I'm finally Mommy

Well after several months at the Momma stage in life, I have finally progressed to Mommy. It seems like such a small status change, but at least it's forward progress. Evidently it is hard for toddlers to start switching vowels mid-word, so this is quite an accomplishment for him. I think he said it by accident sometime on Saturday. So I got excited and said it a few times back, accenting the last syllable so he could really hear it. And all of a sudden, it just clicked with him. He loves saying it so much that I know I heard it no less than 1,000 times for the remainder of the weekend. Sometimes when his nose was a little stuffier than others, it would come out as Bobby, but it was close enough.

And it's that time of the year, for sure. The constantly running nose, the sneezing. My favorites are when the two combine to form an explosive burst of flourescent green goop that instantly flowers out in every direction. It's really horrible to watch. Poor Brent standing there all panicked trying to say "Mess, mess" without opening his mouth to let it in, as I'm searching for the nearest piece of anything to wipe him with. There's been a time or two I've been forced into using something that I was still wearing at the time, just to save him. We're both a mess in every form of the word some days.

But his slight cold hasn't slowed him down. He's all into "walking" lately. He (so far) is willing to behave in stores if I let him "walk" like a big boy. Holding hands is a requirement, though. Sometimes that's a dealbreaker for him - that's when he just plops himself down in the aisle and won't budge. But he's doing better than I expected. And he has gotten to the point where he'll just continuously stand up in the seat area of the cart and jump into my arms to avoid having to sit there. Not exactly the safest of maneuvers, for sure. We're still ironing out the kinks, but so far he's being pretty behaved when we go out these days. I'm just not sure where my baby went. But there's an adorable little boy that follows me around helping me look for him :)

We also have been going for walks through the cornfields (that finally have been harvested) and in the woods a little. He just loves being outside and seeing new things. We looked for birds and played with acorns (which are known as "baby trees") and threw sticks and examined bugs. And then he willingly puts his tiny hand in mine as we head back home. For those few minutes there are not tantrums, no crying, no frustrations, no background television noise or phones ringing. I'm not sure it gets any better than that.

The innocent daredevil

So cute, isn't he? Innocent? Not so much, but definitely cute.

I read an idea about making a "sandbox" out of flour for kids to play with. I actually got 10 lbs of cornmeal and dumped it into our slowly-dying wading pool. He absolutely loved it! But it wasn't a good idea to get too close, as you can see. And when you're in the middle of cooking dinner and watching him out the window, it really isn't a good idea to try to get in close for a picture. Not if you don't want to finish dinner with cornmeal all over you. And not if you don't want to take the time to clean your camera.

I'm not sure where he gets this from yet, but we have a regular thrill-seeker on our hands these days. Saturday he actually rode his big-wheel bike OFF THE BACK PORCH. I think my heart nearly stopped. I got there about 1/10 of a second too late. And there he was, lying on his face at the bottom of the steps, with the bike on top of him. I held him, trying not to go insane with all the possibilities of broken bones and internal bleeding. And after maybe 15 seconds, he just pointed at his bike and wanted back on, only slightly annoyed at the grass he had to pick out of his teeth. Fast forward 15 minutes later to when he was actually trying to carry his bike up the steps so he could do it again. Is something wrong with this picture, or is it just me? He would climb up the steps and just laugh, eyes gleaming with the memory of his near-disastrous, though obviously thrilling, experience.

How do you even parent a child like that? And why don't they have manuals for it? At the very least, isn't there a class of tax deduction for it? At least to pay for the all the early years I will be dying my gray on top of gray hairs?

On a similar note, Brent can now climb out of his crib. Now, that sentence might not mean much to some, but the weight of it (to me) is staggering. Now let me explain what a typical evening is these days. We get home around 6-ish. He is either instantly starving, or doesn't want to eat for 2 hours. Whichever one I'm prepared for, it's usually the opposite. But somehow we make it through, and then generally play/run/go out side until 7. Then, if I'm feeling up to getting splashed and saying "Sit Down!" 500 times, he gets a bath. Either I'll read him some books, or he'll put some puzzles together for a few minutes after that. Sometime in there I attempt to put clothes on him (to the saddened cries of "bye bye pee-pee", and it's off to the crib we go.

At this point, I jump through about 15 hoops to try to make things go as smoothly as possibly, depending on his mood. Sometimes he wants to keep reading, and I will leave the little lamp on for him for awhile. Sometimes I just let him watch a little relaxing TV. Other times I know he's tired and I will just send him to bed and let him fuss for 10 minutes.

But now....now I have to lay down with him while he goes to sleep! I haven't transitioned all the way to this now, so for now I've just been practicing on nap time. It hasn't gone too badly. Usually within 45 minutes (of me saying "lay down...lay down...lay down") he will drift off. But with the new fall shows beginning, and us not having Tivo...I have a problem with bedtimes. Last night he layed in our bed during Prison Break, and then I transferred him to the crib for the night. It worked! I may have created a monster though. In fact...I'm quite positive I have. But really...he was usually awake in his room until at least 9:00 each night anyways. So he's not getting any less sleep, and I don't have to keep running in there to see if he's fallen out of the crib.

Plus he was awake last night when his grandparents called, so he got on the speaker phone to say hi. And he actually talked! I can't believe it worked :) Every day he surprises me.