A lot can change in a year. Or not.

Last year, in the month of March, I wrote a grand total of four posts.  Four.  Guess I wasn’t inspired very much.  Although toddlers have a tendency to drive you crazy with the exact. same. things. every single day over and over, so wisely I knew you’d probably only want to read about each of these things once.  No sense in us both being crazy. 

This year isn’t that much different.  Same problems, different toddler. 

My first post was about temper tantrums.  It’s amazing the amount of rage a little body can be filled with.  One minute they’re happily playing along, the next their on the floor kicking, screaming, yelling and rolling around.  And it doesn’t matter where they are, home, car, stores, parking lot- they’ll throw a fit anywhere.  Toddlers aren’t self-conscience, they don’t care that everyone around them is looking at them like their crazy.  Actually, toddlers are pretty smart, they’re probably very well aware that everyone isn't looking at them but looking at us.  So embarrassing. 

My second post was probably my favorite post I’ve ever written.  Everything was written from a two year old’s point of view.  I need to remember to do this more often, when you really think about it, there’s a lot of things that are tough about being two.  Imagine how frustrating it must be to KNOW what you want to say, but not being able to say it.  All the thoughts are right there in your head, but no one understands what your saying.  It must be a lot like being in a foreign country where no one speaks your language.  All you want is a glass of milk, and everyone keeps saying “Oh, sorry, I don’t understand what your saying.”  I’d get frustrated a lot too. 

Or imagine if people just started randomly picking you up throughout the day and bringing you somewhere else.  You’re sitting on the couch watching TV and someone comes along and carries you up to bed.  Or your happily playing with a group of toys and someone comes and carries you to another room.  Or you see something really cool in the street  and someone grabs you as you run off and straps you into the car.  It’d be frustrating, wouldn’t it?  YOU know where you want to go and where you want to be, but you keep being brought elsewhere.  And your too small to do a darn thing about it. 

I wrote about potty training CamCam. 

A year ago. 

A whole year.

Still not potty trained. 

And lastly I wrote about how CamCam was confusing me by asking for one thing and then as I was about to get it, switching to another.  He still does this, but his newest phrase is “actually.”  No matter what it is I’m doing, CamCam pipes up with “actuallllllyyyy, no.”

CamCam, do you want some milk?
Yes (I pour it)  Actuallllyyy, no.  I want juice. 

CamCam, do you want to go outside and play?
Yes  (I get him all dressed up)  Actuallllyyy, no.  I want to stay inside.

CamCam do you want goldfish for a snack?
Yes.  (I give him goldfish)  Actuallllyyy, no.  I want pretzels.  (I get pretzels)  Actualllyyy, yes, I want goldfish.   

I guess we know who the sucker is in this relationship.

--------------------------

This post was written in response to Mama Kat’s writing prompt #3: What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?

What’s a toddler gotta do to get arrested?

Don’t you just “love” it when you’re out in public with your kids, and they say something you don’t want them to say?  Isn’t it the best when the quieter you tell them to stop saying ‘x’, the louder they ask why they can’t say ‘x’? 

The other day after an afternoon of sledding, The Dada and I decided to stop for hot chocolate on our way home.  We pull into Dunkin’ Donuts  where two police cars happen to be parked and Nolie gasps, “The Police!” We all laughed at him, he sounded like he been avoiding them his whole life and was finally about to be caught. 

We all start walking in, and we could see three policemen sitting inside Dunkin Donuts.  “Why are the police here?” Nolie asks.  “I didn’t know police like doughnuts,” he continues.  The Dada chuckled and told him that was enough.

“Why dad?  I didn’t know police like doughnuts.  Why do police like doughnuts?”  he continues to ask through the parking lot. 

We get to the door and I stop and say to him, “Ok Nolie, that’s enough.  I don’t’ want you asking that anymore, ok?”

He shakes his head yes, and so I open the door.  Which is exactly when CamCam, in his ever so loud voice, says/yells, “I didn’t know police love doooughnuttts!!!”

Sledding’s Not For Kids

Today was one of those perfect days for sledding, and we took full advantage of it.  It snowed 2 days ago, just enough to recoat all the hills, but long enough ago for it to pack down a little bit.  If you don’t have fresh snow, then it doesn’t take long for the hills to become a giant sheet of packed down snow ice.  I found out the hard way just how dangerous this can be a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago I took Little Miss, Nolie, CamCam and Little Hurricane sledding.  Although we’ve had an abundance of snow here this winter, the hill had been used a LOT and so had bare spots.  In the spots that weren’t bare, the snow had become so packed down it was as slippery as ice and as hard as concrete.  Not to mention the jumps.  Over the winter, kids make jumps in various spots down the hill, some were quite impressive.    When we got out of the van, Nolie commented on how steep the hill was.  I told him we’d only go half way up, that way it wouldn’t be so scary.  Nolie still was pretty nervous the whole time.  Little Hurricane had a blast being pulled around on the sled by me.  And CamCam had no fear.  He LOVED sledding.  Little Miss was so patient, she stayed low on the hill with the little boys so she could help me out with them.  As we were about to leave, she asked if she could go to the top of the hill for her final run.  I told her sure, and then CamCam said he wanted to go with her. 

“Are you sure?  It’s pretty high,” I asked him.  He told me it wasn’t too high, it was fun and he wanted to go.  I’d been watching all these other little kids going down the hill from the top the whole time, so I told Little Miss to wait for CamCam.

“Are you sure mom?” she asked. “It’s really high up here and steep.” I assured her he’d be fine, that she just needed to hold onto him really tight and he’d be ok.  She didn’t agree. “Mom, I’ll just come down there, I don’t think he should go up here.”  I assured her it was ok.  So down they went.

About a quarter of the way down the dad standing next to me commented on how fast they were flying down the hill.

About half way down the hill I started to think this wasn’t such a good idea.

About three-quarters of the way down Little Miss tried to swerve the sled to avoid one of those jumps kids had made, and instead the sled turned over.  I watched as Little Miss rolled not once but twice over CamCam, and then she slid across the snow with him under her. 

“That’s gonna hurt,” the dad said.

I started to make my way down the hill, but it was slow going considering I was holding Little Hurricane.  Little Miss kept yelling at me to hurry, that CamCam was bleeding and I needed to hurry.  There's nothing like trying to scale down a hill of ice while holding a two year old, all while your daughter is yelling at you to hurry up because there’s blood everywhere and your 5 year old’s yelling after you, “Don’t leave me up here alone MOM!”

There really wasn’t that much blood, but CamCam’s face was all cut up from being slid across the snow with Little Miss on top of him.  Poor little guy.

Needless to say, that pretty much put an end to me taking the kids sledding solo.  From here on out the little boy to grownup ratio will be MUCH higher.

 

 

A Lesson In Cuddlies

All my kids have had cuddlies.  They each chose their own cuddly.  For a period of time they’d have a few different animals or blankies they’d be drawn to, but eventually they would end up with one special cuddly.  I LOVED that my kids had cuddlies because once a cuddly was chosen, they did a marvelous job of falling asleep on their own.  And if they woke during the night, often the cuddly would help them get back to sleep.

 

My oldest son chose this bunny.  It was actually a gift that my great-grandmother had given to my baby sister.  When I married, my sister was only 9 years old and she let me take this bunny to remind me of her.  LaLa liked to hold one of the long ears and suck his thumb. 

When LaLa was around 3, he was staying at his grandparents house and he lost his bunny.  They searched their house high and low and never could find it.   About a week earlier one of the ears had fallen off, and I hadn’t had a chance to sew it back on.  I gave it to him and for like a year he went around with this yucky, ratty, hairless ear, sucking his thumb.

 

Little Miss had a blanket for her cuddly.  When I had her, we lived in a townhouse and one of our neighbors made this for her.  It actually was very scratchy, I don’t know why she took to this one.

When she was just over 2, we were at the mall and she fell asleep on my shoulder holding her blankie.  I didn’t realize that she let go of it until we were in the car.  The mall was closing, but I ran though as much of it as I could trying to find her blankie.  I called the next day and no one had turned it in.  I’m sure whoever found it thought it was some yucky rag.

 

 

Nolie had a blankie too.  He called it “blue-one blankie.”  This was a blanket that I had knitted for him when I was pregnant.  He liked to pull the strings on it while sucking his thumb, so eventually “blue-one blankie” became a strangulation hazard.  It was replaced with three “white-one blankies” and eventually Nolie settled on one of those which he still carries around.

 

Little CamCam has a blue blankie.  It was a gift from a friend of mine, actually it was for Nolie.  CamCam is my only one who doesn’t really carry his cuddly around during the day.  Once in awhile he’ll go grab it, but mostly he just uses it when it’s bedtime.

 

Little Hurricane chose a bunny.  When I was pregnant with him, I was at the Gap and Little Miss picked out this bunny.  I didn’t want to get it because we have SO many stuffed animals, but she convinced me because it was so soft. 

He liked to suck his thumb, and then put the bunny in the crook of his arm while holding the hair in the back of his head.  Very complicated cuddler. 

 

 

 

This bunny was ALWAYS with him.  He called it his “beee”. 

 

 

 

 

Last week we were at the mall, and I gave him his bunny.  At some point he must have thrown it, because when we got to the car I realized it was gone.  The mall had just closed, but I ran though everywhere we had been to try and find it.  I banged on the doors of 2 closed stores we had been in, only one let me in. (I hate you Sears!)  I called for 2 days, but noone had it. 

Fortunately I knew the brand and size of his bunny.  I’ve been through losing cuddlies before, and so I had looked into getting a backup for him months ago.  But I never bought it.  So onto Amazon I go, when what do I see?  

NOT IN STOCK
availibility:  unknown

You’ve got to be freakin kidding me.  I did a massive internet search, and found only one site carrying the bunny in the correct size.  Or, I could buy the same bunny, 3” larger from Amazon for half the price.

Now, if you have a child who looses a cuddly, and you are actually fortunate enough to have a chance at replacing said cuddly with an exact replica, TAKE IT!

Not me though, I bought the larger/cheaper one.  I didn’t think 3 inches was that big of a deal.  It took 6 days, and his bunny finally came.  The week had been hell, and I was so excited when it arrived.  Little Hurricane opened the package and when he pulled off the tissue paper said “my beee!”  He pulled it out, sucked his thumb, and tried to put the bunny in the crook of his arm.  It was too big!

He took that bunny, stuffed it back in the box, put the tissue paper on top, and handed it to me. 

Try again mom.

I’ve been trying to force this thing on him yesterday and today, and I think he’s finally starting to accept him.

I just hope his old bunny isn’t “toy story 3-ing” his way back home, only to find out he’s been replaced.

-------------------------

Mom’s Book Shelf put me in her list of favorite blogs last week, and I wanted to say Thank you!  If you’re not familiar with her blog, go check it out!

 

Will Work For Diapers

I have 2 toddlers in diapers full time.  Little Hurricane is small for his age, so he’s still in a Huggies size 3.  This is good for me, because the genius diaper companies charge the same amount for every size pack of diapers, but give you less and less as the sizes go up.  Size 3 still gives me a reasonable amount of diapers.  If I buy the small pack it will at least last the week.

CamCam is a size 5.  Lots less diapers.  CamCam also has a sensitive butt, so his delicate little behind will only tolerate Pampers Cruisers.  He can not use Luvs, not even regular Pampers.  Outside of designer diapers, which I’m sure must exist somewhere (what else would the rich and famous buy, right?) Pampers Cruisers are the crème-de-la-crème in the diaper world.    Which, naturally, equals more money. 

Oh wait, I forgot diaper companies are tricky.  Same money, less diapers. 

I have one in pull-ups at night.  Pull-ups are about $10 a pack and have all of like 6 pull-ups in them.  Completely ridiculous. 

And then of course there’s wipes.  I go through a crazy amount of wipes.  Part of it’s my fault- I realize that the only thing between my hand and all that yuckiness is a flimsy little wipe.  So I like to double up.  The Dada saw me do this once and told me to just use one, I was wasting wipes.  So I told him he could wipe the poopy butts with his one-wipe-covered-hand instead of me doing it if he’d like. 

He hasn’t brought it up since. 

But the majority of my wipes are used by Little Hurricane.  No matter how high or hidden I keep the wipes, Little Hurricane can get to them.  He LOVES to pull them out of the container.  He likes to wipe furniture with them, he likes to “wash” the floor with them.  If you do not have hardwood floors and have also never been fortunate enough to have someone wash your floor with baby wipes, you may not realize that the two form a deadly combination. 

Quite literally. 

That wipe leaves some sort of film on the floor that turns it into an instant sheet of ice.  Walk over said spot while wearing socks and you don’t stand a chance.  And he really likes to wash the stairs.

He also likes to throw them.  Every week I lose at least one pack of wipes to this.  He pulls those little buggers out of the pack as fast as he can and throws them across the room.  Ever seen that show Minute to Win It?  On that show they have this one game where the contestant has to pull all the tissues out of a box in under a minute. 

Little Hurricane would ROCK at that game.

I caught him on the tail end of this one the other day.

 

Throw, throw, throw

Brand new box of wipes all gone, look at the joy on his face:

The aftermath:

So to everyone that’s ever asked, yeah, it’s pretty expensive having multiple kids in diapers. 

One wrong word can make ALL the difference

I love listening to my little boys talk.  Hearing their conversations with one another is adorable.  The stories they tell crack me up.  And my favorite is when they mix up words.  Like when The Dada told Nolie to go upstairs and ask mama where LaLa’s camping mat is, and instead he comes up and asks me to get him LaLa’s map. “Yeah mom, you know, the map, so we can look for treasure.” 

But sometimes little language mishaps can happen with older kids and it is JUST as funny.

Last week my 13 year old son had career day in school.  They had a variety of people from different professions in, and the kids could sign up for whatever career they were interested in learning more about.  One was a cosmetologist.  My son and his friend didn’t know what a cosmetologist was, but they knew cosmos had to do with space, so they figured it was someone who did stuff with the stars and space.

They signed right up.

The two of them walk into the room, and my son turns to his friend and says,  “Why’s it all girls in here?”

Naturally when I called told my lovely husband about it, he could not let this one go.  So when he got home from work he pulls our son aside, puts his arm around him and says, “Son, I just want you to know that no matter what it is you choose to do in life, I support you.  I’m always behind you 100%.  I heard you had career day today and so I brought you home this lipstick because I’m behind you bud.” 

Here’s another:

Awhile back my oldest two kids decided they wanted to make some money.  I’m not sure where they got this idea, but they decided that they should open a massage store.  Five minute neck rub for a dollar, extra for a snack and water, that sort of thing.  They got me when they said for an extra fifty cents one of them would babysit.  They made up an appointment book and price charts.

And then they made signs. 

They decided to make signs on the computer and hang them up throughout our house so that way anyone that came over would see them.  They were working on their sign for like a half hour, and then Little Miss came out and said, “Mom, it won’t print.”

I was in the middle of making dinner, and told her I’d go and look at what was wrong as soon as I was done.  The two of them went off to play.  In the meantime, The Dada comes home from work.  He went into the office to do some stuff, and when he went to print something realized that the printer wasn’t plugged into the computer.  He plugs it in, and out spurts like 20 of the following signs:

“Hey hon,” he comes out and says to me.  “What’s up with this?  Trying to make some extra cash?”  Yes, that’s MY cell phone number on a sign offering to give people a genital message.  Or, you know, if they’d like, a little harder one. 

I went laughing to the kids to tell them that they had to redo their sign because they got the word ‘gentle’ wrong. 

Surviving a 2 year old, Round five

It’s Official!

Today Little Hurricane turns two.

My furniture,

dinners,

walls,

and sanity may never be the same.