Musings of a tired mommy

I love my son dearly and I wouldn't change being his mommy for anything in the world...but please someone tell me the constant battles over every teeny tiny little thing will one day stop? Like before I'm old and gray and rocking my grandchildren? LOL.

We've reached the stage of "No..I DO IT!" and I'm all for encouraging his independance. But when you have to leave the house and you've been trying to get him dressed for 45 minutes and you somehow have a child running around the house laughing and screeching and wearing nothing but socks...and shoes (don't ask)...you start to wish for the days when they wanted you to do everything. He's extremely independant and wants to do it all alone but also easily frustrated and prone to meltdowns of epic proportions when he realizes that as much as he WANTS to do it alone he just CAN'T do it alone.

Then we have the whole potty issue. He hates the pull-ups. He complains they're uncomfortable. He wiggles and squirms and screams he has a "diaper wedgie" and he hates the inconvenience of having to lay down and get changed. However, when asked about big boy undies and using the potty all the time he'll inform us "No...I really don't think so but thank you for asking" Almost three going on forty this one. So we wait, offer encouragement, and be patient. Although we may have a breakthrough. His new best friend at school...Emily (wejust love love love Emily) wears undies. His cousin Megan...partner in crime and all time favorite cousin...wears big girl undies. He's very distressed to think that he seems to be the only one wearing pull-ups and not underwear and told me today he wants underwears tomorrow and no pull-up anymore. So we shall see.

Bedtime has gone from easy peasy to a major war every night because he no longer thinks bedtime should be a requirement. His opinion is that bedtime should be optional and is a bit offended that we feel differently and insist he go to bed when told. Horrible mean ole parents that we are torturing our poor child so.I know a toddler's listening skills are slim to none most of the time and it's typical of the age but I swear I must speak some kind of foreign language because he either doesn't listen to me at all or looks at me like I have no clue what I'm talking about and goes on his merry way.

Then there's the constant debating. I swear he's either going to be a lawyer, a politician, or a car salesman because he negotiates everything...and I do mean everything.
An example:
"Miles, you can have two cookies for snack" and he's given the snack.
"Umm, Mommy, how about I have four cookies?"
"No Miles, I told you TWO and I gave you TWO and that's it"
"But Mommy I really think I NEED to have four cookies"
"No Miles"
"Ok Mommy, how about three cookies. Can I have three cookies?"
"How many did I say you could have?"
"Two"
"How many did I give you?"
"Two"
"So what does that mean?"
*big sigh for effect*
"I want four cookies, I tried to get three cookies, and still onlygot two cookies"
*and after a brief pause*
"But maybe I can get you to give me three or four next time"
At which point he begins to munch on his cookies and flop back into my chair mentally wiped and vowing to work on my debate skills so I'll be ready for the next round...which I know will be coming soon.

Must run...it's time for the how many bedtime snacks can I have, how many George and/or Scooby Doo episodes can I watch before I have to go to bed, and do I really REALLY have to go to bed nightly ritual.

Time flies...

Hard to believe some days but Miles is almost 3 years old already. We're planning his birthday party with a Curious George theme and he's already very excited. I keep telling him he has to relax because it's still two months away.

Our other big news is Miles starting preschool. We all have an orientation on September 3rd and then he starts on September 8th. He'll be there three mornings a week and I can't even imagine having three mornings a week with a quiet house. I think he'll have tons of fun at school and he'll really benefit from having kids his own age to play with.

We gave him an early birthday present last week...we took him to Philly to see The Wiggles. He was tired, hungry, and cranky by the time we got there and got settled so the afternoon was not without challenges and meltdowns but in general he really enjoyed himself and I'm really glad we took him so he could experience it. The only problem we have is that now every other day he asks if we can go back and see them again.

A Sticky Situation

Ok, so as some know and some don't I spend my nights curled up in a chair with my feet on an ottoman. It's the only way my pain-filled body is able to get any sleep. Laying down is just not comfy and I can't sleep for very long if I lay down. So I'm zonked in my chair as usual this morning when Miles gets up and comes downstairs. Miles loves lollipops...specifically the little dum dum pops. We keep a bag of them in the car because typically the only place he's allowed to have them is in the car. I brought the bag in to refill it because it was running low and Miles got his hands on it when we were sleeping this morning. Most of what was left was the "mystery" flavor pops. Well apparently he wasn't overly fond of the flavors he discovered and when I woke up this morning there were once-licked lollipops all around my feet stuck to the ottoman. Nothing like waking up in the morning surrounded by sticky lollipops with a sticky faced son staring at you telling you the lollipops were yucky and asking for favorite flavors. Needless to say I wasn't inclined to go get him new lollipops at 8am, especially after waking up stuck to the castoffs all around me.

Ick!

Being sick is NO fun...especially when your spouse is grouchy and your kiddo is sick too. As if a two year old isn't enough of a handful now we've got a sick and very moody two year old. Fun fun fun! I'm still trying to get a handle on all these mobility limitations I have now so getting sick is the last thing I wanted to deal with. Oh well...one day at a time. Hopefully the meds knock out the infections asap and I can go back to my normal un-sick train wreck self. :) Hopefully I'm feeling better before my sleep study in a couple weeks. I'm not looking forward to a night in the hospital/sleep clinic but I am allowed to bring a book and dvd so at least I won't be laying there staring at the walls the whole time.

Miles has entered the "why?" stage...ackkk...I'm not ready for this! He was climbing up into the window today from the back of the couch and when I told him to get down he asked me why. When I replied "because I said so" he turned around and looked at me and said "but why you said so?" This one is gonna keep me on my toes.

Yikes!

Ok, so the plan was to keep this blog up to date and now it seems I haven't posted anything in two months. So much for that plan...lol. Things have been a little crazy here the last couple months. Miles has been a toddler tornado and we've had our hands full. My health has been steadily deteriorating and I've been a bit preoccupied with that...hence the lack of postage for the last couple months. But here I am with some new info and pictures. Since my last post I turned 34...ick...and Joe and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. In a few days we'll be celebrating our 9 year anniversary as a couple. Time sure does fly by. Miles went to the doctor last month for his 2 1/2 year check-up and he's doing great. He's now 32 pounds, 37 1/2 inches long, and has completely outgrown size 3T clothes. He talks constantly and his vocabulary continues to grow daily. We enrolled him in nursery school and he'll be starting in the fall. He'll be going three mornings a week and he's already asking if he can go to school yet. Guess that's it for now but I do promise to try to keep the blog updated more often!

Life without naps....

It seems Miles is wanting to give up on naptime and he really still needs that naptime...and so does mama! He refused to nap today and then totally crashed around 4:15 and took a 45 minute power nap. He would have slept longer I'm sure if grandma hadn't come over with McDonalds for him. I'm still in my boot cast and while I'm better at getting myself around I'm still struggling with doing that while taking care of the kiddo. Today was my first day home alone with Miles since my accident and it's been a very looooooong day! Right now he's behind me playing with Christmas window gel clings while I get a little computer time. Yes folks I still have my tree and Christmas stuff up. I had planned on having it down by the end of January and just didn't get it done and then I fell and just can't do it. Oh well. It'll get taken down eventually. I've been keeping busy with stationary activities...liking taking super cute and silly pictures of the kiddo.

a couple new pictures