It Was A Fluke

As I hoped and prayed, Caleb was not trying to make any permanent changes to his behavior.  A good night's rest on Monday night straightened things out.

We have pretty much stuck around the house this week with the exception of a trip to Temple to have lunch with Jadie on Monday and an almost all day visit with Aunt Kristin on Tuesday.  Caleb even managed to work in a nap in Kristin's bed.  Unfortunately, Kristin and I still had to pretend to sleep on the floor next to him to get him to fall asleep.

This afternoon, I simply put him in bed and told him I loved him and closed the door.  I heard him protesting for a little while and then playing a little after that.  I'm pretty sure he ended up konking out on the floor, but he's been out for a good two hours now.  

Changing subjects drastically...I have been feeling a little lonely today.  I think that's what it is.  It's not that I haven't talked to anyone.  It's that several (and what feels like most) of my mom friends have been talking about full time work outside of the home.  This has caused me to question what I want to be doing.  By no means to I question my decision to stay home up to this point, it's just that I entertain the idea of doing something else.  Really, I'm thinking out loud here, using you all as a sounding block.  I think there are other factors that come into play here too.  

• Over the last two years, I have been involved in MOPS, which has given me a nice outlet and kept me in contact with other moms who "just stay at home."  Our playdates this summer have been nice, but there aren't as many moms who participate and part of the reason is due to work.  
  
• Also, there are the seemingly frequent comments from my dear sweet husband.  Things like, "When you go back to work..."  or "If you were working, we could afford..."  I know he's not pushing me to work tomorrow, but the comments sure can wear on a girl.  You know, he may say it twice, but it replays in my head a hundred times.
  
• There is also the fact that life at home can at times seem redundant.  Wake up.  Fix and devour breakfast.  Go watch Caleb play outside for an hour.  Come inside and read to Caleb.  Fix and devour lunch.  Put Caleb down for a nap.  Sometimes fall asleep myself in the process.  Wake up.  Watch a movie with Caleb.  Welcome Jadie home.  Fix dinner.  And somewhere in the I have the pleasure of doing laundry, washing dishes, and grocery shopping.  I know, I've really oversimplified things, but sometimes this is how it feels.  
  

Maybe it's the fact that it's usually just me and the kiddo.  Maybe I need to set up several encounters with other human beings throughout the week.  Maybe it's that I don't really have a personal outlet that I'm obsessed with right now.  Like scrapbooking, or cross-stitching, or yodeling, or purse-making, or whatever.  Maybe it's just that I started my period yesterday (aren't you glad I threw that in there?).  Who knows?

My Worst Nightmare

Who kidnapped my child and replaced him with this whiny, screaming 2 1/2 year old???  I'm gonna get you!

Yeah, actually, it was me.  I did it.  Well, Jadie and I did it.  After church yesterday we went to Jadie's grandma's house for a family dinner/get-together.  We thought it was for lunch.  She says that she told us to eat something first and that we would be eating later in the afternoon.  There was a major gap in communication.  Apparently our definitions of "lunch after church" are very different.  Oh well, what are you gonna do?  We took a quick trip to grab something to tide us over until the 4:00 lunch she'd planned.  Anyhow, I'm way off subject now.  Back to how I arrived at the nightmare behavior I experienced today.  

Since we were at Grandma's ALL day long (until 8:30 pm) and Caleb had plenty of cousins to play with, he did not have his nap.  His behavior was amicable the entire time.  Needless to say, playing with 4 boy cousins meant that he had spent some time outside and had gotten plenty sweaty and dirty.  And since he'd played hard all day and not had a nap at all, he fell asleep on the way home.  No big deal.  Except that he was dirty and sweaty.  Since I'm so logical, I woke him by putting him in the bathtub for a quick scrub down.  He FREAKED!!!  We finally got him calmed down and asleep around 9:45 pm.

This morning he woke at 5:15 am and I had to go sleep on his floor to get in a few more hours of shut-eye (he fell back to sleep too).  We got up (for real this time) at 8:30 am and he seemed to be doing well.  And that was the last of my sweet little Caleb.  

After breakfast, every request, every instruction for the rest of the day was met with opposition and defiance, not to mention, screaming and tears.  Including the much needed nap time.  Tears and screaming ensued at 2:30 pm and continued until I warmed a cup of milk (which he downed in 2 minutes flat) and he zonked out at 4:00 pm.  Finally, some peace and quiet.  I woke him up for dinner at 6:00 pm.  I should have prepared myself for more wailing and flailing.  He did not eat dinner.  An hour and a half later, he opted for endless graham crackers instead.  At this point, I let it go.  

I expect to see the REAL deal again in the morning.  I don't know if I can do it again tomorrow.  It's getting so hard to formulate every instruction into two choices.  For example:  "Come sit at the table for dinner."  After he whines no and begins to pout, I say, "Do you want to come sit at the table for dinner, or lay here on the floor in your room crying by yourself?"  GRRRRRRR!!!!!

Not-So Extreme Home Makeover

We purchased grass and 2 crape myrtles for the 2nd half of the back yard on Saturday.  We completed the left side of our upper section last summer.  This summer, we will finish the job.  I took a before picture on Saturday morning, but haven't taken the after picture yet.  When I do, I'll post both.  Until then, you'll be sitting pretty on pins and needles (I'm sure of it).

PawPaw

Please pray for my PawPaw as he is in the hospital undergoing some tests.  I know this sounds unusual and maybe a little silly, but he's had the hiccups for over a week now.  Apparently, hiccups can be caused by irritation and so they're trying to figure out if it's from something he's eaten or if there's a growth or something else.  Prayers are appreciated!

Decoding the Simple Language of My Toddler

This morning, while I was drying my hair in preparation for an outing to the local Children's Museum, Caleb came into the bathroom saying, "Mommy, shoot me!"  Can you guess what he was really trying to say???

He wanted me to help him shoot his basketball.

Other funny language development moments from recent days:

• Caleb heard another little boy saying "Awesome!"  as he configured the water path in the boat floating table at the museum.  Caleb began repeating "Awesome!" every two seconds from then on.
  
• Yesterday on the way home from McAllister's Jadie and I were talking about how something was annoying.  Our little parrot chimed in from the back seat.  "Noying, noying!"
  
• I know there are more...I'll add them later if I think of them.
  

Charlie Bit My Finger

I realize that this has been on YouTube for a year now, but I've never seen it.  And I just keep watching it over and over again.  I can't stop laughing!

Fully Clothed

I've decided that now may not yet be the time to try the naked strategy for potty training.  It really gets me that he peed on the blanket yesterday.  When I looked back to him, he was actually holding himself.  This tells me that he knew he needed to pee and opted for the blanket rather than the potty.  Not cool.  

Besides, naked toddler means no clothes.  And that means I don't get to enjoy the cute toddler clothes.  And Caleb loves to pick out his shirt every morning.  This has become a fun part of the routine for him.

Maybe we'll try again in a few weeks...