My Little Lover Boy

Oh, boy, do I love this boy!  As much as he seems to get sweeter by the day, he is most definitely all.boy.  He reminds me when he starts throwing things for absolutely no reason but to experience the sheer joy and abandonment of free movement.  Or when he climbs up behind me on my dinner chair - repeatedly - shouting (to himself, because the effort is all for him) "Three, two, one . . . blast off!" before jumping off of the chair and announcing, "I did it!!!"  And I know full well that must have been the main activity at school today for him  . . .  or what he observed other boys doing.  He pulls his sister's hair and delights in pushing her buttons.

Then he does something like he did just last week.  On the way into pre-school, he saw one of the dog's toys on the ground, a monkey.  He picked it up, "Look, Mommy - a monkey!"  That captured his attention until moments later when he saw Anya.  He carefully put the monkey down on the raised bed which had been put to rest for the winter just the weekend before during the Harvest Festival, and he took Anya by the hand as though they'd planned this meeting long ago.  He then proceeded to walk her around the garden, by the hand.  He ran with her and took her to another area of the garden.

I hated to break up his little love fest, but, I knew nature would be calling and he's still potty learning.  So, I took him to the bathroom.  While in there he said, "That's my girl . . . she's my sister."  It was the sweetest thing!

This is the stage of unsolicited "I love you"s and "Kisses, Mommy!" and "I give you hug" (when he's trying to avoid being put to bed).  I do adore this little boy.

And did I mention his dimples?  The girls are gonna be in trouble with this one!  But, I often remind him he is going to be a gentleman, and a good man.  I'm not raising any ladies man or jerk.

The Blessing of the Broken Refrigerator

One might wonder how that could be.  Especially since it was out for 2 weeks, causing us to spend ooo-gobbs of money eating out every day and costing nearly $600 to repair.  Yes, it is a nice refrigerator, but, we've only had it about 20 months.  I was not expecting this to say the least.  And it began to die a day or two before we left for vacation.  We came home a week later to quite a stench in the refrigerator.

Cleaning it out, though, helped me realize that we buy too much food.  I don't know if I have a need to provide myself comfort for some deeply rooted fear of running out of something, but, I realized I buy and cook too much food.  My husband had mentioned once in a passing comment that I cook too much (crazy, right?).  I heard it, but, couldn't fathom how that could be true.  I work full time and do not cook every day.

The reality is that my family and I do not consume all that I cook for a meal.  We have left overs.  Which we don't always finish before I'm cooking a fresh meal.  I've decided there will not be a third fresh meal until numbers 1 and two are done.

As a result, I cooked only once and my husband cooked.

One of my goals this year is to understand the true cost of running our household.  Little realizations like this will help me to do  so,

The Sweetest Sound

I think it was one night this week . . . first trimester pregnancy brain is in full effect, so, I'm not sure . . . but I was too tired to put Mr. Man to bed in the crib, so, I lay him down next to me and began to sing him his bedtime songs.  He's just 26 months and has yet to master all of his consonants and the associated annunciation.  His speech is coming along, though.  I think he says more at this age than did his sister.

That brings me to his singing.  Of course, since I sing the same songs to him every night, he knows them by now.  And this night, he sang along.  When he could.  Which was mostly the last word of each phrase.

What a sweet little sound to hear right before sleep!

Happiness is . . . . French toast!

Yesterday morning, as has been the case the last few mornings (although not this morning, thank goodness), Gian was up with me. It was a reasonable hour, 7 am. And did not involve the antics of the previous morning which included him sliding his belly over my head well before 7 am and merrily saying, "Weeeeeee!" I decided to put all those bread heels to good use and make some french toast. The kids love it. No matter the time of day we go to Wishbone, we order french toast for them. It is a treat because, until yesterday, I'd never made it for them. Let me tell you, it was worth it.

Gian has what we affectionately call "The Happy Dance". It is usually performed after he has eaten something quite tasty or has been offered something tasty. After he started eating his french toast, suffice it to say, it was deemed an occasion for The Happy Dance. The Dance consists of the rapid tapping of not so tiny feet (the boy's shoe size is that of a 2 year old - or in the case of a little friend of ours - a 3 year old). And, now, to it has been added a verbal feature: Hap-py! Hap-py!

And when your day is off to that good of a start, I guess you just continue the good times with activities like this one:

The Golden Age

I've been using that expression a lot lately in reference to Mr. Man. He turned 19 mos last Tuesday. He's such a sweet boy! This is the age where almost anything a child says or does is "cute". Even when it's something he has no business doing. He's a man of few words right now, as he is learning both Spanish and English, but one he has mastered is "no".

Mr. Man, are you hungry?

No.

Were you a good boy today?

No.

Can you say anything other than no?

No.

When I ask him to say "si", he'll say it very enthusiastically with a happy lilt at the end. Speaking of happy, that is his newest word. I got to hear it sung merrily most of the way home from dinner out tonight. So sweet, indeed.

Then there is coming into the dining room from the kitchen and finding him sitting on top of the table. He climbs into his sister's dolls' bunk beds. I don't think they were designed to hold 30 lbs of boy. And, when we made scones yesterday, guess what he did with the batter I gave him? Put it in his hair to accompany the flour that was already there! This, of course, was after sampling the flour directly from the countertop!

I'm trying to savor this time as I know that there are some growing pains right around the corner (the screeching has already begun). But, he's my 2nd and last baby so, I hope it last for a while longer.

Back at Work; Update on the Nursling

This week I started my new job. I should have taken my "happy pills". I missed Mr. Manny-Man so much the first day. It was harder going back after a month off than it was when I returned after maternity leave. Maybe that's because I know who he is now. He's got quite the little personality! For example, as he is teething, he's been comfort suckling. I said to him the other day, "Isn't there something else I can give you so you'll let me take this boob out of your mouth?" He unlatched and shook his head, "No"!

This is such a fun age! He's mobile and engaging, but not saying much. He says, "hot!", "mama" and the beginnings of "Cccccc" for his sister. And now he blows kisses and can give a good one, too. Occasionally when he is nursing, he'll pause and grab me by the face to pull me down so he can bite my nose. I wish I knew what that was all about.

I'm beginning to understand the old adage, "We love our sons and raise our daughters". But, I'm not going to be the cause of my son growing up to be anything but a gentleman and self-sufficient. I don't want to raise a man who expects a woman to do things for him. I'm not that mother. I do adore my boy, but, I am my mother's daughter, so, I'm all about instilling independence in my children.

So, back to the new job . . . I just learned yesterday that the last person in the position was down to 3 days a week before she resigned. And the other 2 were spent working another job! I do think this is going to be a good move, indeed. And, I was able to take Miss C to school today, in my car thankyouverymuch! (which it was oh, so nice to drive!) and then pay only $5.00 for parking. For all day parking. In the city of Chicago. (and in the words of Miss C) For real, for real!!! I'm not lying!

Gratitude

I've seen blog posts about gratitude and have thought them to be pretty corny. Well, call me corny then, too. This morning, as I rocked my baby boy to sleep for his nap, all I could think about is how grateful I am. I am, of course grateful that he is here. That he is healthy. That he is sweet. But, in that moment, I was thankful for his physical comfort. As a mother, I've found that the two things I am most often consciously grateful for are that my children are 1) warm and 2) fed. Nothing too fancy here. It just gives me great comfort, satisfaction and just gratefulness to know that I am able to keep my children physically comfortable when it is cold outside. And, since we're in Chicago, that is 9 months out of the year! While it is spring time now, and spring does seem to have sprung, I was comforted this morning knowing that Mr. Manny-Man was warm in his recycled longies, long sleeved shirt and socks. I was further comforted in knowing that his belly was full of momma's milk . . . and eggs . . . and a banana . . . and a pear!

I went grocery shopping yesterday and while everything I purchased was certainly not solely what we needed, I am grateful that it was everything we wanted. I am thankful that we are able to fill our fridge with what we want. I'm thankful to be able to offer the kids fresh fruit even when the fruit is out of season (although I plan to start trying to eat more in line with our seasons). We baked biscuits and chocolate chip cookies today. We ate them warm and everything was good. For lunch, my husband made chicken soup to help heal from his cold. He stopped by the market without consulting me, and, yes, bought all but 2 items we already had. I try to keep our kitchen well stocked. And am grateful that I am able to do it. For dinner I made my beef noodle casserole. And the kids ate from dinner I prepared yesterday. Just a simple meal of rice and beans. But, it was there in the fridge and they didn't have to wait for the other meal.

It just feels so good to be able to meet these two basic needs. And I know not everyone is always able to do so. For our ability to do so, I am so very grateful.