The Joys of Early Morning Parenting

Some folks think that early morning wake ups go away once your child reaching the age of two. I am here to tell you that isn't true by any stretch. I don't know if it is the full moon or the much awaited change in weather, but the Boy climbed into our bed at 4:45 AM this morning claiming it was his "Wake Up Time." Crazy kid...needless to say the Husband and I were none too pleased. Our dialogue with the Boy hovered between "It's not time to get up yet." and "If you don't stop talking, you will have to go back to your bed."

So, at about 5:15 AM, the Boy sits up and says, "Momma, I'm wet." Yes, he had peed a bit in his pants. Not in the bed thankfully. So up goes the Boy and The Husband. Silence for me. The Husband shares with me when I awake at 6 AM that the Boy is downstairs watching Curious George. I make my way downstairs and there he is in new pjs, watching George. He doesn't seem a bit sleepy. We get through breakfast, getting dressed and packing lunches with whiny Boy and head out the door at 7:20 AM to get to work and school. The Boy is chatting about rain and lightening. It is raining for the first time in weeks and he was very excited. The chatting starts to slow down. The last thing the Boy says is, "I want to get to school to see if it's raining there."

The next thing I know, it has been silent in the car for a few minutes. I look in the mirror and low and behold the Boy is asleep. I am shocked. Now I understand that he got up before the crack of dawn this morning, but he is like his father, he only goes to sleep at assigned times. Once he is up in the morning, he does not fall asleep until his assigned nap time. He has not ever, ever, ever fallen asleep in the early morning. He is NOT that child.

About 5 minutes after I realize the Boy is asleep and share it with my husband via cell, I pull into the preschool parking lot. The Boy is still zonked in the back seat. I get out in the rain, open his door and his eyes pop open. Wide eyed and fully awake, he smiles and says, "I told you there would be rain at school."

It was as if he had not stopped talking at all. He wasn't really sleeping, he was talking to himself in his mind the entire time his eyes were closed and his body was twitching. To him, there was no lapse in time. I asked him how his nap was and he said, "I'm not taking a nap now." It is then that I realize sometimes the Boy has my traits. I would "sleep" through early morning classes in college, but walk out of the class with a full page of notes as if I had be bright-eyed and bushy tailed while Dr. Steffen talked about cellular and molecular biology. It is hard to be awake and listen to anything at 8 AM, but hey, I did well in the class because I wasn't really sleeping.

A Two Year Old Knows Best

Can anyone else believe that it is almost October? Time sure does fly when you work and have a family. So much to do and not enough time. The Husband and I have been trying to spend more time at home on the weekends, time playing in the yard with the Boy and the Dog. It helps us relax.

When we aren't going 100 miles a minute, the Boy has time to ponder things he already knows aboutinstead of talking about all the new things he sees. This is refreshing and often time funny conversation. An example occurred this weekend as we were walking into Church.

The Husband: It is hot today, isn't it. (It was indeed H-O-T...97 degrees at the end of September is ridiculous.)
The Boy: It's hot because the sun is out.
This part of the conversation is where my husband is still learning how a two year old's brain works. I think it is good that he tries to teach the Boy things, but sometimes the Boy will not budge from where his mind rests.
The Husband: Just because the sun is out, does not mean that it is hot. Sometimes when the sun is out, it is cold, like when there is snow on the ground.
The Boy: Daddy, there is no snow. It is just the sun and the sun makes it hot. Snow is cold, the sun is hot.

He's gotcha there Daddy.

Things I Don't Understand

1. Why all the men who attend my gym grunt the entire time they run on the treadmill next to me and then do not wipe of the machines when they are finished. YUCK!

2. Why the moms (except me) who have kids at the Montessori School show up for carpool drop off at 7:40 AM when carpool doesn't start until 8:15 AM and then leave their kids buckled into their carseats while they chat and drink a venti chocolate mocha for over a 1/2 hour.

Ramblings of the Mind

I must warn all readers that today will be a total and complete brain dump of thoughts, so proceed with caution.

I had a fantastic weekend. I love fall. This is the time of year in our little city where the leaves start changing and the temperature is supposed to hover around 68 degrees. It is perfect. Saturday was the perfect fall day. The weekend was amazing and relaxing and full of love.

The neighborhood next to ours was having a huge yard sale on Saturday. I don't know why, but every time I see the big marquee telling us it is happening, I get excited. I somehow trick myself into thinking that the folks in the neighborhood have gotten better junk over the last year than they had last year. I was wrong. I still don't want to buy the blue stuffed duck to be used as a doorstop or those black boots that look like they were worn for years and years before they made it to the yard sale pile. Does anyone buy used shoes...if you do, I don't get it. Why would you want to purchase something that had someone else's stinky feet in them? You don't even know if they wore socks with those shoes every time or if they went commando and feet sweat accumulated in the spongy sole. YUCK! Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

The Boy accompanied us on our garage sale outing. He spent a good majority of the time asking why we were walking so much. He didn't understand the concept until I bought him some old Golden Books, then he wanted to stop at every yard sale site. I cannot believe that The Boy is old enough to have conversations about things like the benefits of going to a yard sale. I was talking to a friend of mine today who has a 3 month old about how quickly time flies by once you have kids. I can honestly say that my life didn't get going until The Boy came along. Things really mean so much more to me now. The Boy and I spent 1/2 hour on Sunday painting on the windows of our patio door. We had never done that before and he thought it was the coolest thing in the world that I was letting him paint on something he normally wouldn't be allowed to paint. He loved every minute of it and I treasured every minute of it. He told me all about what he was painting and how big it was and why the sun stays in the sky. His little mind is amazing. I often look at him and think WOW, we created that little person. We are molding him and praying for him and hoping he turns out okay. So far so good...people tell us all the time that he has such a good heart already at 2 1/2. I hope that stays. He is sweet and thoughtful, but mischievous and sarcastic (yes, already) all at the same time. A little personality goes a long way I guess, I know I love it.

A Boy and His Dog

It is official, we are dog owners. After a long process with the Animal Care Society, we brought Atty home on September 8th. We are all excited, but none more excited than the Husband. We asked the Boy the night before if he was ready to get his doggy and he matter of factly stated, "I want a kitty to take on a walk." Still the Boy is excited, just not as much as his Daddy.

I have to admit that I was somewhat lukewarm to the idea of a dog leading up to the adoption, but my boys convinced me that no amount of dog hair, mess or smell could distract you from the love you get from a good pet. We are only a few days in, but I am liking it more than I thought I would. I actually love the way she acts and the fact that she likes to cuddle. We are a cuddly family and she fits right in with us.

The Husband wanted a boy dog at first so he could name it Habeus...lawyer jargon. But, since the dog is a girl, we settled on Atty which, for those of you who aren't as quick, is an abbreviation for Attorney. What can I say, The Husband is proud of what he does. Atty is 100% his dog. She follows him around, she cries when he leaves the room, she must be touching him anytime he is in the vicinity. I guess I am just the competition to her. The Boy has taken to telling Atty what she can and cannot do. We do that to him all the time, it must be good for him to be able to do it to someone else. The Boy wakes up every morning and his first words are, "Where's my doggy?" I look forward to sharing their crazy antics with you all in the future.

What in Your Nose is That Exciting?

I know that most kids pick their noses...it is a necessity for those who have not realized when to use a tissue, when to ask for a tissue or for those who cannot reach the tissues without the help of someone over 3 feet tall. But, I cannot fathom why after being told a bazillion times, that my two year old continues to pick his nose and/or stick something up his nose because there is a booger up there.

Yesterday on our drive home, I look into the rear view mirror and there he is again, sticking his finger up his nose. This is the conversation:

"Stop picking your nose please."
"I'm not!"
"Then why is your finger in your nose."
"It's not!"
"It looks like you are picking your nose, please stop."
"I'm just fixing it."
"What are your fixing exactly?"
"My nose, silly. That's not picking it."

It stands to reason, especially since most of our conversations these days have become persuasive in nature, that I am raising an attorney or a politician...either way, I am receiving an argument when the Boy doesn't like what I have to say. Anyone with insight in how to get the Boy to stop with the nose pickin', let me know.

Mr. Independence

We have entered a new era in the life of parenthood. The Boy plays by himself now!!! What an amazing difference this makes in the lives of two parents. Don't get me wrong, the Husband and I both love spending time with the Boy, but what a change it is to be in a stage where your child does not need your constant attention.

I was making dinner on Sunday night, the Husband was outside grilling. The Boy went downstairs to his play area without asking me to come with him. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "I am going to play."

"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I can do it by myself."

Now, please understand that the basement to our house is right off the kitchen and I can hear everything plus peak down whenever things get too quiet, so the Boy is in now eminent danger. Things did get quiet, but that is because the Boy pulled out his big "Nemo" coloring sheets and his crayons and was so pleasantly lying on the floor coloring his heart out. We were able to make dinner without any distraction. It was so nice. The entire night after this realization of independence, I just kept thinking, man, now I can go to the bathroom by myself. What a wonderful stage to be in!