Bottle Dropoff
February 23, 2009 at 2:33 pm (TTC, milestones)
As of Shmoo’s 2nd birthday, he was still taking a bottle. It was really only in the morning and at night. We knew it was time to get rid of it, but I think none of us were really ready.
We’ve been saying this since his first birthday, I think. We wanted to do it over a weekend, so he could adjust.
Now, the pediatrician is telling us to get him off the bottle and just about everyone we know is saying he’s too old for it. (My mother gave her 2 cents and said that he’ll be ready when he’s ready).
I know, I know. We’ve been bracing him for it by telling him that since he’s now a big boy, he needs to give his bottle to the babies who need them. Baby horses, that is.
We didn’t plan on doing it this weekend, but we had Lo’s girls on Sunday and we had to pick up S. from the barn where she rides. We knew this was our chance.
All morning, we asked Shmoo where we were going.
“Da barn?”
And what we were giving to the baby horses.
“Baba?”
He would then say “NO” and shake his head.
The whole ride to the barn, “da barn? da barn?”
He was absolutely fine with the drop off. We placed the bottles in front of the stall of a little pony then walked around saying hi to the horses. When we were leaving, we again showed him where we left the bottles and told him to say “bye-bye.”
He waved to the bottles and we went on our way. (The girls walked behind us and picked them up, shoving them in their pockets to hide in the car).
That part seemed to go pretty smoothly.
We were aware that the big trauma would be at bedtime. And we were right.
Trying to get him into bed was a chore. He’s still going down too late (we’re working on that next). So, he was extra cranky since he couldn’t have his “baba”. He kept asking for it, and we kept explaining “remember you gave them to the baby horses?”
“da barn?”
Yes. At the barn.
He had to go into the fridge to confirm that there were no more bottles. That’s when our smartest purchase yet comes in.
This kid does not like sippy cups. Sippy cups apparently aren’t cool enough for him. He doesn’t want anything with a lid (unless it’s a bottle, of course). But when we were at his buddy Coral’s house last week, she had these really cool cups and since she’s a big kid (almost 3), he seemed to think the cups were okay for him too.
We got him to choose this cup to put his milk in and he was satisfied with a big cup of milk, soon forgetting about the bottle.
I will not rave about our success yet. I think we may have a few more rough days, but he will get over it.
- – – – – – – – – – – – –
On another note, we are counting down to the first TTC event. I am trying not to get my hopes up too much. We know from experience how long it could take to get pregnant, and know that it might not even happen. But I’m excited nonetheless.
What’s funny is that I’ve never thought that I had a regular cycle. I’ve never kept track before. I thought I was incredibly inconsistent. It was shocking for me that once I started to chart, I am so incredibly consistent. 23 day cycle. Positive OPK on days 11 and 12.
For 4 months, this has been the story. Of course, the month we are trying, it appears that this last cycle is 24 days long…hmmm…
So, today is CD 1. It’s official.
working
February 18, 2009 at 11:51 pm (Job)
Jeez………..
Where have I been?!!?
It’s been nutty and there’s no explanation for my failure to blog.
Ok, there is one very good explanation…
WORK.
I’m a little overwhelmed but it’s not like an I-want-to-drive-off-a-cliff-overwhelmed, it’s more like I-am-a-waitress-with-too-many-tables-overwhelmed-but-the-tips-will-be-worth-it-overwhelmed.
Although, that’s not really the best analogy considering that I don’t get tips, or a bonus, or even a cost-of-living raise for that matter. Sigh. I am just grateful that I have a job.
I totally need to update you all about Shmoo’s crazy birthday party and how he’s hit the terrible two’s (which I thought started 7 months ago but I was wrong) and how he thinks we will sing happy birthday to him and blow out candles every day and how my parents took him for an overnight and even offered to take him again while admitting that he’s “charming and challenging at the same time” and how the wife’s family is in a crazy fight and how her parents are totally nuts (my readers knew that already). Yep, I totally need to update everyone on that stuff.
Well, I guess I just did.
There you go.
I’m heading back to the land of blogging since Face.book is great, but now I have coworkers and contemporaries on there and I can’t talk about stuff like my crazy in-laws and getting knocked up….and just being able to say “fuck” because I want to in a post but can’t on FB because my little niece and nephews are on there.
I’m wrapping up this post to get back to work. I think the work is getting to my head. I just sent out an email to our biggest client where I meant to use the work “duplicates” and spell check turned it into “duplicitous”. I had to send out a humbled but somewhat humorous follow up email to the head of the corporate legal dept. oops.
It’s been a long few weeks.
Ho-wee! I did dit!
February 3, 2009 at 4:53 pm (milestones)
A certain someone is turning 2 this weekend! I can’t believe it.
For some strange reason (maybe because we are insane), we are having a “small” party at our house on Saturday.
What was intended to be small will now include 9 children in all. 8 of whom are under the age of 3. With an adult per each child, we will have pure chaos in our house (a small townhouse condo) for several hours. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by and bring me some booze.
We are going to set up the bouncy in the living room, which I’m pretty sure will be ground zero of the chaos. Hopefully, we can separate the kids in groups and have them do all different things throughout the house rather than 9 kids doing the same thing at the same time.
Based on how my work week has been going, I am trying to let things go. What an f’ing week to wean off my meds.
I have one of the busiest weeks ever of my career (for example, I usually bill about 7 hours per day and I billed 13.7 hours yesterday alone). And just had to cancel a Lia.Sophia jewelry party at my house on Thurs. night (what the hell was I thinking even agreeing to throw that party in the first place?)
Alas, I am surviving. My blog entry is being written while I’m on a conference call for utility easements.
As for the boy, he is doing better.
In the last 2 weeks, he’s been at the pediatrician 4 times….the last prognosis was “a touch of” pneumonia. Not sure what that means. But he’s finished all of the antibiotics he was on and is going back in late this afternoon for a follow up.
He seems so much more like a little boy lately.
Here are a few things he’s been doing.
- He loves his stool (or the closest chair) and drags it over to the wall to play with the light switch or to the sink to play with water
- He loves brushing his teeth and sometimes even lets us help
- He loves washing his hands….repeatedly (this is a Lois OCD thing) and he loves that he can reach the sink with his new stool!
- His TV/VCR combo in his room (it was mine in college, so it’s about 14+ yrs old) is on the floor so he goes in his room, turns on the TV and fast forwards the Best of Elmo tape to the spot he likes.
- He runs everywhere. It’s like he doesn’t have a slow speed. He just runs from one room to the next and he runs FAST.
- He is calling me by my first name. This started a few days ago and I think he picked it up from K*den. I don’t know why he doesn’t do it to Lo, but he stands at the top of the stairs and yells “Ho-WeeEEEE!” When I try to correct him, “Mommy!” he just repeats “Ho-Wee! Ho-Wee!” and laughs.
- He has to do EVERYTHING himself. This is hardly new. But he always proudly announces “I did dit!” When we are not in the room, this quote usually makes us worry about what he just did and we approach with caution. Most of the time, “I did dit” is announced when he climbs up on the couch himself or when he’s created some structure by piling toys on top of each other.
- He knows how to work the DVD player. Not sure how he picked that up.
- My father-in-law has taught him how to take apart flashlights. Not sure why he ever IN A MILLION YEARS thought this was a good idea. Shmoo has located the flashlight stash in our kitchen (by mastering yet another child proof lock) and has taken apart all 4 of them. I’m fairly sure we will have no working flashlights the next time we lose power.
- He says “batteries” clear as day but he still won’t say “Mema” to Lo’s mom.
- He’s more interested in taking apart his toys or opening the battery compartment than actually playing with them.
- We have to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and Goodnight Gorilla about 4 times each every night. He knows all of the colors and animals in both. I not saying he’s brilliant, I think he’s memorized them.
Shmoo reading with Aunt (and Godmommy) Laura and Aunt Dawn
- He remembers everything. He picked up a toy car that I haven’t seen in months and said “Ni-Ni”. His cousin, Nicky, gave him the car about 6 months ago.
- He can be bribed for chocolate or anything in the “blue bowl” (where the goodies are in the cabinet). Not that I’m advocating bribing a 2 yr old, but when he starts jabbering about the “blue bowl” before he’s done with his dinner, he will eat pretty much as many bites as you tell him to with the promise of something from the bowl.
- He’s still very solid, but I don’t think he’s grown that much. His height chart at home shows him as being the exact same height that he was 3 months ago. And his feet have only gone from a 4.5 to a 5.5 since he started walking 12 months ago.
- He is a “ride on” superstar and has more ride on toys than any kid on the planet. We are also totally amazing at his skills. He can fly around the house on one of his cars and spin the thing around on a dime just when you think he’s going to crash. I hope he doesn’t continue to use this skill when he gets a license.
- He’s sleeping in his big boy bed. I think he really likes it. But we are still going to get the fire engine or race car from a friend. He also pulls the stuff that all kids do, procrastinating the bed time. He will ask for a bottle, ask for whomever of the two of us isn’t in the room, give another hug nite-nite, turn off the nightlight, turn on the nightlight, ask for another book, etc.
- One of the things we’ve totally slacked on is the bottle. We swore high and low that we would cease the bottle at 18 months and yet, here we still are. We are starting to tell him that it’s almost time to give the bottles to the baby horses. He always says ‘NOOO’, so we haven’t fought that battle yet, but we’re hoping to confront it head on soon.
- He is doing well with sharing lately. He always fights with his BFF a little more because they are around each other so much, but he’s been very generous lately with Em* and C. (both girls, hmmm).
- He loves giving high 5’s and “fist bumps”. If you ask him for a fist bump, he’ll then proceed to make sure he “bumps” everyone in the room.
- I’m working with him on it, but he’s pretty good at saying “Two” and holding up 2 fingers when I ask him how old he’s going to be.
Shmoo and his new buddy C. This picture was taken well after their bed times on Friday night.
I can’t believe how quick he is growing. He’s turning into this little person. He’s so funny and energetic and just an all around amazing little boy.
What am I supposed to do with these silly glasses?
Happy 2nd Birthday Shmoo!
Addy’s here!
February 3, 2009 at 1:40 pm (babies babies everywhere!)
Addison has arrived!
And she’s beautiful!
Congrats to Jen and Michelle!
