancing like a fiend! one care provider in every place he's been in the last couple of weeks has commented on moses' dancing skills. yesterday, at church, the lady said, "when we started the music, moses broke it DOWN." she didn't just say that he liked music or liked to dance, it's that he broke it down! maybe our child will be a dancer.
• he loves clipping seat belt buckles together. he hasn't yet figured out how to get out once they're buckled, so i'm thankful for that. less work for me, and he's pleased as punch when he gets to do it. also, this isn't part of it, but he likes to unscrew the bolt from the bottom of our kitchen table. maybe our child will be an engineer.
• the other week, he inspected some of my scrapes on my legs and told me, "mama, boo boo." maybe our child will be a doctor.
• this weekend, when hubby was in the shower, mosey got one of his own washcloths from the closet, opened the shower curtain, said "daddy," threw the washcloth in, and walked out of the bathroom. that was just plain awesome.

i love that little guy so much that i feel pride and joy coming out of my pores.

lovelove,

meeeeeeeeeee

he brought me a pillow!

little mosey put a couple of pillows down on the ground this morning. he laid down on one, and then pointed to the other one and said, "daddy, night night." daddy laid down next to him, and then i continued getting ready to leave.

when i finished in the bathroom and came out, moses got up, pulled another pillow next to theirs on the ground, and said, "momma, night night."

oh. my. goodness.

i love this kid. there are a lot of things i can say no to, but this is not one of them. i laid down and cuddled for a while, and he was pleased as punch to be laying down with his parents.

just when i think i can't love this kid any more, another day starts, and i do.

lovelove,
me

short one

a few things this week or so:

* mo has his second ear infection. pulling on his ears, but no real fever and no real pain. but now that he's on medicine, he's in a great mood!

* we get comments about mo's dance moves. i'm so proud. :)

* new favorite word that he can say: pickle.

lovelove,

me

do all parents think their children are gifted?

i'm pretty sure our child is gifted. does every parent think that? i wonder. anyway, here are the reasons mosey is gifted:

• he knows where we're driving before we get there; today he knew we were going to daycare 
• he said 'bless you' when i sneezed this morning (what??)
• he knows how to blow his nose when you ask him to
• he has started clipping buckles together (like on his high chair and on the baby carrier)
• he knows daddy's name is Shane and says it when he thinks i'm going to call his name (!)
• he adjusted my shirt to cover up my bra strap yesterday
• he asked for a big piece of mango when i was cutting one up last night ('bik, bik!')
• he says 'uh oh, cool!' when he sees squirrels running under the cars ('cool' is what he calls squirrels). it's like he's warning them of the danger.
• he cannot stop picking up jude's toys to give them to the pup. if i let him have his way, he will gather up all the toys and put them in jude's crate.
• he told me there was a bug on me this morning by pointing and saying 'yuck!'

suddenly our baby is a little boy!

i love that little guy. so much that my joints hurt a little bit.

helen 

life is so fun!

so, i think that time of language explosion is finally upon us, after nearly 22 months of waiting for Mosey to talk to us. he's said many words this week, for the first time, uncoached by us! he's said: door, orange, bless you, miss thelma. yes, miss thelma! i told moses we were going to daycare, and clear as day, he said miss thelma--his daycare teacher's name!  wow.

door and orange are especially cute because he forms his lips into a perfect little circle when he says them.

anyway. i thought i'd let you read his teacher comments from this past week from our daycare's daily communication sheets:

• Moses makes his own fun outside. He's everywhere but you can tell he's enjoying his self.
• We are talking about water this month. Moses loves to splash in the water.
• I love the way Moses answers you when you ask a question. Even if he doesn't know what you're talking about he will always answer.
• Moses called me by my name today Miss Thelma. I was shocked.
• Moses knows how to keep busy. He loves pouring toys out of the containers then looking to see where his teachers are so he can leave the scene.

that last one cracks me up. i love that little guy. wish i could be a fly on the wall all day and watch him play.

lovelove,

me

babbling and speaking and harmonica playing

the past month or two, mosey has really started to blossom in his ability to babble in real sentence cadence. it's been a real joy to listen to him talk; i just can't get enough. i'm sure girls hit this stage at like his age minus one entire year. ha. some of the girls in mosey's class can already speak recognizable sentences like "he's drinking water" and sing recognizable songs like "twinkle twinkle little star." it's crazy.

but anyway, last week, his new word was "bird." he had said it in sign language since a few months ago, but he just started saying it with his mouth out of the blue, unprompted. it was pretty close, too, but instead of "bird" he started it by saying "biiiiitch." it was super cute in his little toddler voice. it only lasted a little while, and he's already corrected his speech to say "bid," which is admittedly closer but slightly less cute. ;O)

this week, one of his new words has been "love you," which comes out "yeeuh yoooo." oh. so. cute. i just can't handle it. my insides are jello.

also this week, he has added harmonica playing to his menu of skills.

lovelove,
smelly

first sentences?

up until today, i haven't really heard mo say any two-word combinations. while i was changing him out of his elmo pajamas this morning, he pointed to elmo on his shirt and said, "elmo, hi! elmo, hi!" then, as i was unbuttoning it, he said, "elmo, bye! elmo, bye!" 

it was pretty stinking adorable.

lovelove,

me!

momma!

moses has been saying "momma" almost compulsively these days, but i still love hearing it.

actually, yesterday, for the first time, he climbed on a couch and patted the seat next to him and said, "momma," inviting me to sit down. it was the best thing i've experienced in a long time. we snuggled and read a book he picked out. i love that little guy!

lovelove,
me

random thoughts about our little guy

today i found out that moses knows the words "pants" and "shirt." who knew. it'll be amazing when he starts to say all these words that he knows!

i'd been meaning to mention that since a couple of weeks ago, he's been able to chew raw fruit and veggies (like apples and sweet peppers) better. this probably coincided with all the molars. anyhow, i'm so excited to have someone in my family to enjoy salads with me one day soon.

the other day, i told mosey that it was time for a bath. he ran into the living room, so i thought he was disobeying, but i just repeated, "mosey, it's time to take a bath." he picked up his book, which made me think he was really disobeying, but then i just repeated it again. he took his book and walked it into his bedroom, put it back on his bookshelf, and then promptly made his way to the bathroom! he was cleaning up his things before moving on to the next thing! what?? of course, i understand that this may not last, but wow, this child is really unbelievable.

in other news, today, i was at work, reading a wiki page on relational aggression. when i got toward the bottom of the page, i read this definition of "victim defenders":

Victim-defenders are individuals who stand up for the victim. They are usually popular among their peers, although occasionally rejected and victimized adolescents take on the defender’s role. Defenders like to befriend other defenders and usually belong to the smallest social network of all other previously mentioned groups. Defenders have both advanced moral competence and high level of compassion. They also score high on the theory of mind tests. They are usually very morally engaged, have a high sense of responsibility, and self-efficacy. They are also good at emotion regulation.

it made me tear up, thinking about momo in this crazy world we live in, and hoping/praying that one day he can grow up to be a victim-defender.

lovelove,

helly

listen, mommy!

i think if he could, he would tell me, "listen, mommy!" i was rushing us off to the car this morning, and as we trotted down the sidewalk, mosey stopped in his tracks to point and tell me silently (in sign), "bird, bird, bird." and sure enough, there was a chorus of birds and geese and all kinds of activity in the trees. i was shocked that i didn't hear any of it until he pointed them out. it was nice to stop and listen for a bit.

and you know what? we weren't any later for daycare and work than we normally are.

incidentally, he also signs "bird" when he hears a siren. they must sound similar to him.

i cannot wait for that kid to be able to tell us what's on his mind. he is such a joy!

lovelove,
me

tantrums and pretending

i would like to share with you this hilarious tumblr called reasons my son is crying. i believe it helped me with our own son's tantrum tonight, because if you can't laugh on the inside while it's happening, it's quite possible to injure said-child during his insane meltdowns. tonight it was because he wanted to hold on to his book when it was time to say goodbye to it. i actually would have probably let him keep it, but he started having an attitude about it, which means to me that it was a teaching time. teaching what, you may ask. well, we have a counselor friend who told us that the two most important things we must teach our children are that (1) we love them always and (2) we will always win. i focused on number 2 and then went to number 1. it was as successful as i could have hoped with a 1.5 year old.

after that mini-drama, mo and i read a story together a couple of times. afterward, he flipped through the book quietly on his own for a bit and then started pretend-picking some bees off the page and pretend-eating them. i asked if i could have some too, and he joyfully pretend-picked some more off and pretend-fed them to me. it made my heart so full and proud. this sweet and tender child is going to be a great big brother.  :O) 

also, i'd been meaning to tell you, he's been getting his 7th and 8th molars since a week or so ago. i tried to keep track of when he was getting his teeth, but these molars seriously seemed to all spring up at around the same time! ouch!

lovelove,

helen

mo-neh

mo-neh. this is moses's new best friend's name for him. kavi is just a few months older. kavi's mom and i are old college buds, and in fact, this year, we're coming on the anniversary date where we'll have been friends for more of our lives than we haven't been friends. i don't know if that makes sense, but whatever, it's a significantly long amount of time. :O)

anyway, so moses and kavi had such a good time this weekend. lots of running, toys, eating... and tons and tons of belly laughing. we tried to get them to nap in the same room, but they cracked each other up with peek-a-boo action over the crib bumper for about 5 to 10 minutes. when we split them up, moses cried his little eyes out.

they hugged each other, fed each other, chased each other... i could watch them play all day. great friends.

thanks for visiting, and we miss you!

mo-neh and kavi on a pretend choo choo train, i think

not immunizing your child??

shane and i were out on a date one evening a little while back, and we decided to go get some frozen yogurt. we ran into a friendly couple out with their toddler and struck up a conversation. they told us about how they're unconventional in their approach to parenting, and somehow bridged the way to tell us about how they don't immunize their child.

let me say it again, in case you missed it, they don't immunize their child!! 

they talked about some website and that they knew someone who had had an immunization injury (which, what is that, anyway), and how they have a hard time finding doctors who will work with them, blah blah blah. i was just too stunned to even say a word!

when we left, shane said that we should have told them that they were talking to a nurse and someone who works at the CDC. ha. yeah, were were not about to buy what they were selling. sheesh. 

nevermind the fact that diseases like polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough (all these terrible diseases!) still exist and this child could actually get any of these at any time, really (and essentially is required to call 911 anytime she's ill because it actually could be a [vaccine-preventable] life-threatening and highly-contagious illness)... what on earth is she going to do when she needs to go to school or travel anywhere outside of the United States?? these parents are basically limiting her entire life by believing conspiracy theories about vaccines. i am somehow outraged. at both the parents and the rumors and conspiracy theorists. stunned with outrage.

i told my friend at work, and she told me how she got pertussis in high school, missed a month of classes, and had a really terrible time of it. even a decade later, she actually still reacts viscerally to the notion that someone would avoid getting a vaccine. 

if you're my friend and you're reading this and you are one of those that have avoided vaccines for your child, i'm officially mad at you. call me so we can talk it out.

and then go and vaccinate your child. it's like the very least you can do for her future. 

lovelove,

helen 

agile programming

i'm on a parenting listserv at work, and i get all kinds of random messages about all kinds of not-so-useful things, but last week, i got a real gem. it was about a Ted talk by this person that has applied Agile software programming to his family life. i love when there is overlap between different spheres of life and wisdom. also, i'm guessing this Bruce Feiler guy is a Christian because of some of the other books he's written. i especially love when Christians are smart in this particular way that this guy is smart. i felt inspired and even teared up a little, thinking about our most cherished moments as parents. enjoy.

lovelove,

me

we got a puppy

so, about a week ago, we got a puppy. his name is jude and he's a basset hound mix. he's basically the cutest, floppiest puppy you might ever meet. he's pretty gentle and snuggly and even-tempered, and crate training and potty training, while being a ton of work, have still been relatively easy (he seems to generally like the crate and going potty outside). and you know, as it turns out, raising a puppy is a lot like raising a baby. who knew. i might not make the most amount of sense, but here's a shot at some of the similarities:

• if we keep a schedule, we're saner. we feed him twice a day, so we don't have to guess whether he's hungry. and then we make sure to take him outside a half hour after he eats so he can do his business.
• we take him outside after every nap and about every half hour if he's playing (which, is similar to diaper-changing activity, in that if baby's sleeping we leave him, and then we change him when he's awake)
• we're training him to sleep through the night in the crate (kind of like training a baby to sleep through the night in a crib), and when we take him out to pee at night, we stay quiet and we don't play, which is kind of how one should change a diaper in the middle of the night for newborns. 
• if we eventually don't want him to do it, we make sure to teach him not to do it now (like chewing shoes or clothes or jumping up), which is basically how we've raised mo so far. even as a tiny baby, for example, we never ever let him touch outlets or the stove or the trash (and when he did, we slapped his hand), and now, even as a curious toddler, we haven't had any problems with him messing with those things. 
• puppies need constant supervision, at least at the beginning.
• being strong with consistency and discipline (especially while crate and potty training) is very important.

as for moses, he has been super sweet with the pup. he's gentle and seems to really enjoy petting him. he wants to go see the pup every morning, and he loves to watch him and see what he's up to. also, i've been trying to teach moses not to give his toys to the puppy (since i'm not interested in dog slobber on toys that mosey puts in his own mouth), but that part's really not been easy. it's actually kind of funny because little moses offers the toys and then gets upset if the puppy takes it. he's exercising his "mine!" skills. he also gets afraid when he's sitting on the floor and the puppy licks his face. i'm trying to teach him to say, "no, puppy" and stand up and not cry about it. we may have a little ways to go, but i think they're going to be good friends someday. :O) 

hubby's been a bit busy this weekend with studio week, which is similar to finals. i've stepped in to take care of puppy, and it's been so much work! i think if i just had the puppy, or if i just had mosey, it would be manageable, but having them both is a lot more of a challenge. thankfully, it's been a bit warmer, so i don't have to get moses all bundled up and then back unbundled every half an hour. i've also started to get the hang of holding a puppy with one hand and getting momo's crocs on his feet with the other. we grab a leash, a treat, and a poop bag, and we are out the door pretty quickly!

also, something that made me laugh inside today: i was bringing jude in from a walk and moses was across the yard in a little mulch area. he was playing, and i heard his little voice say, "night night!" as he laid down flat on his back on the mulch. i just ignored it because i didn't want to encourage him to lie down just any old place, plus, i had my hands full so i couldn't actively teach him not to do that. but, man. it was so darn cute; he is just a delight.

also, i watched him retrace his steps today looking for a hairbrush so he could put it back where it belonged. i was truly impressed at that little guy.

also, he might be allergic to melons. yikes!

also, when doggies are sleeping, their feet smell like fritos. seriously, it's a real thing!


lovelove,
me