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September 25 Mommy, yummyThis morning as we were all running around crazy trying to get out of the door, I hear "mommy, yummy" from Wyatt. I look down and he's pulled one of Cole's art projects from the fridge (a cute little picture with a tree and a fence and animal crackers glued to it) and he's eating the farm animals. September 03 Is that what I think it is?So the other night I was making tortillas. Flour tortillas, from scratch. They turned out pretty good. Cole was sitting on the counter and helping me roll out the dough. He had a small pile of flour he was playing with and I was cooking the last tortilla when I turned around and saw him dig a booger out of his nose and coat it with flour. I said "did you just bread a booger?" and he said "yep"
Blech..... August 16 the WiiSo I got my husband a Wii for his birthday thinking it would be a good family gift and we'd all enjoy it (he is horribly hard to shop for). This morning we opened it and he set it up. We played a few games. One is a shooting type game and we were playing against each other. I had Wyatt in my lap and he was squirming so I didn't hit much. At the end of the game, he won and his character was smiling and mine was looking all mopey. Cole looked at his daddy and said "Daddy, you made mommy sad!" He had his little eyebrows scrunched up and everything. We had a really good laugh. He's played several games now too and any time his character gets beat and looks sad, he gets really upset.
So cute....
And as a side note, when we tried out the bowling, each round when the pins would fall, Wyatt would clap, then throw his hands in air and yell "Yeah!" Sweet, sweet boys. I even had both boys chanting "go daddy, go daddy" when Craig would take his turn. August 08 WowThis morning Wyatt pooped in the potty. He has been pointing at the toilet for a few weeks now and saying "PeePee" or more like screaming "PEEPEE" so we strip him down, install the Elmo seat and sit him up there. The second his butt hits the Elmo toilet seat he starts screaming "DONE, DONE, I WANT DOWN" so we get him down, put his diaper back on and send him on his merry way. This morning he pointed to the toilet and said "PeePee?" and I got him all set. He sat down and pointed to his daddy's car magazine so I gave it to him. He sat on the toilet, looking through the car magazine (he is his father's child afterall!) and he pooped. Woohooo. August 05 Some DaysSo I got a voicemail from the nurse at Cole's school yesterday. Cole had been bouncing a ball and it smacked him in the face and left a red mark on his cheek. They checked him out, decided he was okay and sent him back to class.
So I called and left her a message saying I got the message and to call if anything changed and they needed me.
So then about 1:30 I get call number 2. Cole smacked his forehead on the water fountain and had a bleeding gash on his forehead but he's okay and they are sending him back to class but he wants his mommy. So I talked to him on the phone for a few minutes, he said he was okay and he went back to class.
Wowsers. What a day for the poor kid! July 31 funnyIf you haven't seen this, you need to see it. Watch very closely and pay attention to what he's saying right around the 45 second mark. I got a really good laugh. Mommy, you funnyWyatt has started talking like crazy. Last night I was playing "this little piggy" with his toes and he was screaming with laughter. Every time I'd finish he'd squeal and then sign and say "more! more!" and I'd do it again. Once he started getting kind of worn out, he flopped onto his back and said "Mommy, you funny!" July 19 Mommy, You not niceCole: Mommy, you not nice!
Me: Why am I not nice?
Cole: You say no to me, you hurt my feelings, you not nice
Me: Good using your words, buddy. High five! June 10 Tera's Birthday listSo is it bad to post my wish list? I think so but here it goes anyway:
Bread machine (maybe like this one):
a food dehydrator
a rice cooker
a dyson or a roomba vacuum cleaner (am I dreaming or what?)
a carpet shampoo-er
one of those steam cleaner machines
man, am I boring... My former sister in law said you should never get a woman a gift with an electrical plug. She's nuts. I love gadgets.... Now if only I had a place to store them all.... June 05 ShoesSo Wyatt is totally obsessed with shoes. He likes to play with shoes, he likes to collect shoes throughout the house and put them in the basket by the front door and he's even got an opinion on which shoes he wants to wear today. This morning as we were are racing around trying to get out the door, he went and got his shoes out of the basket and brought them to me and said "SHOES!" He will sit there and try to get his own shoes on and scream when he can't do it. And he's constantly pulling his socks off when he doesn't have shoes on. He tries on Craig's shoes, he tries on my shoes, plays with the shoes. Who knew? We don't need toys, we just need to buy more shoes.
Fortunately he hasn't put much thought into the rest of his clothes yet. When Cole was this age he went through the stripper stage. Wyatt hasn't thought of that yet! talking and growing upEveryone says you spent the first years of your life waiting for your kids to walk and talk and then the next 16 years telling them to sit down and shut up. I think that is sometimes true but as any parent who has a child with developmental delays will tell you, those sweet little voices are just music. Cole has lately been expressing much more complex thoughts. He's regularly wanting to get into his backpack in the car on the way home so he can show me what he made in school that day. I get a "present" almost every day now. He's such a sweet little boy. His tutor last weekend was counting. Although he's still difficult to understand he's regularly using up to 9 word sentences. For a kid who has been verbal for a little less than 2 years, I think that is absolutely amazing. Wyatt is also talking up a storm. I'm constantly amazed at the words he comes up with and his understanding of language, his ability to follow 2 and 3 step directions (Cole still has a hard time with that one). This morning Wyatt was sitting on the bed watching cartoons while I was getting ready for work and he said "Mama, I want down." We regularly here "I want this" and "Give me that." The babysitter had a new little boy that is around a year old start today. The babysitter said at lunch time they were sitting next to each other and Wyatt patted his arm and said "Baby is mine." We also have a turtle so he constantly says "Ma, I want turtle" so I know he understands "I want" because he uses it in different ways. So very cute. Wyatt also has a strong sense of self preservation that Cole didn't have at this age. They are both monkey climbers but thankfully Wyatt hasn't started jumping off stuff yet. Hopefully he won't. I don't know if my heart could take any more of that! Of course last night I did find catch Wyatt trying to squeeze dish soap into the fish tank so I think there are still going to be challenges but they will be different challenges.
I can't believe Cole will be 5 in a couple of months. He'll be starting kindergarten in the fall. I know all milestones are bittersweet but some of them seem so big. I can't believe my baby is going to kindergarten. I remember when he turned 3 and started the autism program. It was so hard to send him to school every day. He looked so tiny next to the big kids. Now he is one of the big kids (even though he's still tiny!) My baby isn't so much of a baby any more April 18 Some days it really isn't worth chewing through the restraintsSo I got home from work after picking up the kids and I had to pee. As in HAD TO PEE. So I ran the kids in the house and ran down the hall. I was gone for maybe 30 seconds and what do I come out to? Wyatt standing on the kitchen counter (climbing little monkey!) with the faucet sprayer in his hand with the water going full blast squirting the fish tank and the counter top and the stove. One of the drawers was open and it was absolutely full of water.
Ay yi yi yi yi. If that kid lives long enough to not fall off the counter and kill himself, he's going to turn every hair on my head gray.
How does he get on the counter? He scales the bar stools. So we've taken to turning them sideways and pushing the couch back against them so he can't climb on them. Wellll, now he's figured out how to get on the couch, climb over the back of the couch, onto the bar stools and then onto the counter. I'm guessing he learned that from our Chihuahua. Craig got home from dropping Wyatt off this morning to find Loki sitting on the counter waiting to be rescued. The damn dog had gotten up there to finish off the kids' breakfast and couldn't get down.
Yes, my house is a circus. And I love my clowns.
April 17 Read it, MommyLast night when I picked the kids up from daycare Cole was frantically digging in his backpack and he whipped out a sheet of paper with squiggly yellow lines all over it. He kept saying "Read it, Mommy, read it!" and I looked at it for a minutes and finally said cautious "I can't read it, sweetheart. What does it say?" And he said "it says: Mommy, I love you, I love you, I love you. Love, Cole."
Awwwwwww. March 27 Hi Daddy!So the night before last I picked the kids up from daycare and was headed home. It is absolutely beautiful so I was driving with the window down. I was sitting at a stoplight when a kind of hip hop looking black guy pulled up next to me and he had his window down too. Wyatt took one look at him and screamed "HI DADDY" and started waving. The kid looked shocked clear to his toe nails. I started laughing and the girl in his car started laughing. He finally managed a small smile and waved back. So how do you explain to a 17 month old that every male in town is not daddy? March 20 So I've been a bit lazy about postingLet's see. What is going on?
Wyatt has gotten 7 teeth in the past month. So now's he's up to 11 and he's got at least 3 more coming in (hello, molars). He's been pretty miserable but at least he isn't sick. That is a nice change. He's also all over the place. He's learned to climb in a big way. His idea of a good time now is to climb up on the bar stools and then onto the kitchen counter so he can turn the water off and on in the sink. Talk about giving me a heart attack. He also crawls up on the table every time we leave a chair sticking out and he likes to stand there on the table and look at himself in the mirror that is on the wall. Of course he can't climb down so if we don't catch him (which so far thankfully we have caught him before he's tried to get down), I'm hoping he'll stand there and scream until we get him. Which also reminds me, he's one screaming mimi right now. This child is not a patient one. Last night his little plastic airplane scoot car (one that he sits on) got stuck on one of the computer cords and the way he was scream I though he'd cut off his leg. Whew, he goes from zero to pissed off and screaming in 2 seconds. His favorite word is still daddy. He'll also say mommy, apple, banana, kitty, bottle, and all done. Yesterday he was the only kid at the babysitters besides her two (3 and 6 year old girls) so he had such a good time. His baby sitter said he spent all day playing with the girls and sitting in their laps. There are some real advantages to being the youngest and being young enough to still be considered "the baby." Cole still calls him "Baby Wyatt" which I think is hysterical. I'm thinking that will be okay for another year or so but after that, Wyatt's probably not going to like that!
Cole has been psycho-hyper but he's also saying all sorts of new words and sentences. Today I talked to him on the phone and he said "Mom, you come home?" I said "yes, I'll be home in a little while" and he said "mommy, you no disappear?" and I said "no, sweetie, I won't disappear. I'll see you in a little while." What a cutie! He started occupational therapy on Monday and really liked it. They did a bunch of "heavy" work (climbing a rope ladder, swinging and that type of thing) and then he did some seat work (coloring mainly). He was pretty much bouncing off the walls the entire time but I think it will get easier as the newness wears off. Right now there are too may new toys to touch! School starts again on Monday. I'm sure he'll be glad to be going back. I know he likes the babysitter but I think he gets a bit bored.
Craig is doing really well. He's been working on the yard a lot and he's been spending quite a bit of time with Cole since Cole is on track break. His mom is visiting right now and babysitting Cole during the day. I think both Craig and Cole are really getting a kick out of having her here. I know I am. Its been a while since we've seen her. I feel a bit bad though. Wyatt doesn't want anything to do with Sandy. He keeps running from her crying. Little crapper. Way to make Grandma feel bad!
Me? I'm a bit sleepy. And hungry. I could really go for something deep fried and smothered in chocolate right about now. March 01 The Day of the MommiesToday will go down in history as the day of the "Mommies." We spent 3 years waiting breathlessly for Cole to start talking and now he's hit the stage where he just can't shut up. All I've heard today is "mommy mommy mommy mommy." I swear he can say mommy 15 times without even pausing to inhale. He doesn't even want anything. He just wants to hear himself talk. Talk LOUDLY. He's also still in the "no internal monologue" stage. So whatever is running through his mind is what you hear over and over and over.
A typical conversation:
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy
Me: Yes?
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy
Me: Yes?
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy
Me: Cole
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy
Me: What do you want, Cole?
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, Can I have the green playdough, please?
Me: Yes
Cole: Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, green playdough, I want the green playdough
mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, I want the green playdough, playdough please. Playdough please mommy.
Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy (and that repeats until the playdough reaches his hand and then it is "thanks, mom!") It is so cute and so exhausting. I finally put him down for a nap because my head was ready to explode. January 29 So that's where the remote wentThis morning when I was getting ready for work Wyatt started screaming. I rushed into the bedroom to see what the crisis of the moment happened to be (he's in the screaming stage). He was on his knees in front of the doggie door with his arm out the door, screaming because he couldn't get his harm back in the house because he wouldn't let go of the plastic toy horse he had stuffed out the dog door. We have a chihuahua sized dog door so the horse can go through but not the kid. So I helped him maneuver the horse back into the house and got a glimpse out the dog door and then had to do a double take. Sitting right below the door was a plastic toy little people giraffe, the phone and the tv remote. I've been looking for that remote for at least a week. So now, when I can't find it, at least I know where to look. January 18 On being oldA dear friend of mine sent this to me today and I really liked it, so here it is:
The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know. Old Age, I decided, is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, or my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will. I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect. I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong. So, to answer the question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)
MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER! January 15 But MomA few nights ago Cole wanted a Pop Tart and I wouldn't give him one because I was making dinner. He finally pointed to the box (which has a cartoon figure on it) and said "But, Mom! The boy has a pop tart and he's happy!"
I cracked up. But he still didn't get a pop tart. |
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